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/126597
Eddiethe gas Lawson--------Steady on By Dale Brown Photos by Charles Morey and Brown 1981 was a very good year for Eddie Lawson. In an o therwise blea k season for Kawasaki's professional racing efforts in the U.S., Lawson walked away with two National titles as he garnered the Superbike a nd Lightweight Expert crowns; .the latter for the second year . In a row. Indeed , Lawson has literally exp loded onto th e U.S. road racing scen e after becoming a fu ll -lime as p ha lt warrior lWO 20 years ago . T hree titl es a nd one runner-u p finish in th ose two years tel l much about h is talent. Four years ago, as a Rook ie Expert on the then-Camel Pro Series, La wson was a quiet, shy, well-mannered kid who said litt le excep t to make the Natio na l field in the firs t two events he tried and then went on to be the second highest Roo kie in the point standings and wi n the AMA 's Dirt Track Roo kie of the Yea r honors. Pr io r to 1979 La wson 's road raci ng had been li m ited to winni n g the 197i Da yto na Novice race and so uthern California C l u b events. Midway through the '79 season Eddie had progressed to w here h e was a bou I the on ly rider who co ul d keep you ng sensation Freddie Spencer in sight in 250cc Lightweight Expert events. La wson 's first tas te of a Su perb ike ride carne in 1978 whe n he rode the Reg Prid mor e/ Vetter Kawasa ki in a Ca lifornia cl ub event , A year a nd a ha lf lat er, Ka wa saki signe d Law son a nd Dav e Alda na to ri de th e facto ry's KZIOOO S uper bi kes. T he rest, as th ey say, is hi sto ry. La wso n finished seco nd to two -ti me Su pe r bi ke cham p Wes Co lley. bUI protes ts, bike-swi tching a nd a su bseq uent maze o f AMA hear in gs af ter th e final ro und left Lawson still in seco nd a nd wi th a suspen ded fin e fro m the AMA . He did win th e Li ght weight Expert ti tle tha t yea r, a nd h it stride in '8 1, winn in g four o f eig ht Super bi ke ro u nds ro un ds a nd seven of eigh t Li gh tweigh t Expert events to take bo th tit les. Lawson still ten ds to be somew hat qu iet. Bu t the signs of success are the re. H e owns a condominum ho me i n Upla nd, CA . and his newest set of whee ls is a fi re-engi ne red Po rsch e T urbo Ca rrera. O ne of his favori te p lay toys is a Ka wa sa ki 550 J et Ski. He got the firs t one ever brought into th e United States. The official Cycle News parking lot sel do m sees a Po rsch e Turbo Carerra in its midst. Bu t there was one there recent ly - fire-engi ne red - as we and Lawson talked... " W e got Rob Mui zy, and he reall y turned the program around." What made the difference in 1981? We got Rob Muzzy, an d he reall y turned the whole program around. You didn't do anything as far as changing your riding style? I j ust kept with it. The more I ride. th e better I feel. Wh en I have a long layoff I don't seem to pick it up righ t away. It takes me a while, and then the end of the season is when I start riding the best because I've been riding a lot . That helped and th e more I ride the faster I feel that I can go . Was there ever any problem when you were riding two totally different classes with the 250cc and the Superbike? Was it a problem to ~t off the KR.250 and on to the Superbike? Not at all , because the bikes were so different. One is a lightweight twostroke and one is a big four-stroke. On the 250cc you've got those skinny little handlebars and this skinny little seat and tank . You just sit on it and it doesn't feel anything like the Superbike, so once you sit on it you are adapted to it . If they were closer - like jum ping off my Superb ike th is year and on to my 500cc - it might be somewhat difficult because the y are closer . But there was so much difference in the 250cc and the Superb ike that it was easy. You said that you got better at the end of the season. Do you think the Laguna and Seattle races were your best races of the year? Yes. We 'd done some testing before tha t and we rented the rac e tracks. I just rode so much tha t it helped my confidence and we got the bikes dialed in right . Those were my two best races and I wanted to go for it at Daytona too , but there was no way that we could do that with the championship at stake. Now you have had a fairly long layoff, since the end of October, how are you going to go about ~tting a quick start in '82? I'm going to try to do as much riding as I can and try to do qu ite a bit of testing. About a month ago I fell off my short tracker and hurt my shoulder so I haven't been doing much riding lat ely. I want to ride. The best thing that you can do is to just get out there and doi!. Daytona is goingto be a pretty fearsome race. Lucchinelli will be there on a big Honda, along with Mike Baldwin, Freddie Spencer and of course, Kenny Roberts. They are going to be really tough , but I've got the equipment. I'm sure the bike is capable of winn ing that race. I've just got to get out there and ride and get used to it. I've never been on it before, but I rode it down the street the other day and it scared me to death - it went so fast I couldn't believe it . I've got competitive equipment so I've just got to get out there and ride real hard. If I'm consistent and I don't do anything real dumb , or fall off, we are going to be right there at the end. We can win this race. I'm confident of that . Don't you think Daytona might be a little bit fast of a track for a 500cc? Running the 500s unrestricted against the 750s won't be any problem. My bike is capable of running the speeds that it has to. The four -strokes will be good, but I don 't know if they will be right there at the end of 200 miles . I they do stay together , the riders ar going to get fatigued riding them, bu twist them that hard for that long an I don't think they'll last . They may g 150 miles or a little more, but 1 don' think that they are going to be righ there at the very end.