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/128635
"I am very pleased with this years ISDE team selection: Finally, a team that has soul." Ugly Tank? Sinc e ta k ing a sab b atic al fr o m the WERA Endurance series in 199 6, it's nice to see Roya le Rac ing sti ll gets m entioned . After ell , we all li k e to see ou r n am es in Cycle News o nce in a wh ile. In th e c o ve rag e of th e W illow Spri ng s 24 Hour , Half -A -B usa' s fuel ta nk w as r efe rred t o as " the uglies t od ifie d t ank since Roy ale Raci ng 's." I still hav e th at fu el tan k and I wo uld no t refer to it as ug ly . I hat e to part with it bec au se it was custom built b y Tom Rose and Dave Bl oom fro m Ann Arbor, Mich igan . In f ac t , T om Ro s e w en t o n from m y fuel tank to build end ura nc e tanks for T eam Suzuk i Enduran c e - among other v er y su c cessful team s. N ow , I ha ve seen so me truly ug ly ta nks but I wo n' t name names. T ha nks for the good coverage and keep up the good wo rk. someone wh o has also worked as a journa list and ed itor, I' m amazed th at Cycle News' ed itors wo uld allow Co x to su pport his po sition w ith unverifi able " fac t s" and assumptions that are m erely imag inativ e fabricatio ns. C o x assumes that " a ll the recre ational off-ro ade rs I k no w " are rep re sen ta t iv e o f th e en tire off-road user population , incl uding t hose who do n't "t ak e ex t ra c are to p ick up tr ash ." U sing Cox 's r o se - t inted gl asses, t here has nev er been o ne trail rid er who li t te red , ro d e o n closed t r a i l s, used an ill eg al ex haust sys te m o r ot h erwise abused th e privi lege of riding off- road. Pridmore Rules! I decided to leave the CB R par k ed in t h e garage th is pa st w ee k en d an d int rod uc e m y n in e-year-o ld son and 15 - ye a r- o l d daughte r to t h e g reat sport of m o t orc y cle r a c i n g a t t h e AMA Superbik e Ch ampionsh ip fin al at W illow Sprin gs. On Saturday , the th ree of us we re admiring th e Team Suzuki tent when I spotted J ason Pr idmo re . Aft er som e coaxing , my son nerv ously approac hed J ason fo r an a ut o g ra p h . W h at h ap p en ed n ext w as tr ul y un exp ect ed . J ason took my so n in his tra ile r, and afte r a co uple minutes , emerged with a huge chunk out of m otorcy cl e sales . M y question is , why aren't t he big fo ur he lpin g o u t here? Maybe the y are , and I'm just not aware of it. Dave GronkJee Rochester, MN Doug Henry Via the Intemet I believe the "big four" are doing more for the cause than most p eople realize... Editor Good Team I am ve ry p l e a sed with this years ISD E team selection : F inally, a team that has soul. If everyone tries as hard as Fred Hoess and Randy Hawki ns . we will surely be wi nners. The Ga rrahans are as tough as nails. I watc hed th em hand dig a basement out of so l id g ran ite so they co u ld m a in t a in th ei r n o m a di c r a c in g l i f e sty le . Ru ssel l Pe ar son? Ra n dy a nd F r ed w il l ro ug h him up be h i nd th e c onta ine r if he isn 't giving his all. A s for D est ry Abbott? Oh, please, Lord grant h im the m ot or tha t will run more than three days. You see peer pressure is a powerful tool. If Fred and Randy are g iving their all, the ot he r team riders must hold up their end of the deal. I predict a high finish just on Hoess ' effort alone. I also p redict that the top Americ an will be Luca T russard i! How about Cody and Randy Mastin? When was the last time we had a father and son competing on the same team? Good luck to all our ISDE riders. Charlie Williams Via the Intemet Don't Agree w ith LCa As som eon e w ho ea rns a significa nt portion of h is in come fro m the moto rcyc le ind ustry , I ca n' t d isagree with t he sentiments St ev e Cox expressed in hi s LCQ co lum n (Iss ue #3 8, Sep tember 27 ) on th e potentia l closu re of 80 m i l li on acres o f F or est Serv i c e l an d to m o t o r c y c l e s . H o w e v e r , as Not Cle a n? I am h a v in g a n extremely d ifficul t t ime.wri ti ng th is, but feel m ov ed to do so . I t is tw ice as ha rd to write bec ause I too am a competito r. I j ust got finished wa tc h ing th e AMA 600c c Supersport even t fr om Willow Sp rings o n t ele v i s i on. F r o m th e a n g le o f w h ic h t he f i l m i ng was d on e , i t appe ared as th ou gh a ce rta in et hical line has been crossed . A s wi th most th in gs in life, I suppose it dep ends o n t he o utcome . In t he real m o f Worl d Su per sp ort racing , Christian Ke ll ne r and his partner are foo ls for pushing each other without regard for safety . In our littl e world in Ameri ca , Kurtis Roberts is a c ham p io n for the same degree (if not worse ) of disregard. Again , may be those of us wat ching at home did not ha ve the be st angle of view . but from m y standpo int. Kurtis was w ro ng . They may not take the point away and he is still the champion, b ut it look ed dirty . Fo r the folks to call it gutsy and heroic as opposed to luck y and foo lish , makes me wonder where th e sport is going. I take my own (smaller) level of compet ition serio usly , and I rea li ze my sponsors may see this and fli nch - but we all owe each other a ve ry basic respect w hen we rid e toget her. Ev ery on e sa y s th at " rubbi n's rac in'" to a ce rta in ex te n t th at is tr ue, b ut it need s to be " cl ean ." Sorry, but I had to ge t tha t off m y che st. Hopefully , I d idn 't p iss off to o man y i m p o r t an t people . Kuri'von A/men Via the Inteme Jason Pridmore Bu t i n t he sa m e p a r a g r a p h , h e paints all en vironmen ta lists w it h one bro ad st ro ke, b ec au se " most h av e p robabl y never even been camp ing ." Fu rt her , Cox would have us bel ieve that " f a m i l y camping expeditions pr obab ly do much mo re damage to o ur forests than m otorcyclists do." Rea lIy? Can Cox verify thes e as sert io ns? Di d Cycle New s' editors make even one pho ne call to check these putative facts? Cox would like to t h in k t hat the entire burden of maintaining national forests is borne entirely by motorcyclists, " b e c a u se we pay f or g reen st ickers ." He conveniently ignores the fa ct that other forest use rs pay for c amping p ermits, back c ountry p ermits and num erous other fees that presu mably provide the F o rest Servi ce and Bl.P\ with the funds to perform their duties . T here are many ways to combat th is pote ntial closu re . However , nam e-c all ing and in venti ng facts are n ot a mo ng t hem. D o yo u hon e stl y t hink if a legisl at or who favo red th e cl osure read th i s sh ril l, st ride nt and unsupportabl e dri vel, tha t he or she would be in c lin ed to c ha nge hi s or her m ind? Dan Wlldhlri' Longmon t, CO th e biggest grin o n h is face - carry ing tw o k nee pu cks and a pa ir of boots, all sig ned by J ason . F or t he rest of th e wee ke nd I had to lis te n to this k id t alk abo ut Jason and how he is no w J as on ' s #1 fa n . Many of the people in turn four prob ably know who my son is from all his c heeri ng he did every time Jason came around . On Sunday , Team Suzuki 's Mat Mladin , A aro n Yates, Pri d more. and Team Kawasaki's Eric Bo st ro m , and Doug C handle r t rea ted both of my ch ild ren to autographs. To all of you , th ank you for the memories those kids w il l have forever. There are now two new fans of this great sport! I hope you' re all proud of yourselves - I know I am . Roberi'M ance Via the Intem et Agree With LCa I ag ree 100% with St eve Cox's LCQ colum n, but it brought up a qu esti on . He m en ti on s th at if t he bi ll s pass and th e land gets shut down to off -rea ders, th e on ly sort of off-road riding would b e motoc ross . I magi ne what that would do to the ind ustry. It wou ld tak e cue I e n eVIl's O C TO B ER 1 8, 2000 5