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/128615
"It's high time that Mother's Day is no longer a race day." Le ave Well Enough Alone Cycle New s, thanks for keeping up such a great wor k and for the story on the flare up between World Superbike and Grand Prix racing . I th in k the Flammini guys (the World Super bike promoters ) are really scared of someth ing they d on 't n eed to be scared of. I am al so appalled and offended by th e statement by Flamnini that spect ato rs can 't tell the difference between proposed four-stroke Gra nd Prix racers and Superbik es. I think changi ng th e ki t World Superbi k e bike rul e is a b ig m istake fo r them and so is allowing op en class multi-c y l inde r s t o r ac e a gains t 1OOOcc twins. I t hink the World Superbike guys are re a lly sc a re d o f lo si n g the ir popularity and support j ust becau se the Grand Prix Series will allow the use of four-strok es. T wo -stroke or four -st ro ke - it never re ally mattered to us, th e fans. All we've ever wanted to see is good, dose raci ng with as many bik es and race rs as po ssibl e. World Superb ike is doing a g reat job of achievi ng tha t and I don't th ink th at will ch ange. One reason for th e pop ula rity of World Superbike is the fact tha t th e m achi n es t he y u se are clos e t o what we actu ally ride on th e street. We can ide nti fy t ho se bikes and c an re spe ct th o se w h o ca n r id e them at th e highest level. But when w e w at ch Grand Pr i x , we w ant so m ething more. Becaus e it is sup posedly the p innacle of m otorcycl e r acing , we want t o see som eth in g m ore than th e excitement of dose racin g. If GP raci ng w an t s to p it four-strokes aga ins t two-strokes, let the m. Wh at exci tes us about wa tch ing GPs is th at it is the best in the world - manufacturers and /or rac ers - challen g ing boundaries and things we don't even have a due about. World Sup erb ik e should never go back to th e ol d sty le just t o g et more attention fr om the manufac turers so that they have to keep spending so much on their fac tory team s. Look at racers like Noriyu ki Haga or Pier-F rancesco [Chi li ] - or those Ja panese Sup erbike p il ots why do th ey need open -class mul tis? Those 750s are more th an a match for th e Du cati s and RC51 s. The Ducat i and RC51 are competi tive becau se Foga rt y and Edwards are riding th em . It is the rider that makes the bi g difference. The Aprilia Mill e is fina lly doi ng we ll . Wh y? Because th ey have T roy Corser. And th e Bimota SB8 scored a victory because it was p iloted by Gobert. I thin k Wo rld Superbi k e should stay on it s current cou rse. And I am fully supporti ve o f the new GP proposal because I want to see how far four-stroke technology can be advanced to compete with the best two-strokes. I am not, ho we ver, interest ed in how Formula US A ty p e Rl /R7 hybrids fare against Kenny Roberts Jr . ' s RGV because I know the R7/ R1 is no match for that as long as the GP bikes are being ridden by the very best. If manufacturers want to build four-stroke racers that can actually run against today 's top SODs like th e YZR, NSR , or RGV , they need to bu ild something com plete ly different from Superbikes and forget about any existing open cl ass sport bikes like the R1, CBR, or 9R. I thinks it is Flammin i who can 't te ll t he difference between a street b ik e -based four -s troke (whe th er 100 0 or 750c c ) and the proposed fo ur -st roke GP bik es. But I can te ll the differen ce and I am sure m os t of us c an, so le t's not make thi s confusing. We are ob viously m uch more k nowledg eable and ed ucated th an Flammin i beli eves we are. In dosing , I want t o sa y t o the F lamm i nis: " Yo u j u st st ick wi t h what you ' ve go t and what you are doing. You ar e doing incredible job and as long as it remains the same yo u ar e not going to lose your audi - en ce. ,., Rath er than w or ry ab out t he ru les , thos e gu ys should fo cus more on th eir ri d ers, their welfare, safety , sala ries, and so on. Gray Kurosawa Cambridge, MA The Four-Stroke Series Th is is i n r esp onse to M r. M ar k Moore 's lette r (Issue #19 , May 17). I ap p reci ate h is c on c erns , and th e oppo rtunity to address this directl y, in a positive and in formative manner. W ith M r. M o ore being an announcer at the famous G l e n Hele n MX Park in San Bern ard ino , Cal ifornia , a track that hosts AMA eve nts, h is knowledge of AMA rules would b e o f great i m p o r t an ce . I refer spe cific all y to AMA rul es set up for rider safety . Sinc e I do not recognize y o ur al le g at ion s, M r. M oore, to be 100 p erc ent ac c u r a t e, your remark s appear to be un c alled for, bi ased p ersonal st ate m en t s. The re i s no question of anyone levy ing fines for ac tions taken to avoi d d an gero us pe rso nal injury to any of our four stroke riders. I took consecutive ph oto s at th e Mesquit e event fo r the first start of mo to on e . One p h o t o cle a r l y proves th ere was a safety situation that needed to be addressed within seconds before the leaders sped towards th e finish line straight. There were riders on the ground and other bikes st alled w ith riders trying to restart the m . The deci sion was made between the track pro moter and myself to red flag the moto and restart it - based on the AMA rules and for the safety of all rid ers. No ifs , ands or buts about it - just d o it for safety first. It was simpl e. For the record, the rider your let t er r efers to , in regard to r id ing anoth er bik e in moto two , received no National points. He rod e another bike not knowing the rules stated in the 2000 AMA rules that govern AMA Pro competition. No refer enc e was made that this ri der was goin g to ride a d iffer ent b i k e f ro m t he one h e ro de in t he first moto . It was an o versi gh t by t he ride r; h is honesty is no t to be qu e sti on ed . He put h is li fe a n d career on the li ne, j ust as so m any others have. I hope you ca n respect that. He fi nished fo urth in the sec ond moto and ha d his points taken awa y. I im pos ed thi s aft er every rider wa s given t h e cou r t esy to m ake a forma l p rot est to the referee or m ysel f re g ar ding th e in fra c t ion. Th ey all chose not to pr otest un d er Chapt er 6, secti on D, sen tences 3 and 4 . Please n ote th e articl es writte n by Mr. Rob ert Van Damme in Cycle News , as well as w h at is o n th e webs it es around the world. Thi s is correc t inform ation. T hese r id e rs l ook up t o o ne anoth er. T hey ha v e som ething to lo o k forward to in this series . It' s not just the money; it's the camara d er ie. Le t these words be v er y cle ar to you . This great motorcycle industry and t he people who read it s pu b l ica t ions do n ot need you r negativ e personal com me nts pr inted for us. No even t ever go es off perfectly , though we all give it gr eat effort. Th e p romoter was not "over his head in say ing ye s" to hosting th e event. T h e m ark et pu ll for th e NMA World Min i , just over an ho ur and a hal f sout h, was a concern of m i n e. W e w ent o ve r th at f a ct i n detail an d th e promoter st ill wanted to endorse the second round of th e seri es. Th e p romoter and his cr ew work ed vigoro u s l y t o p ro v i d e a fa cil ity t hat satisfied th e riders and myself. A not her t rack promoter and his sta ff, t he series riders, me chan ics and myself all gave suggestions and co m men ts . Posi t i ve chan ges were m ade du ring the course of t he week end. cue I e By the way , AMA Western 4 Strok e Na tional Seri es rid ers Ch ris Neitze l and Jesse Allen raced both th e NMA World Min i and the AMA Western 4 -Stro k e Nat ional eve nts . Don SChneI er d Lake Oswego, OR Ha ppy Mother's Day Congratulations to Stephane Roncada and Rick y Carm ic hael for th eir well deserved overall wins at Glen Helen in the opener of the AMA Motocross Natio nals. I am glad that I was on hand to see thes e you n g stars score t he ir fi rst Nat io n al v i c t o ri e s in t hei r respective classes , but I am so rry tha t th is will be the last year tha t I attend this event unl ess th e sche d ule changes. In past ye ars I have read the let ters co m pl ainin g abou t holding the fi rst Na tiona l on Mo the r's Day and have a gre ed w i t h the writers of those letters . However, until now, after being in a relationshi p with a woman with two small children for the past y ear, did I really relate to what other men were sayi ng about ho w hot the water gets when motorcy cling takes a priority over everything else . T he water I experienced was ex t re mely hot and base d on this I will atte n d the Was houg al N ational inst ead o f Glen He len if the race fa lls on Mother ' s Da y in 200 1. Pl eas e , pretty pl eas e , fi n a ll y c h an ge the schedul e t o make i t easier to show our appreciation to the women in our lives and to give th e ri de r s a we ek o ff b efo r e t h e Nati on als st art. Th e schedule is not th at t ight, so I am at a loss as to why on earth this bad tra dition contin ues. It 's high ti m e th at Mother's Day is no longer a race day . Michael RIgdon Hermosa Beach, CA n e _ S • MAY 31. 200 0 5