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/126980
Looking back at the 1986 season, what was your most memorable race? There were q u ite a few m em orable o nes . A mem orabl e race wa s in France, it wa sn 't m y best fin ish , bu t France a nd Germ a ny, th ey were just wh eel-to -wheel di ces. I finish ed a thousandth of a seco nd o u t of seco nd place and I was jus t a seco nd ou t of second p lace in Ital y; th ey wer e a ll mem orable. What are some of the highs and lows of racing full-time in Europe? The lo ws come when yo u r lu ck turns. There were some rea lly frustr ati n g moments wh en the bike wa sn' t ru n ning rig h t. I co u ldn't get th e team to u ndersta nd wha t was wron~ wi th it. I'm trying to tell th em the h ike isn 't running righ t a n d I ge t th e sense from th em th at it isn 't th e bi ke, it' s me because it's m y firs t time on th e bik e. So, so me times I wouldn 't say it's not runnin g ri ght. ' I would just try to ride it th e way it wa s. The hi ghs are when you stand on the podium a nd get a trophy, because in Europe, in th e World Championships anyway , ge tti ng o n th e vrcto ry 'pod iu m is everyth ing. In Am eri ca , being in th e first three isn 't any b ig deal - o r it does n' t seem to be. Winning is m ore im p o rta n t in Am er ica. In Europe, jus t ge tti ng on would walk up and say "you'r e just going o u t for a Sunda y ride, this doesn 't co u nt, yo u 're not goi n~ to ea rn a ny points o r money." T h is is as I'm going to the grid. (He said it) with a sm ile o n h is face because he was enjoying tell in g m e that. I' ve got m y leathers a n d hel m et o n. I'm going out to ra ce. Wh y wo uld the y do that? Wh y would someone be in a posi tion to do that? Wh y wou ld th ey have someone lik e that running th e competition? And it was a ll over the fact that one o f my outsta nding bi lls wi th th e AM A was n 't paid. I think it was 40. So I had to run around to fi nd someone wh o had 40 cas h o n th em because I di dn 't have m y wallet wi th me on the grid. I' ll go to my grave with hard feelings toward th e AMA. But, I'll have to say th at n ow I ha ve good feeli ng to wards a lot of th e peop le th ere. A lot o f AM A people are terrifi c people. These a re peop le I didn 't kn ow whe n I said th at. To me, a ll th e AMA wa s bad, but today m y feelings are really mixed.> It seems that once American riders get good they head over to Europe and the American fans lose out. Right! That's some thi ng funn y wi th th e AMA . I ge t th e feel ing from th e AMA that th ey ta ke o ffense a t th a t. They ge t reall y u pset whe n racers get King Kenny Roberts watches as Baldwin an d teammat e Randy Mamola practice for t he Spanish Grand Prix; Baldwin says Roberts is a bi g help. the podium is im porta nt because yo u get a lot of recognition. How would you compare Grand Prix road racing to American road racing? Today, I don' t think I co u ld com pare . it. Wh en I sta rted racing a 750 in 1977 it was very similar. When yo u went to Daytona in th e 70s yo u go t th e feelin g there were teams a nd that it was a Grand Prix rac e. American racing is go in g away fro m G rand Prix raci ng a n d more into production rac ing. It 's to tally different. Fo r me, it 's very difficult to co m pare th e two . Nine years ago you stated that " th e AMA is just a perennial obstacle to everybody, they are holding back promoters, sponsors and people in all aspects of racing. " Do you still believe that today? That was m y feeling for a long time with th em. I can ' t say I don 't feel that way now. My a tt itu de tow ard ' them ha s changed and my feeling toward th e-people a t th e AMA h as cha nged. I think I've h ad so m e reall y tough tim es wi th th ose people. I felt in th e ea rly to mid-70s th ere were so me people that were reall y h olding back racing a nd th e development o f the sport here. T hey wo u ld do things to m e lik e jus t before a 750 National, the guy that's director of co mpetition good and go to Eu rope. I don't think th ey sho u ld tak e offense to th at. And w he n th e Am eri cans go to Eu ro pe a n d do good, it's lik e " h e' s o ur rid er, h e's representin g us." The guys come to Europe because th ey don't wa nt anyth ing to do with racing over here - partiall y. Do you think the Superbike series is representing professional racing in America? I don't think it is. The wh ol e reason fo r the pop u lari ty o f S u p er bike racing a n d setting up th e ru les was to lower the cos t so th at a ma teurs a nd smaller teams co u ld ge t into it. T ha t's grea t! That's good to have, but we a lso need a p rofessio nal seri es. Wa yn e Ra in ey, Bubba Sh ob ert and Kevin Sch wa ntz shou ld be rid ing in a professional racing gr oup a nd th e o the r g uys shou ld be riding in th e a mateu r side; th e g uys wh o do n 't have a hope a nd a p rayer o f com. peting against th em . Do you think the field would be large enough if you just had true professionals competing against each other? I th ink that's proba bly the reaso n for going to Superbi kes. The peop le th a t sa nction an d promote ra ces don ' t feel the y co u ld p ut o n a show with 2025 ri ders . T he y feel th ey ha ve to have 50 or 80. L e t ' s d i scuss equipment. Wha t adjustments di d you have to make going from the Honda three-cylinder to the four-cylinder Yamaha? It 's a tough adj us tme nt to make if you 've never ri dde n a varie ty o f d ifferent b ikes before. But having the ex perience o f ridi ng o n a wide range of m o torcycles is rea lly im porta nt. I had a lot of time on th e Suzu ki sq uare-four, on in-line fou r-st ro ke en d u ra nce bikes tha t were set u p li ke U; P bike which handl ed a lo t li ke the Yam a ha V-fo ur. So , I've ha d a lo t of different bi kes to ride an d I' ve been ab le to get used to many different bikes. If you had a wish list, what more would yo u ask of the Yamaha? T h e Ya ma ha righ t no w has a lot o f rea lly good poi nts. T he o n ly thi ng I co u ld never ge t right o n m y particular bike, a n d I don't kn ow if they 're a ll lik e th at a nd I h ave a feeling th ey are, I would like to see th e mo tor run better a n d more clea n ly. Wh en yo u rid e a threecylinder H onda, a V-four Suzuki or a V-fou r Honda, th e motors ar e clean a nd have a lot of sna p to th em. T he throttle response is very good. The Yamaha is boggy a nd runs like that fo r a lot of reasons. I th ink th at o vera ll a sna p p ier m ot or, a crispe r ru n ni ng engine is bett er. I've n ever . been ab le to ge t th at co m bina tion. The bik e is a lso prett y hard to steer an d p re tty slow handling . Wh en you 're r idin g i t th rou gh a fas t sect io n , you're muscl in g th e bike so hard tha t yo u ge t a hea d of th e b ike - yo u ' re actua lly tryi ng to tu m it before th e bike is capable of turning. So yo u ac tua lly have to slo w yo u rself down and get more in time with the bike a nd let th e bike co me around. If yo u 're al wa ys a hea d of the bike, you wear yo urse lf o u t. The H onda three-cylinder steers a nd handles so fast tha t th e bike is usually ahead o f the rider. So it 's th e rider trying to ca tch up with th e speed a n d handlin g o f the bike. They hav e to get a bike tha t steers a little bit more quick ly and nimbl y an d rea ll y wants to comer a little more effo rtless ly. T hose a ren' t j ust easy th in gs to acco m p lish. It 's very difficu lt to get that co m b ina tio n. I assume you and Ran dy Mamola have the same equipment. Our eq u ip me nt in a ll th e races last year, an d even this year, is very close. If th ey ge t development parts a nd new things to try, they'll go on hi s bike firs t. But in th e end the bik es are still very close. There've been a few insta nces whe n o n ~ of m y bikes is quicker than Randy's bike by a frac tio n a nd tim es wh en one of h is b ikes h as been quick er th an m ine by a frac tio n. Bu t,·th at's not because of e~ ui p ment - we all go o u t with slig htly different settings. How does your race set-up differ from Randy's? The biggest differen ce between th e way he sets h is bike u p a nd th e way I set up m y bik e is fro nt brakes a nd front tires. H e likes a brake th a t' s a li ttl e b i t m ore progressive a n d does n 't sto p quit e as h ard ini tially. H e likes a tire th at 's a little bi t slower handl in g th at doesn' t quite flick dow n so h ard a nd so quickl y. H e hangs way off a nd p u lls th e bik e in with his bod y an d a lmos t re lies on th e b ik e to h old h im up fr om floppin g over in a co rner. T ha t riding style su its a few tra cks in Europe lik e Assen a n d Yugoslav ia wh ere hi s style is a real advantage. H e ca n do a lo t better a t certa in tracks because o f th at , I like the bi ke to steer as q ui ck as possible a nd I like th e br a kes, when I touch them, to co m e o n rea l hard a n d real quickl y. How do the Lucky Strike Roberts Yam ah as co m p are with the ~Iarl- boro Yam aha machines? Do you get equal . factory support and equipment? I thin k th ey're very close. I'v e heard wid el y var yin g o p in io n s. Som e peop le ha ve to ld me th a t o ur bik es a re n ' t eve n close to wh at Eddie (La wso n) h as. I don't know a ny th ing abo u t that, All I feel is th at m y bike is very close to Eddie's. No t the same, bu t very close. What are some of the differences? Well , if they come out with a new set of cylin ders or heads or pipes, he's going to get them first. Naturally , because he 's th e number o ne rider. His bike is faster tha n o urs , bu t I don' t a lways kn o w if th at's because the guys working on h is bike ha ve been working on tha t bi ke for six years . They know it a nd th ey ge t th e tunin g right every time. Let's face it , la s t year wa s o u r fi rst tim e wo rking on th ose bikes a nd tuning th em. Some tim es we 're going o u t . th ere a nd we'r e goi ng to be a little bit rich and a little bit o ff an d Eddie's go in g to go by us. But, I ca n ' t come right out an d .sa y hi s bike is better because I don 't kn ow th at . Do you think the factory Honda Vfours have an advantage over the Yamaha this year? Yes, I think so. This year th ey do fro m wh at I' ve seen in the two races . In what way? In top spee d, th ey co rner a litt le harder, th ey handl e left to right a little quicker a nd I th ink overall th ey ru n cr isper. So Yamaha has some catching up to do ? Rig h t, and I think they 're wo rking real ha rd on that right now. Let's discuss tires. After so many yea rs with Mi chelin, yo u 're now using Dunlops. How was that decisio n made and wh at imput did you ha ve? It was a tough decision, not on ly for m e, but for th e en tire team. Kenny (Roberts) told m e a t th e beginning o f 1986 tha t we ' re go i ng with Mich elin a nd we'r e going with a ll th e eq u ip men t we know is good. Beca use a t th e en d o f the yea r, and aft er each race, we did n't wa nt a ny excuses. We wa nt to el im ina te th e excuses before we go to the track, which is a good p hilosop hy if yo u want to win races . And i t worked , we went with wh at was p ro ven a nd we did really well last year. At th e en d of last year we were kind of disappo inted. T here was an A a nd B tea m with Michel in . I was on th e B team , so th ere were certa in times when th ev h ad the best tires a nd th e n ew tires' a nd I co ul dn' t get th em . But th at wasn ' t so m uch the p roblem as o u r co ncern th a t si nce everyone was o n Mich el in , we were just another team o n Michel in . T here's n o rea l rea son for th em to give us a ny extra effort or special service. Kenny always had co ntact with Dunlop. H e said we shou ld test th e tires and try what they have. I sa id, grea t, I th ink we ought to try th em to see wha t th ey're lik e. So we tested the m, so me were good, so me n ot so good. Bu t th e Du nl op peop le m ade a real strong com m it me nt. If.. we changed to Dunlop th ey wo u ld back us 100%. We woul d be th eir A tea m. So it was down to cou ld they produce a tir e? Dunlop is a bi g company an d th ere's no reaso n wh y th ey ca n 't p ro duce a tire as good as Michelin. They m ight not be eq ua l to Michelin a t the first or seco n d race, but I th ough t that certai n ly th ey shou ld be ab le to build a tire. T hey cer tai n ly ha ve th e technol ogy. It was a team decision in the end. They got together , figured o u t which tires they th ough t wou ld be th e bes t a nd the ones we ' wou ld be running in the G Ps. Ra ndy went to Ma la ysia to test th em a nd th e test went pretty