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/126643
By Tom Kolnowski A ft er a m ediocre beginning in th e 1983 W rangler Super Series, Team S uzu ki 's Mark Barnett has made a strong comeback, leav in g him p erch ed atop the p o in ts lead in th e pr est igious series. Teet hing p roblems w ith new factory m achinery have been p ut aside, and Barnett has gotten back to the busin ess of w inn ing. Victories in the Pon tiac an d Kan sas Cit y Su pe rcross events have p laced him in a most desira ble position. We caught up with " The Bomber" betw een trai ning sessions at his hom e in Bridgeview , Il lin ois. 28 t ,. You start ed off the season with a series of hot and cold performances. What type of problems were yo u having? T he bik es were new , an d we were n ot reall y u sed to the m . The n ew des ign (with th e gas tanks m ounted low in the fram e) didn ' t work as well as we thought it would, so it was easy to make mistakes on them. I was n't get ting the good starts, which is especia lly important in Supercross. T he bi kes were a litt le dow n o n power, makin g it hard to pass when I ended up m id-pack. The restructuring of the professional motocross program has resulted in there being a single rider who will be erownedas Wrangler Grand National Champion. Has this created any extra enthusiasm in your racing? I thi n k it has added a lot. The 125cc cla ss is just th ere, a nd I want to win it, but the Wrangl er titl e is so me- II • ••• ~ " I I II... thi ng different. It offers more money to start wi th, and is something new to shoot for. Riders who are your st iffest competition for the Wrangler title are co ntesting the 250 and 500cc National classes. Do you feel that you are at an advantage or disadvantage since you are in the 125cc class, and both Supercross and outdoor Nationals count toward the crown? It 's about th e sa me, but I wo uld be at a d isadvantage if Bo b H annah wi ns a ll the ti me. If I went riding th e 250cc class, I co u ld proba bly beat h im. The way the p oin ts a re righ t n ow , H annah is th e on ly one I a m co mpeti ng with. If I ca n wi n a ll of the 125cc events, th en it will work to m y advantage. Ri ck J oh nson or David Ba iley could beat Hanna h also, so that would help o u t. The new outdoor format consists of two 30-minute motos. Have yo u I •••• U II 1111 changed you r training sch edu le since th e m otos are sh orter? I have kept the training about the same, w hich is three days pe r week. I don' t like them as m uch as I like th e 40-min u te m otos, The guys th a t wo u ld stay with me for 30 m in u tes I wo u ld normally bea t, si nce I wo u ld pu ll ahead of them a bit toward the end of the rnoto. Is yo ur current con tract with Suzuki multi-year? It's a three year co ntract. This is the seco nd year, a nd I will be under the sa me co n tract for next year. Does your contract offer a bonus if you win a title? T here is n o bon us for th e Wrangl er tit le since I was al rea dy a year into th e contract when they came up wi th the program. If I win the 125cc title, then there wi ll be a su bsta ntial bon us. You have been investing some of you r earnings in real estate. Are you continuing in that direction? I h ave two apartment bu ildings now , a six- fla t a nd a four-flat. I have been gelling more and m or e into stocks and money market certifica tes, as well as other types of investments. I'm just tryi ng to sp read it around. Then there is the pe nsion p lan , since you have to p la n for reti reme nt. How far awa1 is /our retirement? •. • 1 IJ III I 11111 I I'm not sure, but p robably five years, depending on how everythi ng goes . R igh t now , I don 't have any definite pl ans. After the current contract is up, I'm sure that I will want to ride a fter that since I'm not ready to sit around yet. I just like racing. Do you have an y desire to go to Europe to contest the Grand Prix circuit? R igh t no w I don 't rea lly wa nt to. I imagine that as I ge t down the road a little bit I might want to go over there. What I wou ld like to do is go to the Trophee des Nations at the en d of the year. I think that it wou ld be a lot of fu n to do. Have you ever considered getting into ISDE competition after you retire from National MX? I' ve though t about it, but it would be a long way off. I thi n k tha t in lat er years it wou ld be fun to try. It 's n ot really a co mpetitive sport the way that motocross is. It is more of an individua l type thing, where yo u are compe ting with yo urself. By that time, I will be pretty tired of train ing 'a ll the ti me . It appears that there will be several events added to the en d of the Wrangler series this year. Do you ha ve any feelings one way or another about it ? The season was origi na lly supposed to end in August, so I would like to see it end then. They seem to change the rules every week . You ca n o n ly race until a certai n poi nt, the n it's ti me to kick back . T here h as to be so me so rt of o ff season, and n o o ther professiona l sport runs year ro u nd. I ca n ha ndle tha t typ e of situation, but it gets very hard on o ur mec ha nics because they must drive to a ll of the events. What do yo u think of the new Super. cross format , where yo u must qualify twice to make the main event? I liked it be tte r th e way it was before, wh en yo u qualified o nce and went rig ht into th e ma in. T he progra m ran a lo t q uicker. I don' t feel th a t it is m uch bet ter for th e spectators either. You quali fy o nce, the n qualify again. There isn ' t a ny money to be made in the preliminary events, so it a ll comes down to the final. Both Kenny Roberts and Freddie Spencer ha ve said that a 500cc World Champion road racer could make a million dollars this year. Do you feel that the rider who wins the Wrangler title in the U.S. could come close to that figure? It' s gelling close, bu t I feel that we need m ore o uts ide sponso rs. A Supercross wi n is worth $2,5 00 in p u rse money, wh ich isn't tha t much wh en yo u look a t what everyo ne else is get ting . If yo u d idn 't hav e th e co m pa n y bonuses an d th e outside sp on sors , you wouldn' t even make enough money to d rive arou nd to th e events. T he priva teers i n the National s make next to n o th ing, wi th a win wo rt h only $600. We will p robably be seeing more a nd m ore stadi u m events, si n ce th ere is m ore money to be m ade th ere. I would like to see us ge t a pe rce ntage o f what is tak en in a t th e ga te. The Ca liforn ia events are alwa ys packed with spect ators, a n d we ge t th e same a mou nt for a win . So mebody is mak ing m on ey somewhere. You currently have a fairly healthy lead over Hannah in the race for the Wrangler Super Series points. Do you care to make any predictions as to how things might end up? Things are looking pretty good ri ght n ow . I will have to be consistent in th e sta di u m events, a n d h ave to hold my own in th e o u tdoor events. H annah had a n eigh th pl ace fini sh at Kansas Cit y, which a m o u nt ed to a good poin ts adva ntage for me. T he sa me thing may h appen to m e down th e road, so it will be whoever gets the best luck. • lUI J ~I UIIUIU