Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

26 peopl e in the sta nds i nstead of embarrassing me. What about yo u r best road ra ce this year? For su re Laguna Seca. The National. Pol en had beaten m e th e tw o previous ones. .We had a good ra ce a t Loudon which wa s a lot of fun . Then a fter that we went 10 Road Am eri ca and h e beat m e pretty co n vinc ingly hy five o r six seco nds. And th en we ca me 10 Laguna Se ca a nd every thi ng just wo rked perfectly. I think I rode better. The fact it was n' t a Ca me l Pro ra ce, so I didn 't have th at in th e ba ck of m y m ind. Wh ere if I scre w up lik e I don 't have to beat Pol en . If things weren 't j ust perf ect a t Road Am eri ca I wo u ld j ust push it because I kn ew I didn 't h ave to beat him to win th e Ca me l P ro a nd th at was m y main goa l for th e yea r and th at was H onda 's main th ing. So ~o i ng to L agun a 5eca just heing III an AM A Su pe rbike race I had to go fo r it. I had to hang iI o u t because I had to be a t him to hav e a cha nce a t w inn in g th e AMA S u per b i ke cha m p io ns h i p . And I wasn 't putting m y Camel cha m p io n sh ip o n th e line, And I think I rode bett er a nd I think o ur tires worked better th ere, I like th at tra ck . J ust a co m bi na tion o f a 101 o f things. It was just o ne o f th em weekends wh ere yo u co u ld n' t do any th i ng wrong. T here was so me specu lation that you and P olen were n't a lways racing 100%. T he o n ly race where we didn't race at 100% was in Atl an ta, That wa s after Dayton a (w he re) he'd fin ish ed seco nd and I' d fini sh ed third. And wh y at Atl anta . I don ' t kn o w. I think he kn o ws no w th a t was a big mistak e. C th in k he th ought I was sa ndbagging in m y heat race a nd in p racti ce a 101 01 th e ti me beca use I was a second or a second a nd a half beh in d. But honestl y, I just could n' t ge t it ' 10 work. O ur fro n t ti re was n' t worki ng, And duri ng the race th ere were so man y ca u tion flags, so man y waving yellows. O nce we got hooked toge t h er we cou ld n 't race. H e co u ld n 't go 100%. H e proba bly had p lans to run around a nd go for it halfway thro ugh the race, but he never got that o pport u nity. T he n o n the last la p we well' co m ing up the bac kstraigh t a nd h is bike bogged 0 11 h im and I passed him and he tr ied 10 p ass me bac k a t th e top o f th e hill and it was a do -or-d ie thing a nd he went o ff th e track a n d I won it. T ha t's th e o n ly race wher e w e crui sed arou nd actua lly fo r most o f th e race uru il th e last lap. Can yo u explain why yo u rode so h ard in th e Ca mel Challenge at Sears Point wi th th e Superb ike title o n th e line? P ro bab ly because the Camel Chal·Ienge paid more th an th e Superbike cha m p io ns h ip. Although, looking a t it o n paper, from th at standpoint, all th e press, it m ig ht have been stu p id for me 10 hang out m y neck . But we'd been ra cing a ll year long and it was a thing where I didn 't want people to think I lu cked into th at cha m p io ns h ip . So I wanted to race with him a nd sh ow him th at I co u ld ra ce with h i m , So th e Chall en g e ra ce wa s rh e p erfect opportuni ty 10 rea ll y ra ce. And then , o f course, in the ra ce I didn 't ha ve 10 a nd I d idn't. Is th a t h ard to do, not race? Yea h , beca use I'm not u sed to it at a l l. T here 's n eve r b een a d irt track . . . even tho ugh I' ve won a few mil es by half a straigh ta way I sti ll felt like I was raci ng a nd I' ve never been involved with racing where I was ab le to do that. Some riders say it's harder to do that because yo u're not co nc en trating as hard, Yeah , because yo u make lots o f mista kes, It would have been rea lly h ard to do if the competition in the Sup er b ike Series was a littl e closer. But when yo u ' re a b le to cr u ise arou nd and still hav e 30 seco nds o n th e next guy, something 's wro ng . It' s just not co m pe ti tive enoug h . I'm su re ove r in Europe, say fo r Lawson in the last ra ce to have 10 ge t fifth , tha t would be tough to do because getting fifth over th ere isn 't just cr u isin g arou nd. As far as learning to go faster , I'm not sure th at actua lly happens. You just get more co n fide nt w ith yo ur feel for th e pavemen t. H ave yo u go tte n to th e poin t in road raci ng that you're a t in dir t track? No , and I just don ' t think th at roa d ra cing in Am eri ca I'd ever be p us he d to th at lim it. Tha t' s wh y I' m looking · forwa ~d to goin g racing in Europe. I WIsh I co u ld say th at I had th at feelin g because it wo u ld be a lot better goi ng 10 Europe wi th th at feeli ng of kno w in g all thi s a n d having a ll th e co n fide nce I have in racing dirt tracks. You also didn ' t h ave anyone to help you with yo ur roa d racing. No , not o ver here thi s year . There were times wh en Kenn y was h om e and mig ht get 10 the ra ces or I'd ca ll h im a nd tell h im what I wa s feeling a nd wh at ki n d o f prob lems I was having a nd get so me hel p from him th at wa y. GP raci ng, even th ough it 's so far a way, th an they are invol ved with the raci ng in America. An d w ith th em n ot being ab le to race a current m ode l bik e tha t they're selli ng, building, it 's n ot worth it for them to tr y to form a market on my raci ng in th e U.S. There is so me belief that Honda is trying to play down th e performance image in th e U ,S. There's onl y one pe rfo rmance model in the lineup, th e CBR600, and it's sa id they're a little wo rried about legislation to outlaw th ese bikes and tha t ma y ha ve weighed o n th eir decision. I th ink th at was th e big factor in decid ing not to br in g th e R C30 in to Am eri ca . And I'm sure if th ey would have brought the R C30 in this yea r they would h ave me ra ci ng here. Because m onths ag o I s ign ed a co n tract to race th e Camel Pro Seri es, th e dirt track a nd road ra ces j ust as I h ad th e previous yea r. T h en when .Ca mel an no u nce d that it was proba bly o n ly going to be di rt tra ck th ey (Honda) didn 't ha ve a ny in teres t at a ll. T he n whe n th e AMA ta lked abo u t havin g maybe five races and the y weren ' t going to be Ca mel it 'd be like racing in th e WERA seri es. I think th ey bel ieve that the people wh o go to th e G P rac es are more so p h istica ted a nd th ey're th e ones bu yin g new bikes. Amazingl y enough , with no Am erican racing bein g shown on TV. Bubba Shobert, seen here on his way to both the 1988,Camel Pro and Superbike championships, will compete on the GP circuit in '89. As far as ever having a teach er a t th e track I basicall y j ust based m y lim es o n what Rainey had done th e yea r before on th e su pe rb ike, because th e bike was th e sa me. Basic all y just go by hi s a nd Schwanrz's times to see how I was doing in that regard. At just abo u t every track , I think rid ing th e wa y I rode this yea r I co u ld've rac ed with Sch wanu and Ra in ey the yea r before. Ma ybe they wou ld have gott en fa ster , that wou ld 've pushed me to go faster, That's wh y I grade m yself o n go ing to Europe, I think if I' m reall y read y to go, but I don 't think I ca n get. any readier by racing h ere. To get ready I'm j us t going to have to go o ver there a nd do it. Why doesn't Honda want to ra ce in America next year? Is it because yo u don't want to rac e here any more? I th ink if th ey had so met hi ng to for m a m arket aro u n d th e racing i n th e . U.S. th ey would def initel y be rac ing w hether I wa nted to do it or not. T here's other riders that they wo u ld invest in , I' m sure, T he thing is with me th ey've invested aI o t of money since '84. My name' s prett y we ll kn o wn with H onda here in Am erica and th ey feel that th e people in th e U.S. a re ge tt ing more involved with You 're go ing to see more ra ci ng hein g shown from Eu rope th a n you see from here. Tha t tell s yo u ri ght there that so m eth in g' s wrong if the AMA ca n 't sell th ei r shows to ES PN wh en everyon e else is. What did yo u do to your contract? I' ve still gOI my co n tract. We've renegotiated. In some ways, if I wanted I co ul d make H onda live up to th e co ntract that we had. I wa s agreeable to go ra ce in Europe. The contrac t tha t I cu rren tl y sig ne d that ha s me racing the Ca me l Pro series is a three-year, o ne-year wi th a two-year option . T he option let me go race in Europe as lon g as th e tea m I went to race wi th had H o nda equipme nt . T he new co ntract I'm looking to ne~oliate is o ne- year. T ha t's it. No strmgs a ttache d. America n H onda sticking wi th me in Europe with anothe r sponsor is p robabl y goi ng to wo rk o ut a ll ri ght. BUI I kn ow now th at a few months ago whe n I wa s negotia ting th is co ntract to race in the U .S., if I wo uld have made m y m in d u p th en tha t I wa nted to go race in Europe and told America n H onda that I wasn 't i nterested a n d wa nted to go to Europe, I probably might have gotten a ride w ith HRC a nd raced w ith tha t tea m . As I finally found o ut, the.Ga lli na team even Elf, wh en the y ta lked to HRC a nd sai d th ey were thinking abou t me, HRC said , ' No, lea ve him a lo ne , H onda needs hi m in Ame rica.' So yo u were sort of a prisoner of American Honda. R igh t, until I tol d them I was goi ng to Europe regardless. But I didn ' t have th e balls 10 do that and the reason I didn ' t ha ve th e balls to do that was because I didn 't ha ve a co ncrete offer. it wa s just talk. (Bob) MacL ean and th em said yo u have to deal with Rothmans but yo u've got lO tell American H onda th at yo u're no t raci ng in America. And I sai d , wait a m inute, American H o nda 's putting a lo t of money o n the table. Just telling me th at is nor eno ug h to make me not sign this co n trac t to race here, A few m onths ago i t was just 100 ea rly fo r any of th e tea m s 10 do any th ing. Th e main th ing was du e to th e fact that Schwantz wa s a big dea l to wh o he was go ing to go for. So ever ybody wa s wai tin g ther e. Ma rl boro had Lawson, th ey th o ugh I. And their seco nd rider , they loo ked to paying a second rider a fo urth of what I cou ld make here in Ame rica, it 's th at type o f a team se t-up . Kenny's gu ys were bo th tied up fo r two yea rs. But Roberts was tryin g to form a seco nd team at o ne time and I heard it was with th e idea of having yo u and J ohn Kocinski on 5005, I never . . . I don 't think it gOI very far. It might have been a thought. . It might still be a though I, but it hasn 't happen ed yet. The closest yo u ca me wa s with Roberto Gallina 's HB team and yo u would run '88 bikes, your cho ice of Gard ner's or Chili's. . Wh at sta rte d that deal o lf was th e co ntract I sig ne d with H o n da to do the Ca m el P ro Seri es also had in th er e to ri de a few G Ps . And I th ou gh I i t would be p er fect for Am erican H onda in stead o f th em ge tt ing a 500 10 do a co u p le of races. If I co u ld do a co up le of races wit h Ga lli na 's team it would satisfy me a nd Am eri can H onda , would save a lot of mon ey a nd a lo t o f time. T ha I'S how that dea l basica ll y go t sta rted. And a fter my not ra cing i n Am er ica a t a ll chan ged and America n Honda being m y sponsor in Europe they were loo kin g for som eone to co ntract me an d whatever th ey co u ld get to a team. Their dea l was to pay my sal a ry a nd my expe n ses, lease. Gardner 's bikes from HR C. Thev had a ll this in a packa ge a nd th ey were contracted to a tea m to run th e thing. Then a 101 of the thi ngs got tu rned around. Chil i's bikes, hi s '88 bikes. Ga lli na was going to ge t th em for free. They d id n't wa nt to pay H onda this big n u mber for th e bikes if th ey we re going to ge t th eir bikes fo r free. As it turned out they were goi ng 10 swap t h e i r b ikes for G ardner 's bikes, th is and th a t. Then Gallina ended up being asked to provide over $700,000 to lease Gardner's bikes with spares for the season. I don 't kn o w a ny of th e numbers. I j ust kn o w that Gall in a th ought the numbers were wa y m ore th an th ey had run th e p revi ous yea r. That's right, they were. They paid $500,000 the year before for the same bikes, Right , a n d they th ought wh y is Am er ican H onda ge tt ing th ese bikes th at are o bso lete - n ot really, just so to spea k - a nd hav ing 10 pa y a h igher price for th em ? They just th ought th at makes no sense. And o f co u rse every body thinks th at just (Contin ued to page 46

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