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/126003
Bmd By Jim Gianatsis Sponsor Rich Gawthrop looks on as J ay and tuner J immy Clar ke collaborate in a shine the light/cut the tir e session at Harrington. day details. The other, th e rac e day mo od , is that of a tim e b omb set to explode just as the checkered flag falls. The co nc ern for his rid ers can be plainly seen e tch ed in his foreh ead and the steady clenching of his fists . " A lot of people wonder wh y I'm into a racing program. It's a way to promo te the business and the product, but it's also be cause I love the sport. The sport co uld be so much b etter off if more sponsors would get into the act. You know, there aren't too many things that you can get into and enjoy .. really enjoy ." About th is time Jay walked into the sh op casually dressed in his usual off-track uniform of tank top (Vista Sh e e n logo), jeans and a pair of sneakers , After the customary questions about my trip , the w eather (h o t and getting ho tter) and if I got lost trying to find Vista Sheen wc popped a beer. (It seems that both Jay and brother Ken have developed an unqucnchable thirst for Coors beer and the refrigerator at Vi sta Sheen contained thc so mewh at meager remains of what might have be en a good stash at one time.) Jay is y o ur basic eighteen ye ar old ; co nc e rned w ith music , girls and a good timc , although not necessarily in that order, If an ything, most pe ople t hin k of him as shy and not too tal ka tive- which . m a y b e tru e- -bu t co nsidering the amount of exposure he 's had in the past two month s th at isn't surp risi ng. Gct to know him and Jay w ill talk , at least a little. "I don't reall y think ab out the races beforehand, I just go out there and race as hard as I can. If I win , it's nice, I wasn't thinking about my ch an ces to win Louisville in th e beginning, but after I won my heat I got pumped. Harrington was a different track with a diffcrcnt line. It seemed like just another Ohio race , thc kind I raced two or three times a week last year." There doesn 't seem to be any inflated ego doing the talking whcn Jay speaks, just straight forward logic that, in effect , says, " I like to race and I race to win." Succcs s, likc any other reward, requires a lot of hard work and that's wh ere t une r Jimmy Clarke fits into the pi c t ure , Op ini onated to some, brash to others, Jimmy n onetheless retains th e admirat ion o f all for the dedication and tuning knowlcdge he has stored up in 20 ycars of working on Harleys, Of course it helps that Jimmy is also a former racer, fo r n o one without a strong love of th e sport would put in work weeks of almost 100 hours and travel to two or even three events on a weekend. You want some racing wisdom, you ask Jimmy . "Last year nobody raced hardcr than wc did. I don't believe wc missed a weekend, Wc were a success because Jay and Ken rode to win. Wc went with a winning att itude ." "I work o n the bikes as hard as I e x p e c t thcm to r idc . I think motorcycling has to be a fast educa tion ; the good m ak e it and the bad don't, it's that simple, Wc havcn't won be cause wc'vc had th e fastest machinery, it 's be cause J ay ride s his ass off." On th e trip from the Washington airport to Harrington fo r thc Nati on al, pretty and blonde Caroline Gawthrop co n fess ed she had brought a bottle of champagne (as she had the we ek b efore at Louisville) "j ust in case." A goo d luck ch arm p crhaps? Good luck charms m igh t help, but in the end it all comes b ac k to J ay . "Ilikc the half m iles because th ey 're a ride r's race , Your bi ke doesn' t have to b e rocke t quick, but it has to handle . Jimmy puts out 100% all the tim c ; he really works his ass o ff. You know w e completely rebuilt my Louisville bike the day before the race." As far as the rest of th e seas on goes Jay , i n typical fashion. shrugs his shoulders and says "I guess wc 'lI just have to wait and sec. I'm just riding one race at a time. " At th e rat e th ing s ar c going the "I don't get no respect blues " could be a long playing record by th e end of the season. In the meantime you can find J ay, whcn he 's not racing (w hic h isn't oftcn ) or running aro und making preparations to go to a race (wh ich is vcry often] in the woods ncar his parents horne quictly contemplating whether or not the fish will bite, If hc's not there he probably wcnt hunting. • Sitting dejec tedly, worn an d fatigued, in a la wn chair was Brad Lackey. The scene was the Husq vama p it s a t th e Copct o wn 500cc Worl d Champion sh ip Grand Prix n car Toronto in Can ada. It was after the secon d 45- minute In ternational moto an d Brad watched as hi s mechan ic Perra Widdel rem oved the side co ver from his 36 0's airb ox and what seemed like a quart of sand poured o ut. His engine h ad sucked in enough of tha t sand through the filt er to ru in the engi ne, and cause Brad to DN F th e seco n d mo to while ru nn ing th ird be hind Rogcr Dc Coster and Pierre Kars makers , The engine h ad su cked in sand d uring the firs t m o to as well, but Brad was able to nurse it alo ng to the end o f th e mo to and pick up fifth. For Bra d, it had been a disap po in ting two- wee k trip to North America. "I should have stayed in Europe ," h e exclaimed. What Brad was referring to was the fact th at me ch an ic al problems here at Cope to wn , and the weeken d before at Carls bad, h ad cost hi m a possible third or fourth p lac e in the World Champions hip stan di ngs. He was n ow b ac k where he was before co m ing over to North America - fifth pl ace in poin ts. Ahead of Brad were Roger De Coster, Heikki Mikkola, Cerrit Wolsin k an d Ake Jonsson . Becau se of p olitics in th e Yamaha ca mp, Ake wasn 't allowed to ra ce outside of Europe , and Brad h ad hoped to do well at Carlsbad an d Cope town and perhaps move ahead o f bo th Ake an d Gerrit, As it tu rn e d out though, Cerrit rep eated his p ast United States GP win a t Carlsbad, and Brad o nly fin ishe d one m oto to fin d h imself still way down in points on both Ake and Gerrit. Adding to his mech an ical problems this season in the race fo r th e Championship , was th e Italian GP, which he hadn 't been allowed to ride and with it the possible loss of more valuable points. He talked abo u t this year's season so far. "Things started out p retty well, At the IITst GP of th e season I go t fourth overall, which put me right up there in the standings. "The seco nd race, Italy, di dn ' t go too well. I didn' t get to ride. / , - /'~ 43