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/710094
CN III VOICES L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R "The Europeans are coming, mark my words." World Championship Of Dirt Track? Over the weekend I stopped by the local dirt track to watch the boys practice. The track here in Washington is a quarter-mile long, cushion, and perfectly groomed. One of the young guys was on a Kenny Roberts looking, chrome-framed, black and yellow 750 Yamaha. That kid could ride and would "sing it" well into the corner keeping it sideways scrubbing off speed before setting it up, rolling it on, feet on the pegs off toward the next turn. Man, that was poetry in motion. I remember a time when I rode like that. Sadly, those days are long gone, now it's time to help these young guys chase their dreams. We need a World Championship of Dirt Track now to give guys like this young Yamaha rider a career in dirt track racing, because there's nothing more beautiful than a rider on a big twin dirt tracker using body English to guide his way through the turn on a cushion track. It reminded me a lot of watching the Nation- als at Louisville Downs back in the 1970s. When I talked to the young Yamaha racer later, he men- tioned Brad Baker was in Spain racing in the new Span- ish Championship. I looked it up on YouTube and, sure enough, Brad was in Valencia, Spain, racing a 450 Kawa- saki on a large dusty TT track without a jump. It was great to watch Brad come from being forced wide on the first turn all the way back to winning the race. He worked for the win making it clear the Spanish rid- ers are getting serious about dirt track racing. We'd better take notice because just like in MotoGP, the Spanish and Italian riders dominate the field because they are passionate about motorcycle racing. If we want to keep our dominance in dirt track here in America we'd better realize the Europeans are coming, mark my words. People we have to step up our game with innovative track layouts like in Spain (but with water to keep the dust down), and promote the events toward the younger generation, and, for heavens sakes, get Red Bull or Monster to sponsor a World Championship of Dirt Track Series with full television coverage. Now that Indian (Polaris) is moving into the dirt track game with their FTR750 Scout, the stakes have just gone up here in the U.S. This should push the rest of the manufac- turers to up their games to compete and bring back the battles of the 1950's between HD, Triumph and Indian with the added spice of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM, Ducati, Aprilia and, of course, Kawa- saki. But there's one differ- ence now. Dirt track events are being held all around the world thanks to passionate racers the likes of Troy Bayliss, Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi. I'll say it again: It's time for a Dirt Track World Champi- onship with some of the events on "Big Motors." We all need to work together and make this happen. Now! John Holman Keep The Trees So glad I attended this year's event [Washougal Pro Moto- cross Championship]. Wow, huge crowd, great racing and great weather. But hearing and reading a few CN rider comments, it appears (a re- curring theme) that Washou- gal, one of the great U.S. MX tracks, still has issues with rider vision in the big Doug fir shady areas. I would hate to see the Huffman family remove more trees from this scenic and iconic track, but take a look at the other tracks around the country, you don't see a lot of trees. Trees make this track scenic, it's unique. Eli, Roczen, A-Mart and Forkner didn't have a problem with them. Let's keep the trees. James "Bonecrusher" Smith 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 P6