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/128628
lIlt is timely, informative, in depth and entertaining." Likes The Site I just wanted you to know t hat the coverage of road racing on your web sit e (www .cyclenew s.com) is simply breathtaking . It is t imely, info rm ative, in depth and ente rt ain ing . I am a club r a c er in the Pacifi c Northwest and have become addicted to your site, checking it a few t imes each day. I competed in the PACE Formula USA race in Portland, Oregon, ( I finished 29th in ra ce on e and 25th i n race two ) and was amazed to find that by the time I had gotte n hom e to Sea ttle on Sunday night t hat you had already posted complete articles , including pictures, on all the races that day . Wow! By the way , that John Hopk ins kid is the real deal. He passed me going into turn four on Saturday morning during practice and was gone before I really got a good look at him . I just saw the " 2 I" flash by his bike was shakin ' and slidin ' and he vanished . Greg Bouwens 5eattfe, WA Tha nks, Morehead For over 50 years, the men of the Peoria Motorcycle Club have taken pride in supporting Grand National Dirt Track racing . We have had the good fortune to see all the great d irt track racers and their machines fly the backstretch jump to the excitement of generations of d irt track I fans . Over the years we have changed t he track to suit the development of new technology wh ile focusing on running a safe event for the riders and their fans. Our work crews don 't m ind sweating i n the August sun , knowing that they are continuing the heritage of bringing the best in the dirt track business to our hous e. W e l o ok forw ard ea c h year to the sound o f mot o rs sta rtin g and " T h unde r in th e Va lle y ." A s t his m i ll enn iu m b eg an t h er e wa s co ncern a mo ng m o st racing fan s about fal te ri ng sup po rt for dirt tra ck racing. It loo ke d like th e A M A was g o ing t o fo cu s o n road ra ci n g and m oto c ross , w ith on ly a t o k en nod to t he dirt tra c k rac er s wh o had been th eir m ainsta y . Th e PACE folks jump ed i n w ith a n ew sch edul e o f even t s and promises o f new pr o m o tions to b enefit th e rid ers. Life i s about ch oi ces, and with thes e changes the rid ers now hav e m ore to choose from in the quality and type of events they w i ll pursue. The uncertainty about the future direc tion of Grand National-level racing events has left pr ivate clubs l ike ours in a quandary. We believe the AMA is making an effort to chart a n~w course that w ill benefit the rid - er s and re kindle a stron g suppo rt fo r d irt track ra c ing. Puttin g Stev e " Fi n d l e y Fl yer " M oreh ead on th e AMA /Progressiv e Insurance te am is proof of that lev el of com mit m en t. St eve M orehead 's commitment t o thi s new d ir ection is ve ry evide n t. He is fo cused on in su r in g that events are run smoothl y and that th e rid ers are afforded a safe track to compete on. Working with Bruce Bober at this year's Peoria Tf', he checked every detail and constantly monitored th e changing track conditions . He gav e us advice from a racer's perspective that can only come from experience. The dirt track fraternity is fortunate to have someone of this caliber looking after their best interests. His willing help and friendly smile ar e appreciated and have definitely rein forced our efforts to continue the tra dition of Grand National Racing at Peoria . The PMC Tra ck Crew Peoria, IL Not A Fan I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the National " r ac e reports " being published in Cy cle New s - parti cularly the dirt track reports. After the past five years of reading week-in and week-out, I can pretty much guess how Chris Carr , Ri ch King , S c o tt Parker, and W ill Davis are going to respond to a particular race . If they did well , then it's ' Yeah , things were really going well for us , but nex t week is a new race'. If they did poo rly , then i t' s ' Yea h , things just didn't go our way tonight, but now it' s on to the next race .' I love to hear how excited guys ar e when they win for the first time , o r get on the podium for the first time , or make the main for the first t ime. But we never hear from them . Be cause they 're not an est ab li she d name, they get sh oved aside. C ase in point: th e rep ort fro m t he AMA race at Charlotte. M ik e Hac k er wins h is fi rst rac e, and I di dn ' t read a w hole lo t about h is th o ug h t s after wards . Ev e n m or e di s gu st in g w a s th at J ohnny N ick en s m ak es his first 750c c ma in eve nt (o n th e La r c om Raci ng XR750 ) , and we don 't eve n get a si ngle quote fro m h im. We d id get to hear how t hi ngs wer en't going rig ht fo r Carr that night, and he fin is he d o ne sp ot in fr ont o f N icken s. I'd mu ch rather see so me new fac es getting so m e of the spot li g h t. Wh at wa s it lik e for Nick en s to run in hi s fir st 25 -lap GNC main event? Wh at wa s g oing through his mind during th e red fl a g ? What were his dad's thoughts (hell, he raced GNC 30 ye a rs ago !)? The same goes for Br ian Shirley , Cory Roth, Jason Tyer , Donnie Steward, and all the other newcomers who have raced G NC t h is yea r as tru e rook ies ( it w ill be in te re sti ng t o whi ch n on-rooki e w in s Ro ok i e o f th e Year thi s yea r, sin c e th er e ar e so many worth y r o oki es that w ill hav e to b e o v e rlook ed ) . A nd wh il e I' m at it , I don 't c are for t he ne w fo rma t in Cycle New s, wh ere th e en ti re st ory is th e 'eye w itness a c counts ' o f a select few ( C a r r , King , et al ) . I much prefer the ' o ld' reports - a lap -by-Iap rundown of what happened . I almost g et th e im p re ssio n that the gu y writing the articles isn 't watching the rac ing ; h e's getting the final resu lts, and rel ying on a few racers input to fill in the blanks. I can go pull out a Cycle News fro m 1977 , read a Nationa l articl e, and get goose bumps visual izing the action as it happened . You can 't do that anymore. You g et a bri ef " ho w they got th ere " sideb ar ( w hi ch is lame ) , then a "here' s how the y lined up , " then " h e re' s how Carr , King , and Dav i s fin i sh ed , according to them ." Then a g a i n , I see the AMA Motocross, Supercross and road rac ing reports are pretty much the same , so maybe it' s just en vogue now . Although, I think Michael Scott 's race reports from th e road racing GPs are great. Hell, even his reports on the GP tests are better than the vanilla reporting we get for anything stateside . tooth comb with you, for the cholla cactus gets friendly to out-of-area folks . And congrats to Carey Hart on the back flip - you have to love those freestyle guys . Tracy Duane stanton Sun CIty West AZ Ha ppy Annive rsa ry My wife and I were going through the August 2nd issue on our 2 I st wed ding anniversary when we came across the photo of Saturday night on Cannery Row during Laguna Seca's World Superbike weekend . We have been attending religiously since 1996 and make it our b ig annual vacation . The photo has me with m y one arm around m y wife , Jenny , and my other hand on my video ca mera with an aqua -co lored T -s hirt on . We are the only people in f o cus and it appeared to be taken just for us. It was a real ni ce sequence of coin cidence . We wer e very happy to finally make th e pages of Cycle News. Thank y ou , y o ur publicat ion is t he greatest. Reg ards, Bert Sumner Via the Intemet Swimsuit M odels The La st Hurrah Not to beat a dead horse , but I'm writ ing t o clarify my original l etter regarding the swimsuit mod el o n the tabl e o f c o n t e n t s of Cycle N ew s ( Issue #28 ) . I was pr ompted t o write aga in because of the letter wr itten b y Geo ff Marcink o (Issue #32 ). Geoff. I need to write to you w ith a le sso n o n ge tti ng to th e point. Than k s for cu t t i n g th rough a ll th e p oi n t s I was making and g etting to the core . T he co re b e in g tha t Cy cle N ew s is a class act , o ne publi c at ion th at everyo ne c a n read and g et th e l at e st sco op o n the motorcycle world lon g before the monthl y rags ca n cough u p th eir slanted v iews. Let' s k eep it tha t w ay . Oh , by th e way , B ri an , my midd le nam e is Duane s o hop efully th at cl a r ifies my gend er. To put as ide an y doubts that I m ay be limp -wrist ed , I also ride and rac e desert her e i n Ar izona (home of the Des ert Mounta in National Enduro, and the same s t u ff Destry Abbott cut his teeth on and trains in) and the southwest. Anyone who wants to contact me to come out fo r a ride , feel free to do so - j ust bring a long cue I ... Bill f1 :Jenny Voss Nicholasville, KY The French In re g ard t o your Vo xan t est (I ssue #30 , August 2 ) , as so on as I saw that it w as a Fren ch bike y o u w er e t est in g, I wo n de re d if yo u wo u l d rem ember th er e wa s an oth er Fr en ch m ot orc y cl e m anufa ctur er . Y ou didn 't. Th e s e c ond paragr aph o f your sto ry starts with " La Belle -F r anc e' s o n ly bike builder. " What about Scorpa? Granted they only ma ke trials bikes , and not a lot of them, but I got one last year and lo v e it. Scorpa made y o u r last year 's Buyer 's Guide so I know you know they exist. :Jay Koonz MIddlebury, CT n e vv s AUG U S T 30 , 2 000 5