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/126020
By Jeff Peck Where do you start when you have t o do an interview with a guy like Jim Ellis? All the questions like hometown and other personals are available in any rider bio file . You want to find out what makes this nid er CI' k , w h at ~ak es hi IC I~ want to get out on a ruce evemng and blast into a corner with 20 other people fighting hi m fo r a space that will o nly hold three bikes. That is what you want to find out. . , . . In JIm ~llis case he stated It very S1mpl~, " I w~nt to . be W~rld Champion. Nothing maJo~, he. Just wants to beat all the ~est nd~rs m the world. Upon fir st meetmg, Ellis seemed a Ii.ttle bored with the whole thing of havm~ to answer the s~e dumb q uestions t!'at h~ has heard ,!, pro~a~ly 50 o ther mterviews . He enj oys nding !J1 oto~ycl es an d seems . to regard mtervrews as one .o ~ the prices he has to pay fo r the p1"!vllege o f a Can-Am factory spo nsorship . Ellis likes the stadium co urses like the Coliseum (t hough he does not particularly like that one). He likes the course s th at Gary Bailey made fo r the Yamaha Series (which he won) and feels that MX racing in that atmosphere will make more people co me ~ut to watch real mo tocross at places like Carlsbad. When asked if the big crowds at this type of race affect him at all, Jim says that he doesn't notice if there are 10 people or 100 people. He is busy concentrating on what is happening on the track. Jim tries to practice as often as he can. He owns "eight to 10 " bikes not counting his racers. He is also an avid road rider and bikes the pavement every chance he gets. Still, most of his time is taken up with staying in shape and racing MX. In fact he probably only ~ets two weeks at the most ea ch year to Just relax. On the subject of riding in Connecticut, Jim says that it is not that bad. "Riding in .th e snow is re~ly kind of fu n, the ruts ~ t!'e snow guide your wheel along, and It IS not as cold as one might think." After stopping at a few places to look at cars and vans, we head o ut to do a little picture taking. As we walk along I ask hi m if he likes Los Angeles. "No, no t at all. There are too many people." I wo ndered if he ha d ever ridden in the desert, thi nking that anyone who had been out there surely m ust have enjoyed that. " Yes I have ridde n o ut t here and I didn't like that too much. I got a cactus st uck in my foo t." Jim's o th er interest is cars,' whic h he wou ld li ke to race when he gets burned-ou t on motorcycles. He 's an athletic person, but when he was in high school he never par ticipated in football or basketball. It has always bee n motorcycles. Ellis' mechanic is his father. His dad has always taken care of his machines, even when he first got into racing. He prefers it this way, and the Can- Am people seem to like the situation themselves. Talking about the riders on the National circuit, Jim feels that they are all good people. But isn't it a little difficult to separate the on-track battles from your off-track contact with these guys? Jim seems to think that it is easy. "Out on the track is business. In the pits" or on the road you are just people . There are a few riders who are not able to make this separation, but for the most p art all of the riders are pre tty easygoing." How about his racer, how close to st ock is it? According to Ellis the only difference is be tween his bike and a stock Can -Am l\IX·2 are the S & W shocks that are mounted in a canted position and the $400 Marzocchi front forks. He also told us that next year's bikes are going to have the S & W shocks mounted like his, so all yo u will have to do is layout $400 for the Manocchis and learn how to ride as fast as Ellis does. Jim ellis is a very smooth rider who doesn't try to burn up the track when he gets out in fran t, He rides very consistently, and if another rider comes up to challenge him, he always has something extra in reserve. Yet when he does pick up this speed, he does it so effortlessly that he makes it look easy. I heard once that when Ellis used to race at the local tracks in Connecticut, they used to start him in the opposite direction, giving everybody el se a half-lap head start. Whe n asked about this rumor, Jim just smiled and said " no, they just gave everyone else a hal f-a-lap head start. " Ellis thinks th at all of the bikes that the pros are racing are p re tt y eve n . The o nly thin g that sepa ra tes the winner from the o ther riders is a good st art. When he is racing, J im feels that it is very important to establish his position at the start. "When you get even a lit tle bit down on any of these riders, it is very hard to come back." Elli s is a perfectionist and this is true in everything he does. "When I bought my van, after I got done ordering it I told the salesman that if that van was delivered with any dents, scratches no matter how small, or anything not on it the way I ordered it, I was not going to buy it . " J im just smiled and said "the van was delivered the way 1 wanted it." This wanting everything just right carries over in to his racing. On the track he is just righ t in the corners - not too much gas, not too much brake. It is very rare to see Ellis get out of shape. He is not a showboating rider, but he sure goes fast. • 'J iln Ellis: Can-AID's star rider al~ays IDakes it look easy ·Bodaka ChrIstmas 8ale 100 Dirt Squirt .....$399 125 Co mbat Wombat .$549 125 Super Co mbat . .$745 $695 100 Super Rat 100 Road Toad $529 [@t1:J~ CYCLE CEN TER 1300 East Edinger Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92705 714-835-7821 O MOTORCYCLES ~® a PARTS '1iiiiiJ' _ ... COMPLETE PISTONS MACHINE SHOP,REPAIR a SERVICE ON ALL MAKES (714) 630-5720 20 rr \...I:;" ailE cod. E.._ '" Il 5"";" 114 0· .1. N , IC rcMIMI' ....noM.... ea_92806 . >:: u "- IL IL -------------_. ~