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/126612
best choice or maybe their only choice to win the title. 1981 wasn't too good of a year. Well every time you change, that first year is a year of adjustments. Actually I had m y first bad yea r in 10seasons. I broke my foot and didn't do very good. Then I got sick later on, some kind of virus, and that didn 't help. And I was ou t of shape from not being able 'to ride because of my foot. So I just had a bad sea son overall, besides trying to develop the bike. ~ 00 0') - ..... lo-4 "I can win on any given day if the circumstances are right. A II I need is a little luck." And you fell off more often than usual. Yes, I fell three o u t o f th e fir st four rnotos. But I go t th ird in th e m o ta I di dn ' t crash in. I had to ride th e ne x t three Grand Prix with a broken foo t. I just kind of rode a ro u nd an d tried to salva ge a few points, a seven th or an eighth pl ace. A co u p le of l l th place fini shes for no points. By th e time my foot wa s bett er I was o u t of sha pe beca use I co u ldn' t ride or run for si x week s. Finall y my foot was well a nd I wa s back in shape an d I won in Fran ce just befo re we ' ca me to the Sta tes. But I sti ll was n' t strong eno ugh an d I fell again a nd lost the race. I don 't kn ow , th e je t lag and th e heat, I just was n' t strong enough. So th en I ca ugh t some kin d of virus and was sic k th e rest of th e sea son; throwi ng u p every Monda y a n d j ust no way righ t at a ll. I' m not happy 'a bou t last season ut yo u 've got to tak e th e good seaons wi th th e bad and keep going. lot of our readers would like to now why you didn't settle for second lace at Carlsbad in 1980. You tried a repass Marty Moates and fell . Those oints could have won the title for au. ell you 've got to understand that here isn't something ou t there on the rack that sa ys, " cruise in second or ou'll fall if yo u go for the lead:" ose aren't the alternatives. I just anted to win. 'I] you ride as fast s you can all the ime it means you're 6. I'm not 16 nymore and I get aid to win GP aces. That's when I aul ass." I don't ride out of co n trol, I' ve been "ding too long. I know what spee d m com forta ble with o n th at da y a n d ose co ndi tio ns. If every th in g feels ight and the bik e is workin g good I a as fast as I ca n . If things aren 't act ly righ t I do n' t go as fast, I try d be co nsis tent . There rea lly was n't any thing to at. I ca me fro m way behin d an d iugh t Marty. H e repassed me and I st rode with him for a whi le then I ent to pass. It was j ust a littl e bra in de. I go t a litt le wide co ming down e hill. I wa s just goi ng to bra ke u p the edge of the berm but I just went er it. It 's real off-cam ber. kin da 0.. < marbley and my' bike slid into the fence . All the people jumped onto the fence and my bike got caught. I didn 't really even fall, I just slid too far and got stuck. You've had bad luck at Carlsbad before that. Twice before I should have won but I broke a wheel one time and then in '78 I ,think I would have won but I broke a chain. We get to Carlsbad well prepared but still it's really difficult to go from France one week to a co m p letely different track, different circumstances and different weather. That makes it a h ard race to win. Look at Malherbe, he n ever does anything th ere. He's great in Europe but nobody beli eves it h ere. Everyone says Carlqvist is blazing fast too. How ca n he be? H e's to o o ld . H e's 28, sa me as me . (La ugh ing.) We'r e too o ld, everyone says . I don 't kn ow Ca rla th at well but o n some days h e is faster th an the fastest g uys. But so far he hasn 't been consis tent on every track , week af ter wee k. Tha t's what it takes to wi n the champions hip. , See, at the beginn ing of the season everyone goes for it. But then after a few races . one or two riders are p ullin g away with th e points, then they have to start riding consiste ntly. The o ther riders can make up a lot of points at the end because there is no pressure on them and they just have to go for it . Last yea r was different because no one was consistent. I could see everyone having so much trouble I was just thinking " n ow's ' th e time, it would be so easy to win ," but of , course I was having trouble too. There are some American riders heading to Europe this year for the first time and some others that are talking about it. How do you think they will do? Well everyone over here just th inks they ca n go over to Eu rope an d be cha m p ion. Bu t I don 't think th ey reall y know . I'm th e o n ly guy who's been ridi ng much on both sides a n d I ca n' t reall y tell you. If a to p European ca me ove r h ere to rid e th e National s h e would do good but probabl y not wi n jus t because of th e d ifference in th e system , la ngua ge an d foo d. T he same with an American rider going over there. He's just not goi ng to be able to handle the situations: The borde rs and language and staying in Czecho. Eating rood that he hates. It 's not as easy to be u p [or a race over there. Like here. when yo u fly in [rom poolside to race and then fly home and drive your dune buggy. I do th in k that if you had an o pen world championship, five races over there and five here on 500cc machines. the Europeans would probably win. I can't tell about 125cc or 25Occ. , When you ride in the States you often don't seem to have the desire to win that you exhibit in the CPs. Some guys who will beat you in a local race are well behind you at f;:arlsbad. If you ride just as fast as you can all the time it means you're 16. I'm not ' 16 anymore and I get paid to win GP ra ces. That's when I haul ass. You can't ride to the limit all the time. You can ' t always ride crazy to win. you have to have a plan. to know wha t races you have to win a n d put all yo ur effort into those races . You were a crazy 16-year-old rider once. When did you start to mellow your riding style? Well it's kind of h ard to tell. Looking back at the '70s when th e Euro pea ns were bette r ri ders, I'd ge t th e holeshot and hold o n to the lead for 20 minutes the n crash or br ea k or someth ing. No way I'm go n na do that now, But I think ir's a grad ual process, I j ust go t smarter and smoother and now I'm [aster than then. Is th ere ever a time now wh en you will bers erk in a certain situation ? Well, if it's a calcu lated risk. I mean you won't pus h so hard that you know you'll crash but maybe if th e odds a re 50ยท50 the n I'll go for it when the situation is a mus t. But to do tha t on days that aren 't important wo n't payoff. That's why 25