Cycle News

ROAD RACER, MXER, FLAT TRACKER, HOOLIGAN RACER ANDY DIBRINO P60 Interview I was able to win the championship by a single point over Joe Kopp. It totally paid its dividends. The crazy part was I led the series for most of the season, but then I had a road race meeting at my home track, Portland International Raceway, with the Oregon Mo- torcycle Road Racing Association. I had to do that. There was no way I could back out of it, so I missed a round and forfeited my points lead, but the double-header gave me the opportunity to be back in the hunt. When did you start riding? My dad got me a bike before I was four years old, a PW50. I started learning how to ride on an airstrip where my grandpar- ents live in Oregon. Where in Oregon are you from? I was born in Portland, and I just live in Tualatin. I've been there my entire life. First time I rode was at a track called Albany Motocross, and I learned how to ride with Justin Hill. It was me and him on our PW50s on the kids track. I grew up racing motocross and my neigh- bor was Matt Bisceglia. We went to school together. Then when I was 13, the U.S. Red Bull Rookie Cup tryouts were announced and that was the first year that my dad got a Ducati track bike. We started watching MotoGP, went to Laguna Seca, and that's where I heard about it. We were watching MotoGP there and I was like, "Dad, I got to go try this." I got accepted into the Cup try- outs, and that was also around the time that I started in Supermoto. Did you make the cut for the Rookies? No. I went to Barber Motorsports Park for the tryouts, but it was enough to get me hooked. The funny part was my dad said, "I'm not going to support racing, but if someone else thinks you're good enough and will pick up the tab, sure." But as soon as he saw the racing, he changed his mind. He bought me a road race bike as soon as we got home. It was this cheap, 1967 Honda CB160. That was the entry-level road race class at the club races. There was no lightweight class, like the Ninja 300s. That's how I started out. And then I got into flat track about four years ago at my local indoor flat track, Salem Speedway. It was just some friends who said, "Hey, come try it." I did and got hooked, again! It rains a lot in the win- tertime in Oregon, so indoor flat track is really all I can do sometimes. Do you want to keep road racing? What do you enjoy more—road rac- ing or flat track? I can't really pick a favorite. To me, moto- cross is probably my favorite. That's the first thing I started doing, always been my first love. I love road racing, the strategy and the speed and how cool the bikes are. I was trying to make a career doing pro road rac- ing, but in the U.S., it really wasn't possible unless you're on a factory team. Even the best guys are lucky to get a free ride. If I want to road race, I could road race. But for me, I like racing everything so much (Above) Although he's got a freestyle ramp and airbag-landing ramp on the property, there's no plan to take up the sport competitively… yet. (Below) The Buffalo Chip TT at Sturgis netted DiBrino a 12th place. I LOVE ROAD RACING, THE STRATEGY AND THE SPEED AND HOW COOL THE BIKES ARE."

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