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/126315
a little more organized. because there's a lot more to racing than going out and getting on th e motorcycle. It's just like goin' on a vaca tion. Every time you get ready to lea ve you got all your stuff to pa ck up, you gotta remember to do thi s a nd throw out the ca t and leav e this guy a note. You got to ca ll her e and ca ll th er e to see if th e parts came in, you go tt a do th is and do that. It's just a big hassle for one gu y to do it . and tha t's my deal right now . " I'm trying to handle everything m yself, and it's three hands full and I've only got two hands . I've got such responsib ilit y to tak e care of that it's more than I can d o. It kind of makes me a little jealous to come to the track and see my competitors kicked ba ck with three guys working on their motors. Their mechanics say ·O K. it' s time to ride,' so they put on their helmet and go out. They come back in , say ' It's too rich,' or "The gearing's not right," then kick back for another hour . Then they come back and the bike's all shaped. An d I'm over therej ust bustin' ass, gettin' that motor ready. "I just need somebody to do th e ru nnin' around. to do t he little stuff like runnin ' to the airport for parts. I'll work on the bike a t home, a nd when it's on the racetrack it'll finish . I'm not worried about the motor. Bu t when I . go back to Europe in October for an invitational race at Imola, I'll have my act together. I'll be ready for them boys. I'll have a spare motor -vthr's what you got to have. and I'll put my motors up against anybody's, I don't . have any complaints about my equipment that way . The results will settle any questions about my motors. " Bu t the main thing is that I'm goin' to have my trip a whole lot more organized next time. I want to learn how to speak a little It ali an , because you've got a p roblem if you can't ta lk a little of the language over there. You go into a store to bu y some window cleaner, and you got all these funky ca ns with Italian written on th em . What do you do ? Take the to ps off all of 'em an d sp ray until you ge t the right one? Or if you go up to the chick at the count er a nd ask for window cleaner or some (Form ula ) 409 , and you m oti on in sign langu age like you're cleaning a wind ow, she looks at you like you're crazy. " You got to take everyt hing with you , paper towels and window clea ne r and all sorts of litt le t hings. You can' t go over the re with the intention of bu ying something. We we nt over without a gas ca n, because we d idn 't hav e enough room in our crate to put in on e. It took a damn week to find a gas can over th ere, and when we d id , it cost $25 . Just for a five-gallon ga s can. American's don't think nothin ' of jumpin' into the ca r and drivin' down to the 7·11 sto re to buy something. You don't do that bull over there . You gotta take everything with you . Take all your clothes. Don 't count on these people for norhi n ' vTake everyrhing you can. "The way to go is to take a motor home packed to the ceiling with groceries. That damn spaghetti gets old. If you' re hungry and you gotta . eat, you gotta pay the price. If you want to drink it Coke, you pay $1.25 for it or else drink water and you have the runs for a week . It 's your choice. " I finally talked them into fixing . eggs for breakfast. Eggs and bacon over there is a big deal. You go int o the restaurant and tell them you want bacon and eggs . and they can' t understand that. So you draw them a pictu re IS of bacon and eggs . I never could draw a fried egg . I had to draw th em sunnyside -up. That 's how I always got my eggs and , I hate them like that . You know , big yolk stickin' up in the middle , ha ha . None of the food they serve over there is really cooked up . The way they cut their hogs overthere , bacon looks like a cross breed between a piece of ba con and a piece of ham. It looks like bacon on one end and ham on the other. It 's weird . It 's not even cooked. They iust throw it in a skillet, run it through some hot grease and throw it on the plate. You got . to raise hell to get the food cooked up better. And they serve you warm water to drink. Sometimes they serve a dollar Coca Cola warm . You want milk, they j ust ge t it off the shelf - warm milk . " I'll tell you," said Single ton , "when I landed in Sa n Francisco after -the flight home , I jumped down and star- . ted kissing th e ground. I was glad to be home. I tell you what, American people have got it made. That's it . They got it made. They don't know how good they got it until they got to some hole like Europe. It 's true. That's gospel. " Bu t one thing the Europeans got on us is racing. All the people over there are into it and love it. 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