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/128626
"Pat Hennen won the Finnish Grand Prix in his seventh 500cc GP start and became the first American to ever wi n a 500cc GP." Lellers to the ed itor sh ould be sent to Voices . Cycle News . P.O . Box 508 4. Costa Mesa . CA 92628 508 4. faxed to 714/7 51 -6685 or e -mailed to edito r@ Mercedes Writes Flipping ' ve wanted t o wr ite this letter for orne time now, well to be exact , ight afte r I raced in the Women 's otocross League Na tional at Glen elen. I wanted to tha n k the people ho p er su a d e d m e to race again , fter ni ne years of retirement. F ir st , C r a ig Mart in at earn Gr e e n a nd Bon e s at ro C ircuit, fo r h a v in g th is ra zy idea to have m e ra c e gai n. S e c on dl y , I'd lik e to ha n k t he WML orga n izatio n or p roviding the women with g reat series wh ere they can howc a se the ir a wesome rid ng abilit ies. If those races idri 't exist, then I'm not s ure wou ld ha ve raced anythin g ut the Ma mmoth Mou ntain otocross event. I on ly raced t wo of the ML National races - Glen e le n and Han gt o wn . But I ave to commend Miki Keller WML pr esident) o n a fantas ic jo b in o rga n iz in g s uc h ve n t s a n d running th em m oothly . Th ey were very ro fessionally run. a nd the o me n Pro turn out was pe ctacular. I onl y wish that, n m y h e yda y , th er e was uc h a women 's organiza tion nd the depth of ta lent in th e om e n' s motocross fie ld. Al so, t o rid e in front of housands of fans on Sunday efo re the start of the m en 's u t doo r Nati on al s wa s a n ncr edibl e rus h. I ca n o n ly h op e th a t ve ry o ne ke eps work ing to gethe r to et women 's motocross th e recogn iion it d eser ves. Most im porta ntly, the a n ufac t u re rs an d t he m oto cro s s ndu str y as a whole, not only to s upor t th e WML , bu t t o e nco u rage omeo ne like Miki Kell er to keep up he good work in promoting wo m e n's ac ing . I wish I was 15 yea rs yo un ge r! Mercedes Gonzalez-Natvtg VIa the Intern et It is amazing in th is day and tim e to see how te c hno logy has progressed a sport s o mu ch that the individu al s with amazing tal ent like Carey Ha rt are able to pull off the most amazing tric k in the world - a ba c kflip on a CR250. nzalez-Natvig is a multi-li me Women's alio nal Motocross Champion... Ed it or No SWimsuits ow d on 't g et me wron g Brian , I like ook ing a t bo oty m ys e lf (Is su e #28 , uly 19) , but Tr a c y ha s a good po int. ow would you like to see a yo un g, uff, Speedo -clad stud o n the con ents page ? Hey , when Mich e lle DiS Ivo wins , does a guy in a swimsu it ive he r a trophy? GeotrMarcfnko MacedonIa, OH Carey Hart and the backflip. To ny Hawk pull ed off th e im possi ble with a 900 at the X Ga mes . Th is backflip is a fe at th at will go down as the greatest ever. Carey Ha rt will forever be kno wn as a tre nd s ett e r. I j us t wis h the motorcycle media woul d give t h e mu ch -de s e rv ed re sp e ct to the freesty le m o vem e nt. The y hav e brou ght a leve l of excitem e nt a n d c re a tiv it y th a t ha s n ev e r be en see n befor e o n two wheels . Davld Srnfth Las Vegas, NV Band Together If ther e was ever a tim e for the entire mo torcyc le c o m m u n it y t o ba nd t o g e th er a nd fight a n off-hig h way ve h icle issue , this is it. I neve r gave mu ch c redenc e to the anti-hel me t lay side as fa r as th e ir idea that he lm et la ws are the first step to ward banning m otor cycl es al tog ether, but now with th is CARA is s ue , I'm not s o s u re . If CARA passes a nd Gor e gets elected, I s e e a real th re a t to the very e xis- cyclenews.co m. te nce of m otorcycles on or off the pavement. W ith th e motorcycle industry enj o ying rec ord sales , it certainly s ee ms stra nge that we should be wor ried , but just like a racer who is out in the lead knows, anything can happen until the checkere d flag dro p s . The next th re e m o nt h s will b e th e m o s t importa nt ti me fo r th e lo ng -term he a lt h of o ur in du s t ry a nd sport. The e nv iro nmentalists want all vehicles off of public la nd a nd wa nt e veryone hud d le d in t o larg e r c ities. T hey have a lrea dy c losed off hu g e a reas of public la nd through Cl in ton c it in g t he Antiqui ties Act , b ut tha t is not a ll they are doing . Now they are m an ip ulating Co n gress with CARA, which will have devastati ng effects on vehicula r a ccess to not only pu blic lands , but priva te lands as well. Please a ct on th e following information a s much a s you p ossibly c a n a nd fo rward it to as m an y pe op le o n yo u r e -m a il list a s yo u can. Ask your list to do th e s ame netw orking . You ca n b e s u re that th e e n vi ro n m enta l ex tre m ists a re taking adva nta ge of the Internet to bra inwash an un suspecting public int o supporting CARA . The y al re a d y bought th e Se nate En ergy and Natura I Res ou rc e s s ubcom mittee with p ure pork . Paul Golde VIa the Internet Publis hed lette rs do not necessarily reflect the pos ition of Cycle News. Inc. Lette rs s hould not exceed 200 words a nd all a re subject to ed iting. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. All lellers sh ould con ta in the writer 's name. address and da ytime phone num be r... Editor. What About Hennen? In the Briefly ... section of your coverage of the G e rm a n Grand Prix , Mich ael S cott menti ons rid ers who won their first 500cc GP after only a fe w attempts . He liste d Kenny Roberts (3 starts ), Kevin Schwantz (7 star ts ) and Fr edd ie Sp en c er ( 8 starts ). Micha el le ft a very deserving p erson off the list a nd he is a n Am eri c an . In 1976, Pat Henn en won th e Finn ish Grand Prix in his sevent h 500cc GP start and beca me the first Am eri ca n to eve r win a 500cc GP. Before th en , Pat h ad won at Da y t ona ( in the Jun ior c las s ), and ea rne d c ha m p io ns hi ps in the New Zea la nd wint e r series . In the ne xt two years , he won two m ore GPs and was top score r in th e Transatlanti c Serie s . In 1978, he be came th e first ride r to lap the Isle of Ma n in le ss th an 20 minu te s o n his 6 50cc S uzu ki. In the 500 c c race, he broke the 5 0 0 c c t ra c k re c o rd just before a collision with a bird le d to a c rash that ended his ca reer. I k no w yo ur omission of Pa t ' s nam e was not intentional. I just want to poi nt a litt le re c og n ition into th e dire c t ion o f a m ost dese rvi ng , but ofte n overlooked rider. Frans Vand enBroek Rancho Santa Margarita, CA Tra gedy It is with great sa dness tha t I re po rt the dea th of Raine Tro upe, webmaste r of flat racknews .com. Ra ine and Kris we nt down on a well-deserved ride on thei r Ha rleys whe n Raine hit some g ravel. Unfortunately , he ne ver rega ined consc iousness, and died on Ju ly 15 . Ra ine a nd Kris put their heart and soul into the flattracknews website so tha t the rest of us were abl e to become a n e ven tighte r fam ily of fan s, racers , photog ra phers a nd sponsors. He a lso p er s on al ly e n co u rag e d me wi t h rega rds to the Del Mar S ~ ow a nd ra ce and a ll o ur g reat West Coa st e ve nts . He will be sorely m issed a nd Kris will keep his dream by running the website - but s he nee ds our finan cial he lp. Andrea Phffff s p Beach. CA Huntington Vanden Broek was o ne of H enn en 's m ech an ics w hen h e won that first 500cc GP in Finlan d ... Editor Tour de Harley? On e th ing is cert a in - S c o tt Russe ll a nd Pas cal Picott e a n d th e Harl ey VR100 0 co u ld n 't e ven win the T o ur de Franc e . Th e tour is too fa r and the p a ce is too fast. Jeny McDonald Corpus Christi. 1)( Do n a ti on s ca n be se n t to Fl a tra ckn ew s. com, 42 1 S. 15th St .. Murphy sboro. IL 62966... Edi tor eye I e < 0. _ n tD en n e _ S • A UGUST 16, 2000 5