Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Mr. Scott has succeeded in painting a picture of a man w ho was unique a nd removed from these lists of fam ou s names." Albertvn And The Purse I thought your headline t o Greg Albertyn 's letter labeling it as "whining " (Issue #31 , August 9 ) wa s disre s pectful a nd unjustified. We re you im plyi ng that Albertyn's c omm ent s we re n ' t valid, and t h a t profe ss ion a l m o to c ro s s racers are m a k ing p lent y o f purse m on e y ? T h a t' s th e im p ress io n yo ur he a dl ine ga ve a nd a s a nyon e who follows the sport kno ws, that' s a bso lute ly false. Albertyn is a world -cla ss race r a nd p er s on and s ho uld be g ive n c red it for speak ing o ut o n th is iss ue. T h e National Promot ers Grou p ha s a virtual m onopo ly o n the Nationa ls a nd without big -name ride rs like Albe rtyn speaking their m ind , b igger a nd faire r purses will rema in o ut o f re ac h . RIck Schwalbach Houston, TX The h eadlin e for th e lett er was Albertyn's - not min e... Ed it or Albertvn And The P'urse II A more appropr iate he ad ing for Greg Albertyn 's letter wo u ld have been "A T ime T o Ad v o ca t e . " "W h in in g " is when so meo ne complains about h is or he r ow n situation . "Advoc ac y" is to poi nt ou t ineq uities that affect m a ny. Dan Reynolds VIa the Intem et I rep eat . th e h eadlin e fo r the let ter w as Albertyn 's - not m in e... Editor AlbectYn And The Purse III G r eg Alb ertyn' s co m me nts we re righ t o n th e m on e y . T he p ro moters a re in a bus in e s s and th e y a re g o in g t o p a y out the min imu m requ ir ed a s a ny co mpa ny wo u ld . Without th e AMA 's assist a nce, o r a rid er s uni on , n oth in g is goin g t o chang e - e s pec ia lly now wit h all th e private ers th at tr y to qua lify fo r t he Nation al s (S a t u rday qual ify in g is the norm now ) . There a re m ore rid ers s igning up for t h e National s then e ve r. Most o f th e s e ra c ers just lov e the s p o rt a nd are w illin g t o spend $200-400 bu c ks just to race against th e Pro s. Be c a us e of th is, a full g at e a t th e Nati on al s is n e ver a problem . If you th ink that th e races do not benefit from priv a t e ers y o u a r e wr ong . Cou ld you im a g ine if all th e p rivateers boy cott ed a Nat iona l? You would h a ve about 10 facto ry guys circ ula ti ng t h e tra ck in ea ch class. T h e same ex citement would defini te ly n o t b e t h e r e (nothing be ats th e so und o f 4 0 rid ers head ing int o t he fir s t corner) . I d o n ot thin k a b oycott wi ll happen, but tha t m ight b e th e onl y wa y to fix th e s ituation . If th e AMA is eve n moderately s ince re a bo ut keeping the inte rest s of the privateers at heart, I have two s m a ll re commendations (it's not much , but it is a start) : I think that any rider ranked in the top 100 from the previous yea r s houl d not have to pay for anyt hi ng at the ra c e ; their Pro license, ga t e fe e a nd sig n up wo u ld all be fre e ( he ll , if they wan ted to g et a hot d og from th e s nack ba r it s hou ld be free ) . T h e AMA s ho u ld al so ma ke th e prom ote rs ge t r id o f th e co nc re te start pads . The y stink ! I th ink t hat co nc ret e start pads w ill hurt th e fu t ur e o f m oto cross . I love ra c ing moto c ro ss , but I a m not going to m el t a n $80 tire every weekend so I c an ha ve a c h a nce a t winn ing 10 0 b ucks - no t to ment ion th e min i paren ts who hav e t o c o m pete ag a ins t the d ad who can a ffo rd a n ew t ire every rac e . Motocro ss is th e ch ea p es t form of m o to r iz ed raci ng - d o we n e e d to up th e cos t to ma ke it m o re pre stigious? I don ' t thi n k s o . Alb e e wa s a ls o right about Re d Bud . I a m su re th at a ll the fans in a tte ndance will ag ree th a t t he eve nt was run excellently . I ca n 't wa it to ride it (no concrete, Gene!) . John Sler South Bend, IN Albe[fyn And The Purse IV G reg Albertyn' s re c ent c o m me n t s ab ou t pr ize mon e y reall y h it hom e when I watch ed the Br ick yard 400 a nd th e y m ention ed that last p la ce re ce ived ove r $8 0 ,000 while th e winn er too k h ome over $89 0, OOO!! S u re ly we c a n d o better th en th e cou p le of hundred doll ars that riders receive tod ay. It is s ha m ef ul giv e n th e attendanc e a t toda y' s e vents to ke e p p a y ing these pa ltry prizes . Rob Green VIa the Intem et Baja Bound I th oroughly enjoyed Issue #29 (J uly 26 ), in pa rticular the Baja Bound OffRoad Adventure story. So me frie n ds a n d myse lf did a s imilar trip with Baja Off Ro ad Tours ea rlier in the ye a r. If an yo ne 's fanta sy is to be a fa ct or y rider , th is is th e way to g o : Perfe ct ly mainta in ed KTM m ot or c ycl e s, o utsta nd ing a c c omm o d at ion s a n d , m o st im p ortantly , kno wledgea b le gu ides and a traveling paramedic. Overall , we would do it again in a heartbeat. :JIm Curcuro Uvennore, CA The Pichon Incident The Pichons should be well aware that the actions of an y of ra c er 's party a re the responsi bility of the racer. Es pe c ially after the incident that occurred while Picho n was s till ra cin g in the U.S. I find th e e x cus e s rais ed b y Picho n' s t e a m a s child ish . E v ery racer is a ware of th e ru le s a nd what can ha p pe n if the rules a re bro ken. If the rules a re br oken , then the pe na lty shou ld be imposed . Just beca us e he is in th e running fo r the GP tit le s ho uld not have a bearing on how th e ru les ar e enforced. Younger riders look up to the Pros: If t he ru le s are bent for th em , then wh y not for the Amateu r? Michael DavIs VIa the Intemet throug h th e years. There have also been s o me big names who were too c a ge y t o t ak e th at k in d of big risk with th eir lives. Mr. Scott has succeeded in painting a pictu re of a man wh o was uniqu e and removed from th ese lists of fa mous names. Kudos to Mr. Scott - he did good . RIchard Anderson Sedona,.AZ The King And I My girlfrie nd and I rec ently took her l ittl e s is ter t o th e Washo uga l Motocross Na tio na l. It was their First ex perience at a motocros s a nd both ca me away very im pressed . I was able to get p it pass es t o sh ow t he m around th e semis a nd to g et a look at the bikes a nd po s s ibly som e of the rid e rs . After wa lki ng arou n d and looki ng at e v e ry th ing . we wen t by t he KTM pits a nd Shayne King was there. We a sked for a n a utog raph and to see if we "c ou ld get a pictu re taken wit h him. He said: "Ye s, b ut wh y d o n 't we take it wit h m y bike ?" So we d id and thanked him ve ry m uch . Sha yne King is not a househol d name in this co un try a nd does not rid e for the big g e st t e am o ut the re , but after th at encounte r he no w ha s a huge fan . Both g irls we re s o im p re s s e d b y how nice and accom m o da ting he was that it really sh ed a ne w lig h t on our sport to them . Thank you, Shayne. Tom Conner VIa the Intem et The Bimota Blahs After rethink ing yo ur recent a rticle on the c urrent Bimota , I wan ted to ma ke sure I completel y understood all the new a nd exciting updates that perta in to this manufa cturer. Plea se double check my summary. Blah , b lah , blah , blah , b lah , blah , blah , Ita llen , blah , blah , blah , blah, bankrup tcy, blah, blah, blah , sex y Italian , blah , b lah , blah , blah, blah . Using a (fi ll in th e b la n k ) m oto r from a GI TL, b lah , bl ah, b lah , Suz u ki , blah , blah, blah . For $20 ,000, bla h , blah , blah , blah, blah , blah , Italian, blah, blah , blah , b lah, if you ca n fi nd Joey1s Tribute My credent ials as a lite rary critic are a bit thin . Not withstanding , it is m y feeling that the tribute to Joey Dun lop , written by Michael S cott ("In th e Paddock, " July 12 , Issu e #27 ). wa s very well do ne indeed. His stra ightforwa rd, unadorned use of the language pai nted a tou ch ing p ictu re of a very specia l man . There have been some big na me s who ra ce d at the Isle of Ma n TT dow n cue I e on e. How did I do? J Im Royd VIa the Intemet I'm not s u re t hat I a dvoca t e such Whining... Editor n e _ S • AUGUS T 23, 2000 5

• Cover