Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"N 200 American hope." icky is our great Bring The Noise The AIYA thinks Formula Xtreme bikes need traction control? These are built 600s. How will the United States develop l'1otocP riders like that? And how about noise levels? Racing vehi- cles are supposed to be loud, fast and smelly, NASCAR knows this. Want to attract a crowd at an inner city Supermoto? Let'em run megaphones and drop the ridiculous noise limits. For a true race fan, loud is not noisy, it's excitin8. The same applies to road racing. We are talking about events that happen once a year at these venues. Superbikes should not be choked up with wads of fiberglass, l'4otocP under- stands this as well. To me, it takes away from the atmosphere when you can hear spectators' bikes leaving the parking lot over the sounds coming from the track. Frcd Btoshieit Yio the lnt met Back OffOn The AMA I kind of feel like the guy defending the neighborhood pedophile at a PTA meeting, but the "bandwagoning" to blame the Af4A for everything short of global warming has reached hysterical propoftions. Yes, Daytona 2006 was a boner of mon- umental proponions, and l'm certain Ron Barrick won't drive to rhe local grocery store without someone in the car with him. But flak is coming at AMA Pro Racing from every quadrant, and most of it is unde- served. Several months ago, in one of Henny Ray Abrams'regular AMA "hit pieces," Abrams spends l2 paragraphs in the article deriding the Al*4A for ignorinS rider safet/: then, at the end ofthe article, he complains that the AMA "spends too much time cleaninS up oil spills" that detract from the timely completion of the race. Am lthe only one who saw the problem with Henny Ray's analysis here? The flat-track race at Lima was anoth- er disaster, but I've never seen someone in an AMA Pro Racing shirt conditioning a racetrack. The promoter and track staff are the ones who dumped magnesium chloride instead of calcium chloride on the track surface, rendering it unridable. Should the AMA hire a chemist to analyze what track owners put on their own rac- ing surlaces? This week's letters column has l'1r. Ron Schroeder bitching that the AMA should have auditioned the public address person- nel who irritated him with their Iack of pro- fessionalism. A€ain, that's what the race- track management is supposed to do. These are "local" employees hired by the promoters, not by the AMA. By the way, Ron, the AMA doesn't own any water truck. Your sightline was obscured by - you guessed it - track staff! And it doesn't stop there. Even well- liked professionals such as Ben Bostrom are gefting into the ''Bash the AMA'mix. After the Miller Motorsports Park race at Salt Lake City, Ben opined that "Ron Barrick should be fired" for allowing the race starter to be on the track surface at start-finish instead of using the high-tech starting liShts that were about 35 feet above the track surface. What Bostrom doesn't know is that AMA Pro Racing starter Bob Lemming made that decision. LemminS has started more races than C),rle News has printed newspapers, and he rightly observed that, at Miller, a rider tucked in behind a windscreen at 160 mph riding into the sun would be unable to see the lights, and Lemming then cajoled Miller management to eschew their hi- zoot liShts and do it the old-fashioned (and correct) way, and put the race flagger at the start- finish, where riders could have the flags in their sight line, instead of having to sit up from behind the bubble to look up at the lights. AMA Pro Racing ceftainly has made mis- takes, as have we all, but before a disgrun- tled writer sits down at his word processor to slam the AIYA, they might consider the fact that AMA Pro Racing is one co8 in the wheel that is professional motorsports, and not to blame for every overflowing toilet at your local racetrack. Rere LdPrevotte Plo.eNille, CA What Did Nicky Do? I missed it, but it must have been bad. What exactly did Nicky Hayden do that would cause some people - or anyone, for that matter - to regard him as a noncontender or, worse, a wanna-be? What does this guy have to do get respect from these morons - win a race on one wheel with no brake? The latest entry from one of these geniuses included these brilliant statements: "lf Nicky Hayden had- n't won that race [Laguna Seca], HRC would have had every right to fire him on the spot" and "his second win was an unin- tentional g!ft from Rossi." So let's analfze these two insightful remarks. ConcerninS the first one, because the race is in the United States, at a track Hayden has raced on, regardless ofthe fact that it was new compared to the last time he rode it, he should be held to a standard that it's win or else? Whew, it's a good thins he won. Unfortunately, now we have to send Edwards, Roberts and Hopkins pack- ing, as they have raced there as well, ln fact, if we take this thought to the next level, we're going to run out of ltalians soon, too. I mean, il Rossi wins at home, we're goinS to have to let them go. lt's ,ust a matter af time before we run out of riders because if they all fail to win in their home court, it's "see ya" time. Concerning the second one: Does that not make any win - by someone other than Rossi - a 8ift? Stands to reason, then, that what we need to do is to tell Rossi; "Sorry no more racing for yor.r. The other riders want to feel like they earned their wins, but now that they've been declared gifts, what's the point?" ln all seriousness, Rossi is a very special guy, along the lines of Hailwood and Agostini. But, like the rest, he can be beat- en. Some people refuse to accept this fact and manufacture reasons why othe6 win, Get over it. He's not Soing to win all the races. The others that do win or finish above him on any given day deserve the respect they've earned, and that most cer- tainly includes the current points leader, Nicky Hayden. Don Henr,l Encinitos, CA More On Nick I am so tired of Cycle News actually wasting ink and printing lame letters to the editors that keep bashinS Nicky Hayden ("Honda Helping Rossi"), just because other riders can pull a win out of their butts one week and finish in eiShth place or worse the next week... Nicky is a consistent top-three lin- isher every week! I mean, give credit were credit is due. Yes, Rossi is catching up, but if the only other rider that you can compare Nicky to is Rossi, then that is salng something. Hayden is a Ereat rider, and I just heard him do an interview on the Adam Corolla show, and he has a great attitude as well. The bot- tom line: Please quit bashing Nicky Hayden and throw those lame-ass letters in the ftash, where they belong. Nicky is our great American hope. lGnny Gwin Lot Vegot, NV 8 AUGUST 2, 2006 . CYCLE NEWS Egoleflews Yc I u ln c X L I I I gEd c&ryt6 - Pr.$.hm R.6.rt l{.r!6[. - ArDlirrr ADVERTISING . WESTERN STATES Tary Prllt - N,rimd/ ,.c@rtr ll!,raad Rr& Hdill - lt4nr,,o/., /U.@r.. 't@ kpp.r, S.h jont -^d,.ft/tr'tl S.hr i.ptdturitr Rho,U. CNford - narr@l a

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