Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

feast and Barry ate two steaks to my one and he was also through before I was. Monday and Tuesday Barry spent arranging everything for a trip to Hong Kong and then on to Japan for a race at the Yamaha track, Sugo. From there he would head back to London, go over to Spain for a race, then back to London, then off to Malaysia for a race, and finally back to England for the Race of the South at Brands Hatch at the end of October. His phone bill must be something else. I would walk in the office and he would be on the phone speaking Spanish to someone in Spain. Then he would call Japan, and then call Michelin in France and speak French, then Italian to someone in Icaly, and on and on. This went on for two days and by the time it appeared lie had everything arranged we were off to Mallory Park for practice. We flew over George Harrison's mansion. We 'were going to drop in and see the fonner Beatie, but Barry called and George was in L.A., so we just flew over his place. It was big!. On the way back to Manor House from Mallory Park, the helicopter's fuel was getting low and Barry called an Air Force base to see if we could land and get some jet fuel. They said . no, but came back a little later and asked if it was an emergency. Barry· told them no, and we stopped at the place where he had taken his helicopter license test earlier in the week. I asked him where the reserve fuel switch was, and he told me there wasn't one! I then asked how much advance warning you got that the heli· copter was running out of fuel. He pointed at a little red light and told me that when the light came on it was accompanied by silencel . We landed with the gauge showing we had 20 gallons of fuel left, but when we filled up we found out we had had only II gallons. That was close enough for me. Thursday and part of Friday were spent on more arrangements for' his up·coming trip. In between all his phone calls, Barry was being inter· viewed by reporters that showed up at Manor House or called on the phone. We were going to take the helicopter to the Mallory Park race meeting, but the weather forecast on Friday didn't sound good.' Barry decided we had bett~r take the Rolls so we wouldn't get stuck at the track in case of bad weather. Going through London in the Rolls is a trip all by itself; all I did was hang. on and watch how close we came to everything .. pretty close, but not a scratch. We got through London and then went up the motorway at 120 mph. Friday evening at the Holiday Inn I ran into Martin Carne, who Used to work on my 250 Kawasaki road racer. Martin, Stewart Shenton, Derek Ballington (Kon's brother) and I -ulked till about midnight. Saturday was filled with practice at the track and then dinner at the motel. Someone was having a wedding party and Barry and Stephanie, Stevros and his beautiful girlfriend Linda, and I were invited to the party. While Barry and Stems .were busy signing autographs and talking, I was on the dance floor with both of the English beauties at the same time. With a little practice I think we could perfect our new back flip routine. We left the party fairly early so Barry and Stevros could get some sleep, but as we headed for the rooms I ran into Martin and Derek again and we hit the bar and talked until 1 a:m. Sunday morning we were to get up at 7 a.m., but I woke up at 5 and couldn't go back to sleep. Upon arriving at the track I decided I would try to catch up on.some Z's in the race truck, but "Three Toes" Singleton had returned from the U.S. and woke me up to show me how good his three·toed foot was doing. After checking it out, I told him at least he wouldn't have to worry about washing between the toes on that foot. The Race of the Year that day was without a doubt one of the best Toad races I've seen in years. Barry's works Yamaha 500 was in Japan, so he was aboard a Yamaha 750 which is about 85 pounds 'heavier than the works Suzuki 500s of Randy Mamola and Graeme Crosby, and the works Kawasaki 500 of Kork Ballington. Just before the stan of the race I headed out to Devil's Elbow, a 100 mph left hander, wh~re I thought I could get some good photos, but about 200 other people had the same idea and I thought I'd be shut out. Then I saw a scoring tower and 1 thought it wouldn't hurt to ask if I could climb up. The people in the tower knew me from the years I had raced' there and invited me up. It was a great place to watch the race from as'l could see the whole track. Barry got the lead on the start' and started to pull away, but at the end of the third lap 'he put his hand up going into the esses. He thought something had happened to the clutch and he was afraid something was going to seize up. Mamola took the lead for a few laps and then Barry, pressing on with no clutch, overtook him and led several laps. After that it was anyone's race as Ballington and Crosby took turns leading. On lap 52, Barry had retaken the lead with Ballington second and Crosby third. He held the lead until lap 57, when Crosby was able to move to the front because the front brakes on Barry's heavy 750 were fading due to not having a clutch so the engine could be used in braking. Barry was right behind Graeme at the fmish and if it had been the last lap for the, 500cc World Championship I think he would have tried to out·brake him., But with the fading front brakes and with the next month of important talks (with Yamaha) and races coming up, he decided to settle for a close second. I'm sure if Barry had retaken the lead the c,rowd might have hurt them· selves doing double back flips. It was a great race and after the checkered flag waved 1 had to check my heart to see if it was working properly. When I got back to the motorhome after the race, Barry was inside doing an interview, signing autographs and changing clothes all at the same time. Following a TV interview, we got back in the Rolls to split back to Manor House. On Tuesday, Barry and Stephanie and I flew down to the town where my in·laws live. We were told we could land on a cricket field, but be sure not' to land on the cricket wicket (what ever that is!). We finally found the cricket field and made a perfect landing. It was time to say goodbye to Barry, and thank him for the best time I had had in a long, long time. Wednesday, my sister· in· law took me to Maidstone to see Barry's brother·in·law Paul Smart at his shop. Paul and I raced against one another back in the early seventies. Many of you will probably remember him as one of the first riders you saw hang off a road racer and for his charging rides on Triumph TJ;idents. We enjoyed another great English dinner at Paul's house that evening. Following dinner, Paul took me back toJohn and Alma's (my in·laws) home and we talked until about 2 in the morning. Just a few hours later it was off to the airport and back to the good old U.S.A. As you can probably tell by what I've written, I had a great time and was treated like a king. Thanks, Barryl • 00 0') Gary Nixon gets a hug from Sheene's girffriend, Stephanie McLean, while Sheene's mechanics smile for the camera. Sheene tends to 8 rented helicopter, similar to his own, while his father waits. Not your typical race-golng van, this is Sheene's truck that trlInaportS his works Yamaha to the races. Care for a bottle of wine 7 Stephanie poMS In front of Just a portion of the wine Sheene keeps on hand. 29

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