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/126013
What kind of wrenching was provided? I heard that Honda had hired Steve Whitlock (Yvon DuHamel's former wrench) just for you . I had Roy Turn er at first. He was really good. He'd pump me up for the races, an d I really did good. Then Eierstedt got m ad because Turner was hi s old mechanic, and he wanted him. Then I started riding a four-stroke, and Whitlock knew about four strokes. My first ride on the four-stroke was the Eve! Kn ieve! MX. It didn't handle too good. But in the mud (they had watered the track down, and it was really slippery and stuff) I just t ook that 00 fo ur-stroke out there and was getting C\J s-. traction while all the two-stro kes were Cl) spinning. I was having a blast! ..0 Why did Honda change you to the four-stroke? u They just wanted to know if I wanted to tr y it, because they couldn' t get parts fro m J ap an for the two-stroke. They could ge t all the parts they wanted for th e four-stroke, and I just started ridi ng that. How was it tricked? It had a C&J frame, and it had a ca m and stu ff. They m ad e a 4 50 ou t of it. It had so much horsepower, yo u co uld n't even hang on to it. It wo uld just wear you o ut, it wa s so h eavy . It weigh ed about 24 0 poun ds . Were you disappointed because it didn't have any handling or anyth ing? Yeah. It was really hard to rid e because it swapped so bad. And 1 was scared o f it. But it so unded so mean, it was pre t ty neat to ride b ecause everybody w o uld just turn around and look. Was Honda trying to see which (two or four stroke) was better? Yeah. They were testing, mostly if they outlawed two-strokes because they made too much p ollu ti on. They were doing it for the heck of it, I think. It seems that with Honda, if you weren't doing good you were breaking frames, or ankles, or other things. Was this because of any poor preparation or design by them? No . Their frames and bikes are really light. Like the 400 weighs 209 pounds. But I'm really hard on bikes. I just go wide open o n the jumps. Everybody shuts off, but I leave it on. Then I land, , I hit so hard, t he bike just busts. And after so much , n o bike could take it. Before Knievel's MX, you blew away the Open Support class at the Super Bowl . You just ran away with itYeah, that was pre tty neat. I blew up my bike in p rac tice , and I ha d to ride a new bike . I d idn' t ge t to ride it in practic e, o r nothin g. In fac t, it was Rich Eie rste dt's bike and I just hopped on it. It was o nly a 2 70, and I came up t o the start and asked Eierstedt how to start it, and h e said second gear. But Dennis Blan ton [Honda team m an ager] t old me first gear. I came off ninth, and wo rked my way up to fourth. Eierstedt told m e next time to take off in second, then I took off in sec o nd and got t he holeshot. I was just gassi ng it and pulled away from everybody. The next moto, I got the holesh ot again an d pulled away. It was really a lo t o f fun. What brought you back to Maico? They promised to pay me a salary and everything. That's what I wanted. I didn't care if I had to drive or not. But I just wanted to ride a Maico. They promised and promised me some m oney and never came u p with it. I just said, "Forget it! I'm not going to ride your bikes for nothing!" After Maico, what happened next? I borrowed an Ossa and I rode the San ta Cruz q ualifier . Then I went to Irwindale an d rode a Moto Villa. I did n't like that too goo d, and I didn't want to get hurt. Then I talked to Triumph-Suzuki of Pomona, an d they said they'd give m e a bi ke, an d I said, " OK," and I started riding a CZ again. Did you get a deal with American Jawa? Yeah . Th ey give me th e bikes an d parts, pay all m y entr y fees, and some of my gas. Hope to get more su ppo rt? I hope to get a factory ride. That's what I want. I want to go t o Europe and ra ce for the whole year, because Lackey is really doing good. That's what I want to o .... o h oleshot and I was gone. Seco nd m oto , m e an d DeC ost er were figh t in g it o ut, b u t he passe d me and I got second. In th e last moto , we were tied. I got a bad start: I was about 23 rd, DeCoster was about 15th. He crashed and I passed him; but he got back up and wheelied by me. ยท When you were smoking DeCoster? How did it feel? It was really neat. I was ou t in fr ont of the World's Champion, but I was n't in that good of shape then , and I did n't have no bike to ride. I got on m y 400 fo r 40 m in u tes, and I about died! That was the problem I had. They didn't have no 400 practice bikes or nothing. They just had those 250s, and they weren't that fast compared to my 400. They promised to give me a 400 practice bike and n ever came through with the deal . How d id the RC and Maico compare? The first RC was really good. 1 rode it, and it handled just like my Maico , But after I crashed it at Hangtown, and everybody ran over the bike, it was never right again . It was bent, or something really funny . It did n't handle too good any more. (Continued on page 44) 15