Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Randy Mamola, a four-time runnerup in the 500cc GP title fight, says his ride w ith Cagiva is a " great step. Main ly because it's a challenge ." 26 getting off this time, and then he 's away agai n, while mechanics do something to Raymond Roche's. . Ra ymond and I take the break toge ther and go inside Cagiva's big wh ite tent whe re th e clean stee l machinery and wood en parts crates are, and we lind a place' to sit on a table. I look a t this ri der from th e south of France a nd see what I bel ieve is a kn ight from th e 12th Century, suc h a fierce a nd nobl e qu iet th is fell ow Roch e has abo u t h im . An d whe n he speaks, it rem inds me a ll over agai n o f m y film -ma ki ng years with J ean-Claude Kil ly, whe n Kill y was still struggling h imself with English. " Cagiva is very special," says Ra ymond now, with suc h a ri ch accent. " It is a good famil y. This year there are no sponsor. T he bi g boss say, ' No, I do n't wan t sponsor!' Because Ca giv a is a co mpany of ' m a n y co m pa n ies." Motorcycl es, engi nes, locks and latch es - Ca giv a is a Eu ropean indus tri a l giant, ma ki n g it s mov e o n th e. wor ld motorcycle market. In th e pause, here in th e tent, I tell Raym ond Roche I have a Paso , a Du cati Paso. And he li ghts up, raci ng back to the fu ture from th at 12th Century I had cast him in to today, to now ! "Yeah ! Me too !" he says in a fresh voice. " I like: It's ni ce, h uh ? Beautiful! I ha ve o ne Paso, I have one Cagiva 250 rnot o.cross : Ro ssa , yes. Red. Good bik e, huh?" And I ask . him abo u t h is teamm a te , a bo u t th e Amer ican Randy Mam ol a. ' '' Ra ndy is .a big nam e in Europe. H e 's goo d fo r Cagiva. For me it's no p roblem . I kn o w me, I kn ow him ." Ten minutes la ter, Raymond is out on th e track again, pulling whee lies himself. He had told me he liked best the race, a nd not th e practice, not the testing. Now he is a knight aga in , An d I reca ll wha t Rand y has a lready to ld me a bo u t teammate riders, that separa te b ut un ited sta nd Mamola ta kes. ''' 1 work fin e with teamma tes because I just don' t look at th em ," Randy says flat ly" in no wa y bein g cru el, rather just entirely practica l in sui ting the way he, Marn o la, rides a nd races. Says Randy abo ut Ra ymond, ','I ca n' t extrac t any thing from h im , unless I learn i t' from h im o n th e ra ce, track. Wh en ever th ey speak, th ey can spea k a ll th ey want - but wha t they do is wh at I learn from . T he mai n importance of this team, with two riders, is the importan ce th at th e Says Randy Mam o la abo u t all thi s: "T ha t goes wa y back to when I fir st started. My mother a nd fa th er a lways ta ugh t m e to be very grateful for wh a t 1 ha ve - two hands a nd two leg s and two eyes and a good head o n m y sho ulders, a nd every th ing th a t works. So ever since th en I have been very gra tefu l. I'm very gratefu l for wha t I h ave, a nd wh at I' ve come abou t to receive th rough m y racin g. " A lon g time ago I rem ember a t the Cow Pa lace wat ch in g m y hero Kenny Rob erts race, a nd it was ha rd to ge t a n a u togra p h from h im , becau se he was very bu sy and th ere was a lo t o f peo ple aro u nd him a t the ti me, a nd it was j us t un heard o f to try to ge t hi s a u togra p h. And I said, if I reverse d th e rol e, I'd like to g ive th a t kid th a t a utograph. Becau se la ter on tha t will mean th at much to him." . Now in hi s la te 20s Randy is cons tan tly thi n king abo ut kids, a nd ho w to mak e the m ha p p y. H e's worked for years wi th the Crippled Ch ild re n's Society, a nd now is ca mpa ig n ing wo rldwide for Save T he C h ild ren. " It's here in America, it 's th rou gh out Europe a nd Engla nd." P rin cess An ne is a we ll kn own pat ron o f Save T he Chi ld ren. " I met A former road racer and fighter pilot, J im Doyle currently manages Randy Mamola and pilots a Un ited Airlines Boeing 737-300. correc t infor mation gets ba ck to the ' people who can use that, and th at's th e mechan ics." . " Fo r Randy," says George Vukmanovi ch , down a t Ca giva in Ga rde na, "the bike's a tool. H e treats it like a tool , he tak es ca re o f it , doesn 't abuse it. He has a lo t o f respect for it. H is a tt itu de toward the mot ocycle is fantastic. You'd never see Randy smash a gas tank or ge t mad a nd jump o ff a bike. I'v e seen bikes blow up underneath him a nd he co mes back, af ter the race, a nd he says, 'Sorry .' And I say, 'Sorr y for wh at?' H e cras hed T uesday (March 8) a t Laguna (a mean h igh sider in Turn Eight ) a nd he sa id he was sorry. And I sa id, 'For what ? Did you crash on purpose?' Of co u rse he didn't. That's j ust part of th e job . His father tau ght h im that very well. " He was so young whe n he started, Randy learned to grow up through the mot or cycle," Geor ge goes on . " If he studied in schoo l good, he go t to ra ce hi s bik e. And a ll he wa n ted to do was be on th e bike, so he lea rn ed to be how h is fat her wa nted him to be. And hi s bike was his reward . And so hi s fat he r in stilled a lo t o f respect in thi s mot or cycle, as somethi ng special for Randy. And bel ieve it or not , wh en he ge ts on it, it's not a job, it 's p leasu re. I mean , he loves to ride that bik e. And I don't thi n k th ere's a lot of guys that lo ve to ride the bi ke. Ra ndy comes home a nd he rides Street bik es. H e likes bikes, period, that's it," Princess Anne a nd I handed her a check for $19,300 a co u p le o f months ago. And now it's up to - wit h just m y name a lo ne, holding specia l events, giving time o ff of my free time - we've go t it up to a lmost $50,000. And this year I'm ' goi ng to hold a cou p le raffl es a nd sell a poster of me a nd the Cagiva and 1 think I ca n earn abo u t $200,000 for thi s charity. The reason wh y I'm pushing so hard for Save Th e Child ren , it n ot o n ly ben efits th e ch ild ren of m y home co untry, but the world wh ere I race, where 1 extrac t money. So 1 a m 5sent ia lly g iving back to th e world;" / And m y unseen mot ion pi cture camera is rolling. Th is time o n Mon ea n , m eticulou s ly p a intin g bla ck d rop sha dows beh ind th e Cagiva o n Randy's tank. Gettin g ready for the still phot ographers wh o . are o n th e wa y in d ro ves. Getting ready for the hecti c p romotional side o f thi s s po rt th at is so tim eco ns u ming a nd sometimes co ntroversia l, but a lways so vi tal in th e overa ll package th a t ma kes the who le wide roa d racing world live a nd brea th e and co n tin ue. And grow. " It's very rare," Jim Doyle says o f wha t he cla ims is th e biggest maney contract ever written in th mo torcycle racing industry _- hi s a nd R and y' s co n trac t w i th Cagiva' s G ia nfranco and Claudio Castiglioni, th e megawea lt h co m pany fami ly th a t loves mot or cycles, the brot hers wh o George Vu km anovich enjoys so mu ch and says wou ld p rob a bl y spe nd th eir last do llar on mo tor cycle racing. " T he Castig lion i brothers will do anything within reason an ything we as k. We wo n' t ask for a ny th ing that's not within reason. So I ca n say, 'They will do anyth ing.' And th ey have a lot of respect for me, a lot of respect for Randy. And th ey kn ow that we kn ow wh at we're doing. . " We've been at this a long tim e. If th ere is an y chance fo r the Cagi va mot orcycle to win a G rand Prix , RandyMarnol a will do it. If th ere's a ny chance for the Ca giva motocycle to be the World Champi onship mo torcycle, Randy Mam o la will a lso put it th ere. He' s their best bet. H e's been o n all the factori es, the tea ms. H e' s ridden the facto ry st uff, he's ridden facto ry stu ff si nce he started! He 's ridden fa ctory stu ff since th e 70s! And I sa id to Ra ndy, 'I th in k you' ll become a pa rt o f a ver y grea t fa mil y, a nd I thi n k th at for th e rest of your life, if you wo rk with the m , they wi ll see th a t you' re tak en care of.' And I beli eve tha t today. 1 believe th at Randy Mamola is part o f the Cas tig lio ni fam il y." And now, at Lagu na Sera, Mamola on his Cagiva goes o u t agai n th is ti me wearing a video "chi p" ca me ra, a nd 10-p ound VCR o n hi s back! Not some th ing I .wo u ld ever wa nt to do! Even if I wo u ld or could ride a G P machine. Bu t hi s helm et camera view is Pheee-Nom-Ah -Nul ! U p ove r T u rn O ne Hi ll ! An d now - not Laguna 's O ld Co urse - bu t di vin g deep left o nto th e New Loo p a nd ta ki ng th o se '!O- foo t w ide swee pers aro und an d back u p th e h ill . aga in, ,the race track edges blurrin g past. You are the Gra nd Prix racer now . Riding h is bik e. T he Cor kscrew th rows yo ur hori zon back and forth in ro ller coas ter madness. T he n a no ther bridge zips overhead like a jet's sha dow a nd you a re downhill and hu ngover for Big T u rn T en (used to be eig h t), th rough it, a nd ra king hea vil y for II. And now th e Start-Finish stra ig h t! And yo u see your front whee l co me up an d for this am azin g few seco nds you are Randy Mamola, a t hi s tra ck, doing hi s signa ture ki nd of riding. Randy Marn ol a - the Ital ian a nd Portuguese decent Ameri can from Woodside, Ca lifornia - could win th e World Championship. T h is year. Next year. He cou ld. And migh t. Jim aga in: "Throw a little lu ck in th ere - th at's rig ht! H e certainly co uld. He has no intentions, no intentions, o f giv ing up - to a nybo dy. H e's go t a burning desire to go fast , to win races, and sho w th e world tha t he has n ot retired . You see a lean mean mach in e. And he' s men tally read y. He's ha rd as a rock. 1 don't think you can shoot through him. H e's tha t to ugh rig h t now. " It 's a n exciting sport fu ll o f excit ed people wi th exci ting com me nts. But th is is exactly as it sh ou ld be. The very nature of G rand Prix motorcy cle racing, is to ex tend the lim its, ou rs and our machines, andthe n to find o u t wh at happen s. T ak in g steps, doing the unusu a l, the risky, is a t the ver y h eart and so u l o f th is com pe ti tio n. " I think it' s a gr ea t step ," says Ra ndy Mamo la o f h is ride wi th Ca gi va , "Mainl y becau se ' it' s a cha llenge. It's a cha lle nge for the wo rl d, it 's a challe nge for th e industry. And ha t I fight for is not just for m ysel f. 1 fight for motorcycle racing," "Cut!" 1 tell m y im aginary ca mera crew. " And let' s print it." On Varese' s sho re near Mi lano , hard by th e Cagiva factory where Randy's and Raymo nd 's G P bikes a re mad e, th e . lak e mist ri ses on a nothe r new day of gr ea t expec• tations.

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