Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(A bove) Arlo ana the 360CR Automatic Husky, (Above right! Winning the 125cc Support class at the Lake Sugartree 250 National motocross earlier this year. (Below) Englund finished seventh at the Keithsburg. IL. 125 National. Arlo Englund: Colorado ' s fastest motocrossei' admits he's not fast enough. By Jim Gianatsis "I need to push myself harder, instead of riding around at my regular ability. I haven't put any real effort into my riding yet." Arlo Englund .laid back in the aluminum 16 lawn chair, propping his feet against the stand holding up his 125cc Husky. . Practice hadn't even begun yet for the Rio Bravo National and already the baking Texas sun that morning had pushed the temperature into the 905. Glare reflected off the chrome and polished aluminum of the yet-to-be• '" I •. released 1978 production bike with longer suspension, forcing us to squint our eyes in its harshness. "The way I'm riding now : .. I'm riding like I'm going to be racing motocross when I'm 70 years old. But I won 't be winning very often and making a name for myself. I've got to make some kind of decision soon about what I'm going to do." So far Arlo has done well enough that he's been able to pick up limited sponsorship from Husqvarna, in the form of bikes ' and parts, beginning back in the summer of 1976. It was after he joined Husky last year that he placed third overall at the Delta, Ohio, 125cc National for the highest finish ever by a semi- privateer on a stock bike. It certainly isn 't easy traveling around the country, trying to follow the National circuit with just the money you win each week . Arlo's good enough though , that even though he's not making money, he is able to break even on expenses as the weeks average out. Of coure, that means he has to spend more nights sleeping in his truck than in motel rooms. And eating at a Burger King is considered a luxury after all those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The only way you can really make money on the National circuit, no matter how fast you are, is to be a salaried factory rider with all your expenses paid for by the factory . Having friends to help share on expenses also helps. That's why Husky . "B" Team members like Arlo, Chuck Sun, Charlie Holcomb and Cal Kalicki are never far apart . When one member of the team does well. though, you have to be careful not to go out and blow what you just earned on a big Sunday night steak dinner . For a motocross fan , keeping your eye on semi -fac tory riders like Arlo provides a two-fold advantage . The first is that this year's semi-factory rider has a 50 ·50 chance of being next year's factory rider, so you can go around telling your- buddies "I told · you so" when they do make it . That's how Kent Howerton got his start with Husky, and guys like Bob Elliott and Gary Ogden will probably be riding with Team Suzuki full -factory next year. The other advantage of watching semi- factory riders is that you'll get to sec nexi year's production bikes in action before they're released to the public. While the factory riders score the expensive works bikes, the semifactory riders like Arlo serve a double purpose in helping to sort out the yetto-be-released production bikes for the factory . All throughout the 125cc Nationals Arlo has been using a 1978 model CR125 Husky with leading axle magnesium front forks and longer suspension. During the 250cc Nationals Arlo had been racing a CR390 Automatic in the Open Support class, a bike which should also sec production this fall and perhaps he Kent Howerton's choice for an Open class bike by the time Trans·AMA . comes around . Arlo is certainly the only Pro rider on the National circuit who can credit his sister for giving him a start in motocross. His father thought the whole idea of racing motorcycles was ridiculous and wouldn 't help out. That was five years ago. Now 20 years old, Arlo first learned to ride in a practice field a couple of miles from his house in Colorado Springs. Colorado. His sister let him take the lights off her Suzuki 90 trail bike and then she drove him to a local race where he won the Junior class. After about a year of racing Arlb became good enough to receive a sponsored ride from Bill Femeyhough. who was also sponsoring his own son on the Robo Car Wash Team. Arlo did well on the Yamahas Fernyehough provided and in 1974 applied for his AMA Pro license to make some of the qualifiers around the Colorado area . There was a four race qualifier series, and Arlo, who was already the top ranked 250cc rider in Colorado, might have won the series if his bike hadn't broken in the last race. He also rode the Baldwin, Kansas, Inter-Am that year and finished ninth. The following year, 1975 , wasn 't so hot for Arlo . He entered four Nationals and broke in three of them . He still did well enough in the one race. he did finish to pick up National number 75 for the next year . ' 1976 became Arlo's first full year on the AMA National circuit. He was still riding Yamahas when he began the season at the Florida Winter·AMA Series, following right on through the Supercorss Series and 250cc Nationals. He wasn 't going fast enough to challenge any of the factory riders, but he was consistent enough each weekend to attract the attention of Husqvarna , who offered to help him out with bikes and parts. It was in the opening 500cc National that Arlo suffered his first serious injury when he knocked out his front teeth on the 'cross-b race of his handlebars when crashing. I remember seeing him pull into the pits after it happened and he certainly didn't look too happy , with blood all over his mouth and jersey. He now has a nice set of man-made front teeth . Arlo decided to concentrate on the 125cc Nationals after that , and despite missing the first three races he just missed finishing the Championship in the top 10. His strong third place overall on the stock Husky at Delta helped him to finish II th overall .for that series, and end up National number 22 for the 1976 season. This year Arlo's been proving that he can keep up with, and sometim'es heat, some of the slower factory riders now on the circuit. In the 125cc National class he's proving to be especially fast and capable of finishing in the top 10 each week. He's no Bob Hannah, that's for sure. But he does have the potential to be a winner. It all depends on , like Arlo Englund said, "I've got to decide if I'm going to put any real effort into my riding." • .. ,

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