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/126307
object _ of .som e . at ten tion . in . .recent yea rs. He is not, he states , a "n a tura l rider. " He's had to learn what he knows the hard way. There were years, he admits, when he was clea rly riding over his head. H e dev eloped his style by studying the great riders , most specifically Nevada's lege nda ry Max Switzer . H e watched Max r ide , a nd then tried to imita te Max's wa y with his bike . It was slow progress, but one (lay Jack "figu re d out how to do it ," and he was on h is wa y. Something else began to sep ara te him . from the good riders and make him a great rider. It ca n best be descri be d as his state of m in d . It comes partly from knowing he 's competitive with the best. It comes partly from having complete co nfidence in his ·m otorcycle . "You just know it's going ,to get you there , so you can relax, " he says. But there's more to it . It also comes from a realistic acceptance that he's 'going to h ave h is sh are of bad luck . :Misfortu nes such as running out of gas (when he 's leading) in. th e Las Vegas '400 , getting stuck in th e mud (when -he's leading) a t Cherry Creek , do not make h im angry or u pset. " It's just someth ing you have to sit back and accept ," he says. " It's going to happen fro m time to tim e . It eq ua ls out." Along with h is philosoph ical attitude he has d evelo ped an intense powe r of co ncen tration . H e is able, usu all y, to tune out a ll th e d istractions tha t go along with a ra ce a nd concentrate only on wha t he and his bike are doing. "You have to maintain so much control in your mind . Not necessarily 'on the bike , but in your mind. ~K nowi ng wh at to d o mentall y is reall y lharder than knowing what to d o ·p hysica lly. You h ave to be co nscious of ' everyth ing important: the course , th e te rra in , p otentia l dangers, st rong 'com p etition . You have to b e tota lly ,rawa re'" It takes a d isciplined mind to a ccom p lish this, and Johnson ha s one. 21 All of these facto rs , confidence in h imself , 'con fid e n ce in h is b ik e , w ill i n g n ess to a ccept wh a teve r happens , th e ability to concentra te , add up to a very rela xed attitude whe n he rides . He looks lik e he's n ot swea ting it , and he's not. T o th e extent ' tha t any racer can be relaxed about 'wh a t he 's doing, Johnson is relaxed . Jack , a t 25 , says he knows he is olde r than most of the guys making news .righ t now, ,b u t he doesn't think that makes much difference. ~J " It's where your head is at when "doing it that matters ," he says. He intends to keep on racing a nywhere and everywhere there is a good race. ~ Every racer has his special race . Fo r J .ick Johnson, it's Cherry Creek. H e raced it first in 1975 , whe n he broke. .But in 1975 and 1976 he finishe d first ·o verall . The lure of Cherry Creek is ,}h e P~rpetual ~~op hy. !f you win th ree years In a ro w, It s you rs . , In the 17 yea rs Cherry Creek ha s ~ 'been going, no one has done that. The J trophy is engraved with the names of past winners , names like Mike Patrick, 2 Al Rogers (who won it six tim es, bu t never three in a row ), J. N . Roberts, ' I'Ma x Switzer and Jack Johnson . Last yea r in h is try for th e trophy, he was leading a nd , as he puts it , " I . wen t in to the mud and I d idn't come . out for quite a while. " That loss ranks " as the biggest d isappointment in his racing career . H e'll try aga in, b ut he kn ows th e competition is tough . "'O Still , he says, "That's th e on e I' d like "to ha ve. I could do without all the I others if I got that one. I th ink I could (just hang it up a fte r that. It 'would be j the real highlight. " Dr Cherry Creek Perpetual Trophy or ''hot , Johnson is not going to hang it up' ' for a wh ile yet . 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