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/126409
(Clockwise from t op leftl Wayne Rainey. John Wincewicz. Ronnie Jones. Charlie Roberts. Scott Parker and Tommy Duma. AMA Grand National Champlonshlpl Winston Pro Series Preview: The Rookies By Gary Van Voorhis From all indications, the AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series promises to produce one of the best battles for Rookie of th e Year since 1972 when Gary Scott, Kenny Roberts and Mike Kidd moved into the Expert class. The top six riders overall in last year's Junior class are making what amounts to a full sca le attack on the title of Rookie of the Year. Although the title carries no monetary reward wit h it, sponsorship backing does come easier when you have a major accomplishment to bargain wit h. 12 Leading off this talented six pack of achievers is Michigan's Scott Parker , who topped the Junior class in both total points and dirt track points. Ranking behind Parker were California's Wayne Ra iney, Oregon's John Wincewi cz , Ohio's Tommy Duma , Charlie Roberts of Illinois and Okla homa's RonnieJones. In addition . Parker holds one other honor. He is the youngest rider to ever attain Expert ranking on the cham pionship circuit. Parker turned 17 on November 21 of last yea r. Agewis e, th e rest of the group fall in the 18 -19 yea r -old group with Tomm y Duma the oldest afte r celebrating his 19th birthday just aft e r this year's Houston Nationals. Although all were at Hou ston for the W inston Pro Series openers , only Jones had any success. Jones hustled his wa y to a spot in the Short Track National and then made it payoff with a fifth place finish worth 10 National points. That finish was equal to the best ride of any of last year's rookie ca nd ida tes. The Sacramento Mile. which would have been the first real test of all six ou tside the artificial track at Houston . did not work out as such . Tommy Duma and Charlie Roberts had to gi ve the ra ce a m iss. Duma felt th at he di d not have enough work finished on h is Harley and would th erefore wa it unt il San Jose to make the trip west wort h while. Roberts. on t he ot he r hand , fou nd himself in a real d ilemma . The Harley-Davidson XR750 he had ordered had not arrived and rather than make a trip to Sa cramento with yea rold Yamahas, he decided to p ass up the National. Sacramento, for those who rac ed. proved to be a bit of a disappointment. Scott Parker had equipment problems, John Wincewicz crashed his heat. Wayne R a iney put in a fourth p lace rid e in his heat but couldn't back it up in th e semi . Ron nieJon es hung in there to take second in th e Trophy Race . None scored a ny Nat ional points. The stage is now set for a heads-up meeting at San Jose . Can one of these talented riders collect a National win? Perhaps. The last rider to do so was 1976 Rookie of the Year Garth Brow , and he didn't do the deed until the final race of the season. If there is one thing that draws the six together other than a com mon goal , it is talk about sponsorship. They know that this will be not only a long season , but an expensive one as well . Their sponsorship packages vary from strong to family su p po rt ed, and only time will tell who will survive. The best way to get to know these stars of the futu re is to take a look at them individually ยท and alphabetically so that no ranking exists - to firmly plant their names in your mind . While all the glory and a majority of the headlines go to th e ch ase for the Winston Pro Series crown. keep an eye on these six and wat ch the fight for Rookie of th e Year. It cou ld prove to be very exciting. Who will win the title? It cou ld be any of the six. Co llectively. they agree that there will be a b aili e for the entire year a nd that wh oever wins will kn ow he has been in a fight. If Ohio rid er Tommy Duma has his wa y. t his will be th e year to "pu t Ohio o n the map rather tha n Mich igan ." Duma sees the RoY bail ie as a d ose one with on rider running away from t he rest. " A close battle," says Duma, "will be good for both the riders and the fans . Close competition makes you rider harder, and that, in turn , makes you a better rider. " Coming from Ohio , Duma naturally calls half miles his strongest po int. "They say it will be hard to learn some of the West Coast tracks because they are d ifferent. I don't really know . I guess I'll hav e to find out. I'm look ing forward to running the m iles because I've got a lot to learn there since I never had much cha nce to ri de many of them as aJunior." Like most of his ri va ls , Duma didn't worry about turning expert. " I try to take things one race at a time and not worry about other things. Hey , they (the Experts) put their pants on just like I do . The racing is a litt le closer and the competition a little tougher. other than that it's just another race ." While most riders only tal k about the problems in getting adequate spo nsorsh ip , Du ma (a nd Ro berts) are doing something a bout it. He has put to gether a press kit wh ich incl udes a rec ord of his past raci ng accomplishments, letters of recommendation a nd an outline of what he feels th a t he ca n to for the potential sponsor. It is one stop towa rd a professio na l effort. Duma will be rid ing out or Warren (Ohio) H a rley-D avidso n with backing from O 'B rien Flowmetrics, Carlisle, Out Front N umber Pl a tes and his parents. David Hubinsky will handle tuning chores. The come-ba ck award for the Junior ranks in 1978 belongs to Ronnie Jon es, The Oklahoma flier broke his ankle on June 11 and was out of racing for two months, returning to action on August 11. Although he missed the meat of the season. Jones still managed to fight his way into the AM A Central Regi ona l Championship. He did it in Cinderella fashion by winning the title in a last -lap , last-corner charge in the final Regiona l of the season. In doing so, he joined the select co mpany of Greg Sassaman and Lance J ones as the only rider to win Novice and J un ior Regiona l Championship tit les. " I 'm loo king for sponsors, but they are very ha rd to come by. I want to be Roo kie of the Year. a nd I thi nk tha t I have as go od a chance as a nyo ne. I' ll do as m a ny Nationals as 1 can afford to . If I feel that I've got a chance, I'll find a way to scrape together expenses to get to every event. " I want to be consistent. I feel that it wouldn't be out of the question to finish in the top ten with a little luck . It would be nice. But I'm realistic and I know that things are super tough , so we'll see how it goes . "1 think I have an edge in some respects in that I grew up racing with the Experts . R a nd y Cleek, Phil Mc Donald , the Cartwright brothers and a lot of other good riders were the ones I raced against on the short tracks around here ." Jo nes . sponsored primarily by his mother, will also be receiving help from Viper Racing Frames in his short track efforts. He had Carl Patrick do work on his engine over the winter a nd will maintain t he bikes himself. At age 17, Scott P a r ker is the youngest rider ever to obtain Ex pert class ra nki ng . Through AMA rule changes, Parker was able to literall y blitz his way th rou gh the Novice ranks in the first races of t he season last year a nd t hen jum p rig ht into th e J u nio r class wit ho ut skipping a bea t. His strong su it last year was equi p ment which , in some cases, made up for his youthful exhu berence. His antics with a throttle produced a crash or win aura that s u r r o u n d e d the Michigan rider . Hi s rival s are quick to point out that Parker ma y just take too many chances. One thing in Parker's favor , whether it means anything or not, is that he too is from Flint , Mich iga n , and kee ping alive the string of Flint riders who have continued to trickle out of there. J a y Springsteen, Parker's hero as he grew up, is now a rival. "I'd like to beat Springer, I really would ," he says ca ndidly. "Knowing you are the youngest rider out there makes you feel a little different . I don't really feel any different , but you know that everyone has their eyes on you . " I'm out to do as well as I can this season. I think I've definitely got a good shot at Rookie of the Year , and if my luck holds out , a very good chance to make it into the top ten. "I would have to say that my strong point will be on the miles because I'm light and I believe tha t I'll have some very fast equipment. Going to the Na tionals ou t West will be a n experience because I've never been there before . I know that I' ll h ave to get used to the groove tracks, but wait until we ge t back East on t he cush ions like Lo uisville. Tha t's where I'm at home ." Pa rk er will ride under the Klot z/ Wi seco banner with machin ery ou t of Cummings Ha rley-Davidso n of Flint , Michigan . R ick T old o, who has backed Pa rk er throughout his ra cing career, will assist in the tuning chores along wit h Tex Peel, Mike Johnson and Bill Co llins. Californian W a yne Rainey has p ro ba b ly d one more traveling than a ny of the other roo kie candidates. He mad e swings east with Hank Sco tt and sponsor Shell Thuet in his Novice year and was back East last season traveling with Eddie Lawson . In each of his trips, Ra iney ro de as much as he could and watched and listened when he could n't . The experience will hel p . R a iney could be considered the underdog of the group if for no other reason than he will be a Yamaha rider adrift in a sea of Harley-Davidsons . Bu t that really doesn't concern hi m . She ll T'huet , ac knowledged as one of t h e best Ya maha tuner/b ui lders arou nd , will be sponsoring Ra iney a nd tha t adds up to a n ace in the hol e according to all his rivals . T he can ce nsus , it appe ars, is tha t if anyo ne can m ak e a Yam aha work, it is Ra in ey, a nd that he will be to ugh . "Shell (Thuet) h as to ld m e that this will be his last year of goi ng on the circu it ," says Ra iney. " Bu t I intend to do so good that he won't be able to retire. I think we have a good chance to get Rook ie of the Year. It is defini tely one of my goals, "The biggest prob lem . I figure. will be trying (0 make the bike hook up on some of the groove tracks. One thing that I would like to do is to make the National program in at lea st t hree mile Nationals to prove to everyone that the Yamaha isn 't really an underdog . I don't even think about the Ha rley riders, let them worry about themselves . Shell Raci ng Specialties will again sponsor Ra iney with is p arents lending an additional hand on his Ya m aha mo u nts . Shell T huett , J oh n Reed , along wit h Wes Ra iney will hand le the tuning chores. Charlie Roberts di d n't hesitate to sta rt bu rn ing up ' the tracks wh en he got his profession a l license. T he Ill inois rid er to p ped the na tion in 1977 as a Novice and then wres tle d his wa y to fift h in total poi nts last yea r wh ile riding a Yama ha . Roberts is a very positive thi nker a nd gives him self as good or better advantage than anyone going for RoY. "Fin a ncia lly, I am better off th an most in that I have a strong sponsorship program. The title will probably be (Continued to page 31)