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/126462
.• ; ~ t 0 00 (j) c.o C'I ..c:: u s-. ~ , r .. ~ ~ ~ I thought that, inside, I could do il. I went there to do my best and after the first couple of days my times were good and I said, "Shool. AU I have to do is hang in there. JUSt don't make mistakes and I can do il." As each day went, I'd go "Hey, man, I'm doing it'" I juSt tried to maintain and on the last couple of days, I put all the eggs in one basket and really tried hard. And I did OK. Especially tbe last day, tbe last. special test. The last test was the day I'll never forgel. It was exciting for myself and watching all the people - all the other Americans watching me - what I accomplished meant a lot to everybody, I think. That was exciting. "They (Husqvarna) told me there was no way they could match the offer Yamaha made, but to try and remember what they do have to offer. " 22 The other big moment, as it were, must have been the Baja 1000. It must have been quite a thing, being on the bike, what, eight or nine hours? I rode JUSt a few minutes under 10 hours. I started and reached the halfway point in JUSt under 10 hours. Jack gOt on the bike and rode JUSt under 10 hours to the finish. So it was nearly 20 hO\lrs. I put in a good ride and had only one flat tire. By the time I gOt the bike to Jack, it was nearly 45 minutes before .he next rifler came through. And by the time he finished it was over an hour, an hour and a half. What's it like to be on a bike for 10 hours? How do you keep your concentration? Keeping up your concentration is very hard. You almost have to tell yourself you can't start thinking about other things. You can't start slowing down. You have to keep on yourself, tell yourself to keep going. But I just got back from the Six Days prior to that, and I'd been doing a lot of riding. I rode a couple of desert races after the Six Days, so I felt in good shape going into the 1000. It's still hard: No matter how much you ride, riding 10 hours is 10 hours. The coune: was it rough compared to previous races? In some sections it was as rough as ever. Some sections were very fast, but it was pretty tough. It was difficult, typical Baja - nothing is easy down there. Like you say, after 10 hours, it makes it even tougher. Do you think SCORE will run Ensenada to La Paz again? I have a feeling that they will run to La Paz this year. I don't think they made any money on it, but I think running it to La Paz brought back t he old prestige type of evenl. From Ensenada to La Paz sounds big, makes the headlines big, and sounds good.) think they will do it again. I hope they do. Both Jack and J hope they do. We'd like to see il. Has Kenny Clark or anybody at Yamaha discussed why all of a sudden this year they got interested in SCORE and Six Days? Well, last year John Fero. Jim Fishback and Ron Ribolzi were involved in 'the Six Days, and John and Ron were in· volved in .. nduros. But it wasn't a fullon effort, it was more like a research and development program. They were doing testing, but they were going rac-