Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

T win s for mat. It was introduced so tha t people wh o co u ldn' t a ffo rd to be co m petitive in S uper bike or Formula I wo u ld be a ble to com p ete o n a Na tio nal level. For th e class to co me int o its ow n we n eed new ride rs o n a var iety o f m ach in es to bui ld u p interest. H ow did you ge t hooked u p with Ren o? He saw m e race a few times in 1978. After Mik e (Baldw in ) left h im in '79 to go with Kaw asak i, Ren o gave me a call d uring th e winter. I went dow n to ta lk to h im a nd we got a lo ng well so I came on to ride hi s Su perbi ke. You rode th e Pantah 600 at the '82 season 's last race a t Da ytona. How does it stac k up aga inst the 900? Well , the 600 is a bit faster through the tu rns a lthough it doesn 't have the same top end on the st raigh taways. We tested it a t West Pal m and the la p times wer e faster than th e 900 but at Daytona it was a bit slo wer; alt hough it went thro ugh the in field faster. At certa in racetracks it wi ll defi nitelv be faste r than th e 900. . So do you plan on campaigning th e seo.su seaso n ? We do n 't rea lly kriow yet. We will have to wai t a n d see what h appen s when we get to Da yto n a. We'll test them bo th an d see wha t h appen s. Wha t we will probably do is test th em bo th a t each tra ck a nd th en decid e wh ich to run. Wi th th e new 7S0cc lim it o n fourcyli n der bi kes in Su perbike th is year we wi ll be running that class also . We were n' t co m p eti tive in th at class aga ins t th e 1000s la st yea r, so this yea r we pl an on seei ng wha t th e co m p etition in that cla ss will be lik e. How did you wind up with a factory ri de at Imola (Ita ly) last year? We took ou r bike over to co m p ete in wh a t the y call Superbik e. The factory's rider injured h imse lf in p ractice 1 a nd I j ust h ap p en ed to be in th e rig ht p lace a t th e righ t tim e an d th ey as ked me to rid e th e factory bik e for th e weeke nd. Thei r bike was very impres' .sive and it a llowed m e to ri de in th e Imola 200 wh ich is some thi n g I really wanted to do. Do you have any p lans for competing ' in Europe next season? . Well , I hope to do Imola again and maybe Paul Ri card (Fra nce )an d whatever o ther European races I co u ld ge t , in to . I wou ld lik e to do a few ra ces in , Engla nd, but we haven't finalized 'an y pl ans yet. There have been reports circulating abo u t Ducati engines for Class C dirt track racing this year. Do you have any p lans to com pe te in that class? . Ren o is bu ilding a few engi nes a nd we hav e talked a bo u t running a few di rt track races, but I don 't kn ow . It has been a long time since I ran o n di rt a nd when I did it was o n ligh tweig h ts. We will just have to seewhat _I happen s. H a ve you finalized any sp onsors h ip p lans for the upcoming sea son? Sure-Fire will be strong ly behi n d us. In fact, our team will be known as Tea m Leon i Sure-Fire this year. In addition to Sure-Fi re , we'll have su p port from Castrol , Wiseco, Mal ossi, .Arai, ND and Derale. It ge ts very expensive. Ren o bu ys the bikes an d pays for all the parts h im self . It ca n get p retty rough. Last . year we had a goo d su p p ly o f spares bu t we went through th em all. This year we will have to res toc k o ur spa res a n d ge t so me other details toge ther so it will be expe ns ive. Do you have any plans for competition past Battle of the Twins? I wo u ld lik e to rid e in Formula I. but rig h t n ow I don 't h ave a rid e. My goa l is reall y to race in E urope . Whi ch cla ss I would ru n I don't kn ow , but the racing is m uch ' hotter an d th e public see m s to be m ore en th u sed

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