Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"You'd think those Euros would know by now that you don't make an Am e rican mad and get away with it." EI Jeffe Jr. I was appalled to read about the rock a nd bo ttle hu rling by the crowd at the Cat alun y an G ran d P rix in Sp a in . Accord ing to the author, the fans were especially ven geful toward the winner Kenny Roberts J r. Th is mak es no sense to m e. In your J an uary 5, 2000 issue (Issue #50), you na med Kenny Rob e rts Sr. as the Rider of the Century. On e of the a rticle 's co ntribu tors , Dennis No yes, sa id: "Tod a y, Roberts is an idol in Spain and is known to all the fans a s el jeffe (the boss) ." What is go ing on here? If th e Spa nis h fa n s idoliz e the e ld e r Roberts as much as yo ur story indicated , why on earth would t he y vent such anger toward his son? I wo uld think tha t they would be ecstatic to see Kenny J unior winning - 21 yea rs a fte r his fathe r stunned (a nd a ppa rently won the hearts of) the Span ish fans . RonD/llon BoIse, fD According to Noyes, wh o is currently in Spain , there are three reasons why Roberts Jr. is gelling treated the way he is by the Span ish fans: "Let's remember that Ken ny Sr. wasn't racing against A ngel Nieto, while Junior is competing aga inst Span iards li ke Alex Crio ille and Carlos Checa, " Noyes said. "Secondly, wh en Kenny [Roberts Jr.] tho ught he'd already w on the race in Jerez and d id his b o w in o ne of t he co rners , t he Spa n iards ha d already h eard th at the race w asn't over and they thought he was m ock in g th em · so me th i n g h e did n't understand at the time. The th ird thing he faces is th e unpopularity of h is sponsor Teleionice Movistar . Right now th e p res iden t of Tetefori i ce is being accused of insi der trading on the Spanish stock market and it adds to the bad repu tation o{lha t sponsor. A lso, remember th at Teletonice Mooistsr used to sponsor a Spanis h team with Span ish riders. Now there is no Spa nis h rider on tha t team, despite th e Span ish spo nsorship. Junior is really just a v ictim of circums tances... Ed itor. Jeffro Says... As most peo ple k now, t his ha s not ex actly be en th e best of sea sons for me . Injuries a re nev e r fun , e s pecia lly whe n they come at s uch ino ppo rtu ne moments , but it ha s all been made ea sier by the fact th at m y fans hav e stuc k with m e throug h it al l. I'd like to ta ke th is m omen t to tha nk everyone for a ll th e b e s t wish e s sen t m y wa y via e ma ils, ge t-we ll cards , pho ne calls a nd positive tho ug hts . My recovery is goi ng well, and I loo k forwa rd to being aroun d the ra ces some t ime s o on. Th an k s es pe cia lly to TheEdgeSports.com for stic king with me during these try ing times and for e na bling me to achieve my dream of having m y own team. JetrEmlg Men~CA The Isle of Man I e njoyed th e c overa g e of t he 2000 Is le of Man TT . that is un til I rea d the sideba r en ti tled , "T he Ba d Pa rt." Is th is race, o r a ny o th er ra c e for th a t m atter , wo rth the lives of fo ur riders? Unfortuna te ly , this loss of life was no t an aberra tio n . You co uld fill a page in Cy cle New s with a list of lives lo st in th e history of this ra ce . Cle arly , th e pr omin en ce a nd th e po pu larity of the TT hav e been fading for the last se veral y e a rs . Just as clearly , th is ve nue is not well suited to m odern hiqh -spe ed motorc ycl e ra c ing. I bel ie ve th e motorcycl e ind us try , a s a who le, should call for a respectful end to th e Isle of Ma n TT. Th e dea th to ll is si mply not accept a ble . Paul Russo LaMe sa. CA Loudon Safety In respo nse to Bob Robb in s' letter ( Iss ue #2 5 , Jun e 28 ) in regard t o safety issu es at New Hampshire Inter national Speedway ( Lo udo n), I ha ve s ev era l points of disagreement. I would , as d id Ron Barrick, respe ct th e o p ini o n o f Doug Chandler. His e xp eri en c es o utwe ig h the co m b ined kn ow ledge of e ve ry c lub ra c er Rob bin s co uld a m ass. Loudon was a n inh erently un safe racetra ck . If th is was not so , the tra ck management would no t have spent $25,000 o n Air Fenc e for turns o ne , two a nd 10 this year. Of course , money is a motivation for the ra c ers . It is also a motivation for the track ow ner, who has no risk of injury and has a greate r profit if the event comes off as scheduled . I believe it takes far more courage for the to p professional ra c e rs to lo bby agai ns t ra cing bec a us e of s afety concerns th a n it wou ld t a k e t o race in poor o r un s a fe conditions . Wh en I think of Loudon , I reca ll Aa ro n Lanni ng ham , Migu e l DuHa m e l, Adam Pett y a nd turn two. To a nswer Rob bins ' o wn qu estion , "Are we really that ins a ne or stupid?" .- Yep! W. KItFarley Park CIty, UT Hanging With the Sfars I just returned fro m what ha s to be one of th e m or e m emora ble weekends I have had in re c e nt me mory - th e Vintage Iron World Champ io ns h ip s . Nowhe re e lse in the s porti ng wor ld can a n ordinary J oe (o r Ed ) sit do wn a nd s wa p lies with a n all -s ta r cast of legiti m a t e le g e nd s o f the spo rt , a la Billy Gross i, Steve Wise , a nd Ke nt Howerton. Add it ionall y , the next day t hey were m ore than happy to take everyo ne to task a nd show ho w it is sup posed to be done o n a leg itim ate old tim e moto cross tr ack lik e t h e modified Glen He le n Outd oo r Nati o n a l fa cility in San Berna rdino , California. Im a gi ne , a s a football fa n, s itt ing down to chat with Joe Montan a , Bart Sta rr, o r Jim m y Brown a nd th e ne xt day sla ppi ng o n a s et of pads and playing a pick -up game . Awesome! I would like to th a nk Rick Doughty a nd c re w for making thi s ha ppen and per haps showing everyone that the diffe re nt e ras of motocross, vintage , evolu t ion , and , yes , thanks to Yamaha , e ven m odern motoc ros s ca n co -e xist o n the sa me track o n the s a me da y. Th is , of course, is blasphemy to the m o vers and shakers in o u r vintag e m ot ocros s world who ins ist on sticking thei r heads in th e sand and sa ying it c a n' t be done. So particular thanks to Ya ma ha for bringing its com plete offro a d p rodu ct line out fo r inspe cti on (yes, e ve n th e top -s ecret YZ250F ). Add itiona lly , thanks t o a c o m p le te ca s t of heroes su ch as Gary J on e s , Tim Hart ( bo t h of whom s ign ed a number plat e that I ca n now ne ver us e a gai n ) Broc Glover, Mike Be ll, Marty Moates, Rocket Rex, Jimmy Ho lle y , and Edd ie Lawson . Th e y entertained us and made time step back 20 yea rs for everyone there. Now my 13 -yearold son ca n put a face to these names as I bench ra ce with my pals. Every on e th at did no t or could not attend this ev ent simply has been le ft at th e gate. Thanks , Yamaha! Thanks , Vintage Iron! EdZomes Hlgley,AZ Cover Story Lately th e covers of Cycle News hav e bee n g rea t. The c o v er w ith J a y S p ring steen was fanta sti c ; th e cover wi t h Tro y Corse r wa s p e rfe cti on . I ho pe yo u do something eq ually g re at fo r Alex Barros ' Gr and Prix win a t Asse n. I d on 't e ve r re me m ber Ale x Barro s be ing o n th e cover. Als o do yo u kn ow of a ny a ddre s s whe re I co ul d writ e to Ale x Barros ? Do y o u k now o f a n y p lac e th a t s e lls G ra nd Pr ix m e rc h andi s e ? I c a n' t find one a n ywhere . I wo u ld appr e c iate a ny info rm a tio n . Gerald Roslejka via the Internet cue. e Way to go Ben Not only d oes Ben Bostrom stomp Juan Borja in both ra ce s, at Borja 's hom e trac k , but h e b eats Tr o y Bayl iss a s well (in th e Valen ci a round of t he Worl d Sup e rbi k e S e r ie s ) . I c an 't wait to se e Ben Bostro m race at Laguna and win both races there. T h e y take th e m an ' s rid e aw ay af te r what, three or four ra c e m e etin gs ? You'd th ink thos e Euros wou ld know by now t ha t you do n 't make an Ameri can mad a n d g et away with it. And Ben is on ly g oing to get fa s t e r. Cou ld y o u im agine him o n a n RC5 1? Curt KosNck Via the Intem et The Aprllla I wonder what 's goi n g throu gh the minds of those in the factory HarleyDavidson AMA Superbike team now tha t Ap rilia has won in their first yea r in co mpetition in World Supe rb ike with a new design - in the m uch more c o m pe tit ive World Superbike Series, no le s s . I don't t h in k it has b ee n the Ha rle y ' s riders ' fault. Maybe it was that Polish homologation or somethi ng . While it wo uld be good to see a t ru ly worl d-cla s s Ame rican Su pe rbike , espec ia lly one that was actually fo r s ale to Americans , it' s not goi ng to be th e p re s ent VR10 0 0 . It seem s like Ha rle y's a rrog a nce jus t won't get what it wants this ti m e ; m a yb e a bette r d esign wou ld . Quit e m ba rrass ing yo urs e lf, Harl ey . CharlIe Single ton Via the Intem et Aprilia raced in the Wor ld Supe rb ike Series last yea r, so this isn't the bike's Iirst season of com pe ti tio n. By th e way, w e w ill have a [u l! techn ica l feat ure o n Corser's fa ctory Aprilia as well as a n in terview with th e Austra lia n in ou r next issue... Editor n e _ s • J ULv 1 2 , 2000 5

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