FIRST PERSON/OPINION By John Ulrich Part One: I’ve been in this business long enough that nothing should surprise me, especially not another personal, politically motivated attack directed at me by Henny Ray Abrams in the pages of Cycle News (Issue #15, April 16 2008, page 88). This type of thing has been a regular occurrence for years. But I have to admit that I was surprised to again be lectured on what is and is not “responsible journalism” by the most ethically challenged “reporter” I have ever encountered, a man who has never let fact-checking derail a good conspiracy theory or any sense of decency override an opportunity to call people names or flat-out screw with them for his own personal pleasure. For reasons perhaps best explained by Cycle News Editor Paul Carruthers and Cycle News owner Sharon Clayton, (who have battled their own personal and professional demons over the years), one important detail has been consistently overlooked and unreported while Henny Ray Abrams uses the pages of their publication to accuse others of having conflicts of interest, being corrupt or of engaging in “reprehensible” behavior: When Henny Ray Abrams is at AMA motorcycle road races, he is not only “reporting” the news for Cycle News, he is also spinning it for Honda Racing. Henny Ray Abrams, the moral beacon of the motorcycle industry, is paid by Honda Racing to research and write press releases–a form of commercial propaganda–on the same races he covers for Cycle News. It is a brilliant strategy on the part of Honda Racing, having the company’s own Stealth Public Relations Operative (SPRO) producing stories published under the guise of objective news reports by Cycle News, Inc. This is no new revelation; it has been going on for years. Yet when he had the chance to reveal this in the pages of Cycle News during another attack in which he was carrying the flag for factory race teams in a dispute over Thursday practice at VIR, (Issue #34, August 29 2007, page 76), for some reason SPRO Abrams did not reveal his lucrative deal with Honda Racing, instead writing: “Full Disclosure: (VIR race promoter Cameron) Gray hired me to write the stories for the VIR program.” Hey, maybe it was an honest oversight, the term “Full Disclosure” being so vague… Most recently, SPRO Abrams attempts to make the case that Josh Hayes was unfairly disqualified and his Daytona 200 win wrongfully taken away after the crankshaft in his Erion Honda CBR600RR was found to have been modified in conflict with AMA rules, while another rider and team (mine) escaped the same penalty for an equally serious crankshaft modification. I’ll cover the minute details of his ridiculous charges (in brief, he says it’s all due to an evil conspiracy I orchestrated) in another installment of what promises to be a fascinating series examining SPRO Abrams’ work over the last decade or so, but let me say here that he has a fairly steep mountain to climb to make a convincing argument on technical grounds, i.e., that both modifications in question had the same impact on performance. In his case, not having a shred of technical competence makes the writing that much easier. In any case, the “news report” on the disqualification of Josh Hayes written by SPRO Abrams and posted on Cyclenews.com March 8th, and the press release issued by Honda Racing on March 9th, were virtually one and same. Don’t take my word for it: See for yourself. The “news report” bylined “By Henny Ray Abrams” as posted on Cyclenews.com ~2008CycleNewsHeadlineID12030.pdf~ The press release as issued by Honda Racing, via e-mail ~2008Daytona200HondPressRelease.pdf~ The Honda Racing press release as posted on Roadracingworld.com ~/news/article/?article=31711~ All of which in my opinion makes it hard to believe that Henny Ray Abrams was motivated in his latest diatribe by a desire to seek justice for Josh Hayes and Erion Honda, as opposed to being motivated by the fact that he is paid by Honda Racing to spin the truth. To be continued”¦