Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

gave me bikes and parts, but I was basically back out on my own again, traveling to th e races in my own van. My dad tried to help as much as possible but he has a full-time job. At this level yo u need someone at the races to help. Yamaha packed it in but I had to goon. Was the Yamaha ride the first time that people started noticing you as a serious threat? When I rode for Husqvama I went to the ISDE five times and earned two gold medals, two silvers and a bronze. But even though I always raced with the big boys, I was never reall y respected as one of them. They a lwa ys seemed to put little Jeffy in a corner - the press, the teams, other riders. But then I got the sup port ride with Yamaha in 1988 and it turned into something big for me. I was winning some races and I wa s getting noticed. That was the first time I ever had the financial support and personnel support to be able to fully co ncen tra te on racing. When Yamaha made the cuts, were you the only rider that was affected by the move? Ed Lojak and Tony Hendon were also members of th e team last year wh en everything fell a part. I'm sure that they ha d the same tro ubles and difficult ies completing the season that I had, So three major off-road racers suffered in the. Yamaha cutbacks. Lojak and Hendon later ended up on the ATK team . What were yo ur options at the end of the season? Well , everyo ne seemed to show some inte rest but Suzuk i was showing the most. They were talking 10 me as early as August and promising a lot of things. I really thoug ht I had someth in g started with th em , something that was going to turn into a good ride. But no o ne was ever able to come forward with a contract or any concrete promises . I just kin d of let it go af ter aw hi le. Kawasaki showed some interest too ; but I knew what it took for me to win, or at least I thought I did. Then I was at home one day and the phone rang and it was Rod Bush from KTM, wanting to know if I had signed anything yet. He said he had a 250 for me to .test. He said that if I though t I could win on it, we wo uld go from there; if I could n 't, we'd forge t . the who le thing. Obviously you found the KTM to your liking. What happened next? They must have kn own what I wa nted to hear as far as su pport was concerned. It wasn 't ju st the bi kes or money tha t co ncern ed me bu t the idea of having som eon e in my corner that I could count on. I always felt that I was a good rider; I just never had that person in my corner to help me tha t extra littl e bit. I asked KTM wha t I cou ld expect as far as hands-on help went, and th ey showed me th ey would do whatever it took to win - bottom line. They ha ve Mike Ros so and Tom Komar right there at the offices (Lorain, Ohio). They ride and test and work o ut all of the bugs and modifications as th ey come in. They were ready 10 go in 1991, because Kevin Hines had left them to go on his merry wa y. I would be the number one rider; that's when I joined KTM . Kevin Hines left the KTM team on less than perfect terms, stating that the company was no longer interested in winning endures. You come along and picked up a great deal . Do you and Hines have any animosity over the fact that you had both talked to Suzuki and you took his place at KTM? No , not really. Then again, we don't talk a whole lot in the first place. He made it known that he thought he couldn't win on the KTM. I can't understand wh y he thought that th e motorcycle wasn 't any good because it works well for me. Rod to ld me up front that Kevin Hines felt th ey didn 't ba ck him 100%. KTM felt they had backed him 110.%. And I ca n tell yo u right now that over th ese fir st co u p le of months KTM has backed me 150%. I guess my views on being supported and Kevin 's views on being supported are two different things. He felt that he was a t so me great di sadvantge riding a KTM , so he went toSuzuki , I think that he really wanted to ride with Suzuki in the first place, no matter what the situation at KTM would be for 1991. You've already had a great deal of success this season on the National enduro circuit and the GNCC and hare scrambles tours. What is your primary concern in 1991? thing right in bike and body. The only th ing differ ent is that with enduros you ha ve 10 be prepared to time keep , to do more than just ride. You hav e to kn ow when and where there is going to be a check and when there won 't be chec ks. You have to get mentally prepared to go fast , but not get caught being stupid in yo ur time keeping. Cross co u ntry raci ng seems like NASCAR racing to me. You get some guys wh o take off out front and if one can break the draft that's the race . Wh en guys like Summers and Lojak make an early break yo u have to be read y and able 10 stay with them. Then it comes down to the last lap and it's one long sprint to the finish. Lapped riders are everywhere and the courses degenerate and get more difficult with each hour. I was really surprised to see Summers do what he did last year, Russell 's first facto ry ri de was with Husqvarna, followed by Yam ah a and no w KTM. My ma in concern is th e National end uros. Las t year I tried to do all th ree series but KTM tol d me 10 concentrate o n end uros. They want this ti tle badly and they don 't want me to lose focus on the enduros. I'm doing the G NCC Seri es on the off weekends, because all th e co m pe ti tio n keeps m e sharp between National enduros. KTM gi ves me a bik e and parts for the GNCCs and hare scrambles, but I have to go to the races on m y own and work o u t of my own van. I never rod e cross co untry races u n til 1989 and even then I on ly rode two of th em o n a 125. Last year I did severa l on m y 250 and I really enjo yed ban ging bars with Summers, Lojak, Pl essinger, Steve McSwain and the rest. Enduros are different because it 's a battle against the clock, ' not so much an individual person. Cross cou ntry is more of a full- on race. If I win a cro ss country or a hare scrambles National it gives me lots of prestige in the sport and co nfide nce in myself. H owever, my main goal and KTM's prior it y is in th e enduro series. Do you prepare differently for an enduro versus a hare scrambles? My mental preparation is really the sa me . You have to try to have every- breaking away in several races and no one able to catch him. I'm not saying it won't happen this year, bu t th ere's a lot of peo pl e shooting for Scott and - tha r's going to make things ' hard. I don't mean to be cruel, but he is number one and that's whe re everyo ne else wants to be, too. Summers says he wants to take up endures as a hobby. Can he become a competitive enduro rider, perhaps challenge you? He will have a hard time holding back. He wo uld tend to get ca ug h t up in the riding and forget about looking at h is time-keeping eq u ip me nt. That would be the main thing. It took me two years 10 get a cross country win. It 's not rea lly diff erent but it tak es a different type of attitude. In enduros you'll go fast for 10 miles then you 'll break. Riders like Scott can go all ou t all of th e time and that will get th em in trouble alan enduro. It might tak e Scott some time to win a National end uro, no t to say that he's a bad rid er. The potential is there but th e experi en ce is not. After three National endures you are leading in the point standings with a third in California, first overall in Louisiana and a second in Ohio. Does your performance so far this year surprise you? No . I've always felt that I'm as fast as anybody on the circuit, it's just now I'm the one getting the little breaks. Everybody knows that Randy Hawkins hurt his thumb, and now Kevin Hines busted his hip and he hasn't been a threat, wh ich is a big surprise. Those two will both be back and it's going to get pretty competitive out there. They have the consistency and ab ility to win any race in an y co nditio ns. But I ha ve a lot of confidence in my own abilities right now and I feel that things ar e going my way. I' ve always been a strong fin ish er, so I'll be ready when Randy and Kevin get things worked out. How about the rest of the enduro field? Has anyone impressed you with his performance in these early rounds? Larry Roeseler won th e first round in California to nobody's surprise. Larry is perhaps the best all -around rider ou t there right now, but when the seri es ca me ba ck eas t to L ouis ian a h e str uggled with the wet and muddy tra ils. That' s so meth ing he just doesn 't get to see in Ca li fornia very often. Bla ir ' Sharpless won in Ohio, wh ich was really quit e a shock ! H is ear ly sta rt ing position had a lot 10 do wit h h im winning, because it was even wetter than Lou isiana an d the trails broke down right away. He escaped all the bottlenecks by starting o u t front. Still, it was a great ride and you can't tak e that away from him. Blair won th e Alligator Enduro in Daytona th is year - he's no flash in the pan. You were once an accomplished ISDE medalist, earning five medals between 1983 and 1989 . Bu t recentl y yo u mentioned that yo u were no longer interested in th e ISDE. Wh y th e turnaround? T he ISDE has changed a lot since I first start ed doing it. Back then it was a big accomplishment to mak e .the American team and an honor to go to Europe and represent the U.S. Now they take so many peopl e th at it's no t such a big deal to be o n the team. It has become 100 political and there's too much preparation and expense 10 go spend two weeks in Europe. Do you see it as more of an expensive vacation than an actual competiti o n for the American contingent? That's being prett y har sh . I think that everyo ne should do it at least o nce. But the competition itself seems like it turns into a big jo y ride during the week. It 's j ust about going fast like motocrossers in the speci al tests. That's why all th e European ex-G P motocrossers ride o n their trophy team. It use d 10 be survival of the fittest , a to ug h tra il ride that went 200 miles a da y. Now th e mot ocr oss gu ys ride on the roads then go fast o n the mo tocross track. The cross co utry riders aren't going 10 beat the Europeans at thei r ga me. Wh en we have six races a year lik e th e ISDE , it's going to be hard to beat th e Europeans at something th ey do all the time. That's thei r sport. What is Jeff Russell's sport? I' m in it for the whole package. I wa nt to be remem bered as an enduro cha mpi on, a cross country cham pion , hare scrambles, every th ing. I wou ld o ne day lik e to go ba ck to th e ISDE if a program can be developed that would allow the best Amer ican ri ders to represen t o ur co un try as it should be. I'm even trying to qualify for th e AMA Am ateur National Motocross Cha m pions hips at Loretta Lynn 's, but rea lly on ly 10 help my aggressiveness in th e woo ds. I ma y have star ted late, but I still hav e a lot of .,t ime to acco m p lish th e goals I've set for myself. This has been a great year so far, but it' s reall y on ly the beginning for me. CN 21

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