Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eFUND·RAISER Save The Children ~ Mamola·Pridmore Charityv World s.The g; By W ill iam Edgar o ........ MYTH: Don 't wo rry, be hap p y. FACT: In developing cou ntries, 40,000 you ng children die of pr euentable diseases, diarrh ea and m aL ritio n nut every day .o] th e year. And here in th e Uni ted States, child ren are the largest - and fastest growing - segment of this nation 's poor. RESPO N SE: Somethi ng wonderfuL is being done to hel p - t h rough m ot orcyclists. oad rac ing greats Reg Pridmore a nd Ra nd y Mamo laj oined hands recentl y at Monterey, Ca lifornia 's Lagu na Seca Ra ceway in a partnership cam pa ig n that ha s produced another $20,000 for Save The Chi ldren, th e international chari ty noted for helping needy kid s a ro u nd the world, bringing the Marn o la-motivated total donated over th e past three years by mot orcyr Iists a nd fan s of the sport to a heft y -3i O,O O. O T o find ou t how this lat est Save The Children fund-rai ser worked, I rode through so me 350 miles of darkness and ra in to th e Laguna Mecca of m y riding dr eams, th ose II beckoning co rners that R Pridm ore and Mam ola in st antl y merged to make a kin eti c duo, two rid in g masters with enough age gap and think-alike to be father and so n , enough aggrega te track tim e to be the dynamite road raci ng Deit y h im self. As fill ed with cha risma as he is pure raci ng tal ent , Randy right away loo sen ed up ten se stude nts, many rookies, say ing, '" as ked the doct or wh en I would be able to get th is cast o rr an d p lay go lf aga in. H e wa nt ed to kn ow if I cou ld before!" In Reg's CLASS (sta nds for Calijo r1lia's L eading Advan ced Safety SchooLs) you rid e your o wn bik e, a t you r own pace - at a choice of 34 school da ys throughou t 1990 a t tracks a ll over the co u n try. "There's no pressure o u t there what soever, " Pridmore in sists, a n d means it. Sin ce racing is str ictly forb idden . there's no com pe titive pr essu re o n a nyo ne , and positi vely no timing o f la ps a llo wed. You leave you r sto p watch es at home a nd on ly pa ss on the ou tside, never o n the in side. You tape or rem ove yo ur mirrors a nd brake ligh ts. a nd yo u never, ever, look back. The rider in front has the right of way, a lways. Period. You listen and learn a nd can easily wear day's nearl y 60 stude nt s themselves. All sta rs of the highest luster. Everyday, ordinary mo torcycl ists like you a nd me. Ca ndid men and women on yo u-name . its, arriving aboard everyth ing from full dresse rs to spare but streetahle 250s. Prior to h is US G P m ishap. Randy had a lread y promised tha t, a t five bu cks a head for Save The Children , he would lead grou ps o f rid ers around CL\SS's Laguna Seca co urse on hi s own mot orcycle during lu nch break. So. wh en food hour came, Marnola, sti ll recovering from hi s severely di slocated wri st, was in the bike-substitu te Mercedes, liftin g a forearm cast for riders behind to begin a ser ies of not -so-sh ab by la ps around the 2.2-mile co urse. Mamola tool ed h is trick Benz ou t o f Turn Nine in a dusty. one-armed , four-wheel drift that made spec ta to rs th ink twi ce a bo u t who's fast er a t Laguna, bik es or car s. I was trailing at the time. still in th e Corkscrew, p laying ca tch-u p amongst backmarker traffi c. Ran dy, no matter the number o f wh eels , is plenty qu ick. After lunch, Lee Mosell e. SCRAMP's Executive Directo r and th e man responsible for donating Laguna Seca Ra ce- Desp ite h is U.S.G P wrist injury, Ra ndy Mamol a upheld his promise to lead th e CLASS students on a to ur of La guna Seca , 10 would be th e m ovabl e stage for a weekend of instruction , inspirati on , a nd some o f th e best camaraderie this side of Missio n Control. T here, upon a foggy Saturday morn, eme rging from Monterey Pen insu la mi sts, was three-time AMA Superbike Champi o-n R eg Pridmore a n d h is C L ASS ridin g st aff, hi s no toriou s " Dirt y Dozen " of the mot orcycle safety school corps that includes h is racing so n Jason a nd record di stance rider Fran Cr ane, a mong other esteemed pros. Thi s Lagu na Seca sto p o n Rego 's nati onwide teaching tour was a stude nt favorite, a nd Prid more had months ago teamed with Ra ndy Mam ol a to offer cash proceed s from th ese two spec ia l editio n school days to Randy's che rished Save The Chi ldren cause. And then came Marnola , four tim es runnerup to the GP 500 World Championship, left a rm in cast and sling , painful memento of tha t Apri lS U.S. G P T urn Two promethean highsid e save, now relegating Randy to th e steeri ng wh eel of his Mercedes convertible. Greeting each other in the upstairs cla ssroom, yo urse lf o u t wi th as man y as 200 m otorcycl e mil es in a s in g le d a y (Ma mo la was amazed a t the a mo unt of CLASS track time), a nd wh en it's a ll through , you 'r e a bett er ride r th an before, Gunga Din. And, in the framework o f tha t cha rity weekend, a valued co ntributor. An honest a nd true giv er. With th e per-stude n t/per -day CLASS cos t a t' $250, rough ly two- th irds of th e fee paid by each participan t present o n Sa turday a nd Su nday went to benef it Save The Children effo rts her e in America a nd aro und the world. By lun chtim e th e fir st da y, th e patchwork of track-sli ckin g fog had lifted, but so me were wondering wh ere all th e expec ted celebri ties were. Preevent pr ess had talked about limeligh t notables probably dropping by, incl ud in g o ther big-name racing gentries who might show, but it was Easter weekend a nd drizz ly, and the on ly stars present were Reg and Ra ndy (tagged after by his ubiquitous Shar Pei pooch "Su ki " ), plus Randy's manager Jim Doyle and Monean Sawyier of R M Pro motio ns, Reg 's lovely friend Debra, and, yes, the wa y for this Sav e The Children weekend, sto p ped by. SC RA MP (Sports Car Racing Associ ati on o f th e Monterey Peninsu la ), Lagu na Seca's operator since th e track's in ception in 1957, has ra ised so me four mi llion do llars for the chari ties that help put on races th ere, bik es and cars a like. I asked Moselle if raci ng's good im age tied with cha rity was actua lly ge tti ng through to the nonrace or ient ed public. " No t yet," was Lee's regr et tabl e a nswer. " It requires a n on -go ing educat ional process through advertis ing a nd wh atever can be sa id about it in the press. We're trying to mak e a co ncen tra ted effort to let th e com m un ity know who we ar e and wh at we do. But th ey just don 't know." And, with Save T he Children , what now? " Well," said Moselle, " tha t's Ra ndy's bab y. Wha tever he wou ld li ke to do, we wou ld like to help." Durin g April 14's ca p ac i ty Reg Pridmore school day , Mamola stood before admiring students to spea k serio usly and touchi ngly about th e benefit work, tears coming to his eyes when he recalled riding o ff-road in Africa 's povert y-stri cken regions, where a sh utt li ng cr itica l v ccin es to kids i rem ot e a reas is best acco m p lished by mot orcycle, a spec ia l proj ect wi thi Save The Ch ildren . " When I was i Somalia ," Randy told th e Pridmor group, '" saw a lot of people who wer hurting. I wa nted to live with th e kids for four or five days, a nd th a't' what I did. We see poverty on TV an we ca n just cha nge the ch an ne l. Ove there yo u ca n 't, because it's real. " 0 , a looser not e. Mamola of major uni cycle fam e ad m itte d th at, while i Afri ca , he d id wheelies for every body every where, a ny time. In o ne instance th e local police had to tell him to sto - it was ca using too much exciternen a mong villagers. Reg 's riding school unfolded profes sion all y th rough its carefu lly prepar levels, both in the upstairs Laguna six cla ssroom a nd ou t on the tra ck, an after he put stude n ts th ro ugh a hands .o n bra ki ng seminar ("remem ber, ih rear brake is o n ly a stabilizer, an ancbo and keep the rear wheel ro lli ng! ") an got them to relax arms and torso an steer with the lower body (" fine tun th e bik e with your knees. thighs, ankl and toes" ) along a line of traffi c ee rie the a ll-da y class made much-irnprov happier motorcyclists o f the lot. certa in Gold-Winger was hauling hi rig aro u nd not unlike some ha lf-weigl 750-sport during the final ~nd .: gutsy of th e many track sessions, an the several inveterate canyon racers i our midst were learn ing per haps a b more p rudence. Meanwhile, I acq uir epi c appreciatio n for the way I w ma naging my 851 Du cati's big Ii' torque - unti l a slim 250 darted p ;i, headed for turn five (afterward I foui o ut he wa s a pro racer ) and up th e 'h i like a shot. As the da y wrapped the was th e ra mbu nctio us cha ri ty auctic , o f mo torcycle accesso ries a nd display raffle ticket prizes (prod ucts donat th rough BMW, Cagiva , Kush i tat Shoei and Ara i Helmets , Del An Mo tors, Arari , Canon Camera 'a t Mongoo se Bicycles), th en th e c1 o~u CL\SS certifi cate presen tati on , an d, cou rse, those inevitable slow goodb ' and quick vows to be in tou ch with he acq ua int a nces. That even ing I pas~ on a Ca rmel din ner invite. wound figh ting a room service stea k th riva led the tenacity o f good .ridir leathers, th en soa ked m y bru ised h ip a hot tub (I' d drop ped m y brand n - o uch ! - bik e go ing into a gas stat k at dawn in the rai n ), and , before g li m mering TV, took the infa mO co u nt. One, two , three .. . a nd ne reached four . Ea st er S u n day ca me bright ? fogl ess, a perfect track day for Lagu Ra ndy driving th e Mercedes was b aga in in ra inbow beach shorts. Regh a class roo m full o f b ea m in g n stu de n ts, and Suki Racer was di s~; ering the kicks of chasing padd blackbirds. On the ho spitality side , J a n d Monean , her daughter Me La rry Oda , Don Sch m idt and M Roberts were setting up for a gratis Promotions hamburger lunch. And was a t h is cha lkboard , ge tt ing int all, .0111 over again . " Wha t we're go i to do today is produce a better mot cycli st," he sa id in a teasi ng, thou infecti ous, British acce nt that Regspi often with wit and whimsy. " Yo u mi be sitti ng there thinki ng to yo ursel do n't need tha t, I' m a lrea dy pr good! '" Pridmore stopped, smi led, 3 a fter peering a t so me anxious fact!s the room, went on, " I' ll guarant ee there will be someth ing you'll p ick on today. Confiden ce is a good thi too much co n fide nce is a bad thing because you start to go over the You ca n rid e right to the top of cliff and look ,over it, but don' t

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