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/126318
Skip Aksland .Heir ap By Gary Van Voorhis "Hey, I'm jazzed," commented a relaxed Skip Aksland as he rested in '" the pits after the Louisville National. "Did you know that I've got more points now than I had over halfway through the season last year? Even though the crash (Skip had crashed while challenging for sixth on lap 13 of the National) 18 cost m e a handful of points, I can't complain . "I'll tell you what has me pumped, I have never even qualified from time trials at Louisville before. Then , all of a sudden , everyth ing clicks. I knew that these eastern half miles were going to be tough races for me since I've . never been able to do good in them . But I figure that if I am successful - and so far Colorado and Louisville have exceeded m y expectations - th en it will be a very good year for me , For Aksland , the road to the suecesses of this yea r has been a long steady climb. What is the secret? Aksland isn 't sure. ''I'm the type person that learns as he goes along rather than those- who are good to start with , but sometimes don't really know why - the ones who can really go fast yet burn themselves out after a few years or begin to slow down , "Each year I've learned a little more so that I've gotten better progressively. It took me a while to adapt to road racing. Last year was my first year on a Harley and it took me a long time just to learn how to set the bike up . "T his yea r I have a good program. I have two Harley's with Terry Sage doing the tuning and extra help from . Stormy Winters , wh ose bike I rode when I won at San J ose last yea r. We're all in it tog ether , a ll learning togethe r. " Last yea r Terry was maintaining both m y road racer and th e dirt bik es. It was too much for on e person. Now m y broth er Bud is doing m y road racer. " Looking back at my results from last year, I would have to say that road racing is my strong point, With Kenny (Ro berts) gone , hopefully a lot of th e second place fini shes I had last yea r will turn into wins . " Da le Singleton will be th e toughest opposition . He 's the same kind of per· son that I am . He's also learning as he goes along, He didn't jump in and start winning right away , When we were in Europe (earlier this yea r) he was right on m y tail all the way. He never gave me any breathing room , " Mike Baldwin is another person who is going to be tough . If he can stay on two wheels without crashing he could be right in there, "See : everyone thinks that they are just going to hand me the mon ey and the points at every road race, but it ain't so. It's going to be tough . Probably just ~s tough as it is on the dirt. " W hen the year started, a lot of the press and other people picked me as having a very good chance to be Number One. I thought about it and felt that I could have a shot at it if ,t lJip gs • went really well in the dirt, because I , , ha ve th e plu s in road ra cing. "So fa r things have gone really good on the dirt a nd I'm begi nni ng to beli eve th at I really do ha ve a good ch a nce at th e ch a m p ionship . I figure tha t if I ca n stay in the top five throughout th e season going int o the road races and can finish in the top three at every road race . wh ich I should be able to do easily unless I fall down or have some fluke me chanical pr oblem - that I shou ld be able to con sistent ly sta y near th e top. " If I can do that until the end of th e yea r then everyone had better watch out because the end of the season has always been a strong point of m ine . I .Iavor those final tracks San Jose and Ascot expecially - p lus a good majority of the miles are run at the end of the season and I feel that I'm a pretty good mil e rider. . " I believe that I'm fortunate that I can ride well in all five events. A lot of people never try them all . There are a lot of gu ys out there who have the abil ity to be good road racers, but have never really tried. " Road races, to me, are like bonus points because almost no one who is going for the championship rides them . There's me, Gary Scott and Steve Eklund plus Steve Morehead. Eklund saw last year that he would have to get a 750 if he wanted to stay in the hunt . " Hey, you can't overlook five road races a .yea r worth 100 points. I'm just chugging away taking everything they'll give me . " I've got a solid sponsorship package this year, one which allows me to go racing 100% without having to scrimp. " My sponsors are Lectron, PJ- I Lubricants , Arai Helmets and Goodyear. Last vear we didn't have .. JnUC " d . . 'UdJ.. ..... .. ... •, (00 .. Ii-or- a , raoulg.4lU, &:".:.. .a&f~ "1",,'1: > r yea r before that we were really on a shoe stri ng. "T his yea r I'm really happy. The sponso rs are also. Anytime someone picks up a sponsor sh ip package they are taking a gamble because they don't really know how well you are going to do, "Even though I broke my wrist last year (the week after winning San Jose) we d id fairly well financially. The F750 World Championship at Laguna Seca was worth nearly SID,000 plus the San Jose winnin gs and all m y second place finishes in th e road races added up . Last year was th e first yea r that we made money. There aren't more than five or six riders on the circuit that are really making money and it amazes me how the rest keep going and survive, Just the costs of food , gas and motels will put you into bankruptcy. " Ra cing is like starting a business . You have to realize that you 're going to lose money the first few years before things start to come around . You also have to know when you 're in the wrong business. "I'm fortunate in that I've had my father behind me since I started racing. Without his help I would have been pretty much forced to drop out or not run the whole circuit. The money I make now goes directly into the business rather into my pocket so that the business supports the racing which , it's nice to say , it is now doing, The racing is now paying for itself. (D,A ,R ,T . Development which originally was the (Mike) Devlin Aksland Racing Team. Devlin is no longer involved , but the corporation kept the name and Aksland now refers to it as Dad AksIand's Racing Team.) AksIand's assessment of his rivals may surprise a few people. "Skipper," as he is known to his friends , does not 'miri<;c;, \"9~ds ., -. -' , " .. ... . .. 'I -I~ ~ ¥ .. ... I " , '" ~