Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The man who provides the power behind the SOOcc World Championship MX throne By Chris Myers If there were an official World Champion Mechanic title, it certainly would go to American Bill ~uchka, the mechanic who has looked after Graham Noyce's factory Hondas all season and must take equal credit for the young Briton's dramatic success this year. Noyce clinched the 500cc World Championship MX Series title at Namur, Belgium on August 6, becoming the youngest man ever to hold the title. His fire engine red machines ran sweet as a nut all season; his only retirement was due to a flat tire, and that happened in the second race at Namur - after the title was in the bag. That record, unequalled by any other rider this year, speaks volumes for Buchlta's skill with the machinery, but his contribution has been much more. Bill has provided Noyce with encouragement, advice and support. And at the beginning of the season, that's just what he needed. The 1978 season had been something of a disaster for Noyce. The early pan of the year, his firs,t with Honda, had been marred by retirements in the GPs, mainly due to slipped drive chains, and it was no secret that he was having a difficult relationship with his mechanic. American Brad Lackey was number one rider in the team, and with Buchka looking after his machines he swept on to his best performance ever; runner-up in the championship behind Finn Heilr.lr.i Milr.lr.ola. Lackey split with Honda at the end of '78 to join Kawasaki. "The Kawasaki was something of an unknown quantity," says Buchka, "and I felt my best opportunity for a World Championship was to stay with Honda, so Brad went his way a~d I went mine." Buchka knew of Noyce's reputation as a bit of a playboy, but he. felt that the World Championship potential was there. He didn't really make any preconditions before teaming up with Noyce, but he explained to the young Briton just how serious he was about the 1979 season. "I told Graham that our foremost goal was the World Championship," Buchka said. "I understood that, and I expected him to, too. I could see that he had a lot of determination and talent ... it just all had to be channeled in the right direction. " Buchka knew that Noyce had gone through mechanics like nobody's business, but he wasn't intimidated. "When we went out to California in December last year to test the new bikes, I said, 'We're gonoa work together and we're gonna win together. I'm gonoa make it a winning motorcycle and you're gonoa have to do the rest.' After a time he could see how serious I was." The change in Noyce's attitude this year has been remarkable. Most people who know him have commented on how much more mature he is. In the past, he's been known to get a little eX'cited and steamed up when. things aren't going his way, and there was a time that any racing other than wide flat out was incomprehensivc.to the young Noyce. Yet, in Holland recently, when his front wheel began to break up, he eased off on the gas and finished the race.. In Namur when teammate Malherbe went for broke and st.irted dicing with Noyce, he wisely let the Belgian past and aimed to gain just enough points to clinch the title. . "He just had to realize that there are 12 Grand Prix, and if a guy commits himself to being a GP .racer, he'd better behave like, one," comments Buchka. "I put in a lot of time on Graham's bikes in the workshop getting them so they can perform to maximum out there on the track. I mean I really do work hard, so he'd better think: 'Hey, this guy's really doing his best for mel I'd better get out there and win for him,' "Motivation is what it's all about; that's what I aim to provide, too. For the first time, Graham's got someone who's really on his side. I mean he was a bit confused when we teamed up. I don't want to seem like I'm being big-headed, but I opened his mind, I instilled self-confidence in him and I said, 'You'll get out of motocross only what you put in. No one else had told him that before. I mean if you only put in 50 percent, you'll only get 50 percent out." (Opposite page) Bill Buchka and Graham 'Noyce, the Anglo-American World Championship team. ITop) Karsmakers. Buchka and Ken Clark at the 73 Orlando Trans-AMA. (Above) Weinert and Buchka at a '75 Appalachia Lake National MX. (Below) Hannah and Buchka at the 76 Mid-Ohio 125cc USGP. (Bottom) Noyce at the 79 Carlsbad USGP. , Buchka's background covers road racing, motocross and ... the stagel "Yeah, I worked for. a time as stagehand electrician for the San Francisco Opera," he said, "but really, my principal course of study after school was to train in aircraft and powerplant mechanics," His motocross career started out in 1975 when he signed on as mechanic to wield the spanners for expatriate Dutchman Pierre Karsmakers in the American National Championships in '75. "Pierre won the AMA 500cc title that year on Yamaha," Bill says, "and I stayed on with Pierre in '74. We really won the 250cc title that year, but the AMA altered the rules; that excluded Pierre as a Dutchman." In'1975, Karsmakers joined Honda. Buchka opted to stay with Yamaha and team up with ''jammin' Jimmy" Weinen; together they won another '76, Buchka wrenched the Yamahas of and up-andcoming youngster named Bob Hannah, and the pair picked up the 125cc title. "At the end of the year I'd done what I wanted to do in American motocross, but my ultimate goal was the World Championship. I'd met my Swedish fiancee that year, and I decided to go to Sweden. I found myself a job in Stockholm working for Torsten I-Jallman on the Bengt Aberg four-stroke Yamaha motocross project." Buchka went to a few GPs, and before the end of '77 Honda offered him a job with their 500cc motocross team. As chief mechanic in the Honda team this year, Buchka's job is to look after Noyce's machinery, transport it to the race meetings and work with the factory in the development program. "That means I have to have a close relationship with Graham," says Bill, "It's a bit like a marriage, I guess. If something's going wrong he's gotta tell me, and if I can See he's doing something wrong I've gOlla tell him." This year began for Buchka back in December '78 with a 14-day test session in California. "We had seven or eight different bikes there that were test beds," he explained, "We had three different engines, transmissions and frames, and we were preparing for the final testing in Japan early the next year," . In February, Buchka and Noyce jetted to Japan for the final testing, minor changes and in a few days wound up with the right bike for Noyce. "We did a few pre-season Internationals for .training and testing and to see how the opposition was going. By the time we arrived in Austria for the. first GP, the bikes were 100 percent sorted out. _My theory is that you'd better have your equipment sorted out at the first GP or you'll be experimenting all season long, And that's no good," "I spend great deal of my time with Graham. We travel together, and it's good that he's involved in the machine preparation in Frankfurt at the Honda workshops, " Buchka takes a number one racer and a full complement of spares to each Grand Prix. "I take enough spares to repair or replace anything that goes wrong" he says. He prefers to be called a mechanic rather than a 'tuner' - the term favored by many Americans. "So many of those so-called tuners tend to tune their riders right out of the track with trick pistons and bits. I don't experiment in the GPs; I g{) with what I know, so I know that the bike will perform to maximum. When I take a' motorcycle to a GP, I know it's capable of finishing the race," In Buchka, ,Noyce has a mechanic and a friend who has his own interests at heart, but who isn't interested at all in any of the late night hi-jinks and celebrations that have given Noyce a reputation as a bit of a playboy in the past. And that. perhaps, is one major area where Buckha has scored over Graham's previous spannerm.en. At 28 years old, Buchka is too young to be a father figure, but he is someone that the new champ can look up to, someone who can give advice and guidance without sounding patronizing. And Buchka is proud as hell of the new champ; "I think he's done a fantastic job:' he says, "He's only 22 years old, yet he rode at Namur like a guy who's been riding the GPs for 15 yearsl He's a fantastic rider, and he's got a great future," • 27

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