Cycle News

CN III VOICES L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R "Short track races would be a much better show on bigger singles and framed bikes." Dirt Track Proposal I read the article of the AMA proposing a change to the motorcycles being raced in GNC1 and GNC2. I think it's wonderful they are going back to big motors for everything in the GNC1 class. It'll be just like it was back when they started class "C" racing in the 1930s, using one motorcycle for everything. Now add a couple road races for these bikes and you will have the GNC the way it was when they raced the 200-mile races at Laconia, Daytona Beach, and other oval tracks like Dodge City, Kansas and Lang- horne, Pennsylvania. Can you imagine a 200-mile dirt track race these days (you had to pit once about halfway through)? So in a nut shell this is great for all the old-head fans. To make it better, add a couple road races and to really spice it up have a couple super TTs on the tracks in Vegas and Califor- nia, where they run the trophy trucks that Jeremy McGrath and Rick Johnson drive. Now that would be really cool to see those big twins sliding on a shorter trophy truck-manicured track. And last but not least, go Indian! Build that bike for the GNC1 now and make H-D manufacture a new XR750 or use the Street 750, so all the bikes are current manufacture (again like class "C"). Go dirt track! John Holman Looks and sounds like another rule to benefit H-D motor com- pany. We should go with Ron Woods' idea from years ago: allow big singles up to 660cc in the half and mile events. This would cut the cost of expenses for a lot of the true privateers. I do like the idea of GNC2 as a singles-only class. Jeffrey A Case Future Of Singles Thank you for the article by Larry Lawrence relating to the future of Grand National Singles. Everyone knows I have long been an advocate of the DTX Singles. We were successful in getting full Honda backing for our singles team, with Terry Poovey and Bryan Smith both winning the Formu- laUSA Dirt Track Singles Cham- pionship. Our pitch to Honda was that our dirt trackers would run on the CRF450 platform and look like a Honda CRF. They bought into it because it was what they were selling on the showroom floor. I still sup- port the DTX 450s for GNC2, but I think the series has been hurt by making all singles 450s and making them all DTX bikes. The short track races would be a much better show on big- ger singles and framed bikes. I think the Daytona short track is as boring as watching paint dry. Get some framers back on the track so that the riders can steer and control the bike and make the racing more exciting. Fast forward to 2015 to the current "twins" debate. AMA Pro Racing released proposed 2016 rules for GNC1 that will make all GNC1 races twins races. Ahh, why? You cannot ride a twin at the Daytona Short Track or the Peoria TT. Yes, I know they rode twins at Peoria and the Astrodome "back in the day" but "back in the day" the bikes put out 70 horsepower. Now they put out 95-plus horsepower, someone will get hurt. Case in point is the twins running at the X Games. The track was a quarter-mile too short and there was little to no passing unless the guy being passed slipped off the groove. It was brutal, the best of the best really struggled. We are lucky someone did not get hurt running twins on that small X Games track. I love watching our experts race the twins. During the last three mile-races I have been standing in front of my TV yelling and cheering at the FansChoice broadcast. That is the excitement we need at all races, but twins at the short tracks and Peoria is not going to achieve that. Roy Plattel Letters to the editor can be sent to voices@cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Letters should not exceed 150 words and are subject to editing. Anonymous letters won't be considered for publication and each letter should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number… Editor P16

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