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/128619
IIWe all remember DaveYI and it helps to see his name and number 27. 11 In the Dark would like to comment on the ndianapolis round of the ren chead.com National Dirt T ra c k e ries (" A National Disaster: Iss ue 20, May 24 ). As a s pecta tor and an mateur d irt track team owner, I feel he organizers could have been a little ore voc al on kee p ing t he c row d nformed. Wha t was the big secret? I sat in th e sta nds for e ight ho urs, ot kn owing wh at a ny of th e de lays ere a bo u t. I fee l th at I p a id goo d oney to go s e e the ra c e , a nd th at I eserve a litt le re spect for tha t wh en hey c a ll the ver y la st ra ce (the main). I m s orry t ha t the ra c ing h ad t o be ailed due to sa fety reason s , but what oe s that mea n to me after s itting in the tands fo r e ight hou rs? Not until ' afte r ea d ing yo u r a rt icle d id the situation ake s e nse to me . I s hould not ha ve ad to go ho me not knowing. I noticed that Pace Moto r Sports ha s gr eat base to work with . Now a ll it eeds is a little people skills . Lort Bussell Wolcott IN Remembering 27 ust a s hort note to say thanks to Nicky ayde n fo r what he did in the great onda CBR600F4 ad vertiseme nt seen n a ll the majo r moto rcy c le p ublicaions . He may be only 18 years old, but e showed us a ll wha t a great human eing he is by wearing Dav ey Camlin 's tick er on his helmet. We a ll remember a vey , and it helps to s e e his name nd number 27 . He'll not easily be forgotten! Thanks, icky. steve L &tckson Faribault; MN Remembering Woody he fo llo wing is a letter se nt to the rang e Cou nty Reg is t er in Orange ounty , Ca liforn ia: I not iced a n article in the Reg ister on tu rday , J une 10 . Th e he adlin e stated Protests Aga inst Hiker Fees Planned ." e article stated that e nviro nmenta lts a re a ngry a bo ut being charged to se o ur Na tio na l Parks . The prote sts ere held in San Francisco , Yosem ite nd 23 othe r s ites. Th e e n viro n me nta lis ts are ups et ec a use t he U.S . Fo re s t S erv ice is om mercia lizing wilderne ss recr eation y s e lling adv e nt ure pa sses fo r $5 a ay or $30 a year. Off-road recreation lists pay these fee s a long with reg is - tration fees . We get mo re land closures, an d the Si e rra Cl u b gets m o re land locked up for their use . Yet they pro tes t fees th a t he lp maintain trails , pla nt seed lings , construct t rail s igns , and build pic nic tabl es and fire rings . Do off-road rec reationalists protest these fee s? They do not. It is about time the public sees th e e nvironmentalists for who they are - land -grabbing elitists wh o th ink th e ir wa y is th e only wa y. They wa nt to lock up la nd for their use only and pay no thing for it. Th ey eve n ha ve the pres ident behin d thei r ideals. I am reminded of the o ld pa tr iotic s ong we o nce pl a y ed . Re m e m b e r Am erica the Beau tiful? "Th is land is m y lan d ; this land is your lan d , from Califo rnia to t he Ne w York Isl a nd . T hi s Land was mad e for yo u and me ." Not any morel We ha ve got it for now , and we need to tak e it bac k. S1eveHeck Lake Forest; CA The Last On Ben After reading the latest letter from Rob Moffitt , I fe lt th e need to d efe nd Ben Bostrom . Mr. Moffitt, bein g a raci ng fan , no matter how "a na l" (y o ur words ), does not qualify yo u to ba dm outh a ny rider. Unless you a re cu rren tly, or have in the past, been a profess iona l racer th en yo u are no t qualified to ju dge a pro rider's pe rformance , or perceived lack of perform a nce. You have no ide a what it takes to com pete at that level, u nl e s s yo u yo u rse lf have done t h e same. Any rider who is com peting at an y professio nal level, no matter whe re t hey fin ish, d e s er ve s nothi ng b ut res pect for putti ng th e ir butt' s on the line week in a n d week out. Un le s s you' re out th er e on the gr id yourse lf, then you ought to show some respect to them all - per iod . I don't qu ite und erstand your pos it ion regard in g Juan Borj a a n d Bostrom? Borja sits well outside the top l O in the standings , 15th I believe, and he is a former 500cc Grand Prix co m petitor. Bostrom , in h is firs t s e ason c o m p et ing at the world le vel, s its in sixth o r seventh, and aft er swapp ing b ikes , Bostrom gets his firs t podium this past weekend. My point is this , feel free to tell us which riders you like, and say they did a grea t job, but lea ve the c riticism to the peop le who pay th e ir sa laries , or to the riders who ar e com peting with the m at the pr ofess iona l leve l. Tho se a re the people who a re qualified to give criticism, not us mer e mortals of the motorcycle world: Bruce Bluemm Palmdale, CA Loudon Displeasure I just sent a lette r to the President of AMA Pro Ra cing , Mr. Sco tt Hollingsworth , to ex pre ss m y displea s ure in th e way race fans and m ys e lf were treated at the rece nt Loudon roa d race. I princi pa lly object to the delays and silence following the 15-minute Superb ike rain practice. It was o bvi o us to most th at th e rain was going to affect the running of the race , so why keep us all ra in-soaked an d in the grandstands with this fa lse enc oura ge ment. So me of us ha ve lives outsi de of New Hampsh ire Internation al Speedway. Like I wrot e to Hollings worth , I a m glad for the race rs sa fety they wer e abl e to stand up for the mselves in the fac e of su ch pressu re from NHIS and the AMA, but get us the he ll out of our rain-soa ked clothes a nd on our wa y down the highwa y! Othe r tha n tha t, I wa nt to sa y you guys have the best website for catc hing up on rac ing news . Keep it up . James Kozak \I7a the InffNnet More on Loudon Sund ay at New Hampshire Intern ational S peedwa y was not what anybody wanted, but ba d weather is a part of raci ng . Superbike gu ys got s prinkled on during the warm -up lap and, rightfully so, they scrubbed the start of the race . We know ho w th e y fee l a bout th e ra in a t th a t track, so a delay was certa inly in order. After wa tc hing die-ha rd fa ns in the stands a nd conferring with fe llow local ride rs en te re d in Pro -Thu nd er , I approache d Ron Barric k a bo ut putting t h e Pro T h und e r ra ce a hea d of th e Su perbike Na tio n al for two reaso ns : This would ente rtai n the loyal fans s itting in the ra in; and it would probably be the on ly cha nce we would get sinc e the Super bike race was bei ng dela yed in ho pes o f bett e r weather. He sai d , 'Fine let' s get a riders' meeting .' Surpris ingly, t h e majo rity of the National Pro Th unde r guys joined in the opinion that Loudo n is too dan ger ous in the rain and they would no t ride . After J erry Wood ga ve his p itc h about safety and with ev e ry local guy saying they wo uld go , it sti ll did n't convince them th at it was okay . One particular rider who just returned from the Isle of Man was ve ry voca l about Lou do n being unsafe . Ha ve you e ver s e en a Fo rd dealer with a plate glass window in the apex of a turn at Loud on ? Or a 300 year-old tree just feet from your head at speed? I think not! A good num be r of loca l ta lented rid er s at Loudon a re capable of lap times mu ch lower than the majority of the Pro Thu nder guys, with th e exceptio n of a couple of riders, a nd they regula rly ba ttle for cha m pionships in the ra in as well as the dry . Are we rea lly that insane or stu pid? I dou bt it. T he d e c is io n wa s m a de to run it as a non -p o ints ra ce. Directly after that , the track owner was so upset ove r the pissing match that he d oubl e d th e purs e from $ 10 ,0 0 0 to $20,000. He 's m y new hero! S udd enly, so m e oppos e d rid ers ha d seco n d thoughts. It seem s money ca n po ss ibly cue. e c ha nge t he s a fe ty issue a littl e . Th e ra ce went off with 20 or so riders, mostly local s . I hav e high pra is e to Con rad, Hull, Mizdal, and a few others who rode the race s howing s o me sportsm a ns h ip. I c ons ider myse lf a p retty good frie nd with some of the othe rs at least before writing this letter, but they were ou t of line ma king that decis ion as a gro up. Th e th reat of ra in is always th e re , and th e crowd comes to see a ra ce. Th e hundreds of membe rs of LRRS, the largest club in th e country with loc a ls who c a n do 1: 12s, th ink it' s o kay to ride th ere in the ra in on more difficult bik e s to handle th an 110 -h ors e powe r twin s, a nd will conti nue to do so. I'm aro und a 1:19- 1:20 rider on a 10 -yea ro ld bike , a nd I wo u ld find it ha rd to believe that s peeding up the pace to 1:16 would be putting me at risk of m y life becaus e of the s urroundings. Superb ikes at 170 horsepower a re an entirely different story . We ha ve upwa rd of 1000 entries on a club weekend a nd a great safety record and so me of the best tale nt in the country. We used to run a s eparate race ca lled the Jimmy Adamo Memoria l ra c e befo re Pro Th under evolved, and it was alwa ys a grea t hit with the fa ns and a chan ce for club guys to show their stuff to the crowd. Maybe we should go back to that. I guarantee that we'll never refuse to ride in the ra in. Jimmy Adamo would have been the first guy to ste p up and s a y shut-u p and ride!' As it turned out, $ 13 ,3 00 of the purse sta yed in the local talent section, definitely m y bigg e st ra cin g paych eck ever at $1200 for fifth place. Ma ybe some of us locals had a different agenda , but I race five classes a wee kend at Loudon a nd hav e never felt like I'm taking unne c essary c ha nc e s riding there . St rictly for c re d ib ility , I m ight a dd that I won c ha m pionship tro p hies in all five cl a sses in 19 98 a nd ' 9 9 . S o e ve n th o u g h I am n ot th e fas tes t guy in the club, I'm certa inly far from th e lowest. Sorry if some of yo u do n't like it, but yo u can't be a nice guy a ll the time . Bob RobbIns \I7a the 1ntfNnet n e _ S • J UNE 28, 2000 5