Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

CN: How did you like Erv's bike? MB: It's difficult to learn to ride, but once you get the knack, it works very well. It handles beautifully. I went around the bowl with one hand and it went around like an arrow. It was set up reliably and I was impressed. CN: As a privateer do you run up against any problems in getting machinery and parts? MB: Mostly the cost . Yamaha makes their machines and parts easily available. There's no problem. CN: Can a privateer make a profit at road racing? MB: I made a profit last year. CN: Can you .give us an idea what it costs to wholeheartedly campaign the National road racing circuit? MB: If you add up the amount of checks that I wrote out, you're talking a lot of money. You're talking $20,000. But my expenses were around $3200. That includes gas, two bikes, parts - the whole bundle. I bought the 750 for $6900, sold it for $6500. I spent _ about $600 on parts for the 750. I bought the 250 for $2550 and sold it for $2650. Spent about $250 for parts. Tires added up to $300. Gas added up to $1710. There's a lot of stuff that I got out of wheelin' and dealin' that I didn't pay for . I'm what they call I like to look at it "thrifty" - everybody else calls it "cheap." CN: Did you do well in terms of prize money.' MB: I made $8400 . CN: And it was a.bad year? MB: For every race that I did well, I did terribly in another. Rarely mediocre. I did well enough at Daytona and Charlotte to make the trip worthwhile. Bad at Long Beach. Bad at Loudon. CN: What happened at Loudon? MB: It was the worst race of my career. I had driven 60 hours straight (from Darien, CT to Texas to buy Mike Kidd's 750, and then to Laconia, NH) and stayed up all night and all day to work on the new bike to get it ready for the race. I didn't have any money left for new tires for the bikes and I had an offer to use free tires (for the 250). I learned a lesson: tires that are free , are free because they're not the best. I tried an experimental front tire. Nixon tried it too, didn't like it and went back to the slick. I tried it . It seemed all right in practice and in the heat race, but in the final, it just gave out. It started to slide while I was leading Nixon (for first place) . This was the tire that Mamola had on the front of his bike and he went on his ass. Klinzman had one and he went on his ass the first lap. A new tire. Free. I should have known better. Nixon knew better. I run cranks 'til they stop, but on tires the line is drawn. . ,. CN: In the superbike race we thought you were gonna have it sewed up. : , MB : I didn't have it sewed up. I caused my crash a day before the race and I'll explain why. We've always used a treaded tire on the front (of the Guzzi) and on that Saturday we put a slick on for practice. It didn't feel right . But I was so bottled up trying to get the 250 and 750 right that I forgot to write down: front wheel or'Moto·Guzzi is hopping in turns . In the race it started doing one of those little bouncy things and the Guzzi has never done that with a treaded tire. As it would start to bounce, it would start to wash out. I was losing time because I couldn't get my normal deep, late drive into a comer. I came out of the hairpin after saving it , saying, I'm a lucky dude. And going into that turn ten... a ' lot of people figured (Ron) Pierce did me in . He didn't do anything that was a foul. He made an excellent move . I figured that if I got just the right line and pushed it a little harder, I'd beat him. He came into the tum tight and I came in wide, so I·figured I'd dip inside of him. He ' had me readl He knew what I was trying to do . Instead of coming out of the tum wide, which would have let me dive in underneath him, he came out tig lo • and I went to dive and he was there. I changed my mind quick.. .1'11 go around the outside.of him. .. and right as I did that, the tire washed out. The situation would never have happened if I had remembered to try the treaded tire. CN: What happened in the National? MB: I crashed in the heat race. The radiator cap ' came off and I dumped water all over . I wasn't able to finish the final because of the extensive damage. I was ruined. I wanted to ride the race and I think if I had gotten the machine prepared, I would have done well. CN: After Loudon your reputation suffered for a while. Some people were saying you would rather crash than lose. Do you feel that the "win or crash" theory is true with you? MB: It's not so much win or crash. A lot of people are willing to win, but they're not willing to risk crashing. You're always calculating the chances. Road racing is very important to me . nothing else comes first · and I want to win at all costs. CN: What do you think your prospects are for Loudon this year? MB: (Laughing) It's got to be better than last year. • > 16 to run that lousy ad. And then they said, will you wear that leather suit when you ride your 750? I said no. If you want to buy me a leather suit I'll wear it when I run the superbike class and that's it . I told them my 750 is gonna cost me eight grand and you want to buy me a leather suit to sponsor that bike? What they don't understand is that I happen to know what they spend on those 4-color process ads. CN: Would you like to see the AMA run more road races? • MB: Yes, up to 10 races. CN: Would you like to see the introduction of 125cc racing into the professional road racing schedule? MB: If anything, .I would say take races out of the schedule. I would like to see the Novice race taken out of the schedule. I say this because at the races I've been to where there was no Novice event it was· incredibly easier on the Experts - more practice time, more everything. The Novices could run Regionals. The clubs could run Formula events plus a Novice National event. It would make it easier for the Novices to earn their points. If the local club is paying AMA points, the Novice doesn't have to go all over the country to make his points and prove his ability and he can get five times the experience at about a tenth the cost. . CN: Now that the restrictor plate rule has been in force for a few months, do you feel that it has had the desired effect? MB: The rule doesn't really affect people, because all the research information has been made generally available. The restrictor plates really don't make you any slower. At Bridgehampton last weekend (May '78) I went two seconds faster with restrictor plates than my track record without them. It's a worthless rule that has cost a lot of people a lot of money and aggravation. If all the money spent by researchers and riders on account of the restrictor plates were pooled, I wonder if it would amount to enough to repave the bowl at Daytona. That would be interesting to find out because nothing tears up tires like Daytona. . CN: Aside from the restrictor plates, how well do you feel the AMA handles the safety end of their road racing program? MB: They really try hard to meet the safety end of it. CN: How well do you feel the AMA runs their road racing program in general? MB: With the racing I doI'm comfortable with the way the AMA runs their races right now . not giving out points in the 250 race and not making the super· bike the main event. . . But I think their contingency program stii-tks. The way it is now, you slap a stickie on your bike and if you win you get paid contingency money. If you don't win you don't get anything, but you still have the sticker on your bike , so a lot of companies get advertising for nothing. If (a company) wants to post $500 on the super· bike race, they pop $1000 . The riders get $500 . $500 goes to the AMA just for the ' trouble of mimeographing the contingency sheets and laying out the stickers. That's a heavy duty market. The AMA is taking the potential of advertising too lightly. . They're devaluating the side of a motorcycle and making it worth nothing to the rider. If they restructured their rules, the value of good riders would go up. They should post in their rule book that no rider can run any endorsement on his motorcycle at their events unless it has been paid for (by the sponsor, directly to the rider). Proof of payment should be shown at tech and if a rider can't show proof, the sticker comes off. CN: What did you think of the Motorcycle Olympiad? MB: A side show. They should have run it in the winter. They did it during the season and most racers just can't take time out to play with that sort of stuff. CN: Do you have any favorite tracks? MB: Bridgehampton, Loudon - I guess I like them all. I really enjoyed Oulton Park. . CN: What do you consider your most successful events . most personally satisfying, favorite, or most financially successful. MB: The most satisfying had to be Loudon in 1976 when I won the superbike race. I really felt good about beating the BMW team. My most financially rewarding event (in 1977) would be Pocono, the National. I finished 4th and it was worth a little over $1,000. CN: What about Mosport? MB: Mosport was about $1,400 but they (Canada) took out a lot in taxes. The biggest event was the Long Beach Invitational. We were pitted inside a big arena . Madison Square Garden type thing· and all the Formula I cars were pitted in the same area. Mario Andretti was walking around, lookin' and he says, "Aw, man, I'd like to ride one of those." But the best thing was the thousands of spectators - over 70,000 to watch the motorcycle race. eN: Were you aware that Gary Nixon complimented your ride at Long Beach? MB: No. But I've had one compliment from Gary that I really treasure. In a tire testin' session at Daytona (October '77) he hurt his hand and they asked him who he would trust to come down and ride the bike. And Erv Kanemoto called me up and said, "Get on a plane and come down." At the track Gary implied that . he liked my riding and that really made me feel good. CN: Who is your most respected rival? MB: I'd have to say Gary Nixon. I liked Nixon before I had ever seen a race. Since I was 13 I've read everything (motorcycle mags) I could get hold of and that was 1969. You read a lot about Nixon. I value having a rider as good as he is to watch and learn from and he also has the ambition to help me out- to walk up and tell me things. At Daytona I was taking the wrong line through the bowl and he came out and pointed out just the right little patch of asphalt to cut down. I cut three seconds off my lap times just from listening to the things he told me.

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