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
14 up from 60th. I got up to 16th a nd go t a gold medal, which I'd say is o ne of m y biggest accomplishments, but I was pretty disappointed abo u t it, overall. " It was a gr eat expe rie nce though and I really enjoyed myself. Everything abo u t it is pretty posi tive and going to forei gn co u ntr ies and competing against different peop le is reall y exci ting." Su m mers said his move into road raci ng came abo ut by accident. "T he road raci ng idea came u p when o u r mech anics were prepari ng a bike," he said. " We were j us t sitti ng o ut at th e back o f the shop and I trie d o ne of the bi kes. I'd never do ne th a t befor e. I'd never even sat on a street bi ke befor e. Then someone sug~ested going to Keith Co de 's Ca li forn ia Superbike School , so I went th ere a nd I was fairly interested : in it. I thought I could be good a t it, so I talked to th e compa ny . I said I'd like to try road racin g a nd they sai d th a t if I wa nted to do it, it was okay with th em. And everything just ' took off from the re. " Sum mers mad e hi s debut o n the roa d race circuit a t Ri verside, Ca lifornia, in December of 1986, riding a n Alazzura SS 650cc T win. " I had a pretty difficu lt time at first," he sa id, looking back to hi s early rides. ''I'm rea lly not a natural rider so it's someth ing I need to learn a n d wo rk a t, a n d it seemed so di fferent whe n I start ed. I'd never even ridden a stree t bike before I sta rted, so it was p re tty tough, but I'm al ready starting to get it together. It 's new a nd exciting and I want to . do it. " I rea lly did it th e hard way at first," he said. " I did most of m y first races a t Willow Springs and that's sup posed to be th e second-fastest track in th e cou ntry. I was a little n ervous a bo u t th e speed in th e beginn in g but it' s really like any o ther type of raci ng. You just ge t aggress ive a nd start racing, and o nce you 're going you don 't reall y think abo u t it. I'm start ing to calm down a lot now a nd I'm already progressin g. I was on two minutes wh en I first started and since then I' ve got down as far as a 1:37 at Willow , and o n a stock bike that's not bad ." Just a few sho rt months have passed since Summers began his new career, but he alread y has done well in National Pro Twins co mpe ti tio n, sco ri ng sixt h overall at La guna Seca Raceway in July, taking l Oth place at Mid-Ohio in early August, and finishing 15th at Sear s Po int in lat e August. He al so ha s worked hi s way up to second overall in the 750cc Twin class at th e local cl ub level in sou thern California. But, sa id Summers, h is m o st im portant finish on a road bike to date was in April' s La Carrera Road Race, held in Baja, Mexico. Rid in g a 750cc Du cati Twin, th e young rider co m p le ted th e E n sen ada -ro -San Felipe co u rse just l OOth-o f-a-mil e beh ind wi n ner Geoff McCarthy, to grab second overall in his first shot a t Mexico 's H ighwa y 3. " I ba ttl ed a ll the wa y with the guy that wo n it ," Su mmers said, " and I was ri di ng a stock bike. I was leadi ng go ing into th e ver y last sect ion and the guy drafted in behi nd me a nd got me ri ght a t the end. It was m y first time a t the race and with no exp erie nce it was a little crazy. I ended wit h an average speed o f . 108.74 mph. Despi te th e i mpress ive time s Summers is alread y showing, the newcomer's career has had its downs as well as its u ps. "I've alread y cras hed once," sai d Su m mers frankl y. " It was at the Fir ebird Raceway in Phoen ix (Arizona) a co u p le of months ago a nd it was a prett y big one. I was probably doin g a good 90 or 100 m ph. I was goi ng into a big tu rn at th e end of th e straigh t and I was really leaned over, and the tir es gave way. T hey just slid o u t a nd I fell back on m y rear end behind th e bike and slid across the tra ck a nd into the dirt. " Whe n you hi t th e ground it feels like you go fas ter a nd you hear every thing j us t gr indi ng away wh ile you 're slidi ng . I t' s no t too m uch fu n. I was okay a t the en d of it b u t my new lea the rs are all torn up a nd we'd just painted the bike before I di d it. " Bu t, for Summers, even the darkest cloud had a silve r li n ing. " It 's not all bad ," he sa id. "They say th a t a fter you ha ve your first cras h you ge t faster - that until th a t ha ppen s; yo u don't "ea lly kn o w you r r limi tat ion s. And it wasn 't rea lly very dan gerous. Most o f th e cras hes on the track are like th at - just slid ing out with th e tir es giving wa y. The ones you hav e to be caref ul of are wh en you highside it a nd the bike ' chases you down , Those ar e the o nes that hurt you." If you listen to Summers long eno ug h, you find yourse lf believin g it 's easy to mak e th e radical cha nge fro m desert cowboy to roa d race pilot. " I th ink an yone, reall y, co uld make the transit ion, " he said. " If you're a good racer and yo u have tal en t, there's no reason why yo u can 't turn th at talent to another form of racing. You a lrea dy kn ow how to co n tro l the motorcycle and a ll that stuff, so there 's no reason wh y you can 't do it. It's really no big dea l. I thin k a more di fficult th in g wo uld be for a road racer to come out and do something else - like race in the desert. Now tha t would be so me thi ng to see. " Fro m what I' ve learned so far, I can see there's so much more th an just rid ing th e bik e. too . You rea lly have to know the tracks a nd the bikes a nd a big part o f th e game is getting th e bike to ru n right. It 's a lot more technical tha n I imagined. It 's more th an just getting o n th e bike and going fast." Desp ite his cha nge to pa veme nt, Su mmers ad mits that he will a lways have a soft spot for off-road bikes. "My heart is always with the desert bikes and I'll still do th e dirt bikes for fun ," he sai d. " I en joyed m yself wh en ever I rode the m , but th e road rac ing has got me o n a balancing beam now . Whe n I look a t my (road racing) bike or go ride it, I get interested in it so it 's difficult for me right now, but I' m sure th at that's the di rection I want to head. Road racing is a lot of fu n." . And Sum mers pulls no p unc hes abo u t the financia l side of his change of tac k. " Mo ney-wise I would definitel y have to say road racing is where it 's at. T he guys like the Lawsons and the Spencers ma de so m uc h money it 's no t even rea l. T here are millions to be mad e ou t there - j us t look a t Kenny Roberts," he sai d. Summers' ma in co ncentration is on competing in the Nat ional Pro T wins Ser ies. "The em p has is is on the twins a t th e moment, " said Summers, "b ut ·I race every th ing else that I can for the expe rience a nd the tra ck time. I race a Du cati 750Fl in the twins races - it's the com pa n y's production model of a race bike. It 's not street legal but it 's production, so anyone can bu y one a nd we sell a lot of those." I'm learnin g to ride a twin because that's what th e com pany 's new bike is g oing to be," Su m me rs sa id. " T hey're workin g o n a new , fourva lve -per-cy linde r twin. They're try ing to get it into p roducti on by 1988/ 1989 a nd they 'll wa nt to compete in the su p er b ikes wit h it. They're hopin g I can be availa ble by the n and hopefull y be good enough. It 's pretty u n us ua l - they 're building a bike and a racer alo ng wit h it.,. Cagi va 's unusua l att itude has earned them a very loyal em p loyee. ''I' ll be stayi ng with Cagiva. I ha ve a very strong future wit h th em ," said Su m me rs. " We are a tea m here a nd I'm growi ng with the m every day . We ar e making an in vestment in each o ther, work ing to be the best we can. And togeth er we're go ing to go right to the very top ." " .