Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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GINTERVIEW Jeff Russell ! Suddenly ,.....; somebody By Davey Coombs t seems that Jeff Russell has been on the verge of sta rdom for an eternity, especially fro m his point of view. T here are many off-road riders wh o ha ve reached th at pl ateau wh en they are consi dered as legends, like Dick Burleson, T erry Cunningham , Kevin Hines, Randy Hawkins, Ed Lojak and Scott Summers, j ust to name a few. And the one thing that thi s elite group of people hav e in common is something th at Ru ssell does not have, at least not yet, and that 's a championship title. . • Yet tim e can change all that for Russell and he will tell you that the time is now I Russell , 27, from Ch auncey, Ohio, has been gradually ascending towards the top of off-roa d competition since he began riding motorcycles at the relatively late age of 16. As the record book shows, southern Ohio has long been a cradle of woods racing, thanks to its open forests and abandoned mining areas. The area is famo us for producing the likes of Cunningham and Burleson. Russell latched on to the se legends but corn peted without much fanfare, though he enj oyed small success in the AMA Nat ional Enduro, Cross Country and H are Scrambles Series , as well as being a member on severa l U.S. ISDE team s. Bu t recently Russell is fin all y making a name for himself. As a memb er of the ill-fated Yam ah a off-roa d team in 1990, Rus sell landed on the doorstep of off-road stardom, earn ing the number two pl at e in the Grand National Cross Country Series, number three in th e National H are Scrambles Series, and number four in th e Nati onal Enduro Series. No other ri der had a better combin ed scorecard in those three series, though Russell's rival Scott Summers ga thered the lion' s share of the hea dlines wi th his two titles in the cross coun try and hare scra mb les series . Curre nt ly, Ru ssell leads the 1991 End uro Series after five rounds and is in contention fot the G rand National Cross Country crown as wel l. In his first six months as a KTM team member, he has scored the overa ll win at the National enduro in Lou isi a n a an d ' the com bi ned Nat ional cross cou ntry/ hare scrambles race in T en nessee, an d has scored many top five finishes in all three series , as well. We recently chatted wi th Russell and discussed his introduction to off-road raci ng, his involvement wi th some of th e factory racing ,teams, and h is curr en t success in the enduro, cross country and hare scrambles championship series. I ***** 20 These days it seems that 16 iskind of a la te age to be getting into a sport. Why did you wait so long to start racing? It was a case of my parents, especially my mother (Ruth) not wanting me to Ohio's Jeff Russell is currently leading the AMA National Championship Enduro Series point standings. The factory KTM rider is seeking his first off-road title. race motocross, and it was the on ly th in g kids un der 16 could do. My dad (Howard) used to race enduros and he always let me go ridi ng wi th him but would never allow me to enter. T hat kep t me near the racing scene, bu t I wasn't allowed to be a part of it u nt il I was older. My fami ly just wasn't a racing fami ly. My dad got into it because he had som e buddies who always' went to the races. You see, the town I grew up in was-a pretty sma ll mining town. There wasn 't much to do except ride motorcycles. If you didn 't ha ve a trail bike, you didn ' t belong to the click. Who did you look up to when you finally started racing? T erry Cun ning ha m. He was the most infl ue nt ia l rider. He too k me in and turned me into th e rider that I am today. I learn ed so mu ch from T erry, becau se I used to trai l ride with hi m all the tim e and try to .emulate him and keep up wi th him. Wher e I live in Ohio ther e is Kevin Brown, Mike Frazee, Tim Shepha rd, Scott Pl essinger, Mark H yde and Cunningham. A lot of top notch cross coun try riders come from thi s part of the coun try. I gu ess you either had to get fast or find someth ing else to do. What is your parents' affiliation with your career? My dad backs me 100%. I wouldn't have gotten to this po int if it wasn't for his help and support. Mom , too. Once I got star ted, they backed me as much as a parent co uld. They never thought I could make a living doing it, not th a t I'm making a grea t living. I still live at home. But racing at th is level is som ething you can do when you 're young and I'm just fortunate enough to be able to do it. So your mom came around to the idea of you being a professional racer? Yes. In fact, she keeps all of my trophies around th e house. Her little boy is out risking his neck and that still scares her, but she and Dad have kept all my stuff. They're real proud of my accompl ishments but it 's a strange situation . For in stance, my mom would never come to a cross co un try or hare scrambles race to watch me race because of the mass starts. They can get kind of messy and th at would just tear her up. What can I say? She' s a nervo us person. My dad is my pit crew whenever he comes to the races. He reall y enjoys be i n g aro u n d th e tracks a n d th e competition and I know he' s ver y proud of hi s son. In a strange way racing ha s brought us togeth er more as a fam ily. At times it' s been a struggle fin an cially , but we've stuck together and now th ings are looking up. Which company was the first to give you assistance? I rod e for Husq varna for a long time as a suppor t rider. T hen I swi tche d over to Yamaha - aga in as a su pport rid er - for 1988. I was with Yam aha until last fal l. Last year Yamaha suddenly pulled out of off-road racing earl y in the season. How did that affect you? When Yama ha ga ve me th e backing I wa nted, i t was rea lly an ego boost. I though t, 'H ey, these peo p le rea lly have confidence in my ab ility; I have something to go out an d prove.' I did reall y well at . the beginning of the year and everything was fine. Bu t when they pu lled out, I felt like I was let dow n. It was an unfortunate situation for the people in charge of the racing program. T hey had told me they were go ing to do all these th in gs, then all of a sudden the ru g was pulled ou t from 'u nder th em du e to financial problems elsewhere in the company. For me it was more of a mental blow than anything. They still