Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Merkel : What 's rea lly benef itti ng us thi s yea r is th at we' ve been co nsta nt ly testing , whe reas a lot of ot he r guys don 't rid e from th e end of last season in No vember until Speed Week in March , which is a bo u t fou r or five m onths. When yo u don 't rid e for th at length o f tim e, whe n yo u get ba ck o n th e bike during Speed Week it feel s like a foreign o bject, it doesn 't feel righ t, yo u don't feel righ t . . . We rented Will ow Sp ri ngs tw ice a week fo r th ree week s to put in as many la p s as possible , . . The first sess io n, I went in thinking th at it wo u ld tak e all da y to get back up to speed, but it took me eigh t laps to do it - th at was a big bo ost after being off for a co up le of m onths. La tely m y tra ini ng program has been chan ged comp lete ly from what it was in th e pa st . I used 10 walk around looking like a gori lla .because of m y muscles; in fact , I h ad to tape up my leathers to get th em to fit. I used to have a co m plete weigh t p ro gram , d idn ' t do too m uch runn in g or cardiovasc u la r tra in ing . Bu t now th a t's changed 10 j us t two days a week with weights, a nd th at 's abou t it - lo w weight, h igh rep, fo r end ura nce lik e a mo tocrosser w here yo u hav e 10 be stron g enough 10 sta nd a co up le h ours o f beat in g . I a lso ride a bicycle a bo ut four days a week, do trai l riding a nd so me mo tocross, a nd surf. Mechanically-speaking, how are yo u prepared? Velasco: Since we bega n test ing a t Will ow, I' ve been maki ng the mach ine whe re it 's easier for Fred to ride, whe re it takes less effort to th in k abou t the bik e. We're j us t per fectin g every th i ng we h ad last year, n ot cha nging a wh ol e lot o f st uff, beca use th ere's not a wh ol e lot th at you ca n do to the street bikes. You just m ak e sure th at everyth ing on th em is a lit tle bit bett er a nd more precise. Besid es th at , now we have to add a littl e weight to o ur bikes. Why? C eitl : Because of a rule change. Previously, the minimum wei ght for Superbikes wa s 390 pounds; now i t's 1 10, so our bik e has 10 wei gh 20 pounds more. Even th ough I was at th e AMA meeting on th e rule, how they ca me to th e co nclu sio n o f add ing 20 more pounds, I don ' t kn ow . . . What th ey do at Daytona will mak e ver y little differen ce, but I th ink th at a t so me of the other tra cks it will . .. Th is rule wa s intended to mak e it eas ier for other co m p a n ies to co me ' in, particularly Suzuki. But Bill Boyce and Wayn e Moulton indicat ed th at th ere are m any other bikes th at a re a ir-cooled , a nd th e new Suzuki is oi lcooled. H onda, Yamaha and Suzu ki will h ave to a ll weigh th e same, anyway, so I don't quite u nd erst and wh at th e o bjective is. As far as Suzuki goes, it's going to be a real hardsh ip , beca use it weighs 388 pounds. Merkel : The AMA h as been co m ica l about some of th e rule cha nges th ey've mad e th is year, especia lly with (a proposed rule in 1986 fo r) titanium (moto r parts). People who wer e running in race series other th an th e AMA were screa m ing an d hollering to ge t rid o f th e tit anium; but wh a t th ey don 't realize is that by tak ing a way titanium yo u tak e away abou t 50% of th e performance and rel iabilit y of yo ur bike. T he g uys wh o have H onda mo tors no w have all tit anium stu ff ins ide th em , and I th ink if th ey (the AMA ) make th em switch to steel th ere's going to be a lot o f broken mo tors because th ey won ' t kn o w how far to push th eir bik es. With stee l parts, it doesn 't take long to burn a motor up - we found th at ou t in 1983. The thing that 's really wrong is to make racers go to steel (co n nec tin g) rods, By taking out titanium rods, 01 yo u' re ta kin g out a 1 Of relia bili ty; wi th steel, yo u 're not ge tt ing as much pe rfor ma nce or as ma ny racin g mi les. Except for the couple of times that Fred fell down, there were no reliabil ity problems with his Superbi kes last year, right? -to Velasco: Of co urse we di dn ' t have p us h th em as m uch becau se we shifted th e powerba nds; Fred's bikes wi ll sti ll sp in , but th ere was no need to . According to some Superbike ra cewatchers, perhaps the main reason Fred won the Superbike title wa s because his bikes had a definite p ower advantage over the competition. Vela sco : T ha t's n o t reall y true, if yo u look a t some riders . like Sa m McD ona ld because o f h is wei ght advantage: beli eve it or not , a t so me o f th e track s, he had more p ow er beca use of th e ac celera tion adva ntage. I' ve go t th e best bikes a nd a lot o f horsepow er , but sti ll, o ur advantage isn' t th at far su pe rior to a lot of the ot her guys . A bi g adva ntage is ge tti ng th e chass is to where it work s wi th the mo tor, a nd yo u' re ge tt i ng tracti on; you ca n ha ve a ll the horsepower in the world, a nd if yo u ca n' t ge t it a ll o n the grou nd a nd use it, th en you aren' t goi ng to be doin g much. When did your racing career begi n, Fred? Merk el : I started o u t raci ng dirt track fo r 12 years, then my family figu red that I co u ld do bett er in road ra ci ng, th a t th ere was a be tter future in it beca use th ere were more tea m s invo lved; with di rt track a ll there was was H arley-Davidson . So, in 1978, I rode my first roa d race. What was the transition like from dirt to road racing? Merkel : It was relatively easy; th e o n ly th ing yo u have to get used to is j udging th e speeds and d ista nces. Wha t mak es a good road ra cer is being a ble to push th e bik e to whe re it slides in th e co rners a nd keeping it in co ntro l, beca u se o nce yo ur bik e slides it ca n' t g o any faster. Also , be ing a ble to go in to a corner fart her a nd deepe r th an a ny body else without tr ying to slo w down - a nd not pa n icki ng a lso mak es a good roa d racer. Road ra cing is a matter o f keeping up yo ur m omen tum and go in g th ro ugh th ings as fast as possible. Were there any differences from riding a lightweight road racer to Superbikes? Merk el : Yeah. T he biggest jump for me was wh en I jumped off my l2 5cc H onda to a TZ250 Yamaha - a n d bo y! I thought I would never learn how to ri de tha t th in g! I rode a fri end's TZ one lap arou nd Sears Point, a nd it wa s so fast , a nd I had never ridde n a bike before with slic ks o n it. I rod e it in th ree races and finish ed arou nd middl e of the pack. I never th ought I'd win a race on a 250 until I went up to Washing ton a nd rode a cou p le of races there, and a ll o f a sudden every thi ng. clicked . Bu t I had never been o n a Su perbi ke u ntil December of 1982, an d tha t was really spooky! It was a tryout on H ond a s at Laguna Seca before I go t as ked by Yoshi mura, a nd th ose were wh en th ey had th ose "ani ma l" bikes, th e 1025cc jobs th a t Wi se, Mike Baldwin an d Freddie Spe ncer rode. That day, w he n my dad an d I wen t horn e, I wa s a lmos t in tears because I figured tha t I would never be a ble to ride th ose thi ngs! T he bike h ad so m uc h horsepower th at I had to co ns ta ntly pu ll m ysel f up on th e gas tank 10 stay o n. By th e tim e I came ou t o f tu rn n in e, I was a ll the way to th e back of th e seat tryin g to p u ll m ysel f up . And over the rise I had to di g m y kn ees into th e gas tank just to hang on . That bike was so fast th at I co u ldn' t mak e it turn or do an yth ing else. • What was the Yoshimrua tryout like? Merk el : For so me reason , th a t Suzu ki o f theirs handled so it had such o wen: l!":l 00 0"> (Above) Merkel leads John Bettencourt (501. Dale Quarterley (32) and Wes Cooley at Riverside. (Below) Merkel. in championship·winning form . a mild powerb an d , co m pa red to th e H onda , which was lik e a tw o-st roke powerband - o n a nd off. Th e Suzuki handl ed rea lly well , a nd I just fell in love with it. T he tr you t wa s a t Willow , a nd I was clicking o ff times as well as riders who 've go ne th ere a ll yea r long. That felt ri ght unril I j u mped o n th e Intercept or, and it 's th e best h andlin g bike I' ve ever ridden in m y lif e. Ir 's a super stree t bik e, and it mak es th e best racebi ke th ere is. With everything that you're doing to get ready for Daytona, what wiII you try to prove? Merkel: T ha t I can beat Freddie Sp encer, th at I ca n beat th e best in th e world. I think h e's th e best th ere is. Kenn y Roberts is Mr. Motorcycle, th e Arnold Swartzenegger o f motorcyling - Arnold made bod y-building wha t Kenny has made m otorcyclin g, Kenn y is my manager, in fact. H is house isn 't th at fa r from min e in Stockton . In th e wi n ter I go o ver to h is p lace, a nd we'll pl a y rac q uetba ll or go hun ting , stuff li ke th a t. I ha ve a lot o f res pect fo r h im . How excited are you about winning? Merk el: Ri ght n o w I ca n' t slee p n ig hts, I'm so psyc he d, an d I' ve n ever been more serio us a bo u t winning than I am no w . . . Winning m eans every thi ng in th e world to me. To go o u t a nd beat Spencer, a nd beat everybo dy the way I wa nt to bea t th em , th e way I bea t every body last year that's my goal. _ What kind of stra tegy wiII yo u be using? Mer ke l: For a lot of guys, th e 200 mak es them thi n k that th ey have to keep th eir coo l - fo r too long ! Well , what advantage I've learned fro m last yea r is jus t hammer it right fro m th e sta rt . We'v e spen t lots of time tes ti ng, so ( kn o w how m uc h to push a new ti re on a fu ll ta n k o f gas, a n d I'll be a bl e to kn ow in a co u p le of la p s. So r~ j~~t 9 0 !'!g t? /!a'?1 !"!t;~. o Fr?!,! the green flag on, It'S going to be as o it: fa st as I ca n go; I' ~ go i ng to put as much dis ta nce as I can between my self a nd seco nd pl ace. WiII yo u be able to keep a handle on any unforeseen situa tions that may crop up, unknown factors? Vel asco: That 's w here good co mmunica tion co mes in , bet ween th e ride r o n th e trac k a nd th e mech an ics. If th ere's a p roblem , we' ll be read y to do whatever we ha ve to do ; we' ve had plenty o f practi ce cha nging wh eels, It won 't mailer wh at th e situa tion is, if we ca n fix it, it will be done in the fastest time possible, which is a matter of keeping yo ur head. Besides Freddie, is there anybody else who you have to worry about? _ Merk el: You h ear so many th ings a bo u t o ther bik es, o ther m anufacturers, new ri ders, so me kid s who th ey say turn in cr ed ibl y fa st times at Will ow an d will blow off the big bo ys . . . Well . a fter the last race o f th e seas o n, m y dad and I put o ur earp lugs i n, a nd we don ' t take th em o u t until we' re o n th e starting lin e a t Da ytona. And th en wh a t we hear is th e truth. On th e sta rting grid, when th e tw o minute boa rd 's u p , yo u're o n yo ur own time . . . So, I just grin wh en I hea r a ll o f th at stuff, because I'll be a t Daytona just to co m pe te agains t myself. I'm goi ng to push myself to the limit, tha t's why I'm p ushi ng m ysel f to th e lim it ri ght now. I'm prep aring m yself for a full season to j ust totally annihilate every o ne . I' ve had tw o goa ls in m y ca reer: One is to be the U n ited States cha mp ion , a n d event ua lly I'd lik e to go to Eu ro pe a nd become th e World Cha mp io n . People would say that's mighty cocky talk to come from yo u. _ Merk el: I' m not being coc ky; I'm o ut there to win. I'm pa id to win , a n d I won 't acce p t a nythi ng less th an winn ing . Second pl ace is like kissing yo u r sis ter - .it doesn ' t co u n t, Day-. tona is OUTS.' ". 9·

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