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/127125
Sam-E-rmolenko (Con tinued from page 23) my side. T here were maybe three peop le that I know who had the attitude, " It 's about tim e som ebody got ca ugh t." I co u ld not accept anybody saying that. T he rest of th e people were 100 percent behind me, writi ng letters, saying, "fight it," a nd " go for it." In two of the past three years you have finish ed third beh ind Denmark's H an s N ielsen and Erik Gundersen in th e Worl d Champ ionship. Do you know what you have to do to beai the m in 1988. Yes, I think I am th ere. I th ink I ha ve th e ingredients now. Both of those Dan es have had the ir share of winning th e World Cha mpionship. I am hungr y. They cou ld wi n it to morrow a nd feel grea t abo ut it. .T hey could lose to mor ro w a nd feel no pain. If I los t torriorow I a m going to have a lot of pain because I a m h ungr y. I think I ha ve more am bition and I a m h ungrier th an they .are at the moment. They kn ow tha t. Every year I have been in Eng land I have had to stan over. Ge t a house, . a car, bi kes, etc. T his year I already have a house, I have my vehicles, five grea t race bikes, mechanics and a ll the suppor t I need. All I have to do .now is go win th e thing. Motocross and road race enthusiasts sometimes sneer at speedway since the World Championsh ip is decided on one night at one meeting. Doesn 't it actu all y tak e a full year to wi n the title? T ha t is ' right. It's a psychologi ca l bui ld up. You start the very first tim e you are out th ere. You hav e to win tha t first time. T he fir st time is go in g to tell you a nd it is going to put th at edge on the other guy. The next time you beat him you hav e a nother edge on him. You work every da y perfecting everythi ng yo u hav e. I cam e back to the longtrackrace at Asco t (in November) and Ha ns Nielsen was th ere. Shawn Moran was there. All th e top Am ericans were there. T he last time I raced before th at was wit h H ans when I got hurt in Denmark. At Ascot I was ou t to win. I kn ow I can beat these guys. I put my best bike out on the track a nd I wa lked away from those guys. T ha t was th e sta rt of my 1988. Will chasing the World Championship this year make you a stra nger in America? . No. I built m y program to come back this year. In 1986 I ca me back six or seven times. Every break I had I ca me back. I burned mvs elf out flyin g back, ge tti ng the bikes out of th e garage, putting th em together, racin g. I have organized a p lan so my ' bikes, transportati on a nd mech an ics are 150 percent. If I d rop in o n the day to race , I a m ready to race. No aggravatio n! I can spend my entire -day a t th e beach if I want to. You will see a lot more of me because I a m organized. Will you win the World Championship this year? Well , it's in Denmark where a co uple of th e favorites will be o n th eir ho me tra ck. My feelings a t th e moment aren' t 150 percen t th ai I a m going to wi n th e thing. La st year I th ought I was going to win it for sure. I have never won any cha mp io ns h ip th at has been run there (Denmark) but I have never tak en m y best bikes. T he Dan es always have th eir best bi kes. .My ambition is to win that final. It 's go ing to take fro m the start of the seaso n to build u p tha t con fidence to beat those guys o n th eir home turf. It is going to be tou gh. If I do it , I wi ll have earned it for sure. - ~OSIHIIIMUIIl ,, , , ~ , ., , , , YOSHIMURA/MOTUL/SUZUK I Kevin Schwantz arid Doug Polen celebrate in VICTORY CIRCLE after fin ishing 1 and 2 in the Daytona 200 Superbike Race. Scott Gray also on a YOSHIMURAI MOTUUSUZUKI came in fourth place. By the end of t he race Kevin Schwantz had la pped every other rider except for teammate Doug Polen proving the awesome power of YOSHIMURA. DAYTONA 200 S UPE R BIKE RAC E • •.•..... ... ....... • 1.2.and 4 (Schw a ntz. Po le n . G ra y) HEAT RAC E #1 . . ... . .. • •.• •• • • • •. • • • . •.... . . ....•• 1.2.a nd 3 (S chw antz. Polen. Gray) HEAT RACE # 2 . . . •• • . . . •. • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ••••• . . . . . . . . . . . .. .• . 1 (Yukiya Ohshima ) CAMEL PRO CHA LLENG E . . .. •... •.. . • .• . . . 1. 2.3.and 4 (Pol e n. Schwantz. Ohshima, Gray) 750cc SUPERSPORT .... . •. •• . • • • • •. ... .•. . . . . .... . • • . 1 and 2 (Po le n. Dave Sadowski) 600cc SUPERSPORT . • . . . . .. •.... . . . . .....• •... • • • • • 2. a nd 3 (Ga ry Goodfellow. Po le n ) ~ '" rn ttfra - •• ! FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY APRIL 3 APRIL 3· Southwest Regional Championship Races Sprint Races + 100 KM Endurance Race 100KM Endurance Starts 10AM . Sprint Races Start Noon . All Reg ula r AAMA/ CCS Cha mpions hip Classes Plus Reg ion al F-50. Vintage & Lightwe ight Air Cooled YO UR LAS T C HA NC E TO RAC E BEFOR E SUZUKI GSXR CUP RAC E.MAY 15 EVENT SPONSORED BY : KAWA SAKI OF P HOEN IX & APAC HE HONDA-YAMAHA Track Information - (602) 583-8859 AMA/CCS Information - (704) 684-4297 Firebird International Racewa y · , Take I· 10 Ten M South Of Phoenix iles SUZUKI YAMAHA ESC B RA K E S , .. tbim - 25