Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 19, 2006 37 think that it does solve some of the problems that you're speaking of with world-class motorcycles. I think that it's one of those things that if you can't con- trol it, you should embrace it. And if it's making every- thing a safer platform for tires and riders and bikes and tracks, I'm not sure it's a terrible thing. There's a lot of people who think it should be all about the rider and I can't disagree with that to some point. But I'm not sure that we should allow that rider to make a fatal error, either. Myself, I think that if it's available and it's embraced, the cost will come down for everybody to have it to the lowest level of racer, and that's probably not a bad thing. Again, I think this globalization of rules is aimed at reducing the costs for everybody and having a consis- tent platform, we could share information around the world with our other teams and I think racing would be a much happier place if that would happen. Are you in favor of traction control? Bodenbach: Yes. I think, one: like Keith [McCarty] said, if they can't control it, and whether you call it traction control or engine management, it's still result- ing in the same thing and it should be opened up or eliminated. I don't think they can eliminate it. There's plenty of clever people working on it. Miller: I think traction control has a place here, and Superbike is the place it should be. I think we should have areas in our series that it's not allowed. But I think it was eliminated originally because of the cost and the exotic materials and pieces you need for it. Nowadays, there's companies out there that are sell- ing it. The prices have come down. The manufacturers have found ways around the visual aspects of traction control. It could make for closer racing if it was opened up and everybody had availability to it. If you could buy a system for under a couple thousand dol- lars... look at the motorhomes out here. They're all spending more than that. Why not put it in an area that would make closer racing and more competitive rac- ing for the spectators? Which again, might grow our sport. But one thing I'd like to comment on, as far as rules and making a globalization of all rules, I still think we've got to be very careful on just taking that rule book and saying we're going to follow this. Because we over here, American Honda and Yamaha and Kawasaki of America and Suzuki, we all have our own different marketing and sales approaches to what we do over here in the United States vs. what they do over in Europe. Honda Europe is a different entity. Their racetracks are different. So I think they may come up with some different rules that they can have that we can't. But let's not be ignorant and let's pick and choose which rules work best for us and not be closed-minded about it. I think if you put the structure in place with a group of committees, individuals - however you want to call it - that can come up with this decision process. There are a lot of smart people in our sport here and our industry. So if you were to take the sanctioning body and our manufacturers, a promoter group, an after- market group, and perhaps that president or dictator, ] Keith McCarty