Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..... C\I l-< Q.) ..0 e Q.) :>0 Z Daytona, 1973: Carruthers leads Roberts (80), Castro, Fisher (21), Art S-umann (30) and the pack. The thing that makes it work is basically the same. "Agostini runs the team in that he pays the money and organizes the public relations side of it, and all that son of stuff. And his brother Felice does all the buying and organizes the plane and ferry tickets - all the things you need someone to do, but you don't want mechanics tied up doing. So to an outside person it might look like there's a little bit of confusion, but only because there are more people involved than there used to be," Carruthers said. Who will ride the factory Yamahas next year is not, strictly speaking, Carruthers' problem. I asked Kel who he would sign if he held the checkbook. His choice for the first spot was predictable (Lawson), but he has interesting opinions on the best type of rider for the second spot. "Well, apan from Kenny, who has apparently retired, without a doubt the three best riders are Eddie, Freddie and Randy. So if you have enough money you hire one or two of those guys. After that it gets a lot more difficult. Personally, I would go for one of the younger guys and take the risk that he would become good, rather than take one of the established guys. - one who's already reached a level and is not up there anyhow. "It's hard to say, because sometimes you take a guy, put him on a new motorcycle, and he gets a new lease on life. BUllhat doesn't happen very often. On the other hand you can 'pick the most promising young guy and he turns out to be a dud. Right now I'm not in a position where I ha~ to choose riders, and I wouldn't like to say, 'Okay, I'd sign this guy," he said. Carruthers did say, however, that he'd been impressed with Wayne Rainey's first season in Europe, Carruthers working on Eddie Law- . son's Yamaha, 1984 Italian GP. "I think Wayne has done good. I'd have him on top of the 'young riders you hope you'll turn into world champion' list," Kel said. The discussion on looking to the 250 ranks for new 500 talent brought more straight-to-the-point observations from the 1969 250cc World ,Champion. "The 500s are more difficultt/) ride quickly than they used to be. To be honest I think they've got so much power that unless you're really good they probably frighten the hell out of the average guy," Carruthers said. "The 250 class is really competitive now, though I don't know if there are any super riders in that class. I think there are some good guys, but I'm not sure that there are any Freddie Spencers or Eddie Lawsons there. There's no way of telling because they no longer ride in two classes. "I think what you have there is about 10 good guys, and the rest are probably good enough that they can go out there and go berserk for a couple of laps in practice to put up a good qualifying time. That's why in the 250 class you see 35 guys qualifying within a second and a half. "Then comes the race and they all spread out a lot more. You still get six or seven guys racing up front, but the guys who were up there in practice are way down the back, because they can only do it for one or two laps. This is why you see a lot of crashes in the 250 class. I mean in practice they just fall off ... "WhiH probably happens· is they come in during practice and 'their mechanic tells themwhat time they're doing and says they're not fast enough. So they go back out and either go fast enough or crash! "You don'tdo that on a 500. Uyou did you'd really hun yourself. Nowadays, if you fall off a 500 it usually highsides you, whereas a 250 will highside you sometimes, but a lot of the time will 'just slide away from underneath you and you prollably don't get hurt," Carruthers explained. Carruthers with Team Marlboro's Agostini, 1983 8ritish GP. 20 Carruthers and Roberts, at a track sometime in 1974. Kel Carruthers draws some enlightening contrasts between his own period in grand prix racing and the current era. Kel wen't to Europe in 1966, having dominated the Australian scene for much of the preceeding five. His mounts in Australia included a 1961 works Honda four-cylinder 250. He went to Europe well. prepared, having even made arrangements for his children's schooling. His mounts were a Honda 125 twin and a pair of Nonons. The foHowing year saw Carruthers pilot a Honda to three top-five finishes in ]25 world championship events and four times in the top six on an Aermacchi 350. In ]968' he recorded five top-six placings on a Nqr.~on_500~ !gur t

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