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Cycle News 1999 Issue 04 Feb 03

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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.. Chicanery BY HENNY RA YABRAMS t's good to be the King. The King, of course, is the man who holds three 500cc World Championships and two AMA Grand National Championships. He is the team owner with three 500cc World Championships and a 250cc title to his credit. On the days when he is not trying to recapture the 500cc World�� Championship, and deciding whether he needs to build a four-cylinder Modenas, he is a World Champion dispenser of wisaom, abuse and crap, depending on the immediate need and company. On this bitterly cold January day, at his ranch in the appropriately named megalopolis of Hickman, California, the crap was piling up faster than Modenas parts invoices. "You can always tell if Kenny likes you by ho'w much crap he gives you," Randy Mamola, Kenny Roberts' former rival, former rider, longtime friend, onetime ranch regular and current test rider told me recently. Today's target is Mike Hale, but, as always, there was a reason. Hale, who's made worse career choices than Shelley Long, David Lee Roth and McLean Stevenson combined (yes, I remember that I picked him to win the AMA Superbike title last year), was in the unfortunate position of being the least fast of the fast guys at the ranch. Yet he was happy to be there. The Texan was there because he'd been tapped by Roberts as the potential second rider of the Modenas KR-3, and the King wanted him to be in shape when they went testing in Australia and Malaysia. The tests are something of a tryout, and, if Hale pas es, he'll finally reach every road racer's goal of being in the World Championships on a 500cc motorcycle. Or at least a Modenas. The 160-acre Ranth (with a capital "R"), which Roberts bought in 1985,';s the nearly mythical place to which riders of all skill levels peregrinate to learn the subtleties of dirt tracking while simultaneously being humiliated by various members of the Roberts family. They make the pilgrimage so they can shoot at stuff. They go to eat very well, get the royal treatment and bathe in the aura of the Kingdom. The day before I arrived this year, Steve Crevier was training with Kurtis Roberts and Hale. A day later, the King, Hale and Kenny Roberts Jr. were joined by the latter's Suzuki GP teammate, obua tsu Aoki. "He's probably not going to be sitting up on the seat far enough, putting I Domestic violence: Kenny Roberts Jr. leads Kenny Roberts at "The Ranch" in Northern California. enough weight on the front, or (he will) ha ve his leg in the wrong posi tion, so he'll pu h the front and crash," the prescient younger Roberts said. The TT course, one of several tracks on the spread, is where most of the training on the Honda XR-I00s ta kes place. Among the fast guys, this is as deadly serious as any race anywhere and it's'clear who's the best: Kenny Roberts. Junior. ��� "If my dad spent a serious month riding, he could easily get back to what he used to be, which would be the same as me," Junior accurately says with no trace of conceit. Junior is the best because he's been doing this since birth, because he's raced the best here, because he's finaIly training like he must if he wants to win GPs, and because he has good genes. He wasn't always the best, and word is that he broke his arm once trying to keep up with an interloper, but now it's no contest. Roberts Jr. grew up at the right time, getting the chance to ride with his dad and Wayne Rainey, in his prime. "I've always hated to think that I couldn't do anything on a motorcycle that they could do better," Junior said. "1 was lighter and 1 was 15 and 1 knew I was better than Wayne, even though he was World Champion, but I knew I could ride a 100. They would come out and they would always pull me that little bit and eventually get, in five laps, three or four bike lengths. And I could always see my dad and Wayne battle it out there and I never stopped getting faster." Junior respects and ��admires his father, but he gives him no quarter and expects none back, and when they go into a comer side by side, his dad treats him like Gary Scott. '1t's a way of life," Roberts the elder said during a break in the action, which Junior interpreted as a sign of concession. "You're not breathing heavy, are you?:' Junior asked insolently, adding, "That thing's so fast that you're rolling out of it on the straights." Once they get going, they're loathe to stop. A pattern qukkJy emerges: Roberts, Junior and Hale join up at some point on the TT track. (Forget Aoki - just as Junior predicted, he's busy pushing the front end of the XR-120 into the berms and tipping over like an arthritic stork.) Junior can make any line work and gets the 100 turned faster than anyone. Outside or inside, it doesn't matter. Time and again, Junior would prevail after a number of laps, his dad would never concede, and Hale was left in their wake. Hale took his turn leading, and within one lap Roberts and Junior were on him, he ran wide in the left leading to the TT jump, and the Roberts boys scooted past. In fairness to Hale, this was only his second day at the ranch, he didn't have the best equipment, and he hadn't been racing since July.' Back at the garage, which is filled with enough motorcycles and memorabilia - a proclamation of Roberts' 1978 500cc World Cham.pionship hangs on one waIl - to fill a museum, and enough mechanical equipment, including a dyno, to outfit a race shop, there was a short break for main tenance. Hale had earlier changed the shock on his bike, replacing the stocker with the de rigl/eur Works Performance unit, and now he's flopping the rear knobby so that it has a sharp edge. "You gonna puncture that tube like the other one?" Roberts badgers, later offering that "it's going to make a difference." 'Tm going to start kicking some ass now," Hale answers. "Not that big a difference," counters the King, and he's right. They're quickly back at it, a few other friends joining in. Another unwritten rule is that if you go to the ranch, you will be invited to ride, regardless of age, ability or outstanding medical di order. When Roberts asked if I wanted to have a go, I politely declined by saying that: (a) he didn't have a size 15 hotshoe; (b) 1 was slower than John Kocinski reaching for a dinner check; and (c) he'd need the "Jaws of Life" to get the XR out of my ass at the end of the day. Back on the track, Junior lets Aoki go, catches up, then reaches over on the straight and grabs him somewhere high enough on the thigh to get him cited for offensive touching in either Sodom or Gomorrah. "It's not something you can learn in three or four days," Roberts the elder says. Aoki rides like the road racer he is, going deep - too deep - into the comer, tracking all the way, nearly stopping, then leaning to get it turned. Too often, he gets on the gas early, the front pushes, and occasionally he goe down. By the end of the day he will have made a small bit of progress and he will have a very sore left leg. '1 try to stay with Junior, but not so easy," Aoki admits with a smile. When Roberts pa ses Hale, you can hear the laughter and profanity-laced tirade for miles. "His bike's got a cam and a head job so he has the torque to keep it stepped out and get through the ruts," Hale says. "Plus, he hauls ass." With the responsibility of building and racing a new motorcycle, Roberts hasn't been able to enjoy this kind of riding very much lately. He says he's ridden more this winter than he has for the past three years and will keep at it as long as he can. He looks fitter and less haggard than he has for a couple of seasons. This is what he was meant to do. This is what he loves to do. As Junior told me the night before, "If there's one thing that soinebody is made to do in life, that was his perfect, ideal situation - not the Modenas, but racing motorcycles and being a team owner. n eM Lookin~ ~ Back 30 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 11, 1969 20 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 7, 1979 10 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 1, 1989 onda previewed its 1969 motorcycle and automobile lineup b\!fore the press in Las Vegas. According to the report, Honda officials - possibly concerned that "spies" would attempt to get a look at some of the company's new technology - were rather paranoid, which equated to shabby trea tInent of the media... Meanwhile, Floyd Clymer was apparently trying to become the next Honda. Clymer had brokered a deal with an Italian factory to produce six new models with the Indian badge affixed to them, and he had also aquired the Munch factory in Germany. The plan was to offer a range of motorcycles from the $295 Indian Ponybike to the $4000 Munch Mammoth... Casey Folks (Hus), destined to become the premier desert-racing promoter, scored a wire-to-wire win at the 8o-mile Groundshakers MC Hare Scrambles... Big news came in a small package when the retirement of road racing icon Mike Hailwood was announced in a smaIl paragraph on page 15. Hailwood planned to pursue a career in automobile racing. immy Weinert (Kaw) was the first rider to uncork a victory bottle of champagne for the 1979 AMA supercross season, as he "roo ted" everyone, including friendly rival Bob "Hurricane" Hannah (Yam), at the eries opener in Oakland, California. Part and parcel to the weirdness of Weinert's win was his choice of a "Hooker': sand-paddle tire on the rear of his Roy Turnertuned factory KX. Hannah finished second, with Steve Wise (Hon) coming in tllird ... We also brought you our 1979 Winston Pro Series dirt track preview and predictions. After explaining who would be riding what for whom and analyzing the previous season, we predicted that either Jay Springsteen would win his fourth series title or Skip Aksland would win his first. Steve Eklund was mentioned, but he was not considered to be as capable as the other two... Our Championship Enduro series of articles sort of deviated from the tips and tricks of the trade to more or less delve inside the mind of multi-time AMA Enduro Champion Dick Burleson. hey were bangin' bars in Adelanto, California, for round three of the CMC Golden State MX Series, where Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw), Jeff Ward (Kaw) and Brian Manley (Kaw) picked up overall win in the 125, 250 and 500cc Pro ranks, respectively, leaving the competition green with envy... Meanwhile, 'down in Florida, Bob Hannah (Suz) picked up the overall win in the 250cc class during the Florida Winter AMA Series round at Dade City MX... We interviewed former 125cc World Champion Davy Strijbos, who had left the Cagiva factory - with which he'd won his title - to join the Suzuki factory for the World 125cc MX cha e... Jean-Michel Bayle (Han) won the 250cc Pro class at the opening round of-the GFi Winter MX Series at Goat Breker's Perris Raceway. Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) won the 125cc Pro class... Ron Naylor (Suz) outdueled Dave Bertram (Suz) for the overall and 250cc Expert wins at the Redneck Rooster MC hare scrambles at Carnegie Cycle Park in Livermore, California. eM H J T II I II! III ��� U ~ Q !!l! :;:: M ~ 2 .c ~ 59

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