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/126327
John Bettencourt and his Yoshimura East Suzuki didn't skip a beat at Loudon. Smooth and fast riding are Bettencourt trademarks. (Left to rig ht) John Lon g, M s, Camel, John Bettencourt, Ms, Pentax and Reg' Pridmore sha re a little champagne in t he wi nn er's circle, hn e tenl urt: By Joni Moore Photos by Pete Horn " It hasn't really hit hom e yet. Winning was something I've always looked forward to and dreamed about, but when it finally happens you don't quite know h ow to take it." This was the reaction of john . Bett encou rt , the hght- h~ar~ed ~ew Engla nder, ~ fter wmmng his first - Su perb ik e race at Loudon onJune 18. " l n his multi-co lored Perron leathers - and litt le boy grin , John a p pe a rs to be a sportive rider. But do not mistake his ( outgoing, carefree nature for a hick of " seriousness, John ta kes his riding very seriously and has demonst rated his ability many times at AAMRR club ra ces and now , he has proved his ability to be first to 35 ,000 cheering spe ctators. The 26 -year -old's road to that Superbike victory sta rted when he was j 14 , but growing up under th e wat chful eye of a vet eran rider such as John's fa the r, you m ight say , he has always had racing "i n his blood." , " I work ed for m y Dad at Betten court's Honda in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. all my life a nd he's a lwa ys been 100% behind everyt hi ng I d id . " In 1965, he bought me m y first real ra cing bike , a Bultaco 125 , which I raced in scra m bles. finish in g on Iv .. about on e race out of eve ry four bu't still making Expert that yea r." L But 1968 was th e yea r that John's ta lent really began to show . He earn paigned his Bultaco in the 125cc Expert class in New England a nd won -- a • cha mpions hip at the age of 16. ~~ Four years lat er at the Fa ll Rou nd Up , Joh n had his first encounter with l> he. tight a nd twi~ty ~oudon road racmg track on a fnend s 750 Honda , not knowing that ni ne years la ter he would race his Suzuki 944 to victory on that very same track, J ohn's first m ajor inj ury occu rred in ' 7l}, when halfway th rough t he motoc~oss se~son John hurt his knee but stili finished th e championship series in second plac e . Resting his torn ligaments from the stra in of m otocro ss. John took the op portu niry to work as his brot her's wrench at the Florida Winter-AMA Series. But his " ra cing blood" wouldn't allow him to stay out of com peti tion for long and in 1974 'road racing saw a new competitor--John Bettencourt. " I wanted to have the feeling of ra c-: ing without the physical exert ion of motocross . I had to put a go od amount of training in to be in , sha pe for motocross, running and ridi ng a lot. Since my kn ee was burnt ou t I could n't ride so I needed some t hi ng to keep m y head occupied and ro a d raci ng was it," Laughing between sips of a gi n and tonic at his house in New J rsey, John talks straightaway about his first race, ' "Tha t yea r (1 974 ). I talk ed one of m y frie nds , Billy W yatt . into buy ing a Z-I and told him J ohn T eeve ns and m yself would " b rea k it in" for him a t th e AAMRR Br idgehampton En durance . " We sa fety wired it tha t day a nd put on Clubman bars and K·8 I's. W e we re doing real good against the Butle r a nd Smith team. After three hours we were within two minutes of t hem and then it started ra in ing , and Johnny T . threw it away in turn three so that was a big let down for ou r first big race . After that I had to buy the Z-1 from my friendl " Even though that ra ce was a let down . Bridgeh am pto n has still been my favorite track (laughing). after that crazy ra ce I felt like I had a revelation about road racing!" Since then "Johnny 'B," , as he is affectionately ca lled by his friends , has ra ced in bot h AAM R R club ra ces and AM A events. "AA MR R ha s got to be the best th ing that eve r happened to me . I still race for the fun of it but you've got to keep practi cing to stay good a n d AAMRR gives me that practice in kind of a big famil y atmosphere. You can't go dash ing around the coun trysid e , you 've got to go to the races and ride as smooth and 'as fast in every race, as if every one was ' th e Ch a m pionship. " John upheld his winni ng philosophy not only with his tremendous ride in the Laconia Class ic Superbike Race, but a lso at the AAM R R Loudon National W arm -Up the week before, where he he ld on to an early lead while setting a new Superbike lap record of 1:12.1. While John's lap times keep im proving from I : 12,1 at the National Warm -Up to a 1: 11.8 the following weeke nd, he stresses that the most irnportant part of going fast is " to be smooth ." W ith the expertise and sponsorship of h is Yoshimura East crew, his fa ther (Bettencou rt's Honda /Suzuki), Spectro O il and Competit ion Ma ch in e and Supply, both his Su zuk i 944 and Yamaha TZ250 are usually in top racing cond ition, , " I' ve always been pretty lu cky as fa r as spo nsors. go . Spectre Oil ha s been reall y goo d to me ever since '6 7. wh en I was a little di rt bik e guy. Since 1976 my Yohs imura East sponsors hi p. with Rod J ohnson a nd Danny Lippner tuning the Suzuki , has been working out p retty well too ." Althoug h he is now relativel y well sponsor ed , J ohn remembers th ose tim es when he campaigned mainl y friends' bik es in endurances. su ch as Wa yne Sullivan's Laverda 1.000 . "Endurance races have to be a favorite of mine . You have a team of gu ys. a pit cre w and all the pit tootsies boogie'n around. Everybody's puuing so much energy into it that when you win everybody's invo lved and right up there with you, "T he '76 Kodiak Classic at Loudon (Nodoul -Loudon run backwards) had to have been my most personally t n w? sta isfying race. It was a 500-kilometer race a nd W a yne , m yself and th e 'W hite Whale ,' as we affectionately na me d th e Laverda, rode as a rea lly tight team and won th e race!" Coincidenrly, John's Yoshimura Ea st sponsorsh ip was in d ir e c tly sparked by endurance racing, and in particular Wayne Sullivan. " W ay n e used to sell part~ to Yoshimura East a lot. Well one day they got to talking about racing and told Wayne they were looking for a fast rider. Since I'd been borrowing Wayne's bike so much (laughing) he gave them my name. One week later I was walking in the pits at Bridgehamp· ton to wa rds a beau tifu l 550 Honda with m y numbe r on it ." When asked which rider has had the most influence on his style , Johnny B.'s reply was straight -forward. "When I first saw Paul Smart at Daytona sticking his knee out , that just blew my mind, So he definitely affec ted my style cause I'm really into stic king my knee out. But probably the gu y who 's had th e m ost direct affect on m y ridi ng , and is m y mo st resp ected rival is, Michael Baldwin . Just by rid ing in so many ra ces with him , he 's th e one that ends up tea ching me the most . Riding with him gives me that des ire and confidence to go faster and then I apply that to m y own style because Michael and I have very different styles of riding," . Now with the dream of th e Superbike Championship a real it y, I asked J ohn what his future plans a re . " I hope to mak e it out to Sea rs Point this yea r and next year I'd like to ride a 750 , but until then I'll just keep wid ening m y horizons and race on as m any circuits in the United States as possibl e . As far as Europe goes , when you go to Europe you 've got to kick ass. Right now I want to try j ust hard enough to keep improving but not hard enough to crash a lot ," With Johnny Bettencourt a definite up and coming contender, it looks like Sears Point should be a real good racing weekend. One last quote from Johnny B, which shows the true line of his character -~ "Thanks, Dadl" ' " . • • • 31