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/126256
bike th at required miracles to finish a race. Th e 1976 Tr an s-AMA Series pr oved to be the final straw in th e Pom eroy -B ult aco relationsh ip when his 370cc pr e-production bike blew its gea rbox at every race. "T he problem s were always a majo rity of a lot of different th ings," sai d Pom eroy. " It was hard to pin point anyone thing. Between me ann the chiefs th e head peopl e at t he factory - th ere were never any difficulti es. Everything always ca me through . When I wanted to try somethin g they were always 100 percent behin d me. But fro m the m to the final product , th e process of pulling- all th e stri ngs - th e R&D department , eng inee ring departmen t, and actual production stuff - th ings never came ou t right. It was never a co m m unica tions th ing between me and th e factory. It was a problem between th e factory head people and th e work ers, I think. Lik e I'm sure you heard ab out th e strikes and all th ey had in Spa in last year , all the politi cal prob lem s. Like anybod y, Bultaco tried to do the best it could . It was j ust th at the best th ey co uld do at th e tim e wasn't goo d eno ugh . " I waited , I wai ted every year. T hey promised me th ings and never ca me through . After so many yea rs you just ha ve to try somet hi ng new. Otherwise it's going to hurt your morale . It's going to hu rt you p hysically and m enta lly. I need ed a change. but if Bult aco had do ne th e thi ngs they needed to do I would ha ve stayed wit h th em ." Was it more profita ble to race in Eu rope. than in A merica? "Fin a ncially, it was hard th e first two yea rs I was there. Ac tua lly , th e first year was the ha rd est a nd the next yea r a litt le eas ier. The third year was reallygood, and th e fourth year even better. I made good money. " It's ju st like you tak e it over here. Firs t yea r out - ro okie -'- a rider usu all y doesn't have too good a chance ; and ha s to spend a lot of his own mo ney . If he 's good he'll break even . My first year over here I was beh in d . In the hole. Bu t it's like any rookie. Take John Sa vitski for exam p le . . . it took two or three years before he sta rted m a king it big . Now he's doing OK. Well , it's the same thing over in Europe . You just ca n' t go over the re and sta rt makin g mon ey. It takes two or thr e- e yea rs. Like in a ny other professional sport, people have to learn who you a re, kn ow how goo d you are befor e th ey'll accept you. ' "Every body says it's ha rd over in Europe, but it's just as hard over he re. You 've gutta know people , you got ta have su p po rt befor e you can go ou t on th e circuit h er e and ex pect to be ab le to a fford it. It 's as expe nsive her e as it is in Eu ro pe. T he food a nd gaso line cost more in Europe , but th en you don 't have half the distance to travel a nd th e time in volved is less. It eq uals out the sam e . " People say th e purses are higher in Ame rica, Sl , 100 to S1,500 for first pl ace. but I can pu ll well over that in Europe a t Intern ationa l races. but it took me th ree years to get it. I feel I can do well in both Eu rop e a nd America now." During his last two years wit h Bultaco, Pom eroy received j o b offers , from al m ost every manuf acturer, Many of th em , lik e Suzu ki , were desp erat e f or a 250cc class rid er and had a pro ven bik e that could win. Th ey want ed Pome roy to sign with th em to race in Europe . W hy did Pomeroy sign wit h H onda to ride a 250cc bike whic h never had won a major race, and under a con trac t which requ ired him to race his first yea r with th em in A merica! " I looked at all th e offers . Honda realized , and so di d th e oth er s, tha t I ha d offers from every com pa ny. 1 looked , and I waited. I finally took th e last two months of th e year durin g T rans- Alvl A to look a! th e bik es a nd talk to a lot of people . It wasn 't like 1 was just changi ng all of a sud den . 1 had been ta lki ng to Honda since July of 1976 . I was looking at th e programs a ll th e com pa nies had and how the y were treating th eir rid ers. I felt I had a better future with Honda than any ot her com pa ny . I may have changed brands one time now , but I don't plan on changing ever again . "T ha t's how I approached all th e com pa nies. If you 're going to develop a motorcycle for th e people you're wit h , those people hav e to hav e confi dence in what you 'r e te lling the m to change a nd develop int o th e machine. And vice -a -versa , I h ave to have trust and fai th in them and their engineer ing in wha t they're goi ng to mak e for me. W e're not fight ing or cla shin g th at way. Ther e're other th ings to th ink of as well, like su p port. I've learned wha t is needed , after having been with Bultaco , th rou gh a lot of 6 mistakes. I've learned from those mistakes , and th ings will be better in the future. " I wanted to go to Europe my first year with Honda. but it event u a lly became my decision as well as th eirs to spend ' m y first yea r over here. I cou ld n' t see going over to Europe on a new bik e and not having full fa ctory support because Honda does n't know what I want , and they don't know what's happening. Honda's never really been over th ere yet. I feel maybe it's good for me to stay in th e states on e year, b uild up my reputation on Honda , and th en if I do well Honda will really give me a lot more su ppo rt then they,already are, next yea r . This is what I want , rather th a n maybe going over to Europe and failing th e first year. " I feel that Brad (Lac key) has it real tough . He's on a new b ik e (H o n d a ) and the World Championship is a lot tougher. This year I feel the 500 cc class is going to be th e hardest class. The years before , I felt it was more competitive in th e 250cc World Champion ships . I'm not saying th e 250s are the fast est , because the faste st man in th e world is Roger (DeCoster) in th e 500cc class. But as far as com pe titiveness, right d own to th e last lap in th e 250cc class you h ad a nywhe re fro m 10 to 15 gu ys and you never kn ew who was going to fini sh first. Where in th e 500cc it was always do wn to t wo or t hree. T he 250cc was a lways mor e com pe titive . Now th is yea r , I don 't th in k so. You've got Haken Andersson , Heikki Mikkola , Ben gt Aberg. T here's going to be a lot of com pe tition ." W hy is it ' that when A me rica ge ts to see th e Eu ropean rid ers, like du ring th e Trans -A MA Series, only R oger DeCoste r is really im pressive and capable of beat ing ou r rid ers? "T he last two yea rs th e T ra ns- AMA hardly had any foreign riders com pa red to th ree and fou r yea rs ago . T he Am ericans think , tha t for the Eu ro peans to make any m on ey. th ey have to race over her e. T ha t's st upid . The promot ers, th e AMA , or anyon e else who th inks like that is wrong . I have offers myself to go to Au stralia , Sou th Am erica , a nd South Africa . T hey' re a t th e sa me time as th e T r ans-AMA , a ft er th e racin g has finis hed in Europe. I would ha ve gon e to on e of th ose places th is yea r if I hadn't signed a contract with Honda . I can make more m oney at those places by just wh eel ieing around and winning. That 's wh ere you 're seei ng all th e Europeans going right now Australia , South America and Africa . Because th ey don't have to work as hard for th e money. T hey're paid st art money and they're a lot more appreciated than they a re over here. "T hey look over here and see how eas y everything is. Now people easily get factory sponsorships, when over in Europe you have to ride for yea rs before you get a ny factory su p po rt . If th e mon ey gets better over here, than it will be more profitable for m yself and othe r Eu ro peans . Right now th e onl y good . purses are in th e Supercross ra ces , and th en it's on ly goo d mon ey in th e first few places . After th at it d rops down to nothing . As fa r as th e Nat ionals go, I'd make a lot mor e mon ey in Euro pe . But it's not just for t he m on ey th at Br ad and I like to ra ce in Europe . It 's for the World Cha m pio nshi p as well. Maybe we cou ld m ak e mor e mo ney in th e Un ited Stat es, I don't kn ow . Bu t I love ra cin g for th e spo rt of it a nd it seems to m ean more over th er e. I have all the mon ey I need . " I want to be involved in some part of th e sport whe re I ca n help it gr ow . Right now you have some p romot ers like Goodwin that are makin g th e spo rt a little bit b ad , but you have enough good pe op le who are helping to bal an ce it ou t. Ma ybe th er e's one Goodw in , but there 's on e of m e. Wedon 't wa nt th ese people to ruin a good thing. " Like th ese stadium events . They're goo d , I'm all for th em , but I'm for safety as well . At Atlanta and Da ytona they d esign ed these crazy j um ps and stu ff. and then th ey waited until people got hurt on th em before th ey ch a nged them . I d on't th ink th a t was right. T hey don't ever ask the riders for their opinions on how to set up the track . They alwa ys have th eir own track designers, their own little deals . Even a t Hou ston people had to get hurt befor e they changed th e track. "T he AMA isn't making much money, be cause it's an orga nizat ion for the rid ers. The rid ers aren't mak ing mu ch m on ey . It 's all going t o th e promoters. The money needs to be more spread ou t. The AMA needs to get m ore involved with the riders to promot e safety and fa ir purses. Motocross is a good sport a nd fun for th e public to wat ch , but I don 't wa nt it to beco me a dangerous th in g in the pro cess. It's only as d angerous as th e promot ers make it and we let it become .