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/126827
How'To: Be a Motocross Star! By David Bailey with Thomas Scott Part six: How to ride for a factory team Last week , I talk ed about getting sponsors and ho w to invest th e mon ey earned as a Motocross Star. Th is week's article deals wit h th e resp onsib ilities of a factory rider, and some of th e th in gs a factory rider shou ld do . .- 30 For many of you, being on a factory team would be a dream come true, a situation where every th in g would be th e best it's ever been and every da y offers one great experience after another. In rea li ty, though , rid ing for a factory team tak es discipl in e a nd an ongoing effor t to promo te goodwill among your tea m mates. As a n individual , yo u have to add input to the group as a whole so th at you r sponsor - in my case Honda - gets th e most benefi t from each o f its riders . You have to develop a fri endsh ip with th e other members of th e team. Somet im es I find that training wi th m y teammates is a good way to promote a successfu l working relationsh ip . It is important, though, to maintain a liule bit of secrecy, because don't want to reveal everyth in g you know. The problem with th at is not everyone ca n hold stu ff in side. Most people lik e to tell Others things a bo u t th em selv es; I'm like th at. It 's so me th ing like Superman . If I wa s him I'd wa lk down th e stree t in m y street clothes, and if so me body ca lled me a dork, I'd hav e to lift up a house an d set it ba ck down so mewh ere to get m y message across. That's how I feel abo u t h iding so me of my secrets, but you have to in many situa tio ns . All of us on T eam H onda are pretty cl o se. We test b ik es a lo t togeth er, and you have to remain on ca ll if H onda needs you. La st yea r a fter Da ytona I th ought I had a co uple wee ks off, a n d I h ad things pl anned for arou nd m y ho use. I had ya rdwork to do , an d I wanted to cu t so me n ew woods tra ils, and th e n ext thi ng I kn ew I was in Pa ri s racing a supercross. Yo u never know wha t's going to ha p pen, bu t yo u have to be ready for a ny th ing. Wh en so me body owns you with a co ntract, th ere a re things in .th a t co n trac t which say th at yo u have to race when they want you to. They're not go ing to do a ny th ing stu p id, a n d it's not in th eir best interest to send yo u so me w he re you might get hurt, a nd jeopard ize yo u r cha nces of a U .S. cha m p io ns h i p . If th e factory feels a certain race is worthwhil e, th ey'll p robabl y sen d yo u there, a nd it m ay screw up yo u r pl ans. You j ust hav e to adapt an d m ake th e best of it. At tim es, you 'll a lso ha ve to 'ta ke some criticism and listen to th e advice of others. Wh en you first get on a factory team or even after yo u' ve been around for a while, yo u may run into some problems a nd have a string of 10th-place finishes. The team manager, the mechanics, the shock peopl e, th e PR consultants and o thers watch th e races, and th ey know what you're ca pa ble of. If you aren ' t performing well it's frustrating for th em a lso, because they know how fast you reallyare. At times like that th ey may come up to yo u, and 'g ive sugges tions . They aren 't there to ch ew yo u ou t, but to help, and yo u have to be prepared to take some advice. Roger DeCoster . and Dave Arnold (H onda's motocross team manager) took me aside at Da yto na this year for a talk. I wa s sca red, because I didn't know if I had done something wrong, but it ended up to be a nice talk with good solid input. It 's good to have a relationship where th ey know what yo u're th inking and yo u know what th ey're thinking, an d yo u know th ey're coming to yo u instead of talking behind you r back. If I feel I'm doing p o orl y, a n adva ntage of being a factory rider is ha ving th e added in p u t of o the rs on th e team. I'll go to my mech anic (Cliff White ) or th e team manager and ask them to wa tch m y suspen sio n. I can a lso talk to m y tea m mates, an d ask th em if th ey m ight have found so me lin es wh ich a re better than m in e. It 's a lmost a famil y thing. You have to do yo u best, a nd H o nda ha s a lo t of people a t the races who are th ere to hel p yo u do yo ur best. Honda h ires people to wi n, a nd they're going to do eveythi ng th ey ca n to hel p yo u w in . Everyone a t H onda is co nstantly ask ing m e what th ey ca n do to h elp me, wh eth er it 's m y bik e or so rne-: thing pe rso nal. Anothe r part of bein g a facto ry rider is taking ad van tage o f everyth in g aro u nd you. Wh en we go to j apan to test , I have to mak e the trip wort h w h ile by putting in a go od effort when we sort th e bikes o u t. I watch th e way m y teammates ride. Wh en L echien is o ut for test in g , I watch a ll his moves a n d the way h e's riding th e co urse. People hav e different ways o f exp ress ing.wha t th ey feel a bo u t th e bike, an d many tim es yo u' ll learn from others. Man v times we 'll ge t in a lap-time war when we test , beca u se nobody w-ants to turn lap times two seco n ds slo wer th an everyone else . Wi th everyo ne p us h ing, th ere's a better-cha nce th at we' Il find little th in gs on th e bik e that n eed co rrectio n s. Wh en yo u 're testing for a factory, yo u h ave to be a ble to rel ay information to ' th e factory eng-ine ers. You ha ve to ge l them to understand wh at yo u 're trying to say, so th at th ey ca n make th e bik es bett er. Not a ll riders ca n do th at well , but th e-o nes wh o ca n a lways have th eir b ikes set up th e best. That m eans th ey ca n stay o n th e bik e, negotiate secti ons bett er , an d WIO races. The bik e should be ta ken ca re of a n d ready to go o n race da y. I've heard a lo t of excuses where riders co me in from a rno to and co m p la in abou t their shock bein g too so ft or th at th e forks were too harsh. T hat's bu ll. Those riders ha ve the same shock people as everyone else, and if their bike doesn't work it 's th eir o wn fau lt. One o f th e closest rel ationships yo u have on a factory team is between you and your mechanic, and you have to make sure that th e two of you get a lo ng . It's good to go out to dinner with him every now and then a n d talk, a nd if he's athletic it's a good idea to train with him. Get to know him the best you can, so that when the need arises you know how to explain things to him that you need, things' that need changes, a nd why. Over the past co u ple yea rs I've been working with Cliff White. He pulls . the bike completely apart between ra ces, and puts everything back together, and he knows just how I lik e it. The bars are right, the levers have the right angle, th e brakes are adj us ted just how I like them. I seldom hav e to ch an ge a ny thin g once I get on the bike. H e knows how I like my suspension a nd what I want the front end to do, and he gets it really . close so that a ll I hav e to do is fin e tune it. We don't wast e a lot o f laps getting di aled in , and that's when yo u apprecia te what you r mech anic is doing for you . In 1983, when I won m y three cha m p ion sh i ps, Cliff and I didn 't have one problem. I finished every ra ce an d nothing ever went wrong with my bike. I didn 't win by too m any points, and some of the guys I beat had mechanical troubles. It takes a good m echanic to take ch am pion ships. I a lso think yo u shou ld reward yo ur mech an ic. Mechanics ge t paid, su re they do, b u t we ge t big cham pionship bonuses. It 's good to fork a little o f th at ov er to th em, because th ey ap p recia te it an d it mak es them much more cooperative. Bein g a factory rider isn' t a ll wha t yo u ca n get fro m o thers, th ough, There are ti mes when I feel it' s my responsibil ity to hel p m y teammat es wh en they' re ga vi ng so me ro ugh times . In professional a th letics the re are a lot of h ighs a nd lo ws, a nd wh en yo u 're o n a hi gh , yo u ca n be su re o ne of yo u r teamma tes will be in a slu m p . j ohnny O 'M ara a nd I do a bunch of stuf f togethe r, a nd if j ohnny is hav in g so me o ff days, I'll try to pump hi m u p . Goin g o u t a nd ri di ng isn't a lways th e a ns wer; so me times do in g so methi ng lik e going o ut a nd runn in g a 10-K (foo t) race w ill pe rk up ou r sp iri ts. You hav e to rem ember th a t in th e en viro me n t of a factory team , th ere a lwa ys has to be a lot o f g ive-andtake. If a rider co u ld go without team support and w in races, th ere would be a bunch of p riv a teers traveling a ro und the cou ntry taking cham p ionshi ps. It 's great to be a factory rider and a n MX Star, but it's so me th ing th at yo u h a ve to work towards , ap precia te, and th en enjoy. • • ....u .,~ -~.'a~~ ••" . - --. ---- - - -- - - -- - ---~--- -~ ~- ~- ~ ~.-.-------~ - Klotz Ra cing Brake Fluid for disc or drum brakes meets DOT 4 specs and comes in four-ounce resealable containers. From you r dealer or contact Klotz Special Formula Products, Inc., Dept. CN, P .O. Box 11343. Ft. Wayne, IN 46857, 2191749-0489. H i-Point's sp are lens holder has a body made fro m vinyl and three inside p oc kets to keep yo ur goggle len ses organized and scra tch -free. From your deal eror havehim co nt ac t Hi-Point Racing Products, Dept. CN, 3705 W. Eri e Ave. , Lorain, OH 44053, 216/244-410 I. Baja Fen ders by Acerbis h ave built-in ta ill igh ts an d come in white, red, blue, yell ow, gre en and black . Find th em a t yo u r deal er ca rryin g th e H iPoint, Hallman USA, Malcolm Sm ith or Wh e~l sport Di stributing lines of accessones.