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/126459
i ~ E 0 00 - " If I can win it one time, I'll be happy" 0') ~ Il') ..c u J.< ~ ~ By Len Weed What made Brad Lackey give the reds the blues? The Kawasakz· greens. That's how the ads announced the switch of America's premiere Grand Prix motocross n·der late zn 1978. The move startled some. Ridz·ng for Honda,. Lackey had finished second in the world zn 1978, the fifth consecutz"ve season that he had upped his annual pladng. He seemed poised on the bnnk ofthe 500cc. World Championshzp. But Brad chose to sever his two-year relatz·onship wz·th Honda and rejoin the factory he'd won a 500cc National Championshzp for zn 1972. Many figured that he couldn't take an untested GP bz·ke - especially one with a brand new szngle-shock suspension system and expect to be an instant wznner. But Brad was pleased with his n·des on the GP prototypes. By the tz"me he left for Europe in early March last year, after two months ofstrenuous physical training, he was fully conJz·dent he could win the World Championshzp, fi·rst year on an untested bike or not. The told-you-so-ers had a fi·eld day after his initial outing In pre-season z·nternatz·onal competition. The bike had unexpected problems. Brad and his mechanic, Steve Stasiefskz~ immediately flew to California and then on to Japan for some quick sortz·ng out. Doomsaying ran rampant back in Europe - until the fi·rst and only A men·can ever to wz·n a 500cc Grand Prix returned to the contz·nent and proceeded to wz·n three of the first six motos, forging to the head ofthe poz·nts table. Then his fortunes turned. Mechanz·cal probblems and afew miscues left him third best z·n a, tzght (four-point) ,battle for second place behz·nd the new World Champion, Graham Noyce. Despite six DNFs, Lackey led all n·ders in moto victon·es wz·th six. Fourth place wasn't what Brad had z·n mind 18 to close out ,the decade~ .He.!uld s~q,.Tted racz~ng here before the start of the Seventz"es, before there was any AMA professional schedule. When Brad Lackey joined the natz"onal drcuit zn 1970 at age 17 he rode with a rubber peace dove taped to his bars. His antz·cs on a CZ earned hz·m a 1971 z·nvitatz"on to visz·t the factory zn Czechoslovakia. There he spent three months lz"vz·ng z·n a shack wz·th no electn·dty, uszng a nearby stream as combz·natz"on kitchen sz·nk and bathhouse. But the tnp had its bnght side - six starts z·n 2.50cc Grand Prix events. Afterjoinzng Kawasakz· durz·ng the '72 campaz"gn he returned to Europe in 1973, paz·d his mechanic out of his own pocket, and fi·nished 13th in 500cc raczng. Dropped by Kawasakz~ he prepared to J1nVateer untz"l Husqvama signed him. He finished 10th, sixth and fifth zn successive years, sconng his fi·rst GP moto wz·n at Luxembourgzn 1975. Then, after pladng as top Amen"can in the 1976 Trans-AMA sen·es, he szgned with Honda. He fi·nished fourth in 1977 and scored his fi·rst Grand Prix overall vz·ctory. He won two more GPs in 1978, moved up to second and back to Kawasaki. Today, Brad resz·des on a hilly 20-acre ranch near Concord, California that z·neludes his own European-styled practz"ce track z·n the back yard. With him are his wife, Lon~ threeyear-old daughter Lza, his parents, Cotton and Candy (the cats), Peyote, Tramp and Sz·deways McMufft"ns (the dogs), Misty (the horse) and 20 Mustangs. At 26, with 7% years of European radng behind him, he no longer seems partly leaky or even Partly, a tag Jim Pomeroy hung on hz"m dun·ng the "good old days. " "Totally" is a more appropnate tag for the racer who himselfnz·cknames anything that moves, as he prepares for what he hopes will be a successful assault on the 1980 500cc World Champz·onshzp title chase. . ... . .......