Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

winning a lot locally. At th at time I was winn in g, th en the Coliseum ca me up a n d that wa s m y first stadi u m a n d I ended u p ge tt ing seven th pl ace o verall a n d firs t priva tee r. That, and wi n n ing lo call y, h elped m e towards the H onda ri de, You made the switch from TT to motocross. Did yo u think it would be as easy as it was for Steve Wise to make the swi tch from motocross back toTT? I really didn't think a bout it too much. Ro ad raci ng is a di fferent story. I wasn't sure how h e was going to do in that. He d id good at the Superbikers but he rode the pavem ent th ere a litt le differently from the way you ride a road race bike. I never real ly thought about, "if h e coul d d o it," u nt il after he did it and I knew it cou ld be done . Do yo u think yo u could sw itch back now? Do yo u think yo u co uld go ride TT and do well? I thi nk I can do pretty we ll in i t. I wouldn 't m in d the TTs, but road racing a nd th e mi les are 10 0 fast. Yo u get o ff on tha t and you get serious ly hurt, I'm not into th e h igh speed stuff. TTs a re somethi ng th at 'd be fun . I' d like doing something lik e that. You 're a case where yo u made Expert in six months, What class did yo u ride in the TTs before yo u switched to motocross? I had been ridi n g the AMA District 37 TTs for a co uple of years a nd the farthes t I got was Amateur, but I adapted to motocross pretty quick. You raced the Maico sq ua re barrel, yo u must have been racing a long time. I think I started around ' 73. By ' 74 yo u were an Expert, and then it wasn't until 1980 that yo u got a factory ride. You'd been fast al1 that time. What do yo u think it was that made the difference. Afte r al1 that time racing Expert, instead of burning out, yo u got yo u r seco n d wind and sta rted going even faster, I th in k it was going to Florida when I went wi th Ca n-Am. I went th ere and rode, I cou ld n 't bel ieve how rough those tr ack s were, a nd th enI got in a lot better shape when I went there an d when I ca me back I j ust h ad i t in m y m ind , a n d I felt so co n fiden t, that no o ne co u ld beat m e lo call y a n d th at's pretty much how it was. I wa s winning a lot. It 's just a big co n fidence thing , a nd I was in better sha pe, You were riding fast for you, at the time you got your ride with Honda and then in the past two yea rs you were the only rider who could really keep Hannah and Howerton in sight. What is it that makes yo u faster after you become a factory rider? Is it better training, better motorcycles or just experiences You ge l a lot of experience thro ugh the years. I thin k i t could be a lot of thi ngs. You got the good bikes, yo u got th e best bik es. You 're flyi ng to the ra ces. That m akes it easy on yo u . T he priva teer s have to d ri ve a n d th en th at 's less training for them . The factory ri de rs, th ey ca n fly and they have plenty o f time fo r training, so I th i n k that was a combination o f every th in g that helped. Does it ever bother your confidence when you feel Iike you're in shape and you feel like yo u r bike is good and you feel like you're riding wide open and there's someone in front of you you just can't catch? Does that bother you or do you think well, by the end of the season I'll have him. I don 't know . It depends who it is, I gu ess. Like Hannah a n d Howerton and those g u ys.. .l know those guys have a 101 o f yea rs behind th em a n d I wa sn 't really ex pecti n g to beat th em last yea r. I came close and I beat them a moto or so wh ich was good but I wasn 't re ally ex pecti n g to beat them since I'd n ever done i t before. T h is yea r I'm beating th em a lo t m ore. I h av e a 101 m ore co nfide nce a n d I kn o w I ca n beat th em no w , so I think now if th at ha ppen ed I'd ge t d epressed . Like la st yea r I was still lea rnin g a lo t. Ac tua lly it was m y first year in the Na tio nal s because the year before I got h urt alter th e first couple of races a n d I d idn' t get to race. I ended u p fin ishing o n ly the firs t two races so I sat o ut the whol e year. Last year was actua lly my first yea r o f ri ding them all so I was still lea rn in g the tracks. You said you got hurt yo u r first year, but yo u really don't get hurt a lot like so m e of the other riders do. Do yo u attribute that to any special thing or are yo u just careful? Everyone says I'm a smooth rider and I don't get reall y wi ld like a lot o f guys you see. I j ust don 't li ke getting hurt beca use I have been hurt a lot. An kle problems a n d I've had a kn ee injury, a broken wrist and a dis located shoulder. I've been hurt a lot a n d I tr ied to co me ba ck fast and when I did I wasn't 100% hea led a nd th en I' d be babyin g th at injury a nd somet imes hurt it agai n. But the last couple of yea rs I haven't bee n hurt and I feel really strong and i t makes a d iffer en ce w h en yo u're healthy. Some other riders have said well, this other racer got married but it may sp eed him up or it doesn't seem to bother him. How do yo u think getting married has affected yo u r racing? We ll, before I got married, L isa a n d I had lived together al1 d uri ng la st year, p retty m uch. W hen we got marr ied it was really no differen t. Definitely it does n't hurt m e, i t kind of h elps m e out. She's there to cook m e a good meal a nd ta ke care of some b usiness that I don't ha ve to worry about when I ca n be out training or rid in g or whatever, so it definitely doesn' t hurt. What difference do yo u think the heavy bikes have made this year with the heavier weight limit? I don't real1y no tice the difference. The bikes stil1 feel light so I don't really notice the d ifferen ce in the weight. I thi n k it 's go od tha t it gives the priva teer a n eq ua l ch a nce no w, it m a kes fo r bett er raci ng bu t th e lighter the bike the easier it is to throw a ro u n d . My bike still feels light so I don 't hav e a ny co m p la ints a bo u t th at. You can still remember what it was like to be a privateer? Yeah, Can -Arn s wer e kind of h eavy. I d on 't kn ow, for so me reason I never thought a bo u t the weight tha t much a nd i t seemed like every bike I'd get on seemed to be a little li ghter so it's always an improvement. This year, it did get hea vi er b ut I don' t feel it. Have you been a factory rider long enough thata new works bike doesn't feel different to you; have yo u completely adjusted to having a bike that light and that fast? It 's d ifferent, because p roduct io n bik es, when we practice on them, we just use th em th e way th ey a re, just for a bike to rid e. But I al wa ys lo ok for wa rd to ge tti ng back on m y good bik e because it's set u p th e way I want it, p erf ect. My prod u ction bikes , they're a n exce l1en t bik e but there a re a lot o f thin gs yo u ca n do to m ake it bett er bu t we don 't d o it. It d oes the job, but it m akes it better when yo u get o n yo u r good bike. It gets yo u more pumped, I guess. Last year you were considered a top three runner, but this year you're leading the Supercross Series. You've obviously put something together this year... I didn 't use the o ff season as a vacation this yea r. J ohnny O 'M ara stayed wi th m e for the past yea r a n d in the o ff season we decided to be strong for th e beginning of th e races, be stronger than everyone else. We kept o n tra ining whil e ever yone else was kick ing back . Tra in in g together, we 'd p us h each o ther a n d it m ade i t better. So w hen ra ce time ca me we wer e rea dy. When Anaheim ca me we were both st ro ng. It paid off because L won a n d J ohnny got thi rd, h e was r ight in th ere. A lot o f these guys are sti l1 getting ti red because they're not in top physical shape w here they're suppoed to be, because o f the ti m e they ta ke off. They're no t there yet a n d we wer e at the begi nning of the year. What do yo u think yo u r ch a nces are for th e Na tio nal ch a m p io ns h ip this yea r? I think I have a great chance of winning it . O u r bikes a re probably the best bi ke out right now and righ t now there are a lo t o f guys h u rt so I think the mai n competi tion will be Broc and Reid . They' re the o n ly ones that a re hea lthy and they' l1 be the roughest co m petition rig ht n o w. I thi n k th e Ho nda is better tha n th e Ya ma ha right now, a li ttl e bi t beuer, so it' ll be to m y adva ntage. I feel real con fide n t so I thi nk we have a really good cha nce of win ni ng. I h o pe I ca n get a co uple of cham pionships. I' ll be sat isfied wi th o ne, but if I can get two o f them that would be even be tte r. Tha t'd be g reat beca use this year will be the en d o f my con tract so it' ll make it better for me. We rea l1y doubt that yo u need to worry about yo u r contract. You're pretty much Honda' s top rider right now, in the 2505 a t least. Yeah, we ll, Da rr ell 's going good b u t he's a pret ty wild guy too. H e goes fast at the begi n ning o f the year and then gets hurt. It 's bee n like that fo r the last couple of years. I don 't know how h e's goi n g to be when he gets back but he's going to miss a couple of races I'm sure. That'll put him o ut of it. It seems li ke th e factory bikes are all fai rly cl ose. You sa y the Hondas are the best , but how much better would it reall y be than the other fa ctory bikes? I think the Hondas and the Suzukis are pretty close. T hey both seem to ha ndle rea lly good a nd the power is rea lly good in both o f them . The Yamahas, they seem to be p re tty fast, bUI, watching other ri der s, I d on 't think th ey handl e as good. In the Supercross races we see eight, 10, 12 riders that can finish up near the front, they can run with the really fast guys. And then you get to the outdoor Nationals and it alwavs seems to fade down to four or five maximum. You guys are all training, you all seem to be in shape. A lot of the ' top runners in the field are on factory bikes. What is it that makes the difference between the guys that are pretty fast and the guys that are really fast...like you and Hannah and Howerton last year. Is it bike or training or attitude or a little bit of all three? I t hink you add a little bit of everything. Like Kent H o werto n a nd Bo b, those guys have a few champions hi ps undernea th thei r belt so it' s lik e they ha ve to wi n, yo u know. They h a ve to wi n 10 kee p th eir champions h ips or ge t it back or wha teve r, Other g uys li ke me are working u p to ge t th e firs t o ne so th ey're a lways strivin g for that fir st cha m p io n shi p or fir st overa ll win . So I g uess they try that much harder to wi n. Barnett, i t seems lik e he is like a n animal , h e' s go t to w in, h e just has to. They have a championship and they have-to keep that ch a m pions h ip. Fo r so mebody who d oesn 't hav e a cha m p io n shi p, th ey're a lways tryin g but they ' re n ot as hungry as the guy who ha s to keep his cha m p io nshi p o r ge t their champi onship back. Is it partially that not enough of them believe in themselves, that they can actually win a championship? That's par t of it too. I think once you ha ve p laced wel1a few tim es, been up there racing with the guys th en yo u know. yo u ca n do it. T hen yo u sta r t building confiden ce. You beat those guys maybe o nce o r twi ce a nd yo u think, "I've done it once o r twice t here's no reas on w hy I ca n ' t d o it again." You g o out th ere a nd tr ain a littl e ha rd er the nex t time a nd rid e a li ttl e bi t more a n d try to bea t those g uys. If you weren 't a factory rider now do yo u think yo u'd still be trying? If I started going down hill enough to wher e I lost m y ri de, I wou ld get o u t of it a n d start doi ng so methi ng else. lf I' m going bad enough to lose my ride then a p parently I'm not in to it l ik e I was. It 'd be harder for me to get ba ck on top. When you went to the Coliseum and the Florida series, was that to try to get a factory r ide? Did you have th os e kind of goals in mind? Yes, I always wa nted to ge t a fac tory rid e a n d ri de works bikes a n d fly to th e races an d w ha tever. But if I d id n't h a ve it righ t no w I'd be out there righ t n o w wor ki ng my bu tt off try ing to ge t i t. It all comes down to th e fact that the really fast guys are the ones that have the drive to be good a n d the ones that have the discipline to do it. What kind of goals have yo u set for yo u rsel f this year? To ge t a cham p ionship. That's the biggest thi ng. To get some wins under m y bel t. I' ve got two r igh t no w and I' d like to get some m ore, m a ybe in the o utdoors a nd some m ore in the stadi u ms. It 's p ossibl e right now. I've got a rea l good chance an d I thi n k I have a good chance in the outd oors to o , in th e Na tionals . So it 's p ossible that I co u ld get two championships, bu t I' m n o t going to push i t. I' d be sa tisfied with one. I guess a lot o f guys would be ! If yo u could see anything changed in the way that professional racing is structured now, what do think it would be? I'd li ke to see cha nges in the stadium races. R ig h t now every track seems like iI'S so hard to pass on, there's on ly o ne line. Somehow they need to make it easier, so i f there is a faster guy behind yo u there's passing room so he ca n pass. O therwise yo u ge t so mebody th a t' s not goin g that fast tha t' s holding everyone up. H e g ets a good sta rt and j us t holds a ll the other g uys back . It 's reall y h ard to pass in th e sta di u m. If you could give advice to riders that are coming up now, guys that would like factory rides or guys that just want to be better racers what would you say was the key? G et the experien ce. Goout the get the experi en ce and do n 't go o ver yo ur head try in g to do somethi ng you ca n't d o , You th in k you ca n't be beat, yo u get hurt. That sets yo u back a nd yo u have to start ove r. Yo u've got to gradual1y ge t into it, grad ual1y get fas ter a n d faster. I think it takes a lot longer to turn P ro than i t used to. We think there's a higher level of competition now then there used to be. It seems like you have to have a real high threshold of skill just to be a Beginner these days. But do you think it's that way in the Pro ranks too? The privateers that are breaking into the factory rides now are having to ride a lot faster and a lot harder to do it than they did five, six years ago? Definitel y. And it's also the same with th e Pros. L ike Hannah, when h e go t hurt, he was o u t for a yea r. Before that h e wa s dominating, when he ca m e ba ck he co u ld n ' t do it. When Kent Howerton broke his wrist , he was doing a lot of winning a n d he's not doing it right now. It's just that yo u've got to be i n top physical shape a n d yo u' ve got to be healthy , because when yo u' re sitting o u t with a n in jury , everyo n e else is getting faster. , That just makes it that much harder. ...... C\! 17

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