Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

lV-twins are win ningl but not Ducatis. II Love of the Sport? In response to co m ments I m ade in a previou s letter, firs t let m e sa y th at my pro blem isn 't with jump ing con te sts - it' s with pe ople a ttac hi ng the term m otoc ros s to it. If th ey na m ed it a sho w off contest, whic h is what it is , I wouldn't have a ny problem. Secondly , I like Trav is Pastrana , but he is the exc e pt ion more than the rule . Everyone whines why can 't we ge t cov erage like NASCAR . Why c an 't we get money and sponsors like NASCAR? We ll, 99 percent of th e drivers in NASCAR don't look like punk rockers wh en they ste p out of the car and pull th eir he lm ets off. A la rge segment of the publ ic looks at motocross/Supercross and th inks we're all ju st a bunch of lun atic we irdoes . We don't need to re inforce that image. Las t I wou ld lik e to comment on the FIM's c urre nt efforts to s cr ew up th e World Mot ocross Ch ampionships. T h e single -moto id e a has already been tr ied when the AMA was trying to sc rew u p our National Champ ionship s, and it didn 't work . It ' s a s orry day when television is allowed to dictate ou r sport and s et our rules . The FIM and their counterparts a t the AMA a re on ly in c h a rg e to th e extent that the fa cto ries all ow them to be . The public hates the FIM and th e AMA. Where the top riders go the s port and pub lic will follow , and the fa ctories contro l the top riders. We have more television coverage th a n ever and the amount of b ik e s being so ld is goi ng down every year. It's not a bo ut what is good for motorcycl in g; it ' s about a few old men m a king money o ff of us . I say if tel e visi on wants to cover the ra c es fine , if th e y don 't screw 'eml It used to be about love of the sport. LeWis 6reer too we ll. Ke e p up t he g o od wo rk , Cy cle News . Shane McCarthy Tucson, AI Ducati in Agony After convincing a ge ne ration of motor cyc le enthus iasts th a t on ly a V-t win with desmo va lves ca n win Superbik e C ha m pions hips, t he fo lks a t Ducati m ust be in agony after a rev iew of the first two World Superbike round s. V - twt ns a r e w innin g , b ut n ot Ducatis . Even m or e te lling is the fact that the Honda won the 24 Hours of Le Mans - a ve nu e Duc at i won't even contest for o bvious reasons. What's next, a Ha rley victory? Broce Armstrong Santa Barbara, CA Good Trials Thanks for the nice s tory on EI Tr ial de Espa na a nd also for the excellent World rou nd c o ve ra g e fr om Mario Candellone . After nearly 30 years of involvement in va rio u s t yp e s o f m oto rc y cl ing , I re c e ntly "d is c o ve re d " trials about a year ago whe n I wanted to start my boys - aged seven and nin e - rid ing m oto rc ycle s . Bill Ma rk ham, the ATA president , ha s really pu t a lot of effort into the kid's tria ls progra m in Southem Californ ia with s pecial kids onl y s e c tions at each trial. He a lso offers trials schools for both children a nd adults. Bo th of my boys have made dram atic improvements in t hei r riding ski lls as a res ult of the program , one that .stre sses s killfu l use of the contro ls a s well as ba lance . I th in k it is a n excellent founda tio n for wha tever type of rid ing they may do later on in life. Got kids? Bring 'e m out! steve Storz VIa the Internet Bashing Ben Sprtngdale, AR While y ou are en t itled to y our ow n opinion, y our statemen t abo ut motorcy cle sales bei ng down is s im p ly ina ccurat e... Ed it or. A Job Well Done? I find myself, o nc e a g ai n , h av ing to com ment on a letter. Th e lett er in th e Apri l 19 iss ue "A J ob Well Don e ? " distu rbed me . I fee l the ed ito r pu t th is c ha p in h is p lace fo r th e m ost p a rt , but I have to contr ibute as well. Get a life Mr. Duval! I kn o w if I wa nt to wa it for ra ce results then I do not loo k at cyclenews .c om . Duh . Mr. Duvall is asking a lot of Cycle New s to wait o n posting results for his benefit. Forget about the rest of the Cycl e New s users, Mr. Duv all is the important one here. To be hon est Mr. Ed itor , ta ke it as a co m p liment. Clearly he m a ke s the poin t that yo u do yo ur jo b well - Le t m e start by saying Be n Bostrom p o s s e s s es m or e rid ing ta lent t han I could ever rea lize. Unfortu nately, due to po litics of raci ng , the wron g m an was hired for the job . At the level that he is trying to compete, one needs to be very deter m ined . I cons ta ntly rea d excuses for poo r times and ha ve seen Bostrom thoroughly trou nced in recent competi tion. Adm itte dly, he was the only Am erican ready to go over to World Super bike , b ut perh a p s th e y should h a ve hired the most c a pable (rega rdles s of nat iona lity) man for the job . It is a d isgra ce to see the Du c ati Cor se ma c h in e be in g p a ss e d by Ha ruc hika Aok i and Juan Borja (two new ride rs - with no excus e s ). Coli n Edwards - no w he is the ex act op po s it e o f Bostr om. Colin is hun g ry , ambitious and c ons is te nt. I will guarantee that Troy Ba ylis s will es ta blish the pr o per s e tt ing s and comp a t ible s peeds in on e weekend (at Sugo ). If Ben can't learn a tra ck in a weekend he ne eds to co m e hom e and c ircl e th e sam e o ld t racks he did in the pa st. I love th e s po rt and I respe ct his a bilities, but he is not the right rider fo r th e ta s k a t ha nd. Qual ify ing and running in the 15-20 po s ition pr ov es it. Send hi m ho m e to the AMA . RobertMomtt vta the Internet I'm going to d efend Bostrom on th is one. For one, neith er A ok i nor BOIja are slouc hes. Far from it. Both are very expe rience d road racers. Aoki was a Grand Prix racer for eig h t years before moving to th e World Superbik es and th ose eig h t years incl uded two 125cc World Cha mp io ns h ips . Borja, m ean w hile, has raced 500cc Grands Prix for th e past fiv e y ears and prior to that he raced 25 0s. Both h ave a lso be en to and raced a t Phillip Island on numerous occasions. Bost rom , on th e othe r hand, d idn 't have his first race on a S uperb i ke until 1997 an d th a t w as only fo r three races . I th ink y ou 'r e w ro ng in qu estion in g B ostrom's hunger and am bition, but I g uess it's up to him to p rov e th a t to y ou . For compa rison 's sake, Colin Edwards fin ished I I th in his first World Superbike Cha mpionsh ip in 1995. I'll sum it up w it h this: It a in 't easy an d it takes tim e. How about w e g iv e Bostrom a cha nce... Editor. PACE Response I was re ad ing the a rt icle writte n by S te ve Co x tit led SX S mackdow n (Is s u e # 16 , April 26) a n d ha d t o re ply. I was a mazed at how thi s got past you . It is full of so mu c h stu pidity I do not know whe re to start. Firs t, let me say , in no way will PACE/SFX ever be invo lve d in com paring S upercross ra cing to wre stling . I have heard th is before , a nd to think a sport we have been involved with for ov e r 25 years , s ince its inception, that we wo uld t ry a nd re m o ve the c o m pe tit io n a nd racing element fo r th e staged e ntertainment of the WWF o r WC W is to ta lly ludi c rou s . Ju st be c ause our com pa ny is involved in Monster Truc k ra c ing, whi ch by th e way is not fixe d o r sta ged , but very com pet itive raci ng by s e rious dr ive rs, a nd ha ve a re lationship with WCW , does not mean a ll of our ra cin g pro p e rt ies wi ll fo llow tha t rout e . It is a bsu rd to think of a ll the money a nd ene rg y PACE ha s s pent ove r the la st five ye a rs to bu ild a racing p rope rty tha t ca n co m p e t e, and s om eti me s blow a wa y , the othe r form s of motorized racing , in te le vision rati ngs , live t ic ket s al e s , etc . that we wou ld s h ift ou r fo cu s to a different form at. O ur co m pa ny is in the busin e ss of producing and promot ing live enterta inmen t eve nts . Ou r a bility to increase the va lue for the "live" fan ha s contribut ed cue. e to the success of th is pro perty as much as the ha rd wor k of every ride r, team , me chan ic , aftermar ket company, a nd spon sor. When you look aro und at pro fess iona l bas ketba ll, footba ll and base ball , they ar e always looking for ways to ma intai n their fan base a nd ex pa nd that base by incr easing the value of the prope rty without jeopa rd izing the pro fessionalism and value of that prop erty . We a re trying to do the sa me. The pa y per view is a costly, risky venture. The value will come from the acceptance of o ur ent hu siasts , th e exposure we get from non-enthu s iasts , plus the opportun ity to see ho w our property is pro duced for live televis ion. The ABC s how opened ma ny eyes to our sport. Ou r ratings prove that not only is this property growing, but we can also hold the NASCAR audience for the entire hour. If th is live shoot proves to be successful, the n our ability to sell it "live " to the network s will increase s ubs tantia lly. Th ere fore , if yo u love Supercross , plea se tun e in. If you wa nt to expose friends to Supercross, invite them over, but do not sit back and te ll me that ou r on ly a mbition is to create a WWF or WCW pro pe rty , or that we ar e trying to ex ploit ou r "dedicated fa ns. " Ou r job is to offer those fa ns the ne west a nd most innovative wa ys for them to enjoy the sport they love , and let the m decid e if they like it. And if th ey do , we need to build o n that , an d if th ey don 't , we ne ed to try something else and make that work better. Curre ntly , th e NBA, MLB a nd NFL ha ve seve ra l pa y per view pr ogra ms . I only wish we co uld follow in th ose footsteps. We a re in a wo rld of tough m otor s port competition . For S upercross to ac hieve furt her rec ogn ition , we m ust take chances and continue to bring it to th e for efron t of Am er ican spo rts , and hopefully one day we will get our shot for a s e ries of live , netwo rk te levised programs. And then, the sky is the limit. 6aryBecker Houston, TX Beck er is t h e CEO of PA CE Motor Sp orts ... Ed it or. n e vv s MAY 1 0, 2000 5

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