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/126248
Speed,way's young man with a plan, the Houston winner talks of England, danger and the future By Lane Cam pbell T o Sou th ern California speedway fans, he's well known, even though he's been largely absen t during th e p ast season . Should he reappear, it's likely that the dark blue leathers with the American flag front will bring instant recognition - Mike Cu roso's back on th e track. Curoso's bee n gone awh ile , for he's one , of th e tin y h an dful of Am erican Spe edwa y riders who have' chosen to ga m ble on th e edge of sta rva tion in order to com pete in British League spee dw ay. It is a scary, ris ky choice for e an accomplishe d So uthern Californi a J spee dway rider to m ak e to turn awa y from a gua r a nteed modest in come to plunge into an unknown race-o r -st a rve. arena in a forei gn count ry. As Cu roso , dressed in a com forta ble pullover a nd slacks, relax es in Cycl e Ne ws' con fere nce room , it' s hard to pull it all back , how it was . "After th e National (the 1975 event in th e Los An gel es Coli seum) I started turning wrenc hes as a plumber . In 1976 I did com pete in England . They h ad racing down und er (that winter) and I th ink Scott Autrey was th e only American that attended . When he ca me ba ck I had a cha nce to speak with him and Steve G res ha m both . T ha t's whe n m y decision cam e." T he d ecision was to accept a berth with th e Hull team in England. As Scott Autrey a nd Steve Gresham before him found out , British League ca n be a spirit - break ing apprenticeship for a foreigner. They pay by the point. "T h ere's no wa y to describe , to on e who 's not been there, what it's like ," Curoso says. " I could tell you that when you 'r e barely p icking up oneor two points a night, sometimes none , as I was , you have to somehow live on the equivalent of seven dollars a week . But that would only be a part of th e story." , Disco uraging? Curoso was close to packing it in . "I knew I was gating well; I wou ld start right with those guys into the first turn , th en inevitably drop back. I had been riding m y < regular Jawa and I had no id ea m y eq uipment was h urtin g m e - until I was able to borrow a Neil Street fourvalve , and I scored 13 points first night out. " T h a t was a tu rning point , enough so th at h is present motor is a Neil Street converted four va lve J awa , th anks to some tim ely help from h is family who arc still amo ng his m ajor "spo nsors ." He began riding really well lat e in the season - well eno ugh to be pa ir ed with te am ca pta in Barry Br iggs as a tactical substitute in the fin al heat of th re e se p a ra te m atches. As team speedw ay fans arc beginning to learn here at home , you hav e to be ridi ng ext remely well on a given night to ea rn such a position. It · is a precarious distinct ion in a close match ; if you help win . you 're a hero, if you lose you 're a bum. Another dubious distinction shared by the three Ameri cans (Autrey , Gresham and Curoso) is that th ey, in Curoso's words. " Rode for th e worst ra cetrack s in the league. " (W h ich , if you survive. can be an advanrage.) "T he Hull . Newport and Exet er teams, as far as th ei r home track surface goes - they're absurd , t hey're terrible. One very well known British rider , Ma lco lm Simmons - bit of a snivele r - he won' t even go to th e Newpon ra cetrack (G res ha m's base) because th e condi tions arc so deadly. You 're actually juggling with Jesus and dicing with death at that racetrack. " Basica lly the sh a pe of it is wrong. One corner is square - only thing that's been done to it is there's a foot ball pitch on it so the corners are rounded off slightly. There's definitely a straightaway, very narrow . I The other corner comes to a complete diamond so it's a pointed oval - like Harry (Oxley) does to his corners occasionally. It 's a super-dangerous racetrack. "Scott 's racetrack. Exeter, it' s large " it's banked. But when I say banked the banking, what's dangerous about th e racetra ck - the banking will go up to the cras hwa ll, but before it gets to th e crash wall it falls off . . . so if you're sliding in a corner and your rear wh eel comes up to that po int it au tom atica lly hi ts tha t ta ble- top and comes complet ely a round . And , you know , you're going 60 mph int o a half- (Left) Brig ht. articulate off-track; labov e) stylish on-track . W ill M ik e-Curoso's f amiliar American fl ag leat hers appear in U.S. or England next year? inc h p iece of boi lerp lat e , so that gets pretty rad ica l. Plus th e bumps an d holes that th ey h ave in th e ra cetrack. Those two r acetr ac ks arc t he only two in the league where a p articular tire is used - a BaTUm. mainly because of th e track con d it ions. Otherwi se, you can go to any other track in th e lea gu e a nd know 99 percent of th e t im e a rider's going to have a Dunlop tir e on his bi ke. "As fa r as Hull racetrack goes bo yl What a miserable racetrack! T hey had probl ems wi t h th e m a int enance man and team manager - he just wasn't preparing it. So th e co -promoter - his name is .Brian Lerner - he took over prepping the track and from that time on we had th e best "hom e track" advantage of any team in the league . 99 % of the . time we kn ew that any team th at was gonna come, we were just gonna sm oke 'em . And we d id ." T he risks high . the rewards m eager; th en what is the bottom line - th e "d raw" - that attracts Mike and others? First . the expe rienc e itself is beginning to payoff in compet ition here in America , as witness Curoso a nd Autrey one-two at Houston this year. Beyond that it's hard to define, except as Mike des cribed his feel ings to us after att ending th e World Finals last year : "Seeing and being amongst 80 ,000 people in a stand , seeing 10,000 or 20 ,000 cheer for John Louis. Malcolm Simmons, Peter Collins (the English rid ers); seeing another majority cheering for Mauger, Ole Olsen , John Bolg er; being the lone two Americans .:.. hearing cheering for Scott Autrey, knowing there were Scott Autrey fans around, ban ners wav ing . . . it 's som ething you don't usually see in Class C or motocross racing. "As far as English speedway or on an in te rn a t io n a l level goes. the enthusiasm and support that follows it ; I can't see 'wh y it can't happen in the U.S . It 's pheno menal. Sorn ebody's making money at it , but they're not reall y paying OUt. " All a long , Mike has been very articulate , self-confident , aw are. His ed ucat ion? . "J ust high school. I'm registered for Orange Coast Coll ege, a nd I want to get back into college very much. But speedway has been m y career since I was in high school. It 's kept me out of collegiate spons - just because I raced Ascot on a bad night. It was a Gold Cup night and I boasted to a few friends. That in t urn got back to a P.E. teacher. They knew it was a Pro race - so I was immediately exclud ed off the football team . not allowed to compete on the baseball team . I come from a spo rt s-oriented fam ily - not motorspons but physical spo rts - but I wasn't allowed to compete in any of them through my high . school days . I was reall y disheartened about that. I feel - of course since I'm a victim - that something should be done a bou t it for the next victim that comes along. There's a lot of pros an d cons . . ." So this compact. physically.powerful 22 -year-old, who today would still be indistinguishable among any group of college athletes . is a professional spe edway racer. Having a plan helped him win at Houston , and e ve n faced with uncertainty as to his 1977 season his m ind keeps ticking off th e possibilities. "I know exa ctly what m y plans are, really. The first will be to decide whethe r I'm go ing to be competing in the U .S. or England. I'm in th e last stages of negotiation with Ian Thomas (t he Hull promoter), and will come to a decision in the m iddle of this month. So that will be resolved . .. that's what I'm really counting on. The International Series, if that takes place , I'll definitely be competing in that (along with Rich MacMurray, Mike Bast and Scott Autrey, the probable "first picks" for a U.S. test match team) . If it doesn't ta ke place, I'm still shooting for a date in Daytona Beach during speedweek. " "T he race at Daytona has an AMA sanction , but will not be a National. " This reference, given with a laugh, relates to the fact th at having won Ho uston, the only 1977 speedway meet to carry an AMA Na tional sanction , Mike h as a claim on the . AMA National title. T he m an who could well wear AMA's Number O n e in 1978 ha s . a plan even when nothing is certain .. . to ke ep mentally and physically fit . pl ying the plumbing trade and ra cing wherever it will further his career. Mike Curoso is a career-minded rid er. • 11