Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 0') ... Q.) ..c o ... u o Bubba Shobert. ahead of the crowd at San Jose (above) and as a face in a crowd of ce lebrating f ans after tying up the championship (bel ow). Interview: J985 Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert The race ain't over 'til the last fan's gone By Paul Carruthers L ong after mos t of h is competitors had packed it up and h eaded home, Bu bba Shobert remai n ed , faithfu ll y signing autographs and talking to fans of a ll age s. Shobert was a t h o me. Not in his dwelli ng in L ubbock . Texa s, but at his other ho me. the race tra ck , It could have been anywhere from the H o usto n Astr odom e to the Ind ia na pol is Slate Fai rgrou nds. but rh is lime it was Asco t Park in Garde na , Ca lifornia. Shobert had JUSl finish ed seco nd behind Ron n ie Jones in the hal f mi le, only one week after wrapping up his first AMA /Came l Pro Grand Nationa l Champions hip' at the Sa n J ose Mile. BUI success hasn 't spoiled th e Texa n; he was pr ep ar ed to stay until th e fina l fan went hom e. A g la nce alone yo u ng fan 's a utograph o n th e Iron t o f h is p ro gram reveal ed a p hone number below Shobert's sig na tu re, Wh o 's number was il? Sh ob ert 's mana ger 's, right? Wrong . Tha t isn ' t Shobert 's sty le. The number turned OUI 10 be none other th an a pe rso na l hook-up to Shobert's h ouse in Lubboc k - this a lone tells a 101 abou t th e new Grand Nation a l Ch amp. " T he re were a co up le of kids th ere (ASCO I), I don 't kn ow who th ey were, but th ey as ked me for m y pho n e nu m ber so I gave it to 'em ," Shobert sai d . " I' ve ha d a co up le o f co llect phone calls from kid s a nd I usu all y acce p t th em , yo u kn ow, th ey usu all y say, 'a co llect phone ca ll from a fan .' I try a nd respond to th ose calls . " I u sed to go to H ouston whe n I was eig ht , nine years o ld ; my dad used to lak e me there and it wa s always rea l exciting going in the pi ts a nd getting everybody's autograph . So I can relat e to th e kids. I went up to Gary Scott once wh en I was a kid and asked for hi s a u tograp h , but he didn 'I hav e time. I th ought that was reall y crummv, so I never tell them that I don 't have lime; I enjoy doing it. If yo u gel too good to do th a t, then it takes a ll the fu n OUI of it. " Shobert, however, is busy . O ver the past two seasons, h e ha s been the dom ina nt rider co mpeting fo r the G NC. Las t year, the factory H onda pil ot m issed winn ing th e championsh ip by o n ly a sing le po int a fter nOI scoring po int s a t six co nsec u tive races . The ra ces weren 't mi ssed because o f injury or th e want for so me th ing bel ter to do, but because of a suspe ns io n from th e AMA ; Shobert go t into a scu ffle with fell ow racer T erry Poo vey in th e pits prior to th e SI. Lou is National o n Jul y 7. H e rode under a p pea l in th e next three rounds and scored a win in th e H agerstown Half Mil e - bUI the points were tak en away a lo ng with a ny realist ic cha nce o f a Na tional Ch ampionship. The yo u ng Texa n didn ' t gi ve up , a nd wh at follow ed wa s th e most impressive strea k in recent ra cin g h istory, After the co mpleti on of hi s 45-day sus pe ns io n, Shob ert fini sh ed seco nd in th e H awthorne Mil e, th e Peoria TT a nd th e back-to-back Ind y Miles. But he d id n ' t stop th ere. After a 12th p lace fin ish a t th e Bra inerd Road Race, Shobert won the Syracuse Mil e, San J ose Mile, Mid -Oh io Road Race, a nd Sacrament o Mile. He the n -addedseco nd-p lace finishes at v . th e back-to-hack ASCOI TT a n d half ca me back from losin g by o ne point m ile a n d a t a seco nd Sacra me nto a t Sp ri ngfield, he was a little on the Mile. so ft side a t H ouston, but after th at he As for 1985, Shobert took five had th e 'eye o f the tiger.' a nd th a t Nationa l wi ns - fo ur mil es a nd one really su ms u p th is year for h im , H e's TT - a n d th e Grand Na ti onal defin itel y got th e eye of th e tiger. " Champ ionshi p . with lWO ro u nds Shobert agrees th a t the scu ffle changed h is a ui tude abou t man y rem a ining. Accordin g to H onda learn manthings and ma y ha ve led to a n even ager Gene Ro mero , th e turn in g point tu al Nat ional Cha m pionshi p , but a in Shobert's ca reer ma y hav e been th e sen se o f regret ca n still be heard when unfortunat e in cident o n Ju ly 7,1 984. listen in g to h is descri ption o f a roc ky "Afterthe si tuation (the fight in St. 1984. " It seeme d li ke I jus t had a whole Lou is), he had to rea lly go o u t a nd prove to H o n da h e wa s wo rt hy," lot more determ ina tion (after th e in Ro m ero said. "Afte r h e did th at , he cideru ),' Shobert said. " It seems lik e gal bett er a nd realized , ' Hey, I'm th a t whe n yo u race wee k-to-week, yo u good,' and beca me acc us to med to ta ke for granted a 101 of th in gs. Yo u th at level. Between tha t an d rna turforget how hard it was to ge l tha t -ing , he 's come a lon g wa y: After -he '- ' '- fat:lory'ride a nd when th at hap pen ed, 1-3

• Cover