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/126404
( .... - .~ r-. c, < One of the fastest SoCal motocrossers around. Scott Gillman joins Team Suzuki to tackle the rest of the country. Rappin' with Scott GillmB:n By Terry Whytal Photos by Jim Gianatsis The hills of Saddleback are plainly visible from where we are com fortably seated inside Scott Gillman's luxurious home. Speaking 24 into the ta pe recorder is a quiet . likeable 20· ye a r. o ld who recen tl y signed wit h T eam Suzuki to contest the AMA 500cc National Champion , ship MX Series in '79 . " I' m reall y happy to be ri di ng for Suzuki th is ye a r. I mean I neve r dreamed I'd be o n the same team with Roger DeCoster. I can't quite beli eve it ; I haven 't gotten used to it yet. And the bikes are so good . . . the handl ing and t he power , the weight. T he production bikes are really good but the factory bikes are the best , the y put you another step up , Suzuki has a lot to offer m e . and it's working out well . I think it has me even more pumped to do good . to really .try harder. Since I've got everything now I don't want to screw upl They even let me keep Jeff (jeff Clark has been Scott's mechanic for the past two years with a record of only two DNFs) as m y mechanic." Unlike many of his contemporari es, Scott was no wcnder-child racer who learned to ride mini bikes before he could walk and cut his eyeteeth on Castrol R. Scott has only been racing for five years, and he nearly quit in the beginning because t he 125 he was riding couldn't pull his weight. Then he tri ed a 250cc Yamaha and like that so much he figu red the O pe n class would be even better and boug ht a 400 CZ . Scott improved fas t , a nd after a year on the CZ he began to attrac t attention. " I was winning a lot of ra ces, and Yamaha gave m e support for ridi ng local races. They gave m e a bike to ride and a lim ited amount of parts , like maybe $500 wo rth fo r six m onths . I go t along good with them , a nd they helped me out a lot , They offered m e a program for Kenny Cla rk , to go on the Nationals as a privateer but with b ikes and parts. But I guess Suzuki had a lot m ore to offer me. Yamaha has a reall y big team this year and they don't really need anybody; they'r e the people to beat , And with some experience I hope I can , I may have troub le learning the tracks the fir st year. I jus t want to try and win some motos this year. I want to win the championship bu t I don't think I can th e first year . I hope to race a long time , for many ye ars and maybe someda y go to Europe, although that's a long wa y off ." One track Scott definitely doesn't have to learn is Saddleback. Years of practicing there have made him the favorite to win whenever he ra ces Saddleback. A long stri ng of Conti nental Mote-sports Club and Saddleb ack Saturday Motocross vic to r ies have given him th e confi dence to fly a nd sh ow the way to some of America's top motocrossers including · Bob Hannah in last yea r' s Olympiad. " In the Olympiad . in th e motocross I passed Hannah and I wasn't even thinking it was him . I was just thinkin g it was another race and he was just a no ther ri der. The track was perfec t that day and I was really go ing good . I held hi m off for 20 minutes , but m y suspensio n started bottoming and I h ad to slow ." Scott and his close friend J im Gibson often go out riding together and try to ou t do each other by performing in cr ed ib le stunts like jumping whole roads and leaping off Saddleback's irrfamous hillclimb , the Matterhorn . " W e go riding about three times a week, and , we just try to do really radical stuff. We Iearned : it from Hannah. Just do hard stu ff - climb hills , go off the steepest stuff. go up walls - and then after you do all this radical stuff it makes a track just nothing. It makes it twice as easy. Me and Gibson . after we'd go riding with Hannah we'd try and do all the things ( he did . and it improved us a lot. You'd be amazed a t the stuff he does! " We try to 'W ho a' each other off jum ps and stu ff. T ry a nd blow ea ch I other away and it j ust keep s gett in ' m o re a nd more ra dical! W e just gotta ou t do each other. Somet im es th ou gh we j us t go t rail riding. I love trai lri di ng. After a whil e racing gets to m e - the pressu re . I gu ess. I hardly ever ri de on the tracks 'ca use I don't want to get too burned ou t ." Scott used to ha ve o ne of the premier minib ike tracks in Calfiornia rig h t in his front ya rd . Impromptu r a ces were a lwa ys taking place wh en ever two or more ri ders were visit ing. Scott even hosted a featured race after a big race at Saddleback, but the neighbors com p la ined of the noise , Now , the track is history. " We used to ride down there for hours . M inibikes a re good p ra ctice because you have to be so precise com pa red to a big bike , It helped m e to corner and not make mistakes cause you lose all your sp eed . Minibikes are really fun , too . We even would ride them in the r ain , yo u know , all bundled up and wea ring trash bags we'd jus t keep ridi ng until so much water and mud got into everything that the bikes would jus t quitl I ofte n take off on m y minibike between races a nd go ri din g around just to rel ax. " Sco tt had a chance to travel on th e ci rc uit but changed his m ind after a few o utings . H e cites so me of the p roblems in following the circuit as a privatee r and the adva ntages of ra cing in SoCal. " I went to a co uple of Nationals , a nd I kn ew I wasn 't ready. I wasn't in go od e noug h shape , and I d idn't have the eq u ip ment to be competit ive against the top gu ys. The pri vat eers ou t on th e circu it don't get to practice much like th e fa ctory gu ys who can co me back after a race and practice. And the best way to get in shape is to ride . " I decided to come back here (SoCa l) and race until I go t a ride or quit. A rider has a be tter chance ou t here because the factori es a re a ll here . A lot of peopl e have come out of he re with rides . so I just decided to stay. And there a re so many places to ride . and the com peti tion is so tough , " Sa d d le back is a good place to learn , you have to know how to ride everything. It's not really a cha llenging track but it teaches you a lot . Sometimes it's so tacky and perfect and th en it can be the hardest and slipperiest track ther e is, From one extre me to the other . Sometimes the speeds are pretty high , too." There can be other advantages to living in one spo t wh ile training fo r motocross. You can take advantage of alternate forms of physical condition - • in g a nd coordination im provers . " I work out at a gym , the Nautilus gym in Newport. It 's really good for you to do circuits on the machines , Dave Miller and I have tra in ed together. I do a lot of snow skiing, I love it, It really helps you r balance and rhythm . Motocrossers a lways do good a t skiing ca use they 're kinda alike ." Li ke most up-ana -coming young rid ers , Scott has very little experience with stadium racing and prefers the natural terrain tracks. " I like the natural tracks best, like Unadilla , It 's probably one of the best tracks in the world. a real track. The outdoor tracks are best. I like the traction and big berms. Big monorail bermsl You get in them and just go for itl "But I guess stadium racing is where it 's all heading - the prestige and the bi g bu cks . I ha ven't raced many stadium events , and I have always gotten hurt . Not really ' broken anything, just got knocked out. Like at Anaheim my throttle stuck wide open,