Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

mean, I'm not justifying it because we don't get paid any money, I'm justifying it because it says here one thing and they're telling me something else, Plus, if they would have told me they didn't make no. money at the race:"", 'We didn't make no money at the race, We're really sorry, Can we give you some passes or can we wash your car for you or wash your leathers, or whatever,' OK, I'm going to race the race and don't worry about it, but no, it was, 'Hey, if you don't like it go away.' That made me mad, so that's what. did, Of course, the press ate it up because no one's ever done that and • don't know what the outcome's gonna be, whether the FIM's going to try to do something to me, which they can't because. never did anything, I just gave the trophies to somebody." ". was really glad to get out of Spain, • went right to the airport and got on a jet out of there because they're so stupid they might of done something crazy, • believe that the FIM is so stupid that they might have done something to me." , A year ago at this time you were talking about your probleins with push staning your bike - how are you adapting this year? "The bike starts better this year. It's a funny thing. Lectron is the sponsor, and we have a problem getting the Lect rons to work on the 500 beca use of the limited time, The Lenrons start right up on the bike, except the needle and power jet ratio is not right for the 500, and it's the only motorcycle we can't get the things to work on. ". told the Japanese, and they knew. They had been working with them; they wanted to run them also, because it's more ho~power, and it does start right off the bat - it takes off, Last year with the Mikuni, I would have to push it five steps after the initial kick of the engine before it would run. And this year, they have a Mikuni that looks like a Lectron almost, and it starts right up. They did some homework on the carburetion, and it's actually helped the power, brings it on a lot lower. They have a p'ower jet 'Lectron·Mikuni' is what they basically have, and now Sparky and Lectron have to go back to work and fix it so it's better. "Last year, starting the bike I had a problem, but when I went back over, • found out how to start it. Knobby (Clark) showed me, the mechanic, he starts it right upl 'Well,' I said, 'How do you start it?' And he says, 'You got to turn the throttle about a quarter of a turn before you start pushing it. I said, 'Why didn't you tell me that before?' Every bike that I ever rode, you have to bump the thing off, and you have to ease the throttle on it 'til it starts to go. If you give it too muc.h throttle it won't start; it just won't. But this one you have to turn a quarter of a throttle and leave it there and don't move it and you can run and then when I got back to Europe - about four steps it would go bop· bop· bop, and off I'd go. ". never had any problem after that. But before, I'd run like hell, and I jump on the bike, and I'd start easing the throttle. By then I can hear all these Suzukis firing up and I'm trying to hear my engine. The only way I know it starts is the tachometer goes like that .. , and then I take off. But finally Knobby had to show me how. "And now if I stop the hike - you do a warm up lap and then you shut the engines off - if I don't let the mechanic shut the engine off, it won't start. In Italy, I shut the engine off myself and couldn't get it started. But if they sit there for a minute, and they shut the thing off - it will start! But if I shut the thing off - I can do just like they do - and if I shut it off, it takes me 10 feet farther to get it startedl don't understand it, you know, but always let them shut it off. "After Italy .. , Baldwin is having a little bit of trouble starting because it's a little different when you jump on the bike, the Suzukis have rotary valves so they start a little quicker. Hartog is great, you know, he's just a big guy, and he'll JUSt pick the motorcycle up and spin the tire if he wan~ to. So he's always a hundred yards ahead of everybody else. When they drop the flag - he's gone. Well, when his bike starts up, you can't hear nothing. Then Ferrari's bike starts up because he's an animal, too, and then there's poor Barry Sheene who can hardly push it - he never gets off the line good. And I'm trying to hear my engine to see which way the throttle's got to go to get the thing startedl But now, with the new set up, it seems to work out really good. ". only had trouble starting it one time. Just as • got it started, and I leaped on it, I was going this way and a guy hit me, and then I was going that way. You know, it's kind of dangerous starting out. If you don't start you're going to get run over because they're doing 50mph behind ),ou, and they ain't gonna turn - no road racer at 50mph - it don't work. Boy, if that thing don't start, I'm throwing it on the road and running off the track, because I'm not going to gel' run over - sorryl I've thought about it a lot - if that thing don't start, I'm throwing it away." Considering what happened to Herron and Ferrari, how do you think Baldwin will do? ". think Baldwin has a contract problem with getting a good Suzuki because ... I don't mean that with the contract he has in America, but a ppa rently the new Suzuki bikes tha t they sold are better than the factory's, That's what the factory guys say, so, of course, the other guys say that's not right - and it isn't. ". think if Baldwin gets on a factory bike, he's going to be racing with Ferrari, and I don't think they'll let Mike beat Ferrari, • think he has a very good chance of getting one, but he has a contract with a guy - some Yamaha importer, I think - in Belgium who has a Suzuki that he races, So he just loves racing, and Yamaha hasn't made a 500 for sale yet, so he just bought a Suzuki_ And Mike runs a 750 - a 250 which I guess Randy Mamola is going to ride now I don't know. "Mike will probably give it back to Suzuki before I get back there, but see, Mike's not going to be at Yugoslavia because he has a commitment here with Kawasaki and he's not going to be able to break any commitments here, so right there he's out of Yugoslavia. He's out of the points - there is no hope for Mike getting into the points, but he could be a heck of a back-up for Ferrari. "If he runs behind Ferrari, that means I've got to beat Ferrari. The only thing is bad about that back· up stuff is Ferrari's got to beat me - the back up stuff don't work unless Ferrari can beat me. That's what happened last year, well, everyone was backing Barry up - he had four riders that had to ride behind him. But if I'm leading and he's running second, those four riders aren't doing him any good at all. So that's the biggest problem with having a blocker; you've got to, have a guy that can win the race and then you can buy a blocker. But Ferrari's not ready to win the race yet because he doesn't have enough experience. " What is Barry Sheene going to do? "I expect Sheene to retire shortly because he's said a lot of things, and he's done a lot of things, and they've not all panned out - none of it has. Barry Sheene deserves everything he's got; he's a very good racer, He's probably one of the top three in the world right now, but Barry Sheene isn't number one any more. And J don't think Barry Sheene's capable of winning races anymore. He's capable of winning races, but he's not capable of winning three of them, or four of them. He's capable of winning one where the track happens to suit him, where everything is just working good that day. You have riders like that. "Wil (Hartog) is more consistent than Barry is - consistently fast he's not more consistent. Wil was running second to me in Italy and threw it down the road when he had second place sewn up. I was playing with him, and I just let him know • had three seconds on him and I kept three seconds on him. He felt he was catching up and he threw it down the road. "Barry would never have done that; Barry ran fourth because he said the bike was sliding around. Well, he runs fourth, he's out of points because the next race he threw it away and hurt his elbow, and then he pulled in from the race," There haa been a lot of talk here about you going into car racing; what about that? "Well, car racing is something that I'd have to want to do. And if I want'to do it, it would only be because I'm not making enough money in motorcycle racing, I think that motorcycle racers should make more money than a guy , sitting in an automobile. I think it's much harder to be a motorcycle racer than it is to be a car racer. I'm not saying that it takes more talent or that it takes more skill, but I think ifs a lot more hazardous; I think it's a lot more work, "It's good to come in the pits in your car, and you sit in it, and they plug this little computer in it, and the computer reads out what is wrong with the car, You know, it's pretty easy. All you have to do is steer it and make sure the thing don't slide around. I'm not saying that it's easy - it takes a lot of talent - but car racing is something that I'd have to do after I'm done with motorcycle racing. "When I feel that I'm too old to be a winner at motorcycle racing, I would go into car racing only because I want to. Not because I need the money or. , . it would have to be something tha't I would just want to do as a hobby, Otherwise, I would have to force myself to make a living out of it, and I wouldn't want to do that, I have nothing inside me right now that says, 'I just can't wait to get inside a car,' ,·w "I spent a lot of time with Mario (Andretti) and the car people lately, but the thing that bothers me about cars right now :..- and it's the same thing that bothered me about racing in Europe three years ago - I couldn't have done it because I can't settle for second. I couldn't three years ago, and I can't now. But to see Mario in Long' Beach get off the line sixth and follow everybody around, ain't my way of racing. I'd just as soon run into somebody and run into the fence if I got to get sixth place, That's the way I feel right now. Cars - that turned me off - watching Long Beach turned me off because I couldn't sit around in sixth pake. Inability to pass - you had no room - the tires were so wide - they're like little slot cars, and I can't sit around in second place, fourth place. "Right now in a car. ' ,I don't like to think about having to come in from the car and saying, 'Well, everything was good and I was great,' and them saying, 'Well, how come you didn't win?,' and I say, 'Well, you can't pass.' Now I can pass anybody I want. "You know at Assen last year in the 250cc race the bike didn't start, and it was kind of raining. I passed 26 guys on the first lap because the bike didn't start. I was way back, and four laps later I was in the lead. You can't do that in an automobile, You can do it with a motorcycle. That's why I'd have to wait 'til I'm done in motorcycles and car racing is something I just wanted to do because I just wanted to do it to see what it's like." What have you heard about the Honda GP bike? "People have claimed they've seen it. This is the rumor I get: People have claimed in Amsterdam, because they're very close with Takazumi Katayama, that they sent a bike to Takazumi to make sure that it fit him. He lives in Amsterdam, you know. They got him on it and made sure the tank was good and this was good, and I find that hard to believe, It's something so secret that they would send a mock· up to Amsterdam for someone to sit on? It seems to me it'd be a lot easier to fly Takazumi over there to sit on the motorcycle at the factory where they can do something about it, anyway. "People are believing that story, that they've seen it, and what they've seen is a square four with six valves per cylinder and oval pistons, They couldn't get the valve area if they had round pistons so they had to scratch them. And I'm thinking that ain't (Continued to page '0) 25

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