Ups And Downs
UPS AND DOWNS
UP: To Damon Bradshaw, for being honest. The 21-year-old factory Yamaha motocrosser recently announced that, due to personal reasons, he will stop racing motorcycles for an indefinite period of time. “I'll be back when I can earn my paycheck and not one second before,” Bradshaw said. This year, Bradshaw finished fourth in the AMA Supercross series and ninth in AMA 250cc outdoor competition.
UP: To roadracer Doug Toland, for bringing another world championship to America. The 31-year-old captured the World Endurance Championship at the Bol d’Or 24hour endurance race in France, finishing sixth on a kitted Honda RC30. Earlier in the season, the former WERA-endurance champion rode a Kawasaki ZXR750 for the British Phase One team, placing fourth in Sweden and winning in Belgium. He has competed in the world endurance championship for the past five years and is the first American to win the series. Toland, currently Cycle World’s testing consultant, joins speedway star Sam Ermolenko, World Superbike champ Scott Russell and 500cc World Roadracing Champion Kevin Schwantz as Americans who topped the world in 1993.
DOWN: To Tulsa, Oklahoma, County District Judge Jay Dalton, for commuting the sentence of a convicted drunk driver. Last April, Rick Sondrup pleaded no contest to charges that he was drunk when he struck and killed 21-year-old motorcyclist Chris Sowell. Dalton released Sondrup after the 21-year-old Oklahoma University student had served just 3V2 months of his 12-year sentence. Reportedly, Dalton felt Sondrup could be a more productive member of society out of jail.
