Chuck Sun Q&A Announcement - Dirt Rider Magazine

Chuck Sun will be on the dirtrider.com message board live to directly answer your questions at 10:00 am Pacific time on April 8th, and checking in April 9th to answer some of the late questions. This is your chance to interact with a great racer who has a chance to bring a World Championship back to the United States this year.For many of you, Chuck Sun needs no introduction. For those of you too young or too new to the sport, Chuck Sun was one of the premiere motocross racers in the 1970s and 1980s. Among his accomplishments are winning the 1980 AMA 500cc National Championship as well as being on the legendary 1981 Motocross des Nations team, the first US team to win the event with members Danny LaPorte, Donny Hansen and Johnny O'mara.Chuck Sun was born in Sherwood, Oregon, but many do not know that Sun's professional racing career really first caught fire in Europe. Chuck was contesting the final three 1978 250 FIM World Championships in Sweden, Finland and Russia on a factory supported Husqvarna when he recieved the call of a lifetime to represent the USA at the Motocross des Nations. The US had not won the race yet at that point, and the '78 team of Chuck Sun, Bob Hannah, Rick Burgett, and Tommy Croft finished an impressive fourth (thanks to the strong 2nd place finishes of both Sun and Hannah, as the other riders had troubles and poor finishes). It was Sun's strong performance on that team that got him noticed and signed with Husqvarna to stay in Europe to contest the 500 FIM World Championship in 1979. Chuck's best result was a podium at the US round at Carlsbad, CA. Unfortunately an injury cut his season short and left Chuck without a ride. Husqvarna USA provided Chuck expenses and mechanical support from Eric Crippa to contest and win the opening Trans-USA moto over then-World Champion Andre Malherbe. It was then that Honda came calling.Chuck went on to have a great career racing in the US. In addition to a US 500cc National Championship, at a time when the 500's were the premier class, Chuck notched up 7 500cc National wins and one 250 Supercross win.The World Championship again figures into Sun's fondest memories with a win at the US Grand Prix of Carlsbad, becoming just the second American to win the ABC Wide World of Sports aired event after Marty Moates had won it the year before.Now Chuck Sun, at the age of 51 is back going for another championship. Sun recently pulled together some sponsors and is contesting the 2008 FIM World Veteran Championship, which is comprised of the World's top motocross riders between 40 & 55 years old. The three race series is running alongside the MX/1 & MX/2 FIM World Championships at Bellpiug, Spain, Mallory Park in the U.K. and then to the final in Belgium where Chuck won with the US team in 1981 on the famous sand of Lommel. The defending FIM Veterans Champion is none other than David Thorpe, and we are working on getting him to join the Q&A; for a bit as well.I recently got a chance to see Chuck race at the 2007 World Vet Championship (a separate championship from the FIM series) at Glen Helen. Chuck is still blazing fast. I was struck by how smooth he looked while accelerating out of the corners. He has that ability to ride 'above the track' and make acceleration chop seemingly disappear, or at least not slow him down. Chuck went 1-1 that day for first overall in the +45 Expert class.Here's the part where the article usually goes, "I recently got a chance to speak with Chuck and ask him a few questions about his bid for the FIM World Championship..." But that conversation hasn't yet happened, and I won't be the one asking the questions - you will. Chuck has agreed to field questions directly from you on our forum / message board right here at dirtrider.com.

UPDATE - The Q&A; has begun. To go directly to the thread click HERE.The Q&A; will begin April 8 at 10:00 am Pacific Time. Chuck will be on-line here at Dirt Rider's forum waiting for you to ask him questions about his go at the title. He will field your questions for a few hours, but has also agreed to check in throughout the day on April 9th before flying out on April 10th.The gate drops at the first round on April 20th. So get your questions ready, make sure you have an account here, and watch the General Discussion for the official thread where the Q&A; will take place.DETAILS ON HOW THIS WORKS - Dirt Rider will start an OFFICIAL thread on April 8th in the General Discussion folder of the forum/message board here on Dirt Rider. If you've never been to our forum, click the "communities"link in the top navigation bar, or in the right column under "Forum's: The Rider's Voice." Our forum works like any other message board - you need to create an account (it's free) to join in the discussion and ask Chuck a question. Don't be shy, Chuck is a great guy and is enthusiastic about racing and is happy to talk to you about going for this title.Chuck's trip would not be possible without some people that were good to him, so we're going to be good to them and list them here. Take a quick read through the following list of sponsors that are making Chuck's Europe trip possible.Check into Chucks new web site at http://www.chucksun.comhttp://www.Nuetech.comTubliss, bar ends
http://www.dicksracing.com suspension mods
http://www.spidergrips.com sized, traction gel grips
http://www.imsproducts.com fuel tank capacity 3.2
http://www.R1dean.com Power Bowl, no more bog
http://www.scottusa.com goggles
http://www.gutsracing.com step seat, graphics
http://www.gprstabilizer.com under bar damper
http://www.gearneusa.com SG-10 boots
http://www.cytosport.com recovery & drink supplement
http://www.msracing.com riding gear
http://www.twinair.com dual density air filter & cage
http://www.leovinceusa.comwww.leovinceusa.com exhaust
http://www.promotobillet.com fastway wide pegs, guards
http://www.techspec-usa.com frame traction
http://www.powersports.honda.com/motorcycles 2008 CRF450R
http://www.rocksracingservices.com rep & packing
http://www.asianprosource.com
http://www.ohlins.com TTX44 Shock
http://www.ahrma.com Vintage Motocross
http://www.us.pirelli.comwww.us.pirelli.com
http://www.chasingdakar.com Training advice from Dr. Jonathan Edwards
http://www.ebcbrakes.com oversize 280 disk
http://www.araihelmets.com helmetSpecial thanks to: Glenn McGovern, Jeff Sheets & Doug Gagnon