Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"At the present time, it is a bad j oke tha t decades have gone by with out the purses being increa se d substantially." Brass Bra in All of us in Di strict 15 are so proud o f Shawn Clark for wi nn ing the B r ass Brain A ward (Issue #34 , August 23 ) . I was looking forward t o putting the article on m y "Wall of Fame" for the up -end -coming r iders t o see. An y . way , the article was g rea t - except for one thi ng : The headline has a maj o r typo as i t says , " C art er W ins B ra ss Brain " . not Cla rk . Sh awn 's 15 li nes ( m inu tes) of fame has been slightl y t arn ishe d by a no -b rai ner error. Ca n you pos sibly re -print the headl ine so his ac compl ishm ent c an shine for all? Ron Harris Whiteland, IN I g u ess we j us t w on th e Brass Idio l Award... Ed itor. Got A Buck~ I j ust finish ed reading Paul Schlegel' s let ter " Lo re tta [, Al bee" (I ssu e # 36, September 6) in the Voices sec tion and found it in terest ing to read yet another example of th e late D av e Coombs ' c o n t ri b u t io n t o the spo rt regard ing th e rol e he pla yed in starti n g t h e e ve n t kn own a s L oretta Lynn's . The more I learn ab ou t Da ve C oombs th e m ore I realize what a l o s s h is p ass ing is to motorc ycle racing . Regard in g Pa u l Sc h le gel' s p er spec t iv e o n wh y th er e isn't m or e money av ail ab le to the professiona l ra c ers , I ha v e a simpl e suggest io n t hat would result in larg er purses if impl em ented : Effectiv e J anu rary 1, 200 1 rai s e the ti ck et p r ices f or Supercr os s and Nation al Mot ocr o ss eve nts b y o ne d olla r and direc t this mo ney t o t he pur se in st ead o f t he promoters. Wi th attendance ranging from 20,000 to almost 50 ,000 for most Supercross ev en ts, and ette nda nce over 10 ,0 00 for most Nation als , this wou ld be a start in rectifying the inju sti ce o f profes siona l racers bei ng un derpaid . I p er son a ll y would gladly cont ribute a do llar so t hese mode rn day gl ad iato rs ge t closer to bei ng properly reward ed for th eir efforts. A t t he pre sent tim e it is a bad joke that d ec ad es h av e go ne b y wit hout t he p u rses bein g inc re ased subst an t iall y. MIchael RIg don Hermosa Beach, CA Don't Bet On It I g uess sc rew ing up Wo rld Charn p io nsh ip M oto cr o ss w it h t he i r st u p id s am e -da y , o ne- mo to pla n w a sn 't eno ugh. Now I read th e FIM is getting into the gamblin g b us ines s as well. Spo rts gambl ing and co r r u p ti o n always go hand in hand. And what about conflict of inter est ? I, for one , am sick of th ese greedy ol d shysters on power trips at these worthless alphabet organizations fal ling all over themselves trying to make a quick bu ck at the expense of our sport. Most of them don 't ride and never have , and don 't have a clue about the heart o f our sport. The y have only their best inte rests in mind. M o t o cr o s s and roa d racing in A merica and Europe wo u ld be a lot better off with an o rganization m ad e up of a com bi na tion of riders' re p re sen ta t iv e s a n d fac to ry re p r ese n t a ti ves. G ambling i s a hug e ste p in th e wrong d irection . Lewis Greer Springdale, AR Loved the Short Track W e c a n n ot s a y e n o u g h ab o u t t he Sp ri ngfield Short T rack Shoot ou t th at was held along with the Hall of Fam e M il e and th e Springfield M il e du ring Labor D ay weekend . flo w in g. Cong ratulat ions to Nicky Ha yden fo r winning h i s secon d N at ion al at a first-tim e track . This is a young man who his parents and the racin g world can be proud of. Kandy and Dale Cra m er London MIls, IL Hayden Rules I ju st r et urn ed f ro m t h e di r t trac k tripl eh eader weekend in Sprin gfiel d , Illinois , an d I think it's a shame th at m o t o r c y c l e r a c ing has b ec o m e so specialized . N ick y Hayd en possesses a talent th at o nly a few, th at co uld be co unted on one hand, have ever ha d . N ick y has t he rar e ta lent to w in sho rt trac k , half mi le , m il e, TT and road rac e even ts, and it' s a shame th at we d o n ' t ha ve on e Na tio na l Ch am pio n li k e bac k in th e da ys of old . On Satu r da y , dur in g the Hall of F am e race, I witne sse d Ga ry Nixon with Carroll Resw eber ( a fo u r- ti me AMA Grand Natio nal Cham p ion ) walk into the Hayd en 's pit area an d , like a k id himself, Carroll rem o ved hi s hat and w ith pen in hand asked Nicky to sign it . Like a k id on Christmas m orn ing , Carroll put the hat bac k o n a n d p o litel y thank ed Hayden . Now that's resp ect. We als o m issed Dave Despa in at th e eve n t, bu t Larry M ai er s di d a gr eat job of fill ing in . Still , th e dirt t rack Hall of Fame isn' t th e sa me witho u t it s foundi ng father. Ge t well soo n, D ave. See yo u next yea r. on her e? Wh at do all th e other fi rms in simila r bus in ess t h in k a bo u t th is rel atio nship? I th i n k t h e t im e ha s co me for ei t he r re p laceme n t o f the trustees or t he formatio n of another o r g a n iza t i o n. The top brass at the AMA have shown the ir i n a bility to serve their memb e rs . The y have utterl y fail ed to successfu lly promote th e spor t (N at ional D irt Track , GP , Spee dway, et c .). T hey h av e a l s o sh own no f or e sight int o th e spo r t (tried t o ban 250 cc GP road rac in g , go t rid of 500cc m ot ocr oss , etc.) . We have one of t he m ost exciti ng spo rt s and th ey hav e bee n its g uardi an for t o o m an y yea rs wi t h little success. W e need a stro ng , unde r st and in g , profession al lead er. Wh er e do I sig n up to be nati ona l m otorcy cl e Czar? B/IIKeys Hayward, CA Th e can opy shad ing th e grandstand at the Springfield sho rt trac k Th e first th ing that we saw as we en tered th e bra nd -new rod eo facilit y on th e Ill ino is State Fai rgro un ds wa s th e fo u r tented peaks towering o ver th e gr andstand to shade th e specta tors o n such a hum id , 93 -d eg ree da y. A cro ss th e tr a c k was a grassy h ill dotted with o ld oak tr ees that remind ed us o f the Peoria Ra ce Park (o ur home track) . This was t he firs t m oto r cy cle rac e t o be h eld here, a nd we we re h ap p y t o see that sho rt t rack racin g had returned to Springfield . The view o f th e tr ack was perfect fro m any where. Th e lighti ng was d ay ligh t sharp and t he sou nd sys tem was very good . Best of all, t he races proceed e d w ith out a hitch . Th e r a c es wer e of top cal iber. Some folks were not accus to med to th e racing ac tion tha t a sho rt tr ack pro vides, and they fo und th at they had better pa y ette n t ion to th e fast pa ce . T he AM A and th e Illino is M otorc y cle D e a l er s A s s o c iati on (I M DA) deserv e a big tip of th e hat for a j ob well don e. We wo u ld like to see m or e of th is type of ra cing , and we're sure that next year the stands will be ove r - Smitty Story I was g la d to see yo u r arti cle o n Mik e Smith. I feel fo rt una te to have h im o n our team as he is very profes sio na l in his role . I have never wo rked s o smooth ly w ith a rider wh en it co mes to set up o f the bike from t ra ck to tr ack (I have tun ed for Alessandro Gramign i, Lar ry Pegram, Shawn Hig bee. Mike Sullivan , etc .) . And when I am sho rt on c r ew m em ber s, M ike is al way s there to help no matter what the job and he als o ma nages to keep us laug hing at th e sa me ti me. I didn 't know the old Mike Smith, but as you k now we coul d all use a friend like the new Mik e Smith . In read ing you r story , I hope now that everyone understa nds him a litt le better. DavtdBeIl Castro Valley, CA Honda Shutout Honda ha s go ne an other y ear without a motocross or Supercross Cha mpi onships . Reminds m e again of t he nurser y rh yme: " Hond a. Honda fe ll off the wa ll .. Honda. Honda had a great fa ll , all of the money and all of the men co u ldn 't pu t Honda back togeth er agai n! " If yo u ever wa nt to take noti c e of h ow li t tle H on da does t o s u p po r t A m ate ur m ot ocros s read t he Loretta L ynn results. Out of 32 classes, onl y o ne cha m pion rode a Ho nd a. Kudos to Ka wasak i, Suzu k i, and Yama ha fo r sup po rti ng and groom ing rid ers fro m a n e a r ly ag e - r i d er s l i k e Ri c ky Ca rm ich ael , T ravis Pastr an a , J am es Stewa rt and M ike Alessi. Wh en was th e las t time yo u saw a min i cha m pi o n rid in g a Hond a? O r a Honda sup po rt truck at your lo cal race? W ell , I fo r on e will sup port th e ma nufa ct ur ers that support m y spo rt - Amateur M ot ocross - leaving m e far fro m red . Mark Sutton VIa ftle Inmmet Sulton wo rks for Team Ducshop..Editor Partne rs? Let m e get thi s strai ght, th e AM A now h a s an excl usi ve pa rts and acces so ries partner - Comp etition A ccesso ries . I t houg h t that th e AMA was supposed t o b e an ad vo ca c y group and sanc tio ni ng body? What is going c ucl e n Chris Sanchlrico Fooftl/ll Ranch, CA I!' VII so: S EPTEM B ER 20, 200 0 5

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