Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

i D yan ng GINTERVIEW NatioDal Trials Champ_o__R.l.-_ Yo_u---'"'---~ time to the sport. Bu t it's still not near ' wha t they make in Europe. The top 20 in Europe p rob ably bri ng in anywhere from $60,000 to $500,000 (each). You ha ve been the dominant rider in America, yet when the World Championship competitors come here for an event, they leave yo u to fight for a top 20 spot. Wh y is that? ~ 'It 's like I said, th ey progress a lot 00 q u icker in ability. For us (Americans) ;>. to catch them, we're going to have to l-o spend a coup le of years in Europe ~ riding ri gh t with them because we can ;j on ly push five o r six times a year. I:::: Everything I learn is on my own, in ~ m y backyard. ~ Will you make a World Championship effort in the near future? No, I do n't believe so. I j ust like i t here in the Un ited States. I can 't live in Europe because I have a son here. I rea lly can 't do what it takes to give it a World Championship effort, so I'll ju st keep trying to win the Nation al Ch ampionship. What do you think our chances are to win at the Trials des Nations next year since it will be held in New York ? I don ' t th ink there is an y chance of the U.S. winni ng, but I'd say we will do a little better than we do in Europe. .T here ar e a few top competitors on th e trials scene. H ow do you rate the com petition, such as Geoff Aaron? He's a rea l good rider. I thought he was goi ng to do a lot better to wards the end of the year. In stead he wo n the first co uple ro unds and the n he hasn 't been even in there at all or even close to me in th e last severa l events. Then he went to Eu ro pe for two months and I tho ug h t he was going to be real good for the las t three ro unds and that still didn ' t happen. I wo n the last two events with mar gins larger tha n I' ve ever had in my entire hi story of co m peting, 39 and 41 poin ts. I' ll have to wai t unti l next spr ing to see what he is like nex t year, but I think he peaked in '91 and I'm no t afraid of hi m any more since I've done rea l well these last couple of events. Mark Manniko? Mar k di d real well thi s year in the begi n ni ng. He was injured late in the year and coul d n 't ride the last thr ee Nationa ls. Aside from the inj ury, he lacks a little bit of consis tency sometimes. He has the better first loop and some ti mes lie has th e bett er last loop, bu t he can never put it together a ll day lon g. He m ig h t justbe o ne of those guys tha t just has a hard tim e brin ging in tha t first- p lace trophy. T odd Roper? T odd's j us t real consistent and he's rea lly enthus iastic. H e's loo king to get bett er every time he ri des. I can see a real steady, slow progression. I think he will just steadily get better the next coup le of years. Kip Webb ? . Kip is always right in there. He's stro ng, a good rider, and real smooth. He's going to be in the top five for several years as lon g as he rides the Natio na ls, but he's not any threat to the to p three. Ron Commo? H e's abou t the same as Webb. Ron can put on some awesome rid es. H e pi cks some great lines, has some great rides, but he gets a lot of fives, a lot of points wh ere he shouldn 't get points, so he lack s a little consistency in . ea ch section. He should be top five for the next couple of years. . What do you enjoy doing when you are not riding trials? I enjoy tennis. I lik e to pl ay a lot of Frisb ee. I am getting into water skiing and I like riding personal watercraft vehicles. I hav e been get ting into the water sports a lot more lately because 14 I hav en 't been doing an ything but _ trials for severa l years. Now I am enjoying wa ter sports and getting into gu ns and shooting a little bit. That's abo ut it. When you practice, do yo u ride strictly trials, or do yo u motocr oss or trail ride? Str ictly trials. I practice about two to th ree tim es a week for about two o r three hours at a tim e. little while and I j ust rode the 125cc Novice class and I finished second o verall. Last year, I rode the 250cc class in Pennsylvania, where I lived wit h a frien d. H e let me use his bike and I won the Novice class, but both tim es wer e very scary a nd a heck of a workout. Bernie Schreiber came over in 1987 a nd we did some tria ls sc hoo ls together. Schreiber is the ma in guy tha t go t me to whe re I am at righ t now , as far as the way I ride the mot orcycle and m y techniques. H e ta ught me all th e tech n iq ues I am doing right now. What's in store for your fans and your competition for the '92 season? Do you use any type of weight training or cardiovascular workouts? No, I haven 't yet, but I will be 25 years old next year and it looks like I am go ing to have to start working ou t on the weights and cardiovascul ar because I get huffing and puffing quite a bit and I rest a lot in the sectio ns. In order to keep at it , I'm going to have to start ' working ou t this winter, I believe. Have you ever competed in any other forms of motorcycle competitions besides trials? Only twice, and bo th times it was motocr o ss. Once was in 1985 i n T ennessee. I lived down there for a Besides your own self determination, who would you say helped you achieve your success? I can name many people who hav e go tten me to where I am right now. My father taught me every th ing I kn ow. He still helps me out with co ncentration , although not really with techniques. I li ved with Curt Comer for six months in 1985. H e was the National Champio n in 1981, so he taught me a ton of stu ff just in th e six months that I lived with him because we would go rid ing all th e time. I really learned a lot from him. I hope to do a lot of trials schools to help everybody get better, and I am going to ride all the National Championships to go for another title. I want to keep building up the wins. Right now, I have 28 victories and beat Marland Whaley 's National record of career victories. I will just keep trying to rack those victories up, and since I have a littl e streak of seven wins going, I think I better go for the record of 21 wins in a row done by Bernie Schreiber. It's going to take a lot to beat that and I ha ve a hard tim e. with streaks, but I . think that might be a goal next year, ClII to keep the streak going.

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