Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

"I was leanz'ng over, and I'd thz'nk, 'God, Kenny, I'm draggz"ng my .knee and everythzng!' and I thought I was leaned overfar enough. He looks at the tzre and goes, 'No, you've got a long way to go. '" The following day's IT went much better. Gaining a direct transfer to the National, he wound up a solid third. "I was amazed at myself. I didn't think I would do as well as I did. r thought I would make the main event, but I knew I would have to work for it. I couldn't believe it when I finished third. That was great." Did the 'big boys play rough? "Yeah, but I thought they would play a lot rougher. I thought there would be a lot more competition than there really was. I just cruised the whole way, didn't really push myself, I didn't get tired at aiL I just kept the same pace the whole way." Filice also made the National field at the Ascot IT. He was involved in a first lap crash that necessitated a change to another rear wheel, one without his choice of tire. He crashed again and fought back to finish eighth, "That's racing," he said after the event, Between the time this is written and the time it appears in print, the new Yamaha V-twins that are being prepared for Kidd and Filice will have made (or perhaps not made) their first appearance at .the Sacramento Mile. The bike's performance - and subsequent performances - will be a major factor in determining Filice's chance for Rookie of the Year honors, or a high finish in the point standings. "He (Scott Pearson) used to take me out and knock me offand make me get back up and chase hz"m. He taught me a lot. " With that big question still unanswered, we asked him to evaluate his chances for RoY honors. "It's going to be really hard to do that. We haven't run the motorcycle yet at all. It will be really hard to beat out Rich Arnaiz for Rookie of the Year, because he does really good on the miles and half miles, as well as the ITs and short tracks, like me. He's a good racer, and I think he'll give me the most trouble." As far as any ideas as to where he felt he might finish in the National standings, Filice said, "It's hard to say. I don't know how the new 750 is going to work out. I think I can do pretty well in the ITs and short tracks, but there's only four ITs; not very many. I'll be lucky if I get in the top 10. You really have to be doing good to reach that. I hope to win a National this year." Filice acknowledges that much of 1981 might be tied up with development of the Yamaha V-twin, which Mert Lawwill is under contract to do for Yamaha. "I think '82 and '8!! are going to be better years for me than this year. This year is going to be a struggle, I think, just to get through the races and it's going to be a lot of work for everybody. It might be a good year for us, you never know." Class C racers aren't known as being a group of large human beings, but Filice is smaller than most. Is it a disadvantage? "No. If anything, it gives me an advantage. I'm a pretty smart motorcycle racer. 1 can use my head with a lot of things, like coming off the comers on slippery tracks like Sacramento. I think I can do really well there. The throttle is where your traction is. You get to know how to use the throttle right and you win races that way." How about wrestling a 750 around some of the rougher half miles? "Ascot is one of the toughest race tracks to ride a 750, I think, and I rode their last regular half mile (last season) on Mm's Harley, and it didn't seem to be any problem. That was the first time I rode it there, and it was really easy. The' 750 is a lot easier to ride than any other motorcycle. The horsepower is there and I just let the motorcycle do the work." . Filice, whose racing career began on a mini bike and was nurtured on the amateur short tracks and ITs of northern California, lists riding, followed by more riding, as his main hobbies. He plays a little racquetball. likes skiing, and runs, exercises and swims to stay in shape. 'Just layoff and do nothing all week," he says, "and you're worth nothing the whole weekend." Asked which way his future path might take him - dirt track or road racing - Filice said, ''I'd like to stay on the dirt tracks but there just really isn't that much money in dirt track racing. Hopefully I'll be going to Europe in two or three years. That's where I really want to go. I want to go road racing. I enjOy it." Someone else from northern California has already done that. Does Filice consider himself to be Kenny Roberts' protege? "No. Everybody thinks that. In the future I might go ride the 500 and contend in the 500cc World Championship, but I'm not Kenny's protege. I ride for Kenny, but that's just like when they said Randy Mamola was his protege. That really was not true. He was just somebody that was involved with Yamaha behind Kenny, and that's how he looks at it now. I look up to Kenny and it's neat to be calledllis protege, but it really isn't that true. Because I don't really have a riding style like Kenny, I don't think." • 15

• Cover