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/126412
"One minute you're there and the next no body knows you. " regim en oj only motorcycles with out a dash oj lighthearted living to t em per th e balance. . Four years have passed since th e accident and Gary Jones is very comfortable in his life style as it stands now . It hurt him to give up th e challenge oj the Nationals and it still does, but he is busy making th e Ammex into a J irst class M X 'er. Th e pressure oj com petition is oJ and it shows. f, . Th e shop Jrom which th eJoneses conduct busin ess, bu ild and test race bik es, and conduct all th e other busin ess connected with Ammex , is situated in a small , indust rial par k. Th e walls are covered with banners and posters proclaiming great moment s in th e past history oj Gary J on es. There are even a Jew spo ts left Jor th e By Jack·Wright GaryJones' Jirst oJJiclal250cc M X National Championship title cam e in 1972 . It was actually his second successive 250cc titl e in that he had been the Top Amen'can in th eJ inal year oJ the Inter·A MA Series. In bot h yearsJones rode under contract to Yamaha . 197J sawJ ones on a Jactory H onda aJter a disp ut e with Yamaha and th e racing manager, Pet e Sch ick. H e again outdistanced th e competition Jor th e crown, and, j ust as quickly, went looking Jor another sponsor when Honda said th ey had no Op en class bik eJor him to cont est the Trans·A MA with. futu re. . Can·A m contracted J ones to ride Jo r 1974 and he reward ed them with his third It was Friday and th ere was a local MX at th e nearby Saddleback Park th e successive 250cc National CTOwn. T his time it looked lik e he was ready to stay put Jollowing day. It came as no surprise, th en, to Jind GaryJ ones working on a race and when 1975 rolled around he was still riding under th e Can ·Am banner. bike . Unfo rtunately, Jate stepped in to take a hand in th e proceedings at t he Daytona Th e talk, benc h racing, and everything connected wit h hanging around a racing Sup ercross in March 1975. During pra ctice a rider crashed in a tum ah ead ojJ ones shop on the day beJore a race continued th roU§:hout th e day and took up where it and the thrott le on the do wned bike stuck wide open. Wh en he rou nded the comer left oJJt heJollowin g morning at th e tra ck . Surp rising ly, at the track GaryJones was and pu t his Joot do wn, he J ound it enta ngle d in th e rear wheel oj t he bike. The just Gary fo nes on e m ore number on t he starting gate, on e mo re rider on t he result was that he suffered a split ankle socke t and 16 bone breaks. Th e injury did tra ck . not heal and some bones were re-broken t wice beJor e t he breaks kn itt ed properly. mess ing a round ." T u rning off th e Nin e months were spent in a cast with an additional two months oj th erapy needed ou .know, it doesn't look like lathe and walk ing back to th e b ikes he to strengthen t he leg m uscles beJore Gary was able to walk easily. It' is Jour years I'll be riding in the Nationcontinues, " I admit it. I'm no t like since the accident and Gary says tha t th ere are still tim es when th e ankle gives him als this year," said Gary Jones as some of th e gu ys wh o won 't. I'm not as intense pain . H e has learn ed to live with it. he got up from his milk crate in Theaccident , however, was aturning point . Although it marked the departure fas t as some twen ty-year-old kid . I' m smoother and faster in the com ers and oj Gary Jones Jrom a position oj power on th e National circuit, it op ened another th e Jones family's Walnut . Ca liforn ia . door to him - that oj what he proudly refers to today as "my bike. " I know the better lines , but I'm sure workshop. He slowly walk ed over to a It was during th is period oj healing in 1975 that Gary and hisJather Don pooled lathe to modify a part he had been not faste r. their money and bought out Cooper Motorcycles, renaming the company Ammex. working on . " I m ight get my license " W h en I won my three 250cc later on , but I don't have it now ." National Championships in 1972 , '73 , One other th ing happened to GaryJones whil e he was healing . heJound out that th ere were a lot oj other th ings in life besid es racing . It has been said that Jor every . Stated as a fact rather tha n a regret, and '74 I was there at the rig ht time kid who owes all his success to his father, th ere are just as many or more who have he raises his voice to be heard over th e and it was my tu rn ," Jones recalled. I fa iled because oj overbearing parental in trusion. Don Jones could Jail into both was only 19, 20 , 21 . Look at Bob Hanclatter of the machine. " I can't com categories. Although he pushed ond prodded Gary into becoming th e champion he pete. You have to train to be able to nah . he's basically the same age and the guy's hotl " The seriousness in his was, many would say that he may also have burned out his son with a Spartan. compete and I'm ha ving too much fun » Y 12 .