Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127378
money I need to keep going. I'm sti ll waiting for money from Kawasaki for last year! But so far it's been profitable. What do you hope to accomplish in the 250cc Nationals? That's tough to answer. Everyon e's dream is to becom e a factory rider. But I'm a lot older than most of th e gu ys who are factory riders now. For th a t reason it seems it may be impossible for me to get a factory ri de. But that alm ost gives me more incentive to try to go fast for myself. I wan t to do well [or myself and to sho w 'ot her people that I'm not too old to win , even though I started racing comp letely on my own a few years ago . My parents never really gotin to it. , Exactly when did you begin racing? In 1985, I raced a few events and then broke my arm. My first full season was . '86. That year I . won the Ama teur Championship in New Englan d in the first half of th e season. I made the Expert class and rode tha t series for the second half of th e season and finished ninth or 10th . I just kept going up from there. I was the first in New England to finish in the top 10 in my first year racing the Expert class. I kep t climbing up in the sta ndi ngs and a few season s later won two championships. The season after that I won three. Last year I won all [our, the 125 and 250cc Expert classes in the Spring and Fall Series. That's when I decided that no matter what kind of sacrifices I had to 'make I wa s going to co m pete in the Nati onals. I had a Kawasaki T eam Green ride for New England, wh ich was an excellent deal for me, but they wanted to stay iri New England this year and I wanted to go out and see what I could do for myself on th e Nationals. Since you were 20 when you began racing, had you been riding for a long time before you raced? I had always ridden, but not steadily through the years. There were years when I didn't have bikes. My dad owns a repair garage and I grew up in there. I used to work after school and save my money to buy a new bike once in a while. I had a bike stolen once. I used to just play around in the woods. One day I went to Southwick to watch the races and l thought, "I can do this." That's how it all started. I won my very first Novice race. How does the New England Sports Committee's championship series work , and what's the competition like there ? There's a lot of fast gu ys. A lot of them never leave the area because there's so much racing. T here 's raci ng every weekend, I don' t think there's one weekend wi thout a race for about eight months. We race in Co n n ect icut , Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Is it tough to win the NESC Championships? Can you still win ti ties even though you'll miss rounds to compete in the Nationals? I can, if everything goes well and I don 't have any bad lu ck. Las t year I went to a couple of Nationals, missed two weeks of NESC racing and still won the championships. Will you ride any 500cc Nationals? It's still up in the air. I'll see how my financial situation is. If I can swing it, I want to hit the whole series. How much longer do you plan to ' continue racing? As long as I'm hav ing fun. I'm far from being burned out. . Will you ride the Nationals again next year? I'll be out there. I don't know if it will be full time , that all depends on how I do this year. You make your own way. If you go fast, you can find some help to keep going. I:Il r ' CONGRATULATIONS TO CHAIN WINNERS T5U~AKI :TSUBAKI 20TH ANNUAL NMAWORLD MINI GRAND ·PRIX WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MX • 125cc Stock Pro • 1st EZRA LUSII/SuzuId • 2nd PHIL LAWRENCf/T••m Green • 3nI RAY CRU.II/T••m Green • 12Scc .......... Pro • 1st PHIL LAWREJlCf/T.em Green • 3nI RYAN CARUSLf/T••m Green . • 12Scc Stock lnt8rmedlat. • 3nI SHAWN MOIIGA/T.em Green • 12Scc .......... Int"""""" • 1st .ICHAEL BRANDES/T.em Green • 2SOcc Stock lnt8rmedlat. • 2nd SHAWN .OIlGA/T••m Green • 250cc .......... Intermedlet. • 2nd BILLY FELTS/T••m Green • • • • • • • 2SOcc Stock Pro 1st PHIL LAWREJlCf/T••m Green 2nd TO• •Y CLOWERS/T••m Green 3nI RYAN CARUSLf/T••m Green 2SOcc .ocIIIIed Pro ' 1st PHIL LAWREJlCf/T••m Green 3n1 TO• •Y CLOWERS/T••m Green • • • • • • • 80cc .ocIIIIed 12·13 bt ROBBIE REYNARD/T••m Green 2nd ROBBIE SKAGGS/T••m Green 80cc Stock 14-16 3n1 CLINT LATHAM/T••m Green 80cc .ocIIIIed 14-16 bt CRAIG DECKER/T••m Green • • • • • • • • 80cc Stock 9-11 bt RICKY CAR.ICHAEL/T••m Green 8Occ .......... 9-11 1st RICKY CAR.ICHAEL/T••m Green 80cc Stock 12-13 1st ROBBIE REYNARD/T••';' Green 2nd ROBBIE SKAGGS/T••m Green 3nI JASON PARTRIDGf/T••m Green • • • • • • • • JR. Cycle Stock 6-8 bt JOHNNY MARLEY/T••m Green . SU......lnl12.18 bt ROBBIE REYNARD/T••m Green 2nd CRAIG DECKER/T••m Green 3nI ROBBIE SKAGGS/T••m Green 105cc 9-11 bt RICKY CAR.ICHAEL/T••m Green U 5 'T :TSUBAKI users DID the competition in and . th t's FACT' . a. ·. lie I ' • • .1 U.S . TSUBAKI, INC. I TEAM ~ ~I ~~",o, . . GREEN ' ' USA Don't panic. With the right technique, you'll be better able to handle the ~ ~ unexpected. And that's what separates advanced riders from the rest.Take a Moto(cycle RiderCoursee. Call 1-800-447-4700. .. Motorcycle 5afeIy Foundation . CLIP & SEND r--------------------------------------------~ o OKLAHOMA CITY o SAN JOSE AMA PRE·ENTRY FORM CLASS STRUCTURE Place a " in the class(es) you choose to ride I A NCTID N ' 51eeAuto4-8 . 125 C Novice 250 C Novice Sen iors 4O -Up 65oe 7·11 125 8 Intermediate 250 B Intermediate Open Novice 85oe 7-11 125 A Expert 2501500 A Exper t 850e 12·13 125 Yooth 12· 15 Senior s 3O-Up 850e 14·15 Plus 25 O Seniors 35-Up PRE-ENTRY MAIL·IN ENTRY FEE $50.00 Per Class MAlL·IN ENTRY FEE INCLUDES: Rider Gats F..... Rider Entry Fee. Bonus for Mail·l n En tries • One Early Entry P":,Ss. One Action Pil Pass. One Pro Ticket Voucher per Entry . Name: Age: Address: City: Zip: . Bike Brand: Phone: Riding #: - AMA #: _ _ Expires: 5tate: 2nd Choice: Number of Entries Checked: _ _ X $50.00 equals AlIA m.mbwship will be required. II may be purchased at the event. AMA membership is $20.00 MAIL CASHIERS CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO: SUperSports • P.O. Box 13246 • 51. Petersburg, FL 33733 _ _ _ (Amount Due) fOr one year. For ontry informa tion on tho 1991 AMA Amatou r Supe reros s Series contact World Sports at (813) 822·8929. HONDA AND SUZUKI CONTINGENCIES PAID I I I I I I I ._-------------------------------------------~ 23