RACING 2 "The danger to the Tour de France comes from within."

[datakoll]

AN incomplete but brief explaination:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/sports/othersports/08cycling.html?ref=sports

as previously mentioned, the GEORGE effect
or worse.

[Michael Baldwin]

I appreciated Millar's comments. He's spot on by all accounts. Thanks
for sharing.

Best Regards - Mike Baldwin

[datakoll]

Races shortened

"Entertainment" controls cycle racing


FLORIDA TODAY

DAYTONA BEACH - Friday night's Daytona Supercross by Honda truly was a
matter of the last rider standing, or more to the point, the last
rider not submerged in the worst conditions ever seen at the big
track.
Thanks to a day of both intermittent showers and heavy rain, the
course in the Daytona International Speedway tri-oval could be best
described as a mud bog, and Honda's Kevin Windham passed leader and
apparent winner Chad Reed for the victory on the final lap as Reed's
Yamaha got stuck, stalled and refused to restart.
It appeared Reed had turned his 250cc Yamaha into an unbeatable swamp
buggy, but his bike quit with four corners to go in the race that was
reduced from 20 to 12 laps, but was still run in a downpour. The rain
exacerbated what was already a swamp, and turned the race into a
matter of staying up and surviving puddles that appeared to be as deep
as the 250cc bikes were tall.
Reed fell several times and went off course, trading the lead with
Windham several times on Lap 4. But each time he grabbed the lead back
and went on to lap all but Windham, who was running second, and
Tallahassee's David Millsaps, who was third on a Honda.
Then disaster struck, and a mud-covered Reed abandoned his bike on the
course after numerous attempts to re-fire it and stalked off. Millsaps
finished second, and Jacob Marsak was third on a Honda. Tampa's Reed
was sixth.
"It was just brutal," Windham said. "You dream of winning Daytona and
you take it under any conditions or any circumstances. I hate to see
that for Chad. I got stuck once, had to pull in. Just a brutal race."
The race was no easier for Millsaps.
"I had a really bad start and I didn't know what place I was on the
first lap; I knew I was way back there," he said. "I didn't go for the
first half and I went down twice and pulled off after that. It was a
good race, it was fun and it's not one I want to re-do."
Trey Cannard won the 125cc Supercross Lites support race that was
reduced to 10 laps and run in a heavy thunderstorm. Cannard survived a
fall on his Honda to hold off Washington state's Ryan Villopoto on a
Kawaski. The race was Cannard's third ever in Supercross and Lites and
the Oklahoman has won all three. Matt Boni of Geneva was third.



AMA sells rights.


The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) announced Friday it is
stepping away from professional racing, selling the sanctioning,
promotional and management rights for its AMA Pro Racing properties to
the Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG), based in Daytona Beach.
The series will continue to be known as AMA Pro Racing even though the
advocacy group will focus on promoting interests of motorcycle riders.
The Daytona group is led by Roger Edmondson, the founder of the CCS
motorcycle racing series and president of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports
Car Series, and Jim France, vice chairman/executive vice president of
NASCAR and chairman of International Speedway Corp. which owns Daytona
International Speedway and 11 other tracks.
DMG will assume responsibility for the AMA Superbike, Motocross, Flat
Track, Supermoto, Hillclimb and ATV Pro Racing series. The agreement
does not include the AMA Supercross and AMA Arenacross series. Those
rights are held by Live Nation through 2019 in a contract with not-for-
profit AMA. Edmondson said DMG would meet with Live Nation to suggest
creating a new contract with DMG which like Live Nation is a for-
profit group.
Edmondson also said it was DMG's intention to maintain Superbikes as
AMA's premier series and make the Daytona 200 a Superbike race again
beginning in 2009.

[datakoll]

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/bc;_ylt=Ak8CiS_N0l1ShRFxIw8Sofx8oswF

[Michael Baldwin]

(datakoll)
>Races shortened
>"Entertainment" controls cycle racing
>FLORIDA TODAY
>DAYTONA BEACH - Friday night's Daytona Supercross by Honda truly
>was a matter of the last rider standing, or more
>to the point, the last rider not submerged in the
>worst conditions ever seen at the big track.
>
Yep. In the mid to late 70's the mud was handlebar deep but the race
wasn't shortened.

>AMA sells rights.
>The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) announced Friday it is
stepping
>away from professional racing, selling the sanctioning, promotional and
management
>rights for its AMA Pro Racing properties to the Daytona
>Motorsports Group (DMG), based in Daytona Beach. The series will
>continue to be known as AMA Pro Racing even though
>the advocacy group will focus on promoting interests of motorcycle
>riders.

This was shared with the group about 2 weeks ago as an example of how
pro cycling could/should evolve. The AMA (non-profit) is taking on the
governing/advocacy role and leaving the promotion (for profit) to the
professionals.

McQuaid should get out of the office more often and see how the rest of
world is changing. Don't get me wrong. I believe in traditions and
such. Heritage is important. But modern marketers recognize the need
to blend the past with the future. That's what keeps _anything_
relevant to the present.

Best Regards - Mike Baldwin

[datakoll]

such as crowning the spanish doper?
who's crowned this year? Denmark? Can Denmark post enough cash for an
apology?
search for a French Trade cash flow chart...
does the spanish lab speak to the italian lab to the....
How does mark martin run at the front ( offering a recent example as
that only) in his inaugural semi first retirement year race ?

UCI and AMA are left holding what ?