Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ INTERVIEW Master tuner En Kanemoto Races meeting was Spencer's first trip to Europe, and though contracted to American Honda in the U.S., .he rode Erv's immaculate si lver and blue Yamaha TZ750 in England. But the 18-year -old Louisianan did more than just ride it. On the first day he looked across the start lin e and saw Sheene , Roberts, and Marnola, a ll on factory 500s, then proceeded to beat th em. Not on ce, but twice on the same day. And he 'd do it again before the meet was ' ~ over. Giving it his all always By Henny Ray Abrams he question that Erv Kanemoto had been asked by a British journalist seemed simple eno ug h: Tell me about your greatest race, your moment of glory. It had been asked of a number of others, including Kenny Roberts , Barry Sheene, and Ke1 Carruthers, just to name a few, and none .had difficulty with it, For Erv it was different, H e co u ld n 't pick out one race that stood above the others, not surprising co nsidering the talent he 's worked with. But there were two races, he now recalled, that 'stuck out above the o thers, though for an entirely different reason. They stood out because Erv felt he 'd let his riders down. One was at Silverstone in 1981 when an aging Barry Sheene seized, a seizure that nearly drove Erv out of the business and the second was at Salzburg in 1987 when the young Scot Niall Mackenzie had his best chance of winning a Grand Prix, instead seizing. Never mind that Erv had been working closer to the edge than he should have been because he wasn 't gelling the information he needed. That didn't matter. T 22 What mattered was that Erv had let them down and as he recalled these memories a curious thing happened. His dolphin-shaped eyes began to tear up, the pain of the failures still too great to bear. It was a telling example of how deeply he feels for his spo rt and his riders, a dedication so fierce that it literally bums' hol es in his stomach. And yet to meet this gentle sou l of a man you come away impressed not by his competitiveness and total dedication to his craft, but by hi s honesty, his self-mocking sen se of humor , his modesty , hi s la ck of pretense. That he 's one of the greatest tuners of racing two-strokes in the world doesn't seem to impress- him. Never thought about it, really. "He could probably build the space shuttle in his backyard, but what's so exciting about going to the moon," longtime friend and fellow tuner George Vukmanovich says. t's couple months after the end season 's back home I of atheJose, a ofand Ervfinds increasin San place he ingly difficult to leave. He's pushing a piece of halibut around a plate at a boisterous German-style cafeteria where you get simple food quickly. For Erv it's the perfect eating solution, nofrills, get in, eat, get OUL "Some people live to eat," he says, "I eat to live." He's reminded of the episode involving his greatest race and it brings a wid e grin to his face. His face is fuller than a couple of a years ago, the victim of a slight weight problem he fights annually. His thick black hair, parted on th e right and falling across his forehead has thinned almost imperceptibly, but more than Erv would care to admit. A few lines are beginning to creep onto the comers of the eyes that have seen so much over the last 46 years. "Aw, shoot," he says, in the strongest language he's ever likely to use. "You know afterwards I thought about it a little and I thought the Match Races with Freddie." Freddie is, of course, Freddie Spencer the rider with whom Erv will forever be linked, for having guided to three brilliant World Championships. The 1980 Match '.'O ne of the mo st intelligent, sincere, perceptive people I'v e ever known," Spencer says in his Louisiana dr awl softened by the years. "Even though ' he never raced, he has an incredible sense of what's happening out there and it's invaluabl e. We were able to communicate," Spen cer says, and it's a good thing because early in his career, he admits he wasn't as eloquent mechanically as he would later become. "In the beginning, I just adjusted to it, " he says. Early on, Spencer .wou ld bring the bike in from a session and 'say something like , "Make it steer." That may sound a bit vague - in fact, it is but it was all Erv needed. For the next session it would steer and Freddie wouldn't have to work as hard. Erv knew how' hard Freddie was working by using a bit of ingenuity Freddie was never aware of. When Spencer came in, he'd set his helmet down. Quietly, Erv would go over and feel the head. liner for moisture. · If it was too wet, it meant Freddie was working too hard and something had to be done, regardless of what Freddie had told him. As the two worked together, Spencer's involvement was such that he could provide greater input and, subsequently, he didn't have to improvise. "If.you 're not giving the right input you'll be a quarter of a second, half a second off," he says. " As we went along I didn't have to work as hard," Spencer recalls and those that watched him during the Golden Years of 1982 to 1985 could see this. He'd come in from a practice session, or even after winning a race, and not a strand of hair would be out of place. It was as if he was ~ionic:;. and it gave fits to the other riders who couldn't under- ' stand how he could go about it so casually. " If you . tell him correctly or indicate the right direction, he gets it right," Spencer says. And that, according to Vukrnanovich, is wh'l!te his genius lies. George should know. After working with Randy Mamola for a number of years, he went to work with Erv for a number of years in the mid-80's including 1985, the year of Spencer's double World Championship. "He probably has the ability to come up with a solution to any problem more than anybody else," Vukrnanovich believes. " T he details to race for the situation of the day or the moment. Any type of conditions. That's what I learned. "He's probably-the most knowledgeable guy in the paddock. He probably knows more about tires than half the tire people in the paddock. I wish I knew what he forgot," Vukmanovich says.That he forgets virtually nothing is one of the keys to his abi lities. "You try to make it as simple as possible," Erv says. "Basic things happen always. There are certain reactions to certain things so it's fairly easy to see what the problems are. You separate things to see if it's giving you a clue to what's happening. It's very seldom that we'll make a rea l change. You pretty much know what the motorcycle will do from testing. You're constantly trying to position yourself. How you outline a test or practice gives you the oppor-

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