Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Broc Glover · (Con tin ued from page 41) 64 going to Europe next year but I think that's more talk than fact. I want to race something for sure. So you're not sure if you 'll be back with Yamaha? I have no idea . They haven 't said one word to me about riding next year. H ow long have yo u been with Yamaha? . I started in September of '76.· Would you rather race in the States or go over to Europe? It 's hard to say, depending on what the program was. I wouldn't mind riding in Europe, ma ybe Yamaha would lik e to try and win over th ere, I don 't kn ow . They have th eir own program th ere that's quite a bit different. It doesn 't seem to be geared towards winning. I've got th e 500cc Grand Prix com ing up, and I'm going to try as hard as I ever have for any of them, espe cially coming off the victory in L.A. Will yo u be r i ding th e 500cc Nationals? No I won 't. So what will yo u do for the rest of the season? I have no idea, reall y. It's up in the air. Yamaha is talking about riding some races outside of the country, so we'll see what happens there. I'm sure I'll hav e a few weekends off. I'm trying to find some races I can hit because I want to stay fresh. I'm looking a t racing in Australia, Germany, Finland a nd Belgium. I ca n' t stop racing and expect to come back because after a layoff of three or four months I certain ly won't be fresh .wh en I come back next year. And I don 't think I'm at the speed I need to be up to, so I can 't afford to stop. H ow m uch longer do you th ink you can compete before retiring? I know eventually I'll have to stop racing, you can 't keep racing forever. I don 't know, I haven't sat down and said that on this date I'm never going ride another race again. I don 't know wha t's in the future, I can't read it. At this point I' d like to say I'm taking it year by year, but really it's not even that. I'm j ust taking it week by week and race by race , just kind of seeing what happens. What would you like to do when you're finished raci ng? I'd like to take some time to relax for a Iittle bi t. Recently I've been inquiring about car racing, doing some race course and driving schools. The smoothness I have on a motorcycle translates real well to a car. It seems that when I've done the school I've done very well at it . . I think I might try to pursue car racing. I don 't really want to drive openwheel cars, they 're dangerous, but either th e stock car stuff or the new Corvette series . NASCA R would be . my ultimate goal. A coup le of years ago yo u considered acting. Is that still in your plans? I really enjoy it, bu t the problem with acting is there's so many peop le trying to get in it. I don't want to end up on a street corner in H ol lywood tryi ng to round up a job, it's no t really my style. If someo ne came up to me and sai d th ey co ul d use me in a small part, that wo uld be fun. But as a sole job, that lifestyle isn 't cu t out for me. You 've been one of the few riders to consistently run with Johnson and Ward, both of whom have dominated this season. What's it going to take to beat them? Probabl y to hol d th e th ro ttl e on a little lo nger down each straigh t and . before you turn {laughs). I don 't kn ow , I've ridden up th ere with each rider, especially at the last National in San Anton io. The strong points R icky ha s are different than of J eff's. T hey both have a rea l good winning attitude, expecially Ricky. They've go t their equipment dialed in to what they need. R icky has (Roger) DeCoster with him to help do the testing, and he spends a lot of time testing with his mechanic, and that , helps. You get confidence in , your motorcycle and co nfidence in your(Con tinued from page 2) self, and that's one thing Ricky has going for him. He knows he can win class and Kurt Liebmann (Hon) and nothing's going to stop him. finished second in th e 750 class. An attitude like th at is what it Larry Roeseler (Kaw) was the takes. It 's going to take some hard work. overall winner at the Trask I'm going to try and do it, th at 's Mountain National Reliability for darn sure. I'm not going to run Trials, the final round of the ISDE Qual ifier Series, in Yamhill, ou t and tell everybody I can do it in the first week, but I think I'm a Oregon, June 25-26 . Roeseler lot closer than I was at the beginning f in ished 40 points ahead of of the year, or even at th e middle of Charles Halcomb (Suz), while the year. Ricky is still a tremendous John Nielsen (Kaw) finished third ' th reat in th e supercross races, but I overall. Rounding out the top five thi nk my specialty is outdoors and were Joe Zierman (Han) and Terry even m ore th e 500s outdoo rs. I' m just Cunningham (Cag) . di sappointed that I'm not able to campaign th e 500cc class th is year. The 1988 Vanso n Leathers Vintage I' m glad I at least get to ride the 500cc Ra cin g Series will feature a " Vin tage U.S.GP. Only" weekend at Bryar Motorsport Where do you see th e sport going, Park in Lou do n , New H ampsh ire, and what can be do ne to impro ve on J uly 8-10. A number of classes it? are pl anned, along wit h an "a u toIn die past I've always been able to jumble" (swap meet ) and a special speak for the sport. Anymor e, I don 't Pen guin Road Racing School Cor know if it 's fortunat e or unfortunat e, vintage riders. For more information I'm ge tting the attitude that I more o n the races, co n tact th e U.S. Clas sic or less promote myself whi le trying Racing Assoc., RF D #3, Richmo nd , to promote the sport as best I can. N H 03470; Cor swa p meet and school I think more of my attent io n has been informat ion call Penguin at 617/ on improving myself. 339-7790. I know Johnson spe nds a lot of tim e doing public relati ons a nd it Harley-Davidson's efforts in the reall y helps th e sport. June 19 AMA/Circle Bell Pro I think one thing th at cou ld help Twins road race at Bryar Motorsou r sport more th an an ything that port Park in Loudon, New HampI ca n think of is to hav e th e dollarshire, were hampered by the fact yen situation stabilize. That's probthat they didn't have a replaceab ly the biggest problem ca using the ment piston wrist pin. The lack of most cutbacks in teams and budgets. replacement parts saw the team I've heard th e American companpostpone the race debut of their ies are losing a lot of money just in new road race bike, which feayen exchange, the fact th at the dollar tures upside-down forks and a is getting weaker and weak er and frame unlike the Buell's. costing th em so mu ch mon ey just to buy the product and bri ng it over John Long retired from the Loudon here. I don't th ink the public underPro Twins race because o ne of hi s sta nds that the prices of motorcycles front Brembo br ake rotor s exp loded, a nd parts have on ly been raised a but he was agai n ru nning Brembos little bit , th ere's hard ly any margin on h is 812cc H arris-framed Du cat i of profit on the bi kes. at Road Ame rica. Long defended th e It ' s ' unfortunate th a t t here 's Brernbos, citing the fact th at he was no th ing any of .us (the riders) ca n usi ng full-floating ro tors, and th at ' do, we don't have any control of it. rep o rt ed p ro ble ms with Brembo What we can change I thi nk most b rak es have occured w i th n on of us are trying the best we ca n. float in g u nits. The other th in g tha t hurt q u ite a AMA/Castrol 250cc Grand Prixbit was the promoters' squabbles, but class competitor Dave Busby was it's very unfortunate th at that came experimenting with a Yamaha to an end in such an abru pt way. 350cc air-cooled motor in a I also th ink that the AMA can step Yamaha 250 chassis at Road in and do a littl e better job . We do America. Busby thought he could have a new guy in charge of pro get more top-end power out ofthe fessio nal raci ng (Roy J anson ), and 350, but a main jet fell out in I think he is rea lly o n the ball. H e's practice; turned sideways, and the the best at what he's doin g that I've motor seized. seen in 12 or 13 years of raci ng. Would you like to see works bikes Road racer Bill Byrn es, 39, of San ta come back? Barbara, California, died as a resu lt I believe th at we' re (Yama ha ) probof a p ractice cras h June 26 at R ivably th e onl y company that's no t . erside Interna tional Raceway in ridi ng works bik es righ t now. If it Riverside, California. Byrnes, th e was NASCAR most dfJ the teams defen ding ARRA Ligh tweigh t Battle wo uld be di squalified right now. of the Twins Cham pio n , is survived As it is right now th e suspension by his son Todd. on the Hondas, and even th e Kawasakis, is certainly nothing you can Team Honda Australia's Wally buy . Su spension separates th e eq uipment as much as anything. Campbell will ride an NSR500I don't say that it wou ld change powered Elf 5 in the July 24 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. any thing at th is point. In many ways I'd like to see th e works rule come Campbell joins Elf regular Ron back, as long as I was o n the receivin g Haslam for the one-race deal. en d o f the w o rks eq ui p me n t George Huebner has resigned as (la ughs). I'd race regardless if it was dir ecto r of ope ra tio ns of Cagiva a works bike or a modified producNorth America; Huebner is looking tio n bi ke. . • YrH» BYP~P~ Wf~LfY for a position in the motorcycle industry and can be reached at 213/ 426-7483, In addition, Gary Smith has resigned as Cagiva North America 's accessories coordinator, and Rob Ziegler, Cagiva North America's nat ional service and race director, has resigned, bo th effective July J. CORRECTION : The photos of motocrossers David Thorpe, Eric Geboers and Kurt Nicoll which appeared on the front page of last week's USGP Preview issue were credited to the wrong photographer. Pat Boulland of France's Mota Revue should have received credit; The tradition al road race through the streets of Austin, T exas, didn 't run last yea r, but Austin Aq u a Festival Road Race returns on July 24. The meet wi ll feat ure classes providing competi tion for a wide range of bi kes from Yamaha YSR50s to For m ula O ne to vin tage. For more in forma tio n , call 512/266-3943 , 4517979 or 451-6102. Multi-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini was married in spectacular fashion on June 18 to Maria Ayuso, 24, in her hometown of Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain. The bride arrived in a horsedrawn carriage, but the couple left on a works Marlboro Yamaha GP bike. Marlboro Yamaha crew chief Kel Carruthers fitted a dual seat to one of the 1987 machines, and a ceremon ial guard of works mechanics was on hand. Former World Champion Carruthers, meanwhile, was off to Australia to attend the Bicentennial celebration for members of the Australian Hall of Fame. South African road racer Robbie Petersen , wh o rod e Kork Ballington 's H onda RS250 to a fifth-pl ace finish at Road America o n J ul y 26, had an unusual agreement with th e four-time Worl d Champion. The deal was, if Petersen finis hed in the top five, he had to " moon " th e assembled crowd at a popular wat ering hol e. Ballington was reportedly overhear d sayi ng, "There 's going to . be a full moon over Elkhart Lake ton ight!" John Kocinski, who was noticeably faster through the high-speed, right-hand carousel turn at Road America, explained his technique: " . just leave it in fourth gear and chug it around; everyone else goes through there in third and has to upshift." Some of the other riders, upon hearing this, said they couldn 't believe he was using fourth gear there at all. AMA Pro Twins competitor Kevin Erion, about being beaten at the last two races after winning the first two , sai d, "Yeah, but no w they have to come o ut West !" Erion and h is bro ther, Craig (th us T wo Bro thers Rac ing), are instructors Cor Reg Pridmore's CLASS (formerly RATS) riding school, and have turned in numerous laps at West Coast ra ce tracks. Erio n is loo king forward to . having the home court ad vantage. One of the competitors at Road America was former Bicycle Motocross (BMX) Champion Greg Esser. Esser rode a Honda RS250 in the Castrol 250cc GP class; Esser DNF. Pete J ohnson was a busy fell ow at Road America, compe ting in th e . End urance race, both Pro Twins races, and the H istoric races: Which does he prefer? " I like them all," he said.

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