Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128350
L etters to the editor should be sent to V oices, Cycl News, PO Box 508 4, Cosio Meso, e 0 0 CA92628-5084; foxed 1 714·75 1-6685 or emailed 1 edilar@cyd enews.cam. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the positionof CycleNews, Inc. letters should not exceed 200 words, and all are subject 1 editing. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. ... 0 Allletters should contain the writer's nome, oddressand doytime phone number... E ditor. " Isn't it enough to have won the GNCC National Championship t itle five t imes?" .c---:;;r-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - Defending Rossi Needing Nakedness Not Too Old Hoping to Make It Safer Rene LaPrevotte should be one to ta lk. It's quite obvious that Valentino Rossi's "sniveling" has more to do with getti ng himself hyped up to get the mental edge over his o pponent. He is not the champio n just because he's fast on a mo torcycle, but because he is mentally one ste p ahead as well. Throughout the season, he's spoken highly of Sete Gibernau and given him the cre dit that he dese rves and is far from being a prima donna. I'd have liked to have seen Gibe rnau, Biaggi, Barros, Edwards . Hayden and Tamada (I admire the m all) go from 23rd on the grid to eighth before the first corner, to fourth by the end of the first lap. When all that's said and done, the accomplished and talented "brat" is certainly enjoying himself - especially since "T he Doctor," Jeremy Burgess and Yamaha were able to defeat six first-level GP motorcycles on a motorcycle that people like yourse lf said it co uldn't be done on. You may not be multilingual, but I'm sure you know this term: Bravo! Paul Nguyen Norwalk, CA Let me get this straight. At the last European World Enduro Championship round of the year the promoter arranged for two strippers to "re move all their clothing" on stage with champion Juha Salmine n in front of BOOO spectators, but at the Las Vegas U.S O pen of Supercross, the police removed a nice young lady for sharing her breasts with the enthus iastic crowd. And the world's best riders want to come to the United States to race? As a side note, that wou ld have been a much better podium shot than Mladin and his Minime helmet, desp ite the fact my paper wou ld have needed to be shipped in a plain brown wrapper. (It's for the articles, I swear.) Cameron Frye via the Int ernet While glancing through this year's AMA nom inations (the AMA Sports' Awards), I noticed the conspicuous lack of Rodney Smith's name. How many people, much less in the U.S., more so around the world, after they reach the age of 40 even race anymore, much less ride competitively at that level, and can say that they' ve won a National Cham pionship? W hy isn't he in the running for Athlete of the Year? Isn't it enough to have wo n the GNCC National Championship title five times? Especially this year, when the rest of the competition is young enough to be his kids? After reading the nominations in Cycle News, I talked to Rodney and asked him why he wasn't in there. He didn't know. Can you help us understand? Phil Ande rson via t he Internet I am wr iting to you because I do not really know who to talk to about some issues I have with the motocross riders an d their safety. I have a lot o f people in my family and friends who race for fun. Each and every time I go to the track, I see you ng kids flagging. Well, I sho uld say try ing to flag. For exam ple, this past weekend I was at a race in Orange, Texas, w here my husband, niece and nephew were racing. In one of the races, this kid wen t over the jump and was just lying there - the young kid who was flaggi ng just sat there loo king at this guy who was on the ground. He shou ld have been flagging the other riders. Finally, I went to the fence line and yelled at this kid that he needed to flagthe other riders , and he did. This happens at almost every race that I have bee n to other than supercross. I wou ld like to know if I cou ld have your support in getting a flagging school going and having people certified to flag. I would like to start a flaggi ng company tha t wo uld provide these certified f1aggers to all races for the safety for our riders . I am not doing this to make money, but to save lives and to keep safety in the sport that my husband and family members enjoy so much . How would I go about getting spo nsors for this kind thing? Something rea lly needs to be done about this issue. I guess that it w ill take me as a mother and wife to take the first leap in doing something. Vicky Rock via th e Int erne t Needing Vermeulen Valentino Rossi won his ninth MotoG P in the final race , equa ling last year's accom plishment on a Honda. Clearly he has no real com petition and can be expected to win again next year. So what can Honda do in 2006? Let me suggest one name to them: Chris Verme ulen. Michael Delozier Rock lin, CA 4 Play the Anthem I am an avid Eric Bostrom fan, so I must say Mat Mladin is not one of my favorite riders in the AMA Superbike series . I do agree with him on one thing: I think that we should play the national ant hem of the places whe re the winning riders were born. The ISMA Super Modified car series plays the Canadian nationa l anthem, and they have on ly a few Ca nadian drivers. We should embrace the fact that we have racers coming to us from different cou ntries . Andrea Evans Mansfield. OH NOVEMBER 17 , 2004 • CYCLE N EW S No Girls I am wnnng in response to Mr. Pete r Go lde n's letter regarding women/girls being "too much trou ble" - so the NMA w ill not let them race. I am a father of two boys, so I'm not biased on this subject. I was very shocked and disappointed to rea d that the NMA was such a narrowminded organization . I would like to point out to the NMA that I was at Anaheim Supercross a co uple of years ago and saw a young lady smoke the res t of the competition in the KTM challenge. I think the NMA sho uld wake up and move forvvard . Let's not forget that just a couple of years ago we had hardly any African American riders in the top Pro rankings, and today James Stewart is arguably the fastest motocrosser on the planet. As a result , I see several young African American riders at the local races and think it is awesome for our sport. And finally to Mr. Golden, keep your daughter racing in the local clubs and havingfun. It is my opinion that the NMA events are over priced and overrated. T. Smith via t he Int ernet 40th Anniversary The U.S. Open and NBC We all have to give NBC a big hand for do ing a good job with the U.S. O pe n coverage. A big hand for the best wad our industry has seen in a while. Let's "cut the motorcycle racing for our regularly scheduled programming." Maybe our sport cou ld get as big as NASCAR if it got the respect it deserves. Watch a NASCAR race - if it runs over the allotted time it doesn't get cut off fo r regu larly schedule d programming. And if it did get cut off, it wouldn't get rescheduled to air again in the middle of Dece mber. It is funny how Speed Cha nnel made the time to cover the event last year - live! They gave the sport the res pect it deserves. Jesse Wilkes Montrose, CO