Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Champion sh ip , so I guess I was the logica l cho ice at that tim e . Were you a privateer the yea r you rode you r Bultaco to second? , T he year I ro de m y Bultaco to secon d I had a littl e help on ent ries and a d eal on parts from Bay Area Bultaco and I go t a fa irly goo d deal on a bike fro m the Ame rican im porter. O th er than tha t it was ju st m yself and m y parents. I signed (with .Ira ljet ) in the middle of December and they still d idn't have the bi kes ready. Bernie was riding a reall y primitive prototype over in Eu rope bu t I was still riding m y Bultaco in the local tria ls. Interview Scott Head:.Keeping his feet.off foreign soil By Karel Kramer Photos by Rod Thornhill 20 1980 was agood yea rJo r Scott H ead . H e was 17 years old, on his second tou r oJ the national trials circuit , ranked second in t he nation and number one in California. 1981 should have been even more promisingJor th e young rider , but it was not to be. While he was enj oying anotherJeet up act ivity, street riding, he went oJ a clifJ J in a canyon near his home and sustain ed a brok en back . This, only weeks aJter signing aJ acto ry contract with th efledgling Ita ljet com pany to contest th e U.S. and California championships. . Scott 's rise to stardom on the trials scene surprised those who didn 't know him. He was one oj th e youngest rid ers ever to receive an Expert license Jor trials. H e rode only one season as a Novice, th en aboard a Bulta co he won Jive straig ht trials as an Int ermediate and m oved into th e Expert ranks early. AJter th ree months as an Expert he rode his Jirst national and Jinished 15th . Th e next yea r he was eig hth in th e nation . . . Scott had several bikes wh en he was young , sta rting with a H onda 50 at age seven. H e became an accomp lished rider on X R 75. H is story oj trials begins with the XR. How did you get into trials? trials bik e for a pretty che a p price so I go t that for m y 14th birthday. I had an XR75 Honda that I rode in th e fields next to m y house . My fri ends I still didn't know what trials was . I and I had a basic id ea of wha t tria ls would just go out and tra il ride it. was. It was pretty vague , mostly what Those friends of m y dad's came out to we saw in On Any Sunday 1 . Along ou r house and show ed me how trials really worked and from the n on I was with our motocross we would go out hooked on it. and ride over rocks and ride rea lly slow and that's ab out all . ,We d idn't know How did you get yo u r factory ride? Well, at th at tim e I had just placed anythi ng about sections or anything. I was gett ing pretty good on that second in the Un ited States Trials little bike a nd I wanted to start ra cing Championsh ip Seri es and I was so I talked to m y dad about it. He number on e in California . Italjet had wanted me to get int o something just sign ed Bernie Schreib er ' to ride different because he knew th e expense and d evelop a new tri als bike . I kn ew of motocross and it didn't reall y. tum Bernie a nd we would go riding quite him on any..He had some friends that often , we lived pretty close to each other. Italjet was looking for a rider to rode tri a ls and so we went checking out trials bikes. Suzuki was making a ride th eir new bik e in th e American When did you have your accident? T he day afte r New Yea r's, J anuary 2nd. I spe nt a co uple weeks in th e hos pital a nd then a month or so recovering at home. not able to do a nythi ng . As soo n as I. was able I started riding a nd t rying to ge t b ack in shape. I rode m y first tri al a nd sta rted bui ldi ng m yself back up . My co ntract with It aljet was just to ride in th e Californi a Ch am pionship and th e Am erican Championship . Well, tha t yea r I won th e Trial de Espana so I was planning a trip to Europe and I . was guaranteed help and su pport in Europe. I was ge tting back in shape and I guess the Italjet factory had differences with th eir Italian rider and he left t he fa cto ry. The story I got was th at all top riders in Italy were already committed to ,their contracts. It was really im portant for a n Italian company to ha ve a top Italian rider. The president flew over here and they offered me a' deal. _ Well how did you feel then? One minute you were a privateer and the next minute you were a factory rider riding in Europe. You 're not joking when you say one minute! When the president of Italjet flew over I still didn't know what was going on. I just went down to the American importer to meet the guy a nd way hi. The -next thing I kn ow t hey are saying , " Yea h , you ca n co me to Eu ro pe in 48 hours with me ," a nd he had a cont ract rig ht there. T hey had the AMA on th e phone to release me from m y American license so I cou ld get m y Italian license. I couldn't believe it. I was so exci ted I Are you going to ride all the world rounds? Definitely all th e ones in France , England and Belgium. All those that a re close to Italy a nd Canada and America of cou rse. I don't know abou t the Scandanavian rounds. It just depends; if I am doing good then for sure I'll go. but you have to just play it by ea r . So you have pretty good relations with the factory? There is nothing cutthroat aboutthose people; they treat me really good . I hav e dinner with th e president all th e time. If I have a problem I go to him and get it taken care of. , What is it !ike to ride in a foreign country? I know you had a teammate when you first got there but later in . the year it was just you. By th a t time I was a litte more corn fortabl e, I knew a little Italian by th en , enough to get by, but still you m iss so much not being flu ent in th e language. Even if you are with som e body you are still almost alone because you can't speak to them and they can't speak to you . I like be ing in a foreign country; I like be ing th e guy from another place. I don't know how to explain it. You ge t a lot of attention and people are always checking you out - "O h that guy's from America ." I don't know how it is in ot her > cou ntries , but in Italy th ey really like Am ericans and th ey like Am erica. So America ns get treated very well. How did you finish last year in rounds that you rode in Europe? I missed the first few roun ds in January and Februa ry. I d idn't get over th ere until April and I rod e th e remaining ro u nds and came in sixth in t he Championship for th e year. I rod e th e indoor trials and a ' few international tria ls. not world ch am p ionship trials . where a club was pu tting on the trials and riders from a ll over Europe come and ride . I rod e one worl d round . I rode France in Ma y and had a pretty b ad ride . I was reall y d issap pointe d , b ut I was sick and I h ad a groin injury whi ch was a result of m y back injury . T he muscles d idn't get he aled entirely before I started train in g real hard again . I was goi ng to stay and ride Austria a nd a few more of th e world rounds .'but ins tead I ca me hom e and tried to recover. I fou nd a sports medi cin e clinic in Sa n Francisco that treats th e Oak land R aid ers. I went t here and th ey put me on a recovery . and trai n ing program . T hey fixed m e up . So now it's all right. Now that Schreiber has left are you the main development rider or are you mainly the Italian and world round rider? I have always been involved in development and testing and I am su re that will continue . Even more so this year because I live very close to the factory and am very available for testing . In Europe aren 't you a really young rider? In the position I am , yes. In Europe you can't ride anything over a 125 until you are 18 and have a drivers license . When I was 18 I was second in th e r U.S. and there are kids 18 over there and they are still having to ride 125s. I think the reason is most of th e competition over there takes place on public roads. The competition will start in a town and you ride on the main roads from section to section. It's nec essary to have a driver's license. Do the injuries mentally slow you down? Do they keep you from trying things that you would try before because you've been injured and because other trials riders have been injured? _ Well, other people getting injured do esn 't really affect me . I know that my back inj ury devastated me mentally. I had to start all over again as far as trying hard obstacles a nd getting an agr essive mental attitude back. I think that happens to some ext ent to everybody wh en th ey have an injury. I am over it now. I am back to where I am aggressive again, and as long as I am healthy I am sure I will stay that way . Do you have any goals or projected plans for this yea r in Europe? W ell definitely I would like to win the It al ian Championship and I would like to get in th e top 15 in the world. Anything better would be fantastic , but I don't want to set m y goals too high and then be thoroughly disappointed. Since you are involved in development riding, do you see any major changes coming in your sport in the next few years? In th e next couple of years I think that we will just be improving upon what we alrea dy have . I am sure in years to come there will be som e revolutionary changes. I am sure you've heard about the SWM two-wheel drive. Who knows where that will go ? It could be the .next b ig change, but I don't know. That could ultimately be better for trials. The technical race may have hurt motocross because beginning riders don't know how to ride the new bikes or set one-up. Trials is a sport where you can still race a '78 or '79 and still be relatively competitive. Trials is th e sport wh er e th e bik e comes second to the rider. That is true of a ny sport but I think it is even more so in trials. It is not a race; th e gu y with the best equ ip ment is not going to have an enormous advantage. •

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