Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

.. By the way, I'm not multilingual, but isn't prima donna an Italian term?" Letters to the editorshould be sent to Voices, Cycle News, PO Box5084, CostoMeso , CA 92628-5084; faxed to 714-75 1-6685 Of emoiled to editar@cydenews.com. Published letters do not necessorlly reflect !heposition of Cycle N~ , Inc. lettersshould notexceed 200 _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _--:: -_ .... words, and allore sobjectto editing. Anonymous letters will not be consi ered for publicat on. d i A1lletlers shouldcontainthe writer nome address and daytime phone number... E 's , dirot. More Politics, Please And Again Regarding the letter from Mr. Kerr of Port land, Oregon (Issue #41 , O cto be r 20), I have one thing to say: Is this guy for real? Is he even a motorcyclist? U.S. Senate candidate Bill Jones did not set up th is booth at the Glen Helen MX; the Republican party in Southern Californ ia created it. It was a follow up to the event at the Hangtown MX ea rlier in the year to educate off-road voters of the Bill Jones cam paign and to introduce the Jones campaign to off-roa d motorsports. Jones is a viable cand idate for U.S. Senate, and w ith Ms. Bo xer's long re cord of be ing anti-OHY, it was very re freshing to see a po litician take inte rest in our sport from a different viewpoint. I question Mr. Kerr's comments reg ard ing "sound bites o f one right-wing politician attacking another politician" as being very partisa n. Cycle News is not a "rag" as indicated, and is a respected newspaper catering to motorcycling and issues. All issues - including political ones. Cycle News is issue and story specific, and that specificity is motorcycles. What better venue than a motorcycle newspaper to highlight all stories , including politics, to those that it may serve? Perhaps Mr. Kerr should brush up on Ms. Boxe r 's vot ing record concerning the sport we all love. As an example, vot ing to support Se nate Bill S21 in 1994 - better known as the Dese rt Protectio n Act. Se nate Bill S738 creates 300,000 more acres of wilderness in No rt he rn California alone, or Se nate Bill S1555 that would crea te yet another 2.5 million acres of wildern ess in California. These are just a few. Mr. Ke rr, you do not live in Californ ia. This feat ure sto ry was about Californ ia off-road issues and a California candidate who wants to advise the Californ ia OHV co mmunity o n his views re lating to motorcycling. I ask you to "t hink outside the box-er." I app laud Cycle News fo r adding th is story, especially in light of this impo rta nt e lection cycle. Per haps Mr. Kerr could con tact Ms. Boxer and ask he r to state her platfo rm for publ ication in Cycle News. Her e- mail address is Se nato r@Boxer.senate .gov I am sure the rea de rs wo uld enjoy rea ding abo ut her next planned land closure. Dave Pickett In response to the letter written by Dan Kerr regarding the political booth set up at the Glen Helen mo tocross race , I can't believe he was upset about a senatorial candidate who actually had some positive efforts toward the motorcycle community. W ith the efforts from the extreme enviro-nazis to shut down any and all forms of off-roading, I would think that any outdoor e nthusiast would be grate ful that a candidate would back our co mmunity. Why don't you do all of us real motorcycle riders a favor, Mr. Kerr, and trade your bike in for a wardrobe of hemp clothing and sandals, and park your ass under a tree and admire the co mp lexity of an earthworm while you ea t it. Travis Glidewell Spokane, WA via th e Internet Picke!! is the president of AMA District 36... Editor Mladin's Start Let me 'get this straigh t: Mat Mladin is lined up on the front row of the Superbike grid at VIR when for no appar, ent reason he pulls an Angelle Savoie holeshot - then stops on the trac k 20 yards late r and just sits there, on the racing line, with his Suzuki in neutral. His post race comment is as follows: "I just tried to guess the start because I couldn't see if the light was red or green. It went to one and I'm waiting and waiting and time to go. One would be lieve the AMA would have stopped it, but they made one of their stellar decisions again, and let all those people go with someone sitting there in ne utral ," Did I ge t th is co rrectly? Five-t ime Supe rb ike Champion Mladin pulls the start ing-line "bone r o f the yea r," then blames it on the AMA? No wo nder the AMA won't even listen to constructive criticism. This guy Mladin's an idiot! Mladin's actions co uld eas ily have had the same tragic results of Scott Russell's Daytona starting-line incident o f three years ago. To look elsewh er e to lay blame shows the e motional shallowness of this egomaniac. Maybe in addition to drug testing, the AMA should be co nducting psycho logical testing as well! Susan John son Placerville, CA Mladin's Helmet What's up with Mat Mladin's to rso -sized helmet on the cover of Cycle News? Are you guy's subliminally suggesting he 's got a big hea d, or do es KBC slide him a XXXXL for photo purposes? Inquiring minds wa nt know. Kevin C. Jump via t he Internet Mladin 's head is normal sized. The angle the photo was shot from was lower than normal. I believe Tom Riles shot the photograph . which would verify the fact that it was taken from a low angle . Uke the editor, he 's also vertically challenged... Editor around the course. On a more prac tical note, I wou ld think it'd be a lot easier to set up Supermoto courses in places like downtown Reno without requiring truckloads of dirt . Dick Fisk San Diego, CA Rossi's Snit Regarding Valentino Rossi's recent snit with Sete Gibernau over Rossi's team members sneaking onto the starting grid at Qatar and doctoring Rossi's starting pos ition (making it suita ble for launching a top fuel dragster), "The Doctor" (appro pr iate mo niker, no?) sho uld shut his sniveling yap inste ad of drawing additional attention to his team's obvious transgress ions. If not the best GP rider of all-time, Rossi is certainly the best of the last half de cade , and his on- track accomplishments speak for themselves - so why the little ta ntrum? You cheated , you got caught, you were pe nalized - end of issue! It doesn't matter who snitched off the offende r - Ducati, Re psol Honda or Ricky Carmichael! At the level Rossi can ride even a second-level GP motorcycle, it sullies his talents to act like such a spoiled brat. By the way, I'm not mult ilingual , but isn't prima donna an Italian term? Rene LaPrevotte Plac erville, CA The Del Mar Dirt I atten ded the Del Mar roun d of the AMA Supe rmo to Championsh ip and re ally e njoyed the racing and most every part of th e event - w ith one exce ptio n: the d irt. I don 't mean to criticize Don Caner, who I understand laid out the course. I'm sure he did a gre at job within the co nstraints he had to work with, but it seems to me tha t the Supermoto course requ irement for a dirt section, no matter how Mickey Mouse, really detracts from the racing. I sat in the stands o ppos ite that part of th e co urse, and wh ile I'm sure a lot of skill was involved in riding slick-sho d supermoto bikes over the whoops and aro und first-gear hairpins, I think a fast runner co uld have outp aced all of the m over the section from the bottom of the tunnel jump to the re turn to pavement. I saw som e passes and a few stalled motors, but the rea l racing gen erally see med to co me to a stop until the riders were back on asphalt. I suppose ot he r co urses have mor e interesting dirt sections, and it' s nice to allow the motocrossers to take advantage of the ir off-ro ad skills, but for me th e racing would've been a lot more impressive if th e ride rs cou ld've taken advantag e of their bikes' performance all the way www.cyclenews.com If they removed the dirt , wouldn't it be called road racing?... Editor Propaganda? I just finished rea ding the Clear Channe l statement about Ricky Ca rmichael attending the tw o Canadian rounds of the supercross se ries and I had to laugh. First o f all, saying Carmi chael has his eye on the Wo rld Supercross title is hilarious. The privateers, o r semipri vateers, are the only ones who care anything about that stu pid title - and two races both in Canada hardly constitutes inte rnatio nal. Why do esn't Cle ar Channel drop the propaganda, call it a privateer championsh ip, stick to the American Supercross Championship without Dorna, and quit confus ing the fans and making everyone mad? Lewis Greer Springfield, M O Classes He re is something that I do not understand . It is said tha t it is very important for the manufacturers to have factory racers re presented on 600 cc sport bikes because o f the huge influe nce the race res ults have on sales. This is why most ent ry-level professional racers who want a chance at winn ing a race en ter the Supe rstock class on bigger 750cc and now 1000cc bikes instead of 600cc bikes (which, for o bvious reasons , seems odd). Ho weve r, when yo u look at the Supercross and Motocross se ries it is standard prac tice for the race rs to make the ir introd uct io n in the 125cc class be fore moving to the 250cc class (that is if you are even good enough). Does th is direct con flict wit h the road racing class stru cture imply that 12Scc dirt bike sales are less important to the manufact ures than 250cc sales? I highly doubt it. Lik e others, I be lieve that the current road racing class str uctu re wate rs down the compe tition and makes it extreme ly difficult to understan d ifyou are a nonenthusiast. Why can't the the re simply be a 600cc class for the new guys and IOOOcc class for the tops guys? That wou ld not only follow in the footsteps of NASCAR but, mor e importantly, would be exa ctly like the curre nt Supercross/Motocro ss se ries. Mark Blackman Ponce Inlet, FL

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