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/126251
Earlier in his career, Moates rode Suzukis for Suzuki R&D and Miller Mana. . bunch of people. Steve Martin took ca re of me all that tim e , and I learned a ll the tracks . I had a Honda that I raced out in California that I had shi p ped out he re . I had a mechanic th at came out wit h me so we lived toget her. Just raced a round . "T hen I kept reading about all m y frien ds doi ng well back in California , so I bought a $100 car, a nd we just loaded the bike up in the trunk and we d rove ba ck . We mad e it back! " I started racing back ho m e, rryin' t6 get in sha pe a nd st u ff. Ma in ly, just ra ce th e GP when it cam e in, and ra ce whatever was local that was big. I never had th e mon ey or th e experience or som eone to back me with bikes to go anywhere. I finally d id bu y two 125cc CR Hondas and st arted racin' them . I did prett y good. Made a lot of improvement s on the b ikes. I like ridin ' 125s because it's a lot of fun , b ut you have to work hard . ."T h a t's when things st a rted changin' , Bob H annah got me a ride with Suzuki on th e R&D tea m with him and we were both ridin' tog ether. We won all the races. That was th e su m mer of 1975 . "The n I started genin ' hurt . I got screwed up for like a yea r an d a ·half. The throttle stuck on a test bike. They put out a bunch of bulletins after that _. th at th e throttles were going to stick on Suzukis. (No te: The problem on ea rly A model RM 250 and 370s has sin ce been corrected). 1 was the first one and they didn't bel ieve me -- Naw , the throttle didn't stick ." But it stuck a lright . . "And then I had a broken hand . I decided to take up ska te boarding. I was go ing down thi s slalom and started , \0 fall so I put by broken hand out of the way and broke my colla r bone. I got those healed up and I went out on Suzuki again . I hadn't raced yet. I was just gettin' back into it testing bikes for Suzuki . I was out at Saddleback and it 'was real muddy. I went off this jump and the bike stuck. I flew over the bars and broke m y shou lder and d islocated it. "That hea led u p again . I ju st kept working as hard as I co ul d j ust tryin' to get in shape. I took it like a vac a tion instead of being hurt . And then I ca me back and was doin' really good. Su zuk i sa id they were going to send me to the Nationals , and th en at the last moment they decided , " Na w, we don't ha ve any bik es for you .' They gave the bikes to Jeff Jennings. I got Billy Grossi 's practice b ike two days before Hangtown. I d id eve ryt hi ng I co u ld to it. Miller Mano put some parts on it. So we went out there a nd in t he first ra ce , it broke . So Dave Miller gave me the motor out of his 125 and I put it in m y Suzuki. H annah go t first, Danny Turner got second and I got th ird . "T h a t's when I d id really good, and Suzuki said they wanted to send me to the next National in Michigan. But when Michigan came up they sa id , 'No go.' I decided I'd had enough, and told Suzuki in reall y good terms that I wa nted to go ra ce the N a tionals and no t j ust local. I start ed rid ing for Broc Glover's dad, and he took me back east to a Nationa l where I got first privateer. I got sixth. Then we came back and he decided it cost too much to race the Nationals so he said , " Forget it .' " I was out; no ride, no nothin' . There was a good friend of Mr. Glover's that I'd ,met , Bill Lansbury . He bought me a bike, and we went to the next National. But it started all over. It blew up in the first qualifier. It blew up in the consolation. So I didn't get to qualify. W e had gone all the way back east fo r no thin ' . I paid m y own wa y and eve rything. " Drivi n home the next night , I was sleepin' and this friend was d ri vin ' . There was a spare tire off a semi truck , rim and everything , lying in the mid dle of the freeway. He didn't see it in time and he whipped the steering wheel and we hit it and it three us down this big ditch . I went flying for ward and brok e my forehead. It sm ashed a nerv e in th e wreck. I wen t to th e hospital and the doctor sai d , 'You 're OK ,' b ut a month la te r I was scra tching my forehead and got a shock fro m the nerve. I went b ack to the hosp ita l and they took X -ra ys and I had a broken forehead . They had 10 go int o immediate su rgery . I finally got th at all straigh tened up . "A month later was the Superbowl. a nd I rode a Miller Mana Suzuki. Got third overall in th e 500cc Support Class. T ha t's whe n I started training ha rd agai n and t ryin ' 10 be ca re ful. I haven 't go tten hurt since then . And I d id n't ha ve any bikes . I had a friend , Dan Steel, who had a bike and he loaned it to me for two weeks. I started doin' good so I bought it from him. I was tryi n' ha rd a nd doin' really good . Then I was ialkin' to Marie del Atorie a t Mid -Valley Cycle . and she said she tho ught she co u ld ge t me a bik e. Sh e ca lled KTM , and th ey ga ve me a bik e ' th rou gh t he shop . "I raced th e KTM on a Sa t urday and it broke , so I too k it back 10 the shop to ge t it ready for a race on Su n da . Kenny Zahrt ca me into the shop that day, and he'd decided 10 quit riding for Ossa . So th ey said I co uld race Kenny's bike also that Sunday. I went out there , all pumped up . I won all the 500cc races on the KTM at In dian Dunes . In th e 250 class on the Ossa I came fro m dead last to second in the first mo to, a nd d id the same thi ng in t he second mor o passing J ohn Hateley for th e lead . Then I bent th e shifte r in a berm . "Ossa knew I was rryin' , so th ey sent me a bike for th e T ra ns· AMA a nd hired R o ck y Will iam s as m y mec hanic. We c he rried th e b ike out some , bu t those Ossas jus t work so good. W e had two bikes 10 race t he Support class a t th e four west coast T rans-A MAs. At Saddl eba ck , I had so m uch pressu re on me because I knew if I didn 't do good , Ossa wou ld n' t let m e go to any DIner ra ces. In th e first m oro I fin ishe d ninth . I ca me in for th e seco nd m ot o a n d J sa id to m yself, ' I don 't ca re. Big deal. I'm gonna rid e th e way I ride .' That 's wh en I ca me from the back and go t a th ird behind Dan ny LaPort e a nd Warren Reid , I went up to Pu yallup next a nd got second overall behind Ellis . I was get · tin ' used to the bike. Ossas work so nice . I likes Suz ukis ; they were my favorit e bike until I got on Ossa . "The best thi ng about th e Ossa is the way it handl es. When you hit a bum p , especi ally with a j apanese bike, the back end handles so quick . You do n't ha ve eno u gh r esponse to straighte n it out. W ith the Ossa you hit a bu mp and you always know what's goi ng to happen . L ike , if the b ack end bo unces wa y far o u t sideways, it bounces so slow you ca n correct it in tim e so you don't crash. It's just really ne at the way it works, The front end of the bike is rea lly ligh t. I j ust use Fox AirSh ox on the bike and it works reall y grea t. Other wise it's stoc k, I tried M a rzocchi leading axle forks because everyone was saying how good they were. I tried th em a couple of weeks, but I got just too m uc h flex . I'd ge t into a berm and want to turn and th ey'd d ri ft to th e ou tside, So I decided to use the siock Bet ors., T h a t m akes Ossa happy, and they wo rk better, too. Everyb ody thinks th ings are better because the pros use them . Ellis uses Marz occhis, but he doesn 't have the stoc k triple clam ps. When they come out wit h good tri ple clam ps they'll be good fo rks because they d o d ampen well. "Ossa is treating me very well th is yea r. They P?Y all my expenses: gas, food , lodging. They give me two bikes a n d all the p arts we ' need . My mechanic is a really n ice guy, Henry Gref, who's been on the circuit and kn ows what he's doing. For Daytona an d the Supercross Series they're sending me a works bike from Spain . I don't know wha t it will be like, but it has to be pretty good to be better then th e production bike. They ha ve a p rot otype Open bik e they sa id th ey's try to have re a dy fo r the 500cc Na tion a ls. I th iuk if I do good they'll mak e su re th ey get it over here in time . "T h e other full fa ctory rider with m e is Greg Rob inson . He's really fast in California , but ha sn 't quite adapted to this Florida sa nd ye t. Real soon though, he sh ould be do ing good . I like the bik e , a nd I like th e people a t Ossa . This yea r th ey really want 10 ge t into ra cing seriously. I know we can do a good job. I' ve had some other offers, but right now I want to stay with them and do the best I can." 7