Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

'The organizers did the right thing when they cancelle d the ·e ve nt. Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News. 11 P.O . Box 50 84 . Costa M esa. CA 92628- 5084 . faxed to Sears Point anks for th e excellent su mmation t he Sears Point situatio n in T ear wn last week Issue #20 , Ma y 24 ) . s a sha me you eve n had to writ e it . E ve r ybody ' s focus these da y s is e, me, m e. "I'm mad the re was n' t a ce . .. " or " I' m m ad I drov e all the ay there . . ." a nd " I ' m mad a t the MA," etc ., etc. , et c . Yo , race fa ns , t a damn clue, yo u morons . I'm from th e eas t coast. and ev en m here I know th e situation th at is t s at Sears Point. When I fl y to alifo rni a eve ry ye ar for the race s, I ow I m ig ht not see a rac e. Th is is t he wa y it is! Fans need to stop being so selfish d loo k at th e bi g picture . I've seen ough death at th e racet rack in my e to k no w th at racing at an un safe n ue in unsafe circums tances is ways a bad id ea. The organ izers did the right th ing he n they cancelled the event. Once again. great editorial. Hopeful . people will read it and understan d. Ed Slccardl Jr. DownIngtown,. PA More on Bostrom ove th is ne ws paper. Hav in g been a ng ti me r ead e r, it is always fun t o ad th e Vo ices sec tion to see th e d if re nt opin ions . Mr. Moffi tt, I g uess. s found out that it pa ys to have u r fact gu n l o a d e d before yo u oot! Wh at a g reat res po nse fr om . ed B ramblett (Issue #2 0, M ay 24) . ed, yo ur last parag raph says it all . Mr. M offitt , tr y pu tting you rse lf in en 's shoes . I could not even t h in k w difficult it wou ld be to go o n to orld Superbike like he has . After all, ve t he ma n a chanc e to p ut so me e in the sadd le . Let me finish by y ing Ben Bostrom poss esses more ing talent than I c an eve r realize . hanks, Cycle New s, for t he facts. Go, Ben Bostrom . USA .. . USA... SA ... USA Andy Smith Longmont CO Trials Sales Pitch ould rea ll y like to thank you for the creased coverage of tri als in Cycle ew s. I have rec en tl y started rid ing ial s again an d cannot be liev e t he ifference in the " m od ern " bikes vs. hat they used to be years ago . Fo r y o ne who hasn 't tr ied t rial s, it is a ast. T he drill is pretty sim ple . For the first hou r or , you wonder what you hav e go tten to, and notic e how weird and d iffer t t he bik e fee ls. A fter th at , y o u ot ic e that it's pretty coo l and t ha t uscles you never k new y ou had ar e re d. T hen th e ridi ng starts t o get ally fun . And then y ou 're hooked. As a rider progresses and st a rts trying more challenging obstacles . th e adrenalin rush starts hitting. Hitting a step , or climbing a big rock - hey, the ru sh t ha t y ou get when you t ry that first doubl e in m otocross retu rns. Then yo u try a n event . a n d it's really ne at. Ev er y on e ta lk s to one another. Everyon e helps each other o u t - eve n if yo u are c omp et in g ag ainst ea ch othe r. And y ou g et to rid e - no 10 m inu tes of practice pl us two 15- mi nu te m o tos. You actu all y ri de for 2- 4 hou rs . An d no o ne car es if y o u are a beg inner or an expert just that yo u are out t her e. T he fam ily environment is al so wo nde rful. If you rid e di rt , yo u ha ve to tr y tr ial s, bu t be w arn ed : You w i ll get ho ok ed . And your ri di ng ab ility w ill in crea se d r amatica lly, especially in tig ht , tec hnical conditions . If you ca n' t fi nd a friend who has a tria ls bike , ju mp o n the web and co n tact a local cl ub. Yo u can al so contact the Trials Training Center in T ennessee or Moto ventures in Anguanga , Ca lifornia. They can help. Tracy Screeton \1a the Intem et Check out pag es 35 and 71... Editor David Bailey Tha nk you so much for the article on D a v i d B a il e y . It b ro ught back so many great m em o ries, especia lly the 1986 M oto cro ss des Nations. Fortunately, I'm ty pin g this on a computer - otherwise the paper would be so ak ed w ith tears. Patrick Caselli San Jose, CA Pastrana - Hero We are fortunate that Travis Pastrana is successful as a moto cross and Supercross racer. His education. public rela tions skills and clean -cut good looks will do much to uplift the public image of motocross and Supercross. If h is success continues, I beli eve he will particularly im pact off-road newcomers. It is crucial for pa rents and potential newcomers to be involved and excit ed . How ca n they rem ai n encouraged when th e top racers continually butch er the En glish lang uage during in terviews? Th e ir lack of even the most basic education is quickly and pain ful ly evident. I would be ve ry interested to see the education levels and educa tion activity of all the motocross and Superc ross pros racing today . Besides a small number of sta ndouts suc h as M r . Pa stran a , m y g uess is th at t he resu lts would be bleak . Add itionally , t he well-p u blicize d beh avi or of jump video sta rs like Seth Ens low a nd m ot o cro sser J eff Emig helps to re inforc e th e neg ativ e publi c attitudes about m ot orcyclists. W it hout the lu r e o f scholarship s, high -dollar p ro c ont racts, and relative 714/751-6685 or rider safety , the only hope for improving public im age and increasing enthusiasm for new motocross and Supercross participants i s with scholars like Pastra na. e-mai led to editor@ cyclenews.com . Pub lished letters do not necessarily reflect Dave Rose Rosamond" CA the position of Cycle News. Inc . Letters Bring on the Pits should not exceed 200 words and all are I hav e read th e propositio n offered b y so me of t he rid ers in th e Gran d Prix ci r c ui t abo ut p it st o p s fo r r a in o r whate ver. I think it's a fabulous id ea. E ver y ye ar at Daytona , pit sto ps are a hug e part of the st rateg y of racin g and it truly m a k es the eve nt m ore excit ing. In fact , watc h ing fro m t he sta nds , we saw a privateer tr y to sto p so q uickly t ha t he ende d up po pping h im self ove r the b ik e and o ve r t he wall while takin g o u t one of h i s m echan ic s in the process . T hankfully, no one was hurt and he co ntinued to race - but it made a good funn y . For GP purposes , pit stops would be an outstanding id ea fo r competi tive team involvement. It's a win /win situation for the riders, the race, and the spectators. Step hen Coates Columbus, GA We Love This Guy I would just like to say that I have been a Cyc le News r ead e r for 29 years . Every week I look fo rwa rd to ge tti ng my newspaper. F o r 2 9 years, yo u guys and girls have done an excelle nt j ob reporting o n m ot orcy cl in g eve nts and news. Wh y is it th at every week someone is bitch ing abo ut an erro r or so m eth in g like , " I wa n t mo re trai l s co ve rag e?" I thi nk so m eo ne should start a pa per called " Let' s Bitch." I personally don't care abo ut these c ry babies. Do you people ever think where w e would all be if we di d n' t have Cycl e News? Quit your complaining and enjoy the greatest motorc y cl e newspaper we could ev er ask fo r. After all . for $42 a year where else can you get that ki nd of value for your money? By the way , I just renew ed for two more years . K eep up the good wo rk . Yo u guys are un derp aid for all the bab y sitting tha t yo u do. Bob Valin Amity, OR Average Speeds As usual. I spend q uite a bit of t im e read ing the wo rld's fin est m ot orc y cl e newspaper, Cycle News. I am amazed abo ut th e am ount of info rmatio n th at winds up on the pages, and most of it is error- free . However, I am goi ng to co m pl ain abo ut th e tables in severa l of t he res ul ts sec tio ns o f th e r o a d r a c e repo rts. An ex am p le: pag e 8 , midd le co l um n, and fina l paragra ph of Issue #2 1. " O nly m arg inally slower than Heckert - cue. e subject to editin q. Anonymous lett ers will not be considered for publ icat ion . All letters should conta in the writer's name . address and daytime phone number... Editor. < o _. n fD en helm, M onz a is th e second -fastest ci r c ui t on the 200 0 calenda r. T he co nt rast with th e much slower, undulating and en dlessly c u rv ac eo us nature of Donington Park t he pr ev ious weekend was stark to say the least, wi th Donington provid ing speeds of 95 mph at best, but Monza times almost breaching the 125 mph barrier." What I' m co m plaining about is the co m plet e lack of speed re portage in the resu lts section of the Monza race report. Sure, all the qu alifying times in mi nutes seconds , and fractions there of. are p u b lished , but the a verage speed of neit her the qualifying nor the final event is given . By contrast, t he Do ningt on Par k results list the qua lify ing t i m es in minutes and seco nds althoug h like th e Monza resul ts , no speeds are p ri nted . How ev e r , eac h ra ce's resu lt is quite com p lete in that t h e r a c e t im e , d i s t an c e , a ve r a ge speed and m ar g in of victory is li sted . Back to the Monza report : it almost sounds like the author, Gordon Ritchie, is downpla yinq the skill and bravado necessary to wi n a race at Do ni ngton Park vs. the contest at Monza because th e ave rage speed at Monza is 30 mph lower. However. I c an't imagine any body calling a 95 mph average slow! I haven 't been t o ei t her circuit. but I have seen the track layout diagrams and the excelle nt pi ctu res in Cy cle News and o ther pu b li c at ion s, and I would bet tha t nobo dy finishi ng on the podium at Don in gt on co ul d b e anything but a super bly co ndi tioned tacti c i an w ith a r ac e face t hat co u ld be seen be nea th his helmet. J ody NIcholas vta the Intemet Not tieuiriq th e average speeds listed in t he res u lts from Mon za was an oversig h t on o u r p art. 1 a ls o do n't beli eve that Rit ch ie was downp laying t h e average speeds at Do n i ng ton Park. I believe h e w as simply making a co m p a r i so n b etw een t h e two venues beca use th ey are co mp lete ly differen t - at least in terms of ave rage speed ... Ed itor n e _ s • J U NE 7 . 2000 5

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