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/126832
Doug Chandlerj.Jerry Griffith "\Ne've got to make our own destinyBy Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Bert Shepard and Van Voorhis The Camel Pro Ser ies reached the halfway point in the 29 race season at Pocono, the 15th round of the series. T h e n am e at t h e top of the p o in t standings at t hat time w as Dou g Chan d ler, Camel Pro Series R ookie of t he Y ear in 1983, and th e leader of the young lions chip p ing aw ay at th e armor of th e o ld guard. Th e position at th e to p of the p oi nt st an dings did not co m e as a su rp rise to Chandler, 19, or J erry G riffith, his tun er, men to r an d team m ana g er/ orga n izer of the Freddie Spen cer / Super T rapp R acin g-back ed effort. It wasn 't totally ex p ected eit her - hoped for and worked hard for, yes, but n ot tota ll y ex pected at th is stage of th e seaso n . Ln fact, in th e g ame plan at th e beginning of the season, it was Chandler's teammate, Randy Goss, who wa s ex pected to be th e rider challen g in g for t he AMA Grand N ational Championsh ip title. How ever, Lady Luck has not smiled on Go ss and he st ands a di stant eigh t h in th e stan di ngs. We cau g h t up w it h Chandler and Gr iffith at th e Po cono N ation al R oad Race, tw o day s after Chandler w o n th e Sante Fe Nat ional TT and m oved to th e top of th e stand ings. In sep arate co nversati ons, although th ey were aske d some si milar quest ions, the two discussed being on top, w h at th ey hope w ill transp ire during the rest of the season and a number of other things. Doug Chandler 22 Did you think you'd be in the point lead at this stage of the season? Not reall y. I wanted to keep the pressu re o n Bubba (Sho bert) , but I never thought I'd get th e lead like I did with a win a t Santa Fe in the TT N at iona l. I h ad it in th e back of m y m ind if I d id get th e p oi n t lead I wanted to do it at a dirt tra ck Nat ional. T he road racing points I scored (38 through Pocono ) were to get close, but dirt track is the m eat ofthe season and taking it lik e I did makes me feel rea l good, especially winning and ta ki ng th e lead. How did the opportunity to go road racing come about? It was a qu ick deal because we got th e bike just before th e Sears Point National. We had been looking for one since Daytona , bu t not h ing was avai lable. We go t th e bike - a H onda RS500 Wes Cool ey raced last year Wednesd ay before the Nati onal tha t co m ing wee ken d, p ut a q u ick pain t jo b on i t a n d were a t the track for practi ce on Thursday afternoon . It was th e fi rst tim e I' d even p ut a leg over a GP bike. It felt awkward to ride a t first, bu t I was luck y an d go t in a lot of practice time wh ich gave me co n fide nce. I ended up fin ishing th ird even th ou gh I was h a vin g p roblems wit h th e front brake. Thi ngs were going so well before the brak e problem I th ou ght I would pu t so me pressu re on R ich Schlachter in seco nd, but a fter th e br ak es starte d goi ng away, I decid ed th e sma rt th ing was to coo l it. J erry G ri ffith, wh o tunes my dirt trackers an d th e road ra cer, a nd J im Ch ishol m, a form er sponsor of m ine , went halv es o n bu yin g th e bike fo r me. G o in g road racing has helped me o ut in two ways; it proved to be a smart m ove in ad di ng extra Camel Pro Seri es points to my tall y, an d it's givi n g me expe rie n ce I'll be a ble to use in th e future. My long-range go a l is to go to Europe a n d ra ce the GPs lik e Freddie Sp ence r a nd th e rest have do ne. Even though I' ve had so m e good finish es an d feel p re tty co m forta ble o n th e bike, I'm n ot lettin g th is co nfid en ce go to my h ead. I know if I do , I'll p robab ly end up crash ing a nd tha t doesn 't do a ny body a ny good . This is the second season you and Jerry have worked together. How did the association come about? J erry has h elped me out since I was a Novice. H e gave me tw o bikes to race whe n I was a Novice, a lthough he didn't work on th em. Wh en I was a Ju n io r, J err y was working for H onda a nd they di dn 't have a ny used 750cc eq u ip ment a t that time, so J im Chish ol m stepped in a nd bo ugh t me a H arley-Davidson XR750. He sp on sored me on the miles and half mi les and I ro de J erry's eq u ip me nt on the sh ort track a nd TTs . Jim is from Salinas (Ca liforn ia), th e same town I'm from. and h e's always been beh ind my racin g . My dad bo ught me my first motorcycle a nd when it came time for another o ne, h e bo ugh t it from J im . Ever since the n - I was a bo ut six a t th e time - J im has h ad so me thi ng to do wit h m y raci ng a nd has stayed with me th rough motocross, d irt track a nd n ow ro ad racing . How does it feel to be on a new team with a new teammate? I like it really we ll a nd I believe it 's bee n good for me as an up coming ri der because Randy ha s been in th e ga me a lmost 10 seasons a nd has been Nationa l Champion tw ice. H e h elp s me o u t wh en I n eed hel p an d I h elp h im o u t too. It works good a nd th ere's no fric tio n be tween u s or in the team . It 's a smooth o peration wh ich m ak es it tha t m uch bet ter a nd eas ier to do our jobs. Did you set yourself goals at the start of this year? Yes. The goa l this yea r wa s to finish the season better th an I di d last season. I en ded 1984 fi fth in the final sta n dings so any th in g better th an th at wo u ld m eet m y goal. Wh at I reall y wa nt to do , as does probabl y a ny racer, is win th e cha m p io ns h ip. If I d id this year I'd be one of th e yo u nges t to wi n it, since the final Nationa l of the season is four days (Sep tem ber 29) after my 20th birthday. How do yo u see the last half of the season shaping up? It sho uld be interesti ng. T he re a re two more road race Na tio na ls I ca n ride a nd there are seven mi le Nationa ls pl u s some half m iles a nd a TT. I thi nk I can run wi th Bu bba , R ick y a n d the rest o n the mi les . We di d in th e first half of the season, bu t it seemed there was a lways a problem like th e chain breakin g a t San J ose, o r so me thi ng go ing in th e engine or a wrong tire choice. We learn ed fro m th ose p roblem s a nd have, hopefully, cured wh a t engi ne problems we've had . T he m ain th in g is to keep the progra m we've go t running smooth. If the re's no friction betw een a ny bo dy a nd th e motors stay together th en it's u p to m e to do the best I ca n an d th at 's th e way I wa nt it. lf llosea ra ce o r wh at ever , I wa n t it to be because of me and n o t because so me th ing h appen ed to th e bi ke. Can your machinery hold up to the test at the end of the season when reliability becomes so critical and the title chase migh t boil down to a factory versus non-factory sup port ed rider? It mi ght be a p robl em , but if i t gets toward th e end of th e season a n d we're still running strong I think we'll have p lenty o f parts a nd p ieces a nd everythin g will befresh. Thetitle chase is goi ng to be close an d th a t's th e way it shou ld be. How did you develop such a positive attitude? I guess it goes back to wh en I ro de minibikes because I was a dominant rider a t that time a nd learned to thi n k po sitive, to go to the track kn owing I co u ld wi n . I think to be a cham pion yo u 've got to h ave that feeling . Yo u ca n tell by looking a t a rid er wh ether he's ca pa ble of winning or not. You 've got to h ave yo ur heart 100 percent behind w ha t yo u do and not let th e pressure or any thi ng else ge t to yo u. The p ressu re m esses up a lot of ri ders who haven't had to or h aven ' t learned to handl e it . What's the key to winning the title? We have to keep th e pressure on Bu bba . I th ink we' ve got pressure on h im now beca use we added enough