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/128618
Wlf a person thinks they can win a Nationa l Motocross on a lOOOcc Ha rley, then let them go for it." un What You Brung th ink the AMA Motocross Nationals ould follow th e exa mples o f the ra nd N at ion al Cross Co u nt r y and ation a l End u ro Series an d le t th e ders c hoose w hat size bi k es th ey ant to r id e . J u st loo k at Sh an e atts - the guy ca n w in on any th in g . ot on ly d oes this promote his spon r's fu ll line of bik es, bu t it also lets e ri der choose th e b ik e that 's best it ed for the spe cific event. It ' d b e d i f f e ren t if we h ad m ore an one prem ier class (2 50cc) , but e do n't. So crown the Gr and Natio nI Ch am pion o f m oto cro ss on what er bikes they ride and then no one an co m p l ai n about un f a ir ad v a n ges when it comes to th e bik e (two ro k e vs . fo ur-strok e , 125 vs . 250 s. 520 o r what eve r ) . If a p erso n in k s th e y c a n win a N at i on a l otocross ori a 1000cc Ha rley , th en t the m go for it. Paul Threlkeld VIa the Internet Hi, Travisl y wi fe J enni f e r an d I are al wa ys nxio us to see th e race results for our vorite ri de r, Travis Pastran a. What e di d in th e fi rst 125cc m oto at High oint Race wa y in Mount Mo rris, Penn Ivani a , had us on th e ground laugh g. He was g ett i ng g oing after hi s ark -p lug cap c ame off, and T allon oh land was app roaching . " I rode by Pastran a whil e he w as uck, and he waved at m e," Vohl and id . " I co uld n' t bel iev e it!" Now that was a Kodak m oment. Co ng ratulatio ns to Pastr ana o n his rst -e ver N ati on al o utdoor m oto win s a Pro. Kevin Henrlques Blythe CA , ste alin g m y Ro g er D eCost er -a ut o gra phe d Su zu k i p i t shirt. A l so , a spec ia l t hanks to fo u r -ti me B l a c k w at e r 10 0 wi n n e r M a r k H yd e a nd three- t i me Da y t on a w i n n e r D i c k K lam foth for m ak ing a ppeara nces at my ce re m ony . Wha t a n h on o r t o h av e a c oup l e o f my moto rcycling h er o es in atten da nce, not t o m en tion the n am e -d ro p p in g o pport u ni ty it has perm itted. Wh il e my head ha s spe nt the la st 23 ye ar s in the military, my heart has al way s been with the sp o rt I love motoc ross . T hank s for making a littl e m oto freak very ha ppy . Rupert "X. Pellet Newark, OH In add ition to serving in th e military , Pellet serves his country by writing for Cycle N ews . MX East, Cycle USA, Distri ct 11 's new slett er, and Racer X Illustra ted... Edit or Not Happy Wo rd s like "wo rt hless," " dro ssy " and "c ra po la" come to mind wh en tryi ng to describe the page-wasti ng depart m e n t k n ow n a s t h e " B i k e s of th e St ars." If I was interested in lo ok in g at bi g, kick-ass photos wh ile read ing th e least amount of in fo rm ati o n as possib le I wo uld still be subscrib in g t o " kewl m a g s" l ike Di r t B ik e and D irt Ri d er . I fe el Cycle News read er s in genera l are an intelligent and l it e r a t e group of p eo p l e w ho a ctu a ll y en jo y r ea d in g about th is great sport o f ours . Do not tr y and please ever yon e. Resist the tem pt atio n t o appea l to the idle h ea d ed who l o v e to st a re vac an tl y at " awe so m e p ies ." Do no t let this great periodic al of yo urs fa ll from th e pi nna cl e of m ot orc ycl e jour nalism where it now resides. DanIel Jendre NorlM etd, OH Navy Honors 's ti me to sa y some tha nk yo us. O n e rec ent oc c asio n of m y retirement ere m o ny f r o m th e U n i t ed States avy, I wa s hon o red wi th numerous i1itary awa rds, c it at io ns, and tradi onal "atta boys ." W hile t h is was a ery important evolutio n for m e, and was d ee ply m o v e d , t h ere w ere any g ifts p res ented t o me fr om th e otorcycli ng /m otocross co m m u nity at we re extrem ely sp ec ia l. I wish ex p ress my sincere gratitude to e fo llo w in g: T ea m Honda , T eam uzuk i , Team FMF/ H onda. T e am hevy Tru cks/ Ka wasak i , a nd Team p l itFire / Pro C i r c u i t Kawasak i. igned j er sey s fro m Larry Ward and icky Ca rm i c hael re all y m a d e m y ay, a nd I'll hav e to f ig ht m y ol d chool budd i es to k eep th em from J ust to p rove th at it was n't on ly Bi kes of the Stars that h e dis liked, J en dre se n t us a not her l et ter ca ll i ng ou r Nu mber Plate de partm ent "useless tr i via" an d our Web ln si te "crap ..... Edit or i n g on Sa tu rd a y . Anyw ay , th at eve ni ng w e sat arou nd the c am psit e t alking ab out the rac es th at we ha d j u st w itnessed and threw back a few co l d ones . O n e of my f r iend s ha d j ust bo ught a ~ew Du cati 748 and all n i gh t w e tri ed t o g et hi m t o do a burn o u t - j u st to en tert a i n u s. A t a ro u n d o ne i n th e morning , afte r h ar assi ng h im fo r severa l ho u rs, he threw m e th e keys and t old me to d o it . As an old Ha rley ri der, the o p p ort u nity t o tak e a r id e o n an Italia n Su p e rbi k e w a s n ot g oi ng to b e missed. Anyway , I fired up th e Du cati and he aded ou t o nto t he inf iel d asph alt and procee ded t o smoke u p the rear t ire. I then rel ea sed t he brake a nd w as amazed at th e accele ra tio n of th is ma ch i ne a s I ro ck eted u p t he infie ld road in th e blink of an ey e. As I w as turn ing around to return to the c ampsite , up ro ll s Road Atlanta sec u rity. They sco ld ed m e fo r m y ac tio n and I coppe d a p lea that I was j ust c a ugh t u p in t he spirit o f t he ra c e weekend. Now fo r th e moral of th e sto r y: Se c u r i t y i n form ed me t ha t du r ing Satu rd ay 's eve nt, eight p eopl e h ad b e e n hurt i n t he i nfie ld. I do n o t kno w w hat hap pened , but I d o k now o n motorc yc les wi t h th e ac ce le ration t h at t he se m a ch in e s h a v e , th in gs ca n h ap p en re al fa s t. So , fo lk s, wh en yo u atte nd th ese k in d of events , d on ' t l e av e your c o m m o n se ns e at h om e . Think ab ou t h ow fas t th ese bikes are and how q uickly yo u co uld cha ng e your li fe o r som eon e e l se ' s . It was tr uly a t h r i ll to tak e a r id e o n my f ri e n ds D u c at i , and the burnout that I di d w il l' be a fo nd m em ory o f m in e fo r yea rs t o come. No t to ju st if y what I d id , b ut it w as 1 a .m. w h en I d id w h at I d id. But at t he sam e tim e, th ere wer e a l ot o f peo p le st i ll up and about at tha t tim e an d th ey c ou ld have eas ily stepped o ut in front of m e , hu rt ing t he m, me, my fri e n d ' s b i k e , a n d w ou ld have totall y ru ined th e week end fo r all inv olv ed . So as always - ride sm art, rid e saf e and rid e free. Gary Krause Albem arle, NC Misbehavin' in Atlanta I just ret urn ed fr om th e AMA Superb ike races at Ro ad A tl anta an d , as usual , they were a g re at bunch of rac es and a good time was had by all. I ca mped o u t in th e infie l d of t he Roa d A t lanta trac k alo ng with a whole bunch of other folks that were doing the same th ing. I m et up with a grou p of folks that I ha d hun g with the p r ev iou s yea r and we all enjoyed a fu ll da y of ra c - He' s Cla imin g a Victory I can appreciate and respect th e fact th at eve ryone has and sho uld express t hei r own op inions . In it iall y I attem pt ed at ex p ressing mine in a respectful an d c o n c i se m ann er. I c o uld hav e ex p l ai ned my k no w led g e rega rding J uan Borj a, Haru chik a Aok i (and hi s brothers), Col i n Edw a r ds , B e n Bo strom , etc ., etc . In fact, I am quite k n o w l ed g eabl e , bord er ing an al , i n cue I e regards to road racing - both past and pre sent. The poi nt I tried to make was that T PG sho u ld hav e ac c ep t ed the fac t there are " presentl y " fa r supe rior rid er s fro m other nations than the U .S. N ic k y Ha yden w ill und o u b ted ly b e World Ch ampion ship material sho rt ly , as w ill K u rt is Ro b erts. I p artic ul arly don 't g ive a sh it wh at nati onal co lors you fly as lo ng as you ride wi th your heart on your sleeve. For exam p le, I wou ldn 't care if Frank ie Chili or J oey D un lop were from Ven us - they are bot h aged but th e b a ll si e st in th e spo rt . M y per sonal fa vorite wo uld be J immy Adamo . He never saw w orld lev el status, but he rode w ith all he had every t im e he sad d led up. And that' s a factl So, all th e sim ple -minded individ uals w ho decid ed to slam m y account of what was un fol di ng can wave their flag s all sum mer bec ause rest assured an A merican will take th e title. It j ust won 't be Ben Bo st ro m . Ben 's representative, who also chose to speak up , shou ld tak e not ice of M r. Bayli ss and hi s ac hievements and note t hat M r . Borj a is now on the factory team. I hate to say I tol d ya so , but... B o strom ha s o ut sta nd in g t a l ent , but he is only top -s helf AMA m at er ial (tho ugh that 's nothing to be ashamed of) . I also wi sh to apol og ize t o Mr. Moffit of Kawas ak i for any inconveni enc e m y stupid little opi nio n caus ed hi m. On e m ore t hi ng: Van c e & Hin es sure get s p lenty of int ern ati on al ex po sure from all of Go bert and Bostrom 's mi sf ortun es (r egarding th e us e of V&H lea th ers for var i ous t ea m s ). Please kee p up th e good work . Part of th e reas on I have my persona l wa re hou se of trivial kn owledge reg ard ing th e sport is beca use of yo ur p ublica ti ons ex celle nt reporting. T h e s c o r e : Thos e B l ind e d by National Pride - 0 ; Rob Moffitt - 1. RobMomtt VIa the Internet ne vv s JUNE 2 1 ,20005