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/126983
lot for the way he did things. He just let me do what I wanted. In wanted to ride, I would, and if I didn't want to ride it was up to me. He never pushed me, but he made me fix th e bike and that taught me a lot. " At first it was just fun, but when I wa s about 16 I started to get serious. I started working to get m y ex pert stripe in desert racing and that wa s when I got competitive." According to Summer s, getting to the top took a lot of hard work. "I'm not a natural rider," he explained. " I don 't have any natural talent at all. I had to develop it. It took me three, four or five years to get up into the top 10 in the desert. It 's hard to say why anyone is better than anyone else on a bike. All I know is th at my skill is more hard work than natural ability." You would find few desert ra cers who would agree with Summers' " no talent" opinion of his a b ili ties. Concentrating on th e I25cc d ivision, Summers quickly made a name for himself and attracted Cagiva's attention in late 1983. " I was at a trade show with a motorcycle shop and I was introduced to the Cagiva people. I went and tested a bike for them and I did well enough that they gave me a bike eac h yea r and things just got better from th ere," he said. " Bette r, " in Summers ' case, translated to a complete domination of d es ert racing 's 125 cc division. Summers and his Cagiva took th e 125cc honors a t Whi skey Pete's World Championship Hare and Hound three years in a row , won a ll but one round of th e AMA National H are & H ound Series in 1986, teamed with J ohn Rudder to win th e 125cc di vision a t SCO R E's Baj a 500 and Moj ave 250 in 1985 a n d 1986, and th e Baja 1000 in 1986, and wa lked a way from th e co mpeti tio n in a lmost every so u the rn Cal iforn ia AMA / Distr ict 37 desert race he entered. . Why stick to the 125cc class? Wh y not go for th e overa ll win? "T ha t was rea lly th e co m pany 's d eci s ion , " Summer s ex p la ined . "T he 125cc was th e best motorcycle we h ad at th e time and it wa s also th e h ard es t class to break into because it 's so co m pe titive. Cagiva wa nted to co ncen tra te th eir ra cin g effor ts th ere, so th at's where I ro de. " I wa s very happy wi th m y bikes," th e desert cha mp sa id. " I thi n k o ur 125cc desert bi ke is one of th e best arou n d. T hey're very co m pe titive a nd th ey a lways wo rked well for m e. "There's a bi g differen ce between Cagiva's racing effort a nd everyo ne else 's too," sa id Su m me rs. " We run basicall y stock bikes. We don't have bi g racing programs that spen d lo ts o f m oney mak ing work s parts. We race what we sell - producti on bikes. Tha t's th e co m pany 's th eory, and I th ink it's fair er to the pu blic. T he re's no point in havin g a bik e that 'll win everything if th e average guy ca n 't buy one. It's li ke fa lse advertisi ng. But with Cagiva. you cou ld go to yo ur local dealer a nd bu y exactl y the same b ike th a t I won on in the dirt or on the pavement. To me, that's important." Summers' involvement with Cagiva switched from weekend racing to . a full-time job at the factory's LC's Angeles headquarters just before his ISDE debut. " I was really getting involved with them a lot, working with the bikes and getting a lot of knowledge about the bikes too, so th ey offered me a job. It was a sma ll company at th e time (in the United States) and it was hard for th em to hire someone, so I really feel lucky to be here. " I work in th e service department, " Summers said. "I j"Jandle warranty claims an d I work with deal er rel ations, trouble sh ooting problems with th em. It 's a grea t job. I lik e th e people I work with a nd I th ink I have a good fu tu re with th e co m pany. " Su mmer s m ad e his firs t b ig career cha nge in 1986 when he picked up a positio n on th e USA 's ISDE team wh ich co mpeted at the Internat ional Six-Day Enduro in Ital y. " Last yea r's ISD E was th e first o ne a fter th e Ca gi va/Husky merger and it was go ing to be in Ital y, so we th ought it would give me a go od o p p o rt u n ity to go th rough o u r factory the re an d to ·show th e bikes off here in th e Stat es," said Su m me rs. "I'd never ridde n a n enduro before in my life a nd I kn ew nothing abo u t tim in g or a ny th ing. I kn ew I'd make a few m istakes but I ' thought I' d m anage so mehow. " And m anage he d id - not on ly to ma ke th e team, b u t a lso to win o ne o f the eve nt's coveted go ld medals. . . " I go t a go ld m edal , but I fin ished 16th in m y class an d I wasn ' t too happy ab out th at ," Summers said. " I was riding a Ca g iva I25cc a nd had wo rked m y way up to th ird in class a nd was doing rea lly well, but as a rookie I lost m y head a little bi t a nd made a mistake. I started too ea rly - missed my starting time by two seco nds and go t pena lized. It was o n the fourth day wi th only a few tests left a nd I had to work m y way back - 13