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/126757
The thing is you don't have the same size wheels or the same tires or the best suspension like the factory bikes, so you're slipping and sliding and they're riding around you in the corners, too. I remember this from last year, and had a big la ugh a bou tit after the race. Roberts got a bad start in the 200 and went by me real gradually because I was about maybe eighth. I thought to myself he's running a real conservative, smart, heads-up race for for once, he's not going out trying to lead from start to finish, he's just going to go fast enough to win the race. I saw him go by a couple more riders and I was couming helmets and I could see him moving up to fifth, fourth and I saw him and a couple other guys taking off and leaving the field on the banking. He got so far in from that I didn't see him go into the pits, and when he came out he was going like gangbusters to catch up, but I didn't even know he was behind. So I was getting pit signals that I was eighth or ninth on the sixth lap and all the sudden Roberts goes by me through the infield, I mean fuJI-on, under the fairing, down through the dogleg turn three completely tucked in, just eeeeeeeee-yoooooowwwwww. He goes by like there's no tomorrow and I thought, My God, this is only the sixth lap and he's already lapped me! I thought, I'm gonna get lapped eight times before this race is over and this is embarrassing, I'm thinking I'm not doing too bad, I'm six laps in.to the race in a good position and Roberts blasts past, this is humiliating and I'm gonna pull off because he's gonna win this race by so much it's really ripped. When I came back in after finishing fifth, Vesco told me Roberts just carne in for a tire check and off he went again. He caught right back up and got to the front and cooled it. That whole thing makes me think that this year Roberts will just go just fast enough to win the race, and I think he'll be first. Those Yamaha 680s are pretty good, real good, I saw him ride at the Match Races in the rain, leaned over and the thing picks the front wheel up off the ground. Roberts will be the man to beat. He's got a lot of talem, he's got a lot 6f power and he knows how to use it. The other guys are going to have to try to keep up. Lawson and Rainey will have 680s, too. Lawson has improved a lot in the last couple years. I noticed when we rode Superbikes for Kawasaki together in 1980 he listened to what I had to say about what I thought would make the bikes better and he used it to his advantage. He isn't real outspoken but he gets the job done by listening and doing what needs to be done. I think he kind of teaches himself as he goes along. You don't see him go wide open and then bail off, even when he was winning the Kawasaki Superbike Championship. Progressively he got better and better and better. He'll be in there. He's real quiet, but I think he's got just the same amount of determination and maybe now that he's on another level, being on the World Championship trail, maybe he thinks of himself as a better rider, too. Which brings confidence. Knowing he can race with the world's best. I think he knows the limit and he can stay on it. I think it will be a toss-up for second place depending upon what happens, between Lawson and Spencer. Everybody knows that Frediliecan ride. Nobody gets to be World Champion by accident. But he's on an RS500 and I don't think Honda knows for sure they'll last. I mean, last year, how long did they last? Not very long. They weren't made to go great~forHadey-Davidson. For the 23rd time in 29 }'IelIrS, the A.M.A. Grand National Championship was bottled up inside a Harley-DaYidso~ Team rider Randy Goss did the booors and popped the cork to taste his second National Championship. A toast to Randy and all the Harley-Davidson team riders tt:>r another truly vintage yea!: <01984 Harley-Davidson Mocor 0>., lnc. P.O. Box 653, Mllwaube, WI 53201 AIlrigha~. "Majority of races ""'" on .HaiIey-Davidson. Congratulations To Jeff Ward, Golden State Series 125cc Champion. Tbe Lubrication Leader. Bel-Ray Company, Inc. Box 52ยท6 Farmingdale, Newfersey 07727 201-938-2421 15