Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125993
- Discussions with equipment sponsors Sidi (boots) and Marzocchi (suspension) kept Johnny Gecotto in Italy for a few days . The happy, grinning factory rep is Rudi Barbazza; who signed Gecotto through his Venezuelan connections. ~ _ _ "First they'll have to show it to me," grins Cecotto. An amateur road racer, our host, urges Johnny to eat, even though he's not hungry; to eat something "healthy and light" as if this healthy, light diet will preserve the teenager's speed. The result is a salad, a small fillet, and french fries. Johnny also consumes as much bread as any young Italian boy. While the rest of the table has wines with their courses, Cecotto drin ks only mineral water. For some reason, newly affluent Europeans are really in to comparing wristwatches. Japanese • r _ Seikos are especially admired. Johnny's watch impresses them, of all things. The young road racer does not have the most common malady of young riders on the GP circuit, homesickness. His grandfather and the family's original homestead are only a few miles away . He is equally comfortable speaking Italian as Spanish. It's not really too bad ... except there is seldom any privacy. Each action seems to attract public interest and attention. Crowds gather when he walks down the street and is recognized. Flashbulbs pop as the paperazzi photographers jostle each other for the pics to appear in the Italian tabloids. Everybody wants to pose with him. Sometimes the question is asked, "Is this really Cecotto?" He is relatively small, shy and visually unassuming. His face is not yet as well known as his accomplishments. The European press depicts him as a mystery man, running pictures of him in a full coverage helmet with an opaque an ti-g1are shield. They have built an aura of magic around him - because surely it takes some special powers to beat Agostini. Doesn't it? There's no mystery. Only that right now, when he's on the bubble, Johnny Cecotto is faster than just about everybody else. He admits that he didn't expect it to be so easy and is aware that he will probably lose some before he wins some more. But underlying this admission is that unique self-assurance of correctness and "a place in the world" that comes from being raised in the South American upper classes. The talent, of course, is undeniable. When something is off or he hasn't learned a course adequately (They are all new to him this year.), he can still run in the top three. He can pace himself to the front in a 100-mile race. Not many 19 year-old riders really can. Later, we visit the Marzocchi factory. Johnny had used the very fine gas-fluid dampers while winning the Irnola 200. He was impressed by their lack of fade and the elimination of wheel hop on Irnola's cobby bankings. But he had never seen the inside of one of the dampers before. The road race shocks are the same basic design as the motocross shocks with different damping rates on bump and rebound. We poke around the piles of finned bodies and nitrogen-charged chambers until well after dark. As we leave, the Marzocchi technical 'services manager hugs Cecotto and, shaking his hand, repeats several times, "In boca de lupp." It is the traditional Italian saying for someone, particularly in road racing, who must confront a dangerous situation and overcome it. Literally, it means, "In the mouth of the wolf." To survive ... in the mouth of the wolf. There are a number of phone calls waiting for him at his hotel. Many of the messages are from young and not-so-young girls who find the wavy-haired Venezuelan appealing, or at least want to talk with him. We have already stopped at Scuderia Diemme to see how the bikes are going to be shipped to the next Grand Prix. He is clearly tired from the non-stop pace of the long day. The dinner ordered is, once again, light and simple. Andrea Ippolito; the sales manager for a French road racing leathers concern ;' and Rudi Barbazza, the Sidi-Marzocchi rep all join us at the table. Cecotto pours his glass half-full with the good local wine, then fills it to A simple job like stopping for gas becomes a major event for the rising young star. Everybody wants their picture taken with Gecotto. Or just to touch him; to talk with him. the brim with mineral water. Fatigue has finally caught up with him. "Not tonight," he says tiredly, looking thoughtfully at the handful of phone messages. "Maybe tomorrow morning after I see how the bikes are coming along. But not tonight." There's more to this hero business than just winning races. Cecotto has already discovered that. If he continues his winning ways, he's going to have to learn to live with that side of it, also. Well, race fans, at last report he's doing a very creditable job for a 19 year-old from Caracas, Venezuela who is most comfortable speaking Friulano. His helmet size doesn't seem to have increased all that much since last year, when only, South Americans knew how to pronounce Cecotto. • 25