Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Venezuela that cost a fortune to get to , yet they jus t won 't pay anyone enough sta rt mon ey. But th ere's no way to penetrate the FIM and get thin gs d on e . I've spo ken to ri ders a nd they say it's just lik.. a pin table . You keep bounci ng off th em bu t you don't score any poi nts . " Co m p a red with th e AMA in America , whic h has its prob lems too , the FI M is a disaste r. But , of co u rse , in t he Sta tes we do n 't have a la ngu age problem . T he It al ian GP was tota lly d isorg a nized. You co u ld not fin d a nyone to talk to to put thi ngs righ t a nd whe n you cou ld by th at time it was too la te . " W ha t's wanted is a fu ll- ti me offici a l going ro und to ra cet rack s show ing th e org a nizers wh at to do an d so rt out th e hassles. You just wou ld n' t beli eve the hassle I had a t Mu gell o ge t· ting two ex tra ticke ts for m y Goodyear tire technicia ns. "They told me that the GP races were bad on start money, but I never imagined that they would be this bad. I don't like being ripped off." "'Fhey won 't pay a ny money to go to th eir m eetings, they won't pay enough to race for a nd th en they won 't even give you eno ugh tickets fo r th e team . " Every week it 's so me th ing differen t ill a Grand Pri x. They just don 't have th e sa me syste m . Look a t the pad docks, they are a disgrace . At Mugello a nd Nogaro th ey were pac ked tight. If th er e was a fir e , people co u ld d ie . Even if everyo ne esca ped the whole thin g va ns, ca rs, ca rava ns, m o torhomes, b ikes spare a nd to ols would all bu rn up . "O f co u rse. th e problem is they ha ve too m a ny classes. T here's 50 . 125. 250, 350 , 500cc a nd sideca rs. I do n't want to stop gu ys racing in a ny pa rticula r class, but the G Ps sho u ld have fewer classes a nd the ot hers ca n ride in in te rn a tion al events . "T ha t way t here wou ld be m ore m on ey for each rid er , from th e slowest man in, say, th e 50cc class to th e very to p, but th ere woul d be fewer races and m ore space in th e paddocks. " Bu t d on ' t th ink th a t I' m ge tti ng so cheesed off tha t I won't stay here m ore th an just a season .1 don't need money badly eno ug h to quit th e G Ps. bu t I don't like being rip ped off. It hu rt s m y p ride , and I do n't like the idea of organizer s tak ing a dvan tage of m e a nd a ll th e o ther gu ys. " "T he ra cing , th ough , I like. A nd th e tracks I' ve see n so far h ave been rea lly sa fe. I thou ght th ey were goi ng to be bad, bu t I ca n't hon estl y say th a t a ny have been d angerou s. thou gh th e fa cil it ies at a few leave a lot to be desire d. "T he FIM ha s a funny way of giving rac es out. It's not a case of who will pay th e m ost mon ey, or eve n who ha s a good t ra ck a nd good facilities. I j ust don' t kn ow how they co me to a llocate G Ps. " I like th e ra cing - and I t hi n k Europeans are reall y kee n on it. But I think th e onl y way th ings will im prove is when th e riders break away and ru n th e job th emsel ves. T he FIM isn't go ing to cha nge! '. "Yea h , I like th e ra cing. a nd best of all I like th e 500s. I n the 250s I ha ve to rid e a b it too hard ." ; " W h at he m eans is that he has to try on the 250 , " sa id tun er Kel Carruthers, breaking in io th e conversa t io n afte r r eturning to th e m otorh ome a f te r h elping o u t Takazumi Kat a yama with a welding job. f Despite th e relative la ck of success in the 250 cc class, where Kenny has been beaten a couple of times by Gregg Hansford , bo th he and Ca rruthers are confident tha t the title is not ou t of th eir grasp . " We ha ven 't had- tim e to work o n th e bike. Rem ember we get no hel p from th e fact ory, bec au se they a re not int erested in th e class. It was just a bike we built up for m ore races' back in th e Stat es a nd h er e it hel ps m e learn the ci rcui ts . W e've j ust neglected it , wh ile we've sorted o ut th e others ," . exp la ined Kenny. "The larks a re old, th e suspension is soft and the Ka wasaki is a better bi ke than we thou gh t it woul d be . To try to beat it I' ve been ha vin g to ride the lit tle one too hard and t hc tires won 't tak e it. So whe n we've worked on th e bik e , tuned th e engi ne and go t some good tir es it sho uld be OK . " In t he St a tes it was easy , I'd just o pen up a 20'seeond lead a nd th en ease off so th e tires d idn't give any trouble. You can't do th at here. I ha ve to ride hard a ll t he time and the tires weren't built to take it. Now we have harder co m po u nds that sho u ld be all right. " O ne of th e things Roberts has had to learn in Eu rope is how to pu sh sta rt his bikes. In the St ates th e races are a ll clutch sta rt , " I have a problem st a rt in g th e 500 and ge tti ng the clu tc h ou t. I ca n' t ge t th e throttle and clutch wo rki ng toget her," confessed Kenny " O n th e 750 , hell, I don 't have to worry about bein g first into the co rner. I just jump o n and po w. .. we a re in front at th e corner . " Bu t th e 500, that's differ ent. I go with the others, push it fast , jump o n and sta rt to feed it , but it doesn 't do anythi ng for a whil e . Everyone tak es off a nd th en I do!" " It 's the bike . Every othe r mach in e you start up wit h th e th rottle closed , but no t th e 500 Yam aha . You ha ve to ha ve the throttle o ne third op en and it d oesn ' t see m rig h t , " exp lained Carruthers. " Bin when it is goi ng. it goes good . You ride th e 250 hard a nd it sta rts to chatter o n the fro nt end . Yo u ride th e 500 h ard a nd it doesn 't do a nything a t a ll. " Fo r tho usa nds of ent husias ts th e bi g d isa ppointment of th e season has been the fact th at Ro berts and Au stral ian Gregg H ansford do not m eet each o the r in t he 500cc class. But Kenny does clash with the tall bl on d Au ssie in the 250cc class . How does he rate him ? "Compared ' with the AMA, which . has its problems too, the FIM is a disaster. " . " Gregg ca n cert a inly ride a mo to rcycle we ll, He doesn 't m a ke a ny mist ak es a nd he's safe to ride with . I like rid ing with him, we both fool around a lot in th e 250ce events. I think Gregg is probably a bi t bette r than m e ro u nd slow co rners , whi le I like fas t be nds . W e've proba bl y taught each other a little b it thi s season . " I th ink the m a in reaso n G regg has been better on slow co rners is pr ob a bl y partly due to his tir es. On th e 250s Mich el ins g ri p a littl e better. " Barry Sh een e , among others , ha s said th at Kenny's use of Goodyear tires o n the 500 has been a key factor in his success in that cl ass . But perhaps it's more th an just the right cho ice of tires . Roberts has been in impressive form since he landed in Europe before Easter and th e John Player Tran satlantic T rophy Series. "I always try 100% That's the way I ride. But I don't always try that hard if I don't need to." " I always try 100 per ce nt . That's the way I ride," sa id Kenny, " But I don' t a lways try tha t h ard if I don ' t need to . At Nogaro, in the French GP, fo r exam ple, I had quit e a race with Pa t Hen nen . "Pat is a very go od rid er a n d the Suzuki in places had slig ht ly better ac ce lera tion o n m e. Because of t he ra in I didn't ha ve a cha nce to try th e ne w stiffe r co m po und tire, so I had to use th e sa me type th a t I ra ce d in th e Formula 750 eve nts a t Br ands H atch , " I wasn't really sure the tire would go the distance , because the 500, like the 250 , is hard on tires. I didn't want to bum it out, so I stayed around a bit till I made up m y mind that the tire was still good and then I started going quicker till it started drifting. While I was lapping with Pat it wasn't sliding at all . " I always ride until the bike starts drifting two or three inches and then that's m y limit. I won't go any harder than that, no way l I won't go any harder because you can only do that a couple of times and get away with it . If I have to make up time I'll try and make it up another way. " Yo u see I ride more with the throt· tle t ha n most people do . If you just sta nd and watch on a com er , you may see m e turn it off a lot earlier than others, but I am back on the power 'a lot sooner. "In the States it was easy. I'd just open up a ,20 second lead and then ease off. You can't do that here." "T ha t's the wa y I ride, and because of that I burn tires up. But I' ve a lways ridden like that. I remember when I was a first -year expert in the States riding in the sa me 250cc race as Kel a t Ontario, near Los Angeles. It was probably about my twentieth road race. He h ad his b ike working better than m ine , but I'd try harder. " H e beat m e , but in the winner's ' ci rcle looking a t the two bik es, h is front ti re was com p letely bald and mine hardly touched, but m y rear tire was finished and his was OK , W e had the sa m e bik es, identical tires a nd everything!" With the break between the Italian and next GP , the Dutch. at th e en d of June , Kenny h as time to ride .in a couple of in ternation a l ra ces to pi ck up some ca sh and then fly ba ck to the Stat es for a fort n ight's va cation. He'll be flyin g home in a happy fr ame of mind, " If th e 500 hol ds together we'll be a ll right. I'm su pe r-ha p py a t the m oment. If we h adn 't ha d that p ro b lem when the piston went in Ven ezuela a nd had the tire las ted a t 'J a ra m a in t he Sp anish round. I'd be eve n ha ppie r. " Altho ug h I think m y Goodyea rs are better tha n Mich elins, I don't think th ey were ea rlier this yea r. At Imola a nd Paul Ricard with the 750 , for example. I had p roblems. In France I used the same tire as at Daytona and it works good for five or six laps. Bu t wh en it gets warm , grease comes out of th e compound, the tir e starts sliding around and it won't take its rubber off. T hen you have to slow down two seconds a lapl " But the resu lts at Imola and Paul R icard turned out to be a blessing in disguise, A phone call to the Goodyear factory from the European chief to the chairmen saw a personal message relayed to the competition department. Make the tires to do the job. And with the chairman of the board on you r side, how can you fa il? By Spa in there were three or four new tires to test , and fresh compounds have arrived in Europe since then. The sea rc h is for a stiffer com pound that will last and still grip , Kel Carru thers gri ns a t the tire talk . When he raced in Eu rope not 10 years ago riders didn't have this problem. They just had one ti re wet or fineI " H av ing just o ne ty pe of tire, that's th e main di fference between now and th en and I think there were more fairly good riders about then . " W ha t I m ean is that the good guys now a re just as good , if not better, than when I raced in Eu rope. It 's just th at there isn't so many of them these days. "Anyone who isn't prepared to scrape his knee on the ground and hang his butt out isn't going to win." " Now I think there is Kenny , Gregg Hansford and Pat Hennen on the top level and then a bi t further down there is Barry Sh eene and Johnny Cec otto. Foll owing then are a few Italians who go fairly quick, but they are not good ri de rs because th ey keep crashing," said Kel. Kenny doesn't agree totally with his tuner's verd ict on the o pposition . " I th ink that Cecotto , Sh eene and Steve Baker are right in there with th e best, " he sa id. " I wouldn't d ro p them down a peg yet, but then again I don't watch them as m uch as Kel does because I'm usu all y in front of them , so I can't rea lly tell ," he added wit h a big grin . Fears that things m ight not work smoo thly between Rob erts and his Am eri ca n-b ased team and the offi cial J apanese sq u ad and their rider Johnny Cec otto ha ve been q u ickly squashed, " W e ge t o n really well with them . Anything we want, we ca n ha ve. The o nly tim e that wasn't true was in Venezuela - and then I th ink that was because of where th e race was, rather than a ny la ck of assist ance , They don't even get upset if Kenny be a ts Johnny," sa id Kel. "To be truthful, I've never thought that Barry was going to be quite the threat everyone said he would." "T wo b ikes would make life easi er for us in the 500cc class. With one we waste a n aw ful lo t of tim e in th e pits cha ngi ng wheels to try d ifferent tires," added Kenny, Finally, how does Kenny rate Barry Sh eene? " Ive never raced Barry before this seaso n on a 500, so I don't really know how well he is riding at the moment. W e've always met on 750s and I've usually beaten him then, Ma ybe he isn 't fit and maybe he is having problems but he goes good sometimes. However, to be truthful , I'v e never thought that Barry was going to be quite the threat that everyone, including most European paP"';' and magazines, said he would. " • 15

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