Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Remember 50 miles at Sacramento? A 100 la pper at Ascot?" Off-Road Blues A s w e all know, th ings are looking pretty bad for off-roaders these da ys . We need to k now m ore to confront t h i s pro b le m . Th es e self-righteou s, do -gooder extremists are org an ized , well funded, an d h ell-bent o n st op ping p eopl e fr o m doing w h a t the y enjoy . Unless it' s o n foot . T h e env ironm en talists ' t actics o f e xagg er a tion , distortion , and fl at-out li es h as threat en ed m an y gro ups. I w ould s u p po r t th es e gro ups if th e y wo uld co nc en t ra te th ei r e fforts on m uc h larger pr ob lem s, such as big bu siness a nd m as s deve lo p ment wh er e th ey are ineffectiv e. T hey prefer to go afte r easie r pr ey . In South ern Ca li for ni a, en viro n mentalists are close to shutting down Gl amis Dunes, and O c otill a Well s is next on th eir li st. These are two sma ll ar ea s in a hu ge de sert that have bee n us ed f or 40 -plu s yea rs and ma i nt ain ed through t!le. _Gr een S tic k e r Fund, which is p aid b y o ff -roaders excl usively. I beli ev e t he se ex trem ists ne ed t o h ear from us di re c tly . W'= n eed to co m pile a li st of n am es, t el eph on e numb er s, a nd ad d re sses , so we c an br in g these issues to t hem in a m ore perso nal man ner. So far our ta c t ic s are not work in g . It ' s tim e t o c h an ge ta ctics. We c all t he m ex t re mists . It 's tim e f o r t hem t o ca l l us e x t remis t s. Suppo rtin g Gore is sup po rting the o ppositio n. Nancy Tholund EscondIdo, C6. liking Wrenchead Dirt Track A s a longtime fan o f p rofessi on al flat tr ac k racing , I must say a b ig th ank you to th e fo lks at SFX/ PA CE for t his year's Wrenchead .com Fo rm ula US A Ser ies . The y brought f i rst - cl a s s eve n ts to n ew venues w ith m otor c y c l es bes ides t h e st anda rd Ha r l eyDav idson XR7 50 . A t Emera ld Dow ns, t h e t r a c k was n o t to o bad and th e race between Geo rge Roeder and J oe K o pp wa s exc it ing as only a c ushion track co uld be. I t hin k the equ ipment fo rm u la wo rked we ll , espec ially in the Pro Si ng les class . If nothin g else , a little com pe titio n t o the A M A wo ul d b e good , as d irt tra ck rac ing has been lef t to with er o n th e v ine while und er t he ir sa nct io n . D irt tr a ck r a ci n g needs to ge t its d i v er si t y b a c k . We n e ed diffe r ent eq ui p ment with closer t ies to p rodu ct io n mo torcycles , m ore Natio na l TT rac es, a sc hedule th at would a llo w AMA an d F -US A to co -ex ist. Race s of di fferent len gth s wou ld be nice, too . Rem ember 50 m iles at Sac ram ento? A 100 lap per at A sc ot ? Wh at is really needed i s chan ge in a b i g w a y to rest o re th is great Am eri can sp o rt to the level it d eser v es. T h e N a t i o n a l S e r i e s ne eds t o reward th e m ost ve rsatile riders com- p et ing o n e q ua l , but differ en t , ma chines on a v a rie t y o f tra c k su rfaces (cushion vs . groove, etc .) an d tra ck types . Let' s fa c e it, th e number of TT and short track events has real ly dropped o ff o ve r t he last 20 yea rs . I c ou ld ramble on for a lo ng t ime, bu t I just h ad t o say th at thi s p ast ye ar co uld have been th e one t o start th e big c h ange s n eeded to restore a littl e g lo r y t o dirt trac k r acing. M y thanks to Mike Kidd, B ob M or an , and all th e othe r fo lk s w ho ar e wo rk ing to m ak e dirt tra ck bi gg er and better . Pete Jorgenson Auburn, WA Kudos to Lopez beac h weath er ) , has alwa ys required o nly minor g rooming, hole filling and wat er ing before t he sta rt of the m ain s. Th is , w ith a full program of t ime tri als , heats, semis , LCQs , and usua ll y heat s, sem is , etc. fo r an other cla ss o f bikes or ri ders. I have not hi ng against hon king diesel t ruc ks , but wh at abo ut m otorc yc le sounds at a motorc y cle r ac e . D id the tru ck s run more laps th an th e bik es? Wh ose idea was it to stop the main eve n t, l i n e up th e r i d ers s ingle fil e and let th e lead er st art an other race? I don 't know - ma yb e it wa s th e riders? I don't th in k so - th ese ri d ers , a nd m an y li ke th em , h a ve ri d d en a lot of 2 5 -m ile eve n ts with no hot-d og b r eak . H o w ab out 10 0- la p TTs at A scot? L ast, and probably least, $5 for a pr ogram isn't o ve rl y ex tra vaga nt, but th is one didn 't ev en have th e ri de r s points sta ndin gs. Is an y one interested ? W e just returned fr om a great weeken d at th e Fall Cl assi c at D aytona . I wa n t ed to thank a c o up le of p eopl e t ha t m ade o u r w eek en d speci al. T o th e r id ers of th e V a lvolin e EMGO Suzu ki team , I mu st f i rs t t h an k M r. John Hopkins for t he spec ia l atte nti on h e p a id to u s t hrough ou t th e weeke n d an d t he great souve ni r we bro ught h ome (it is pro ud ly displa yed o n t he m an tl e a l ready) . F or h is except io nal per forman ce, I co ngra tula te hitn., He is a t rue c ham p ion o n '., an d off t he t r a c k . Also to Grant Lop~ co ngrat ulations o n your c h am p io nshlp -wi nn ing s e as o n and thank s for the a ut og ra phed p oster ce lebr at in g it by sig nin g it as Y2 K Champi on . Th e t eam ow ner should b e pro ud of t he acco m p lis hments m ad e by t he se riders and t he tu ne rs that got them th er e. T o th e sta ff of Daytona Internat ion al Speedway , t hanks for a llowi ng us " fan s" t o enj oy the best from o f rac ing in th e wor ld . Lastly . th ank s to Cycle News an d Henny Ray Abram s f or lett i n g m e enj o y the weeke nd all over aga in by b eing ab le to r ea d al l ab out it o n M onday mo rn ing o n Cycle Ne ws Online. O n No vember 7 the fu ture o f off-road m ot orcy cl ing is at stake. A I Gore h as lon g bee n a rad ical environ men talist who c lea rly wou l d do eve ry th ing he c an to elimi nate o ffroad re c reat io n from public lands . It was AI Gore who was th e m ast erm in d ...... behind th e Clinton admini strati on ' s ........ d esi gn atiol1. of . !l1i ll i o n s o f acres in U tah as "w i lde r ness " as we ll as t he in itiatio n of the " roadless " ,,'iati v e" in th e F o r e st Service , b o th w it n 'h e i ntent of a bol is h ing th e co nc ep t of multip le use on pub li c lands. A ll m o t o rc y c li st s must un it e a nd vote for Gove rno r Bus h for pres ide nt as well as loc al ca nd idate s supportive o f ORV is su es . In co nc l u si o n, if AI Gore b e c om es o u r n ext pres id ent, there ma y we ll be no off-road ridi ng a ll ow ed o n publi c l and , a nd that is n ot an "A l Gore exaggeration ." LouIs 'Buzz" Wells VIa the Internet Hadley Osran, M.D. Atoscadero, C6. -- The Del Mar Mile Th e gods of AMA and Agaja nian were good and gave us D el Mar fo r t h e m ile . Bu t, as su rely as th er e i s n o more San J ose, we 've lost D el M ar. It was n ot t he sa me. Wha t h as happe ne d t o g o od o l d C a li fo rn i a d irt track r acing? In m y 40 - p l u s yea rs of b ein g an " E x p e rt " spectato r , I've noted th at whe n t he n ec essa ry evi ls of runn in g an ev ent are well planned (i.e ., well in formed g r andstand ma i n tenan c e c rew s, we ll- in fo rm ed secur ity force , we ll- stocked snack sta nds) t hey usu all y are also w ell p repa r ed t o run races. This was not evident to me at Del M ar. Selling b eer and hot dogs will h ap pen even if the track is ready and ra ces are running. Th e track , if prepa red befo re the racing starts (espe cially when aided by th e cool Oct ob er M al c olm Smith ) . I offer th e foll owin g q u est ions fo r yo ur read er s' co nsi deration: What is m or e i m p o r t a n t , d i rt b i ke rid ing o r ap p o intin g th e nex t f our o r f i ve Su pr eme Cou rt j udges, an d dozen s of Unit ed States D istrict Co urt and U nited States C i r c u it Co urt o f A p pea ls j udges? W hat is m or e import ant , d irt bik e ri d in g or m ain t ai n ing t he integ rit y of the Social Sec urity System and pay ing down the national debt? ( Pleas e n ot e t h a t o ne o f the socia l c ond ition s th at gave b i r th to t he Social Sec urit y Syste m was the co l l ap se o f th e stock ma rket , an d th at th e in t er est payment on the na tional debt is th e third largest line item in t h e f ederal bu d g eL ) W h a t i s more \~ o o r t a n t. di rtb ike rid i ng or f ull y f u nd ing-p"'h li c sc h ools (o n e of t h e hallmarks of Arneru, ..~ democracy)? W hile I rec og n ize th at '~~son abl e p eopl e co uld di sagree o n th e r ""'-'e die s fo r these profoun d issues , w e ' ca n' t fid d le whil e Rom e burn s. Ke ep it rea l Cy cle New s o ff- roa d f un p al es b y co m p ar ison ! Frands Petty VIa the Internet The Election John Reardon VIa Internet Our Fault - Again We do n't pick and chose lett ers based on "ed ito ria l bi as. " We run the lett ers th at we rece ive. If th e maj ority of th ose leiters a t th is ti m e of th e y ea r d eal with the up coming elec tio n and off-high way oeh ic le use, then so be it. Wh en w e receiv e lett ers of differin g view s, su ch as yours , we p rint tho se as we ll. H o w ev er , y o u rs was th e ii rst... Editor As we approac h t he No vem b er 7 date for the elect ion of our next Pres ide nt o f th e Un it ed States, I h av e become increasingly di sturb ed by a series of "Voices " submis sions your staff has selected for publiCati on . By defini tion, yo ur editoria l pro cess ref lects th e bias o f Cy cle News , whic h as a lo ng time r eader/su bscr iber, I f i nd t rou b lin g specifically , Cyc l e New s' s ha llow o pi nion rega rding the use of Off Hig hwa y Vehicles o n public land s. I have own ed/ ridden/ raced motorcycles since 1966, albe it road -go ing ma chines . However, it is nonetheless c lear to me that there are issues atten dant to t he pr esid ential race that tr an scend wha t is in the fin al analys is , a r e cre a ti onal past time (with th e exception of people who make a li ving off selling off-h ighway ve hicle eq uip m ent such as your Voi ces co nt ributo r, eye I e Say What? I w onder if th e AM A k n e w th e wo rd co m p ro m ise and had not fo ug ht t h e four- stroke ban ba c k , wou ld t he go v ernment be resorting to sneaky t ac tics and b ack -door m eth ods and land closures? If the AMA wo uld p ar t ic i p at e in the leg it imate pu blic process w it h an op en mi nd we might h av e to wea r h elm ets and ri d e fo u r-s tro kes, but we 'd be riding . M atkMakuch statr:'~'! Springs, CT n e .... S • N O V E MBER 8, 2000 5

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