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/1542355
EgclelUews Volume XLlll Sharon CLr&n - Pr.,?Mr fi.bErt NorVE[c - Publiln r EDITORIAL P&l C.mttc - €.|htr xh Paltu - olrRodd EdLd Sre Atls - l6o.l,n. Edhor H..ny Rry AtGnr, Shr !ld! - CdrrrbutrIt E.iltoE &n C.th<.rt - Eu'op.., E{a.r Dryld R- Holth€r - R.aid.l EE tr Edtt r Mi.h€[. B.lr.l - Co, Edh.r AOVERTISING . WESIERH STATES l7 t1) 1rlr413 T6, Pr..a - Nrttdtol AccdiB MNq.r Forrit H.F!hl, Ryh M.nlll - W.n h SdlB i1ffi86 Rho.d. Crrwl:d - N.tiondl /ldrrriti', C@.di.oroi A.hl.igh Xl.h -,drrnr ADVERTISING . EASTERN STATES (770) 279-0304 lhei iB*ll, StEl. Smith - E i.rn Sdbr nb.o!.d C.rla A!.r - olrlc. /M.r.aEi & fddtilr'tg Coordiid..r tIARKETlNG . PROI'iOT|Oil tmtt Hnr.ltri - /Udtur.r GRAPHICS . PRODUCTION r.rN6 l. wld - Pr.d.r..,.n ,b@8!. suniu K@n, no6cft r.nin, Chrktlm P.ndan - G,rP,r. irdrrt ADMINISTRATION P.h |(l€n - /qdm,,,trdt E &in.,t ACCOUMTING . OATA PROCESSING lrnn. 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Ir rr.m c.yEl6 N.B 6gi3t6r!d lr.s P.ro.r oird^I ndirs l@ .!r "You can't please the group as a whole by trying to mollify every individua!." vorces teltec lo t|e ediror should be sent ro Voices, Cycle News, Po Box 5084, Co5to Mero, CA 9262&5084i loxed lo 71.1751 6685 or emoiled io edibr@crrlenew'.com Publkhed lsilers do nol necsssorily rellect the position ol Cycle News, loc tenea rhould not exceed 200 words, ond o ore subte.l ro editng. Anonymous lelters willnot be considered lor pubicolion. All leiers rhoirld codoin fie wril€r's nome, oddress ond doytime phono numbor... fdrtor. liust read the article with the ''improve- ments'' announced by SCRAMP for the lYotoGP at Laguna Seca. Please tell me they are kidding. These are not improvements- This will make the experience worse. I can leave town and go all the way out to the old Fort Ord to take a bus back to the track. And after the race, I can wait in line for hours for the bus and then hours to get out of Fort Ord and back to town. Some fun, 8uys. Or I can pay $50 on top of what I have already paid for admission to park near the track. So this "solutaon" makes a mess otrt of one of the problems. The orher problem is the fact that it takes 4o-plus minutes to cross a spectator bridge in the infield. I can't believe that SCRAI'4P did not get a sponsor to build a new bridge over the winter. There is one bridge from one part of the infield to the next. I just cancelled my room, and l'm glad I did not buy any tickets yet. I will watch it on TY and will buy the season recap on DVD. lusain Gladd Maohottan Beoch, CA Trickery? Yes! lt worked! HavinS noticed that C),cle News seldom, if ever, prints letters that point out maior deficiencies in their articles and writers unless they can slam the letter writer, I tried a new approach. By substitut- ing Scott Russell's narne (as someone who knows about racing) for Michael Scott's name (since he is clueless), it gave you the perfect excuse to print the letter with a lame note from the editor about who was clueless, although the knowledgeable read- ers will be wondering about why l'4,S. still has a job with you instead of S.R. being approached about the iob. By the way, though, you did do a great iob on the "Liter-bike Shootout," and hav- ing iust returned last night from Europe, I am looking forward to the "l''liddleweight Shootout" in the April 12 issue that I iust got to see last night. Peter Bonner vid the lnternet Great Scott Thank you for the great article on ''Milestones with Hank Scott" ['Archives,'' lssue l4]. I own the bike that Hank won the first Mile for Honda (RS750). Hy dad, broth- er and myself have been restoring the bike for a year now. l''ly dad bought the bike directly from.lerry Griffith in 1985, and the bike will be going to display in The Hall of Fame. One ofthe last items needed to make it complete is a factory paint iob. We need someone to do it correctly, and I would like to be contacted if such a person exists, We recently contacted Hank about the proiect, and he was stoked. I can be con- tacted at bcaron96@charter. net. Brion Coron Stuftridge, lfiA Track Safety ln Henny Ray Abrams' "Chicanery" column "Let's Get lt Right," Abrams suggests the AMA should abandon the ''Safety Committee" process and listen to individual rider input regarding the need for track improvements. Abrams goes on to state: ''The old saw that if you get l0 riders, you get l0 opinions iust doesn't fly..." Well, Henny Ray is dead wrongl Last year, C),cre News assembled a group of the finest riders in Al'1A road rac- ing, including Mat Mladin, Miguel Duhamel and others, in a round table discussion about what's right and wrong with AMA road racin8. ln that article, it became cD/s- tal clear that the racers themselves weren't in accord about their gripes with the At'4As oversight of track safety. Witness the latest improvements to Laguna Seca Raceway, done at great expense because of the grousing of l'lotoGP riders headed by Valentino Rossi himself. At the behest of the complaining riders, $5 million has been spent making the track "safer'' - includinS shaving off a rise leading into a turn on the back side of the track- That's an improvement that Nicky Hayden stated in these very pages was not necessary and in fact diminished the "locals" advantage at Laguna. The bottom line is that there is no meet- ing of the minds among the riders, who generally want changes that will Sive them, as individuals. an advantage against their rivals - as Nicky had with his ability to nego- tiate the "bump'' at Laguna Seca. The only way to address track safety is by committee. Riders need to speak in a unifled voice. and track owners need to address those concerns, but Henny Ray's suggestion that track owners and sanction- ing bodies must make changes based upon individual complaints would lead to a quag- mire of irresolvable disputes that would please no one, except an individual tryinE to gain an advantage over his rivals. Henny Ray Abrams is a talented writer and is knowledgeable in the realm of motorcycle road racing, but in his on goinS zeal to criticize the Al*4A on iust about everything they do, Abrams has shot him- self in the foot with this latest suggestion - you can't please the group as a whole by trying to mollify every individual. Rene LoPrevotte Ploceruille, CA Henny Fan? ln a recent ''Chicanery" Henny Ray Abrams wrote: "Those who rely on internet sites run by the lonely and desperate, slaving away in their "Home of the Whopper'' underwear in the darkened basements of their parents suburban tract houses, thought that life, as we know it, had ended when Hayden finished a distant third to young teammate Dani Pedrosa..." l'4r. Abrams, you sir, are a Senius, Forget Charles Bukowska, Henny Ray Abrams has finally found his true calling as America's next great underground poet. tim McLoughlio vio the lntemet No Air Horns I was at Budd's Creek two years ago for the motocross race and I thoroughly enioyed it. However, lwas extremely annoyed by the fans who blew air horns and the air horns themselves. Leaning over the fence and blowing horns at helmeted racers is one thin8, but there were some people who seemed to be trying to control their spectating space by blowinS their horns near the heads and ears of other spectators, I am sure they would deny doing such a thing, but it certainly appeared that way to me - especially since I was one of people who had a few air horns blasted very close to my head. And what did ldo? I moved away because there was no sense in Setting in an argument, which could have easily escalat- ed into something more. Because of my experience at your track with these peo- ple, and the rude, and what I see as inten- tional, behavior they displayed, I think Budd's Creek should ban air horns from the facility. When you think of it, they serve no useful purpose but to annoy. They also distract from the sound of the motorcy- cles, which is music to my ears, and they annoy/anger spectators who have spent lots af time and money to enioy the day, racing, and facilary So please, ban these race wreckers and noisemakers before someone losses an eardrum. loY Kaufmon Virginio Beoch, VA CYCLE NEWS . MAY 3, 2006 s Not Happy With Traffic Plan NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 1505-M cadillr( Aw,, c6r. He$, CA t1a26 PO. Bor t084. Co.u M6., CA 92624-5084 ota) 75t-7411 . lax (714) rtl-6585