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/127388
he passed up the opportunity to cash in on his 250cc World Championship for a chance to co m pe te head -to-head against the American riders. " I wanted to show the Eu ropeans that it's possible for them to wi n in the V .S. ." Bayle sa id. " In France, or Europe, wh en th e Am eri cans came they would win every tim e. Th e (Euro pea n) people lik e the best rid ers. In Fra nce everyo ne was saying Americans are th e best. So I j us t tried to prove th at so mebody from Europe can win if he practices and does everyt h in g like the Americans. " " We can 't go fast lik e the Am eri can s because we don 't hav e eno ugh supercross races or a su percross cha m p io n ship. I wanted to pro ve tha t with th e same bike, practice and same lifestyle as the Ameri cans, th at I can ride like th e Ame ri can s. I don 't think th e Am eri can s are stro nge r tha n th e Europeans, I th ink everyo ne has th e same capaci ty to win. I just proved so mebody can co me and do th e same th ing." DeCo ster was a b le to co n vi nce Ameri can Honda to sign Bayle to a V .S. contract [or the '90 season, so the Fre nchman rel ocated to Red ondo Beach in so u the rn Ca lif orn ia. H e quickly picked up several Ameri can hobbies and he now likes to surf, ride skateboa rds, £I y fast kit es on the beach with hi s French girlfriend Edwige , and fly radio-controll ed gliders. He also likes to climb a wa ll he had bu ilt in hi s backyard to simula te a rock climb in the mountains near hi s hom e in the sou th of Fran ce. "My life here and in Fran ce is very different." says Bayle. "If I lived in Pa ris it wou ld be the same - two big cities. But I live in the country and can take my bi ke and ride on th e road , do wha t I want. For wha t I do now, for winning th is cha m pions h ip , it 's better to be here. There's a lot you can do here that you can 't do in Eu ro pe , and some things you can do th ere you can 't do here. You j ust have to ada p t. I'm not going to stay here all my life." Bayle had to ada pt to a new style of riding as well. " T he G Ps ar e very different," he says. "They are very lo ng (40 minu tes plus two laps) co m pared to supercross (abo ut 20 mi n utes) and yo u can wait to pass. In a G P yo u ca n wa it 30 minutes [or a g uy to ma ke a mistake . You have to think a lo t more in a G P, . it 's more a race in the mi n d. In supercross, you try to be fast [rom the first to th e last lap, but at a GP yo u try to get a good start and thi nk abou t th e race, not ride too hard too early." In a way, Bayle had to a pp ly his GP strategy to fulfill his dream. An elbow injury for ced him to miss two ro unds early in the 1990 Camel Supercross Series, his first full year in Ameri ca. He still came back to finish second in the series, and th en led the l25cc National Championship MX Series until he broke hi s arm at the midpoint of the season. Although he didn 't win a ti tle , H onda still renewed th eir commi tment by signing Bayle to a twoyear contract at the end of the year . This year, it q u ickly became clear that in order [or Bayle to win the Camel Supercross title he wo uld have to beat his Honda tea m mate and defending cha m p j eff S tanto n . After a few ro unds , Bayle esta blished hi s supe riority, but it wasn 't un til Sta nton was inj ured in the first ro und of th e Pontiac double header th at Bayle knew the cham pionsh ip wo uld be his. " " I knew I co u ld take 50 po ints since it was a two-day race," says Bayle. " It would've been harder if he hadn' t cras hed, but that's racing. I cras hed last year and had th e same problem . I feel bad for him, but it was my year." it's because I wasn 't fast en ough and ' didn 't have eno ug h con fidence. I just try to have a good time to make my mental co nditio n read y [or the race." After working so hard to atta in hi s dr eam of winning the su percross title, one has to wonder if he will be a ble to mentally co ndition h imself to repeat the feat . It a lmost seems that Bayle will be conte nt to just have o ne. " It'll be diff erent," says Bayle. " I don 't want to say that it 's no t important to win th e cham pionsh ip a seco nd time. But my first goal was to win o ne tim e. It 's lik e you work, work, work to have som ething. And you get it. So you tum the page. I am just on the beginning of the second page, so I just try to do the best that I can , I have no pressure. It 's li ke whe n you p ut the writing o n the page and then hav e to sig n to finish it. I'v e already signed, so now I start another page. For mot ocross I print nothing. If I can take "ano ther championship, I will , but it's not the same as the first o ne. " H is life-long dr eam fulfilled, a future chap ter in Bayle's book will be abo u t road racing. Wh en he negotiated hi s two-year Honda MX co ntract at the end of last year, Bayle made sure it incl uded the o ppo rt un ity to rid e a H onda NSR 250 G P roa d racer. Bayle got that cha nce earlier this year whe n he did some testi ng in j a pan , and he tu rn ed in som e impressive times at the ~ (Below) Roger DeCo ster (righ t) made a joke that helped inspire Bayle. • (Abo ve) Bayle un derstands why he does n't have a lot of American fans . And i t cou ld be a n even m ore prosperous year [or Bayle. H e's already received a $100,000 bonus [rom Camel, p lus H onda 's bonus which reportedly ma tches or exceeds tha t amoun t, [o r winn in g the Supercross cro wn , Bayle a lso lead s the 250cc Nat ional Cha mpions hip MX Series a nd co uld ea rn a no ther su bstantia l H o nda bo nus if he wi ns that title, pl us there's the 500cc National Cham pions hip to shoot for. " I wi ll try to win th e National ti tles as well," says Bayle. " But my nu mber one goal was to be champion in supe rcross ." " To Bayle, the Nat ional titl es are much less im portant than his Camel Supercross crown , but he kno ws that th e National titl es are im po rta nt to his em p loyer, American Honda , so he will do all he can to win them. That's th e way Bayle is. Earlier this year wh en man y riders were trying to co nvi nce the AMA to call off the Hangtown 125/ 250cc National because o[ torrential rain, Bayle merel y said, " I am paid by H onda to race, and if there is a race then I will rideand do m y best to win ." He will als o do his best regard less of how the Ameri can people treat him , :'1 th in k I have less fans now that I' ve won the championship!" he says with a smi le. "It's ha rd beca use it' s not . my co un try, In Europe, you learn about all the co untries in the world at school. Here it's a very big co unt ry so everybody learns on ly about th is country and (they) never th in k about France or ot her cou ntries. A lot of people didn't even thi n k I could ride mot ocr oss in France! "The Fren ch people are happy to see peo p le [rom another co untry. If you have the Pari s Supercross and on ly j ean-Mi ch el Ba yle will b e th er e, nobody will co me because it 's not fun to see me win without people from o ther cou n tries. What is fun is to see th e Ameri cans, j apanese, racers from a ll co u ntries in a good race. " He re it is different," Bayle co ntinued, "the people think only Arnerican. I accep t that because it's a big " country and the people have learned this. I just try not to think abou t it. I know I'm not a Stanton or Bradshaw here, I just ride because tha t's what I lik e to do." Bayle says he does n't like to. tra in , so he spends most of his time prepari ng for a race by riding and mentally co ndi tio ni n g himself. H e'll ride a bicycle if he feels like it , or "spend several hours climbing his wa ll. " If I don 't win a race i t's not because I'm not in shape," Bayle says. " I [eel Suzuka circ u it. H e ro de the NSR aga in in France. "I hope to ri de the 250cc cham pion ship in 1993," says Bayle. " I ho pe to get a good bike from HRC. If I don't. I can find a good sponsor in France to make a team. Eith er way, I'm go in g to rid e in '93. At first I will try to just rid e and learn a lot , try to be in th e top five. Then I' ll try to be cham p io n." H e wou ld also lik e to be th e 500cc .cham pion . But Bayl e isn't read y to leave motocross behind just yet. After he returns fro m a vacation in the Idaho mountai ns , he'll try to become the first rider to win three Na tional Championships in one season. Then he' ll be back to defend h is Camel Supercross title. " I want to rid e with th e number one p late," says Bayle, wh o has never carried it since he's always moved o n after wi nning a championship. " I will ride my last year, and it will be a good C'f feeling." 19