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/1542356
vorces
"lf
ever there was an
off-road
battle worth
fighting, this
is it."
Lene6
lo Ae edibr should be se't lo Voi.€s, Cycle N€ws,
PO 8ox
5084,
Costo Meso,
CA
9262&5084,
foxed lo 714751{685 or smoilsd lo sditorecyclenews.com.
Publhhed
Fight For Trials
Southern Calfornia
trials riders have lost
an
important
practice
and competition area
with the l4ay I closing
of Bill l'1arkham's
Trialsland facility in
Riverside County.
The
landownet who leased the
property
to lYarkham,
has decided that
he does not
want to risk any
problems
with the
new
Riverride OHV ordinance and
will find other
uses for his
property,
even though there
have
been no complaints
from neighbors or the
county. The irony
here is rhat trials bikes, by
far
the
quietest
off-road motorcycles and
have minimal impact to the environment,
are
among the first to fall victim to the
new ordi-
nance, albeit
indirectly.
lf ever there
was an ofl-road battle worth
fi8hting,
this is it. The
possibility
of similar leg-
islation sproutin8 up across
the country is
frightening. Let's hope the
pending
lawsuit
against the ordinance
is successful.
Steve
Stoz
vio lhe tntetnel
Rock The Boat
Thank God Ricky Carmichael
just
missed
the boat and trailer
when he crashed at the
Dallas Supercross-
Having the boat there is
a bad idea. On any track.
The AMA and all
involved
in marketing should
,ump
on a
motorcycle and hit a boat and
trailer at
speed,
and then think about
the safety of
the riders on the track.
For crying out
loud! lfa
piece
ofequipment
must be out on the track to
put
on the
show,
then use some sort
of intelligent. safe barrier
to
protect
the rider.
Ed Reyes
Rivenide,
CA
Rock The Boat
ll
lrealize that
the reason that there were
pickup
trucks
on tall
pedestals
and a boat
on a tmiler in the
inlield
of
the Dallas
Supercross
is for
the almighry
advertising
dollar, which someone
pocketed for
allow-
ing them to be there-
However, not only
does it
greatly
obstruct the
fans
view
of
a
large
portion
of the far side
of
the
track, it
is obviously a danger to the riders, as was
experienced
on two occasions when
riders
nearly
T-boned the boat.
wouldn't
that be tragic
if the outcome of
whar is arguably
the best Supercross season in
some time was decided by a totally avoidable
accident?
l'm sure that many
of us can think of
a local track or ridinS area that has been shut
down by a
lawsuit where the owner/promot-
er
was shown to be negligent by leavin8 some
sort of a
piece
of equipment
too close to the
track boundaryand
someone ran offand hit it,
causinS injury
Come
on,
guys,
these are
the
best
in the
world
-
shouldn't
you
have more concern for
their safety than the bucks
that a company is
willing to
pay
for the display space? The
6
MAY l0, 2006
.
CYCLE
NEWS
Lelters should
200
for
publicotion
Editot.
your
perfect
world, four-strokes should
never
have
gotten
a displacement break a8ainst
two-strokes
-
either in motocross,
Supercross
or MotoGP There are a
lot of Harley buyers
and flat-track fans out there
-
so can
you
seri-
ously eliminate that manufacturer
from com-
petition,
because, according to
your
world
view, they don't measure up technologicallyl
Or, to the benefit of the raci
g
fans,
promot-
ers and
manufacturers, does one
weigh the
rules to
give
competitors
an even shot at the
checkered flag? This not PC racing,
it's
all
about the
rider. lt's either that, or th.ow
the
rulebook
away.
I won't claim it's always been
fair,
but
that's
the sanctioning
body's
problem.
You can
have
your
say by not buying a ticket.
ln closing. I wasn't aware that
knowing a
muffler
bearing
from a kingpin was a
prereq-
uisite
to enloying a
good
race. The big
ques-
tion is
-
do
you?
loe
Kdtlbre