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/126079
motorcycles - twice. . Under AMA rules any rider in a race can claim any other rider's motorcycle's engine for $3 ,500. Scott's first claim was of Rex Beauchamp's miler at San jose in May. " I didn't want anything special f ro m Harley-Davidson before I claimed t hat engine. I j u st wanted t he parts I needed." "I was having trouble getting pans from Harley-Davidson through the dealers I was trying to work with. They hadn't built any XR750s for about a year and a half at that time, and there just weren't any good motorcycles for the mile that you could pick up. So, trying to be competitive and do a job for the rest of the year, I thought it would be best for 'me to claim a motorcycle early and take full advantage of buying the engine. ' I· needed the unit , and ended up using it for most of the rest of the year. It worked out real well. " I d idn't want anything special from Harley-Davidson before I claimed that engine," ex pla ins Scott. " I just wanted the parts I needed to stay competitive. They just don't follow up with parts. It isn't just my problem - they don't get the parts out to the other non-factory racers, either. I don 't think it should be narrowed down to three or four or five riders on the factory team having -!he parts they need to go racing and be competitive. The system is not meant to be that way, and I was certainly trying to work within the framework of the sanctioning body and the system for the Camel Pro Series. They have a claiming rule, I needed parts I couldn't get and it 's as' simple as that. If I don't have the parts, can't get the pans, I 'll continue to claim motorcycles. If a lot of people claimed motorcycles there wouldn't be this problem with pans availability, " If I can't get the parts, I'll continue to claim motorcycles." , "T here was a lot of bad reaction that day. My using the claiming ru le was a pretty big shock to everyone . ' I , tho ught it was wrong for factory rid ers Corky Keener and Greg Sass aman to p ut in co u nter -cl a ims with AMF/Harley-Davidson checks signed by Dic k O' Brien. I could understand, but I still think it's wrong. The factory trying to hold up claims, protecting the good machinery from non-factory riders, that's not doing racing any good, and it's not doing the riders any good . Fortunately in the draw my name came up as the claimant of the machine. "It was something that needed to be done for a long, long time . and hadn't successfully been done before. I didn't do it to be an a·- · · · · or to hurt Harley-Davidson. But there was a lot of friction there for awhile, especially at Oklahoma City the next week. I felt real defensive and upset over the situation. I reached a point where I was actually questioning my participation in AMA racing , as far as being picked on at the time. I questioned being able to stay competitive or make ' m o n ey at racing. I felt bad about the whole deal. But after that it started to settle down. I think some of the peop le realized that I was just trying to be competitive. I was doing a pret ty good job at the time, and that helped a lo t , too . It wasn't like I was an a lso-ran looking for a magic factory motorcycle. " I was just trying to work within the system and the rules . If HarleyDavidson would just see that and make the needed parts available to the racers, then they woul dn't have to worry abou t claim s. "I never was really worri ed about anybody claiming . my m otorcycle, although I carried $20,000 in cashier's checks in my briefca se during the season in case someone did claim my stuff, or in case parts weren't available to me. I know that at the ' Louisville Race of Champions a lo t of individuals had checks with them. O 'Brian had asked them to consider claiming my machine if I claimed one of his bikes. Then there would be quite a few claims against my machines. I don't really know wh y they were doing it , unless they just wanted to give me' a hard time, But I , think most of the people knew I was just trying to be competitive. " Scott had for three months considered claiming Steve Baker's OW31. But as bad as Scott felt in the aftermath of the dirt track claim he m ade in May , he says he felt even worse at the Riverside Road Race at which he claimed Kenny Roberts' OW31 Yamaha ultra -weapon . Knowing that he didn't have the time or money to develop a road race effort to match the Yamaha factory's resources, Scott had for three months considered claiming Steve Baker's Bob Work-tuned OW31 at Riverside. He says that by the time he reached the track, he wasn't convinced that he should take the bike Baker had used to win at Loudon and Laguna Seca , because of the shadow the claim would throw on his tight points race with Roberts and Springsteen, to be decided a week later at the Ascot Half Mile. The $20,000 worth of cashier's checks was still in his briefcase, The trouble started with his Heat race the morning of October 3 , . , " I felt like I was the last guy on earth when I heard them start u p my heat race and nobody had made the effort to come over from tech or from around the pits to tell me they were starting. The heat didn't stan on schedule - it was late - and we were cha nging the wheel on my bike. I felt about two in ches high, and thought 'W ell , maybe everybody ' is against me .' " i'W ell, maybe everybody is me." ~gainst Scott rushed out to the grid, started after the field had waved off, and rode fast enough to catch back markers. When he got back into the pits, he learned that Kel Carruthers of Team . Yamaha - in a bid for a points advantage had ordered Skip Aksland to protest Scott's qualifying for the Main event by virtue of not .§ta rting the heat race with the pack. " W a lking back to the pits after racing very hard all year and missing the start of the heat race, I was very disappointed , It was the low point of the whole year. When I heard they were going to protest me after the effort that I had made, possibly ca using me to lose my chance at the title, I thought 'W ell, the hell with 'em . I'll get Roberts' motorcyclel' " So , 29 minutes (the time limit is 30 minutes) after the finish of the final race that saw Gary Scott start last and finish II th, Scott claimed Roberts' OW3 1 motor. "I cla im ed t he bike wit h the id ea that Pete Schick of Yamaha would come back with the possibility of withdrawing Aksla nd's protest. I didn't really want Roberts' bike because of the stories that the claim would start. So I walked over there, but Schick never said anything. (Co,:,tinued on page J7) Jet Set You Clin Afford! Precision Nylon Carburetor Jets. Tuning InstruCtions Included NEW! 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