Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Canadian Toni Sharpless is Kathleen Coburn's teammate. This year, they're racing Yamaha FZR600s in the Supersport class. potential. I had to loo k elsewhere for ch a llenges." Alth ough modeling and snow skiing rank high on her list , it was motorcycle road racing that event ually quenched her thirst for cha llenge. You can 't help but feel th at women are at a di sadvantage wh en it comes to racing motorcycles. Bu t do women racers reall y feel this way? " Absolutel y not ," says Coburn. " Being a woman is a real advantage. When I get to a track it 's like having 500 big brothers. When I crash they're always th ere to p ick me up. The guys give me so much enco ura gement and they really like what I'm doing. When I'm not riding hard enough , they'll come over an d get me fired up.", Sharpless agrees: "So many peop le try to find rides for me and when ' I get them, they stop by to see if I Suzanne Brightbill will contest the entire '89 AMA Superbike Series. need help. It's like a big fra terni ty. We're really lucky as wom en because ' we're treat ed excep tio nally well and we really do appreciate it. It 's reall y an advantage being a wom an in this sport. Women ar e still a minority and a novelty. It 's the reason yo u 're interviewing us. You won 't interview the guy who finishes just ah ead of me," she concludes, flashing an expression which indicates she has made her point. According to Lynch, " T h is is o ne of the few spor ts where men and women ca n compete equall y. Women have certa in advantages in motorcycl e rac ing because most women are lighter than men and if the y're willing to train to make up for th eir physical di sadvantages, I beli eve they can compe te equally with men. " Obviously, physical preparation is a key ingredient to their success. Both Coburn and Sharpless have quit their jobs to spe nd more time on physical conditio ning. Lynch participates in a n ac tive weight traini ng program to o b ta i n upper body strength, does aero bic exercises to build sta mina a nd uses .Telemark skiing, a form of Nordic (crosscou ntry) ski i n ~, to condition h er . lo wer bod y. Bnghtbill adds, " Ma ny women don't realize. exactly wh at 's in vo lved in keeping yourself in shape for road racing. If you 're in shape, there's no physical disadvantage in being a woman." But sure ly there m ust be some disadvantages to being a woman racer? Brightbill offers one up: " T he real disadvantage for women is that sponsors don 't take you seriousl y. Many think it 's easy for women to ge t sponsors because we're relatively unique. But it's harder. It 's o ne of th ose double-edge swords. Some p eople feel yo u sh ould u se the advantage of being a woman to gain as mu ch publicity, notoriety and . sponsorshi p as possibl e. But then if you turn around and use it, those sa me peopl e say you' re o n ly ge tti ng it (sup po rt) because you 're a wo man . It 's reall y tough being a woma n doing what we'r e doing." 'In th e paddock at Dayton a th is year it becam e apparent j ust ho w diff icult it is being a woman racer, and how spo nsorship, or lack of it , co nt ri bu tes to th at difficu lty. For Brightbill, it didn 't appear th at bad. She was housed in a garage with a well-mani cured Suzuki G SXR750 maintained by her dedicat ed and ca pable husband, J erry , a marine service manager. Brightbill 's list of spo nsors includes Montgomeryville C ycl e Center , Sho ei , Dun lop , Mikuni , Phil Fl ack Racing a nd Circle Industries. Alth ough Lynch did not race at Dayton a thi s year du e to an injury sus ta ined in an au tomobile accide nt, she a ppeared to be in good hands with Keyston e Racing WIth sponsorship provided by Michelin, Mikuni, Fox , Street and Competition Cycle, Sh oei, Fast By Ferr acci, , T sub aki , Bat es, Frarn -Autolite, Lockhart and Barnett. Sh e planned to return to ac tio n a t R oad Atl anta o n Pete J ohnson's 1987 Pro Twins Modified Production title-winning Cagiva Alazzurra. ' The lack of sponsorship, however, was most noticeable in th e Coburn! Sharpless pit. Just priorto Daytona, both were without rides until an item in th e In The Wind sectio n of Cycl e N ews ca ugh t th e attention of Ch arl es Devatalis and Rick Delgado. They telephoned Coburn and offered her th e use of th eir Yamaha FZR750 wh en Delgado injured himself. Sharp less accompanied Coburn to Daytona in th e hopes of finding herself a rid e when her original deal to ride a 250 fell through. In a hotel parking lot they spotted a 600cc Supersport racer and literally "hounded" its owner until he agreed to rent Sharpless the bik e. She missed practice because th e transmission needed replacement and eventually qualified with a fried clutch and stock gearing. For the fin a l, Sh arpless faced more mechanical gremlins: "We made a stab in the dark with the jetting and went the wrong way ," she confesses. "We went a total of 15 la ps for the entire weekend - 10 in th e fina l and five in the heat race. I calcu lated that each lap cost me $200. The more money yo u spe nd, th e more fun you have ! Isn 't that the way it goes with racing?" she asked wi th a big sm ile. Coburn and Brightbill 'bo th qualified for the '89 Daytona 200. Bu t for Co bu rn , it was n' t an easy tas k. After the first warm -up lap of her qual ifyi ng race o n Frida y, Co bu rn returned wi tho u t bra kes. A warm-up lap crash by ano ther rider allowed sufficient tim e to bl eed the brak es only to have th e fairing come loos e on the second warm- up. Another cras h provided time to repair the fairi ng a nd Coburn went on to fini sh 25th in her heat race, ea rn ing hers elf a starting positio n o n th e eigh th row for Sunday 's 200. H er best lap tim e was in th e 2:03 ran ge, even th o ugh the brake problem was not solved. Un fort una tely, oil released fro m her blown motor during' th e sixth lap of th e 200 sent her and sub sequentl y . fello w Ca na dian Gary Goodfellow, who was running second at th e tim e, crashing. Except for her pride, she was unhurt. Afte r qu alifyin g o n Frid a y, Coburn sum marized th e situa tion. " No w is th e worst tim e for us because we were spoiled o n som e reall y ni ce eq u ip me nt (la st yea r). Now th at Yam aha has mov ed on to su pport o ther riders, we're o n ou r own again and I'm beating my head against th e wa ll here at Dayton a because my lap tim es in Octob er were 2:0Is. Now , I'mon a p ri vateer machine, which I'm reall y lu cky to have, but it 's not up to wha t I wish I could rid e. I have no sponsor and no mon ey bu t I don't wa nt to qui t. I kn ow I co uld be a rea lly good racer," she says. Wh at advice would these wo men gi ve to other wom en consideri n~ th e sport? " J us t do it," exclai ms Brightbill. " Do wh at ever you have to do to get ou t there on th e track and run. If you have to give up th e rest of yo ur life, so to speak, do it because it's worth it. You have to be totally ded i ca ted , but it 's worth ever y moment." Lynch advises women to take 'an active ro le in motorcycle raci ng. "I don't th ink many wom en believe that th ey can do it," she states. "T hey don 't fee l t h e y'r e all owed. But wo men need to kn ow th at th ey are a ll o we d. Motorcycl in g is a fun famil y sport, not a di rty activi ty like many think." Coburn cau tions women against ge tting involved wit h raci ng if they on ly seek the glory. "Many women see other women racers getting a lot of attention, " she says. " Bu t if you rea lly want to get involved, especia lly beca use it's so dangerous, it has to come from your heart. Ride safe, wear good equipment and ta ke good care of yo ur sp on sors." Sharpless adds: " Make sure you want to do it for the righ t reasons because there are p lenty of ups and downs." T he mascul ine nature of motorcycle road racing provides a striking contrast to the very feminine ladies who compe te in this sport. How do th ey deal with this co nt rast? " I' m not goi ng to hid e the fact tha t I' m a woman wh en I race," states Lynch . " My leathers have pink o n them and I paint my fin gern ail s. I' m not go ing to change because I' m a lady racer. " It is difficult to tell whe re motorcycle roa d racin g wi ll tak e these -women, but for no w they are experien cing a ride few women have ever dared to take. When , and if, th ey decid e to assume more tra ditio nal ro les lat er in life, they can take a momentary pause and remember th e aweso me power and sheer exci tement the y once held at their fin gertips - painted and all! • Sharon Lynch w ill ride Pete Johnson 's ' 8 7 AMA Pro Twins Modified Prod uction t itle-winning Cag iva under the Keystone Racing banner. O"l 00 O"l .....

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