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/126328
to have the bike at the races on time and in tip-top condition. It was happened to me several times: I'd show up Saturday for practice and the bike wouldn't show up 'til Sunday. ' CN: How did the Berliner sponsorship come ' about and what makes it work so well for you? (Mike has campaigned Ducati and Moto-Guzzi for Berliner since 1975.) MB: It was a fluke . I was up at Loudon and Reno (Leoni) had the Ducati up there. I was standing next to him and I said, "Hey, Reno, I'd sure like to ride one of those." He called me up a week later and said, "You can ride. " So Kun Liebmann and I raced in some endurance races at Bridgehampton and Loudon. I've been riding with them ever since. It works out really well because Mike Berliner is a good sponsor to have. He's consistent and I know he benefits by sponsoring me. I get the feeling that I am serving a definite purpose by riding that motorcycle (Moto-Guzzi). The purpose is advenising. I can be sitting at Ham's shop and a guy will walk in and plop down X dollars and say , I want a Moto-Guzzi Le Mans because that's what Mike Baldwin races. I've seen it happen several times and I feel good about that. That makes racing for a sponsor wonhwhile ten-fold what the money aspect is. CN: That must make superbike racing a real pleasure. Do you like Reno's tuning? MB: That's the best pan and I think the reason we do well. Whenever I have somebody to work on the bikes I do very well. Reno is always there, the bike gets worked on and everything is taken seriously. CN: You've campaigned Moto-Morini , Laverda , Ducati, Guzzi , all 4-strokes as well as 750, 250 and 125cc 2-strokes. Do you have any real preference? MB: I like to ride the 4·strokes. I always have. I was going to ride a Ducati 750 twin, a factory bike. It was supposed to be flown over in time for the Loudon National ('77) and never did arrive. I was disappointed because I would have liked to compete on a 4-stroke twin against all the Yamahas. CN: Now that the EPA has had an effect and the 2stroke line is disappearing from the street, do you think we'll be seeing 4-strokes back on the track in - stead of 2-strokes? MB: I certainly do. I think they're going to try make it an advantage for the 4-strokes. I don't think it's fair, for instance, to run 1000cc 4-strokes along with the 750's. If the 4-strokes can be developed to make them faster, then let these guys build a 750 4-stroke that could beat a 2-stroke. They can do it . CN: In view of their rising popularity, what do you think the future is of superbike racing? MB: I would like to see the class stay the same way it was last year. I think the money could be a little better. It's a great race for the spectators and a great support race, but I would not like to see it become the main event. I'd hate to see the demise of the 750 Yamahas. If anything I would like to sec the superbike race moved from Sunday to Saturday. It crowds the 750 race. It takes a little glory away from the 750 race. Granted, it's got commercial appeal. It's the stock car racing of motorcycle racing, but I don't think it should move in on the 750's in any way. Grand National racing is very specialized and I think it's just right the way it is. CN: Which costs more to campaign, a superbike or a TZ750? MB: With a GP bike you have a comparatively cheaper racing package. You can buy a TZ750 for $8000 and for a few hundred more you can set it up to race competitively. There are people who spend $20 ,000 on extras for their 750's but they don't need to. With a superbike you have to be able to spend thousands on extras just to be able to race 'com petitively. The people who build superbike racers are ashamed to admit what they spend. If, at Daytona, for example, they paid the kind of purse the NASCAR guys get. I'd be glad to build a machine from the ground up . But for its being the richest race in the world, the Daytona purses are nothing. ' CN: What will you do if superbike racing becomes the main event? MB: I'll go to Europe if I have support or I'll race with AAMRR. CN: Do you feel that riders should receive points or half-points for 250 GP racing? (Note: ·Mike is not campaigning a 250 this year because he wants to devote full time to 750 racing.) MB: Points don't mean anything to me because I'm not competing for the #1 plate. I have no chance of winning the #1 plate because I don't have the suppon to compete in the din track races. If I were competing' for the Grand National Championship I would say , absolutely, they should pay at least half points. CN: Would you like to see someone sponsor a separate Grand National Championship series for road racing? MB: I don't think it would be right. Since there's only one II plate, it means you're the best at everything: short track, half m ile , mile, TT and road race. It's a classic thing and it makes the II plate wonh a lot more. In Europe they have a II plate for every class. What happens then is wha~ Eappened to Steve Baker (in 1977). Baker became the 750 World Champion, but everybody says, well, so what. That's not the best. The best is the 500 class. So he deserves to be a World Champion. He is a World Champion, but he doesn't get that from the press, He doesn't get anything out of it because they've given out five World Championships. The U.S. gives out one and I think that's the way it should be'. Besides, the only thing that draws in championship sponsors is the (low) price. For instance, Camel spends $100 ,000 for the whole series (point fund). That's nothing when you consider they have an advertising budget of millions. Do you know what it ,costs to run a 4-color process ad on the inside cover of a major magazine? Two of those ads cost them what it costs to sponsor the whole damn series. (Note: Camel spends $100,000 on the point fund, but about $500,000 on the series. A color ad could cost as much as $50,000.) You could race for a long time on what they pay for a couple of pages of advertising. Now one of the companies that I sent a proposal to told me they would buy me a leather. suit, put their name on it and all. They said they can't do anymore than that. They took out a three page color ad in a dealer news magazine. They could have sponsored seven riders in the superbike class for what it cost them 15