Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

experience for me," said Dymond, who arrived from California on the eve of the race. "Nothing went right for me. I got the bike Friday and just didn't have the time to set up the motor. It was seizing in practice and I just couldn't get anything going. I stepped back and thought, 'Maybe I should just let this race go by and wait for the next one.' It wasn't the way I wanted to approach a new season. The whole time I was out there I was as terrified as a bear on roller-skates. In the end I was thankful to just get through the night but disappointed at the same time with the way things turned out." Dymond rode the qualifying heats, but missed making the main by one position in the semi . Unfortunately he couldn't get to the gate for . the last chance qualifier since the motor seized completely . . The next stop of the supercross circuit was Houston, Texas, a few hours below Parker's new horne in Stanley, Louisiana. The team had decided to drive from Florida to the Astrodome event, which meant that Parker's family, Dymond, visiting Italian rider Michele Monti and his girlfriend would all be packed into the .blue van and a small pick-up truck. Dymond's wife, Tracy, wouldn't join them until a 'week later in Anaheim, California. The Houston race was important in that it marked the first race of the season for 125cc MX World Champion Stefan Everts, an early favorite to challenge Parker in the cornin g 250cc GP cam pai gn. Everts made a miraculous American debut, riding in third place for th e first 12 laps of themain even t before fatigue drug him down to ninth at the finish. However, Parker admitted little concern with Everts' surp rising performance. "Stefan rides th is supercro ss stuff and practices it all the time, so I'm not worried tha t he does way better or .a nv worse than I do ," said Parker, who finished 15th in the Houston main. " Besides, we are both here for the sam e reason, and that' s to get read y for the World Championships." Indeed, ever since J ean-Michel Bayle reinvented Rog er DeCoster's idea of using America as a training ground for th e GPs, wintering in America has becom e the rag e for many world title cont enders. In J anuary there were no less than a dozen GP stars compe tin g somewh ere in America, though only . Parker, Dymond and Everts had the gu ff and humility to join th e Camel Su percross tour. " We are u si n g the fiery pi t of Ame rican su pe rcross, th e to u gh est place in the wor ld to compete, as our trainin g ground," joked Dymond after another disappointing effort in H ou ston. " Bu t this is j ust a means to' an end. Trampa s and I aren ' t out th ere trying to win, just to train." . This tim e Dymond made th e main event, but banged his foot again and decided to call it a night before the checkered £lag carne ou t. After th e Houston race the team began gathering added support from Paul Thedes' Race -Tech, who soon supplied a box van, a ' work shop, and valuable setup tips. Arrangements were also made for Rob Henrickson and Aussie Darren Conroy to act as mechanics. While Parker headed west with the truck, Dymond £lew horne to California to rehabilitate his foot and get ready for a homecoming race of sorts, the Anaheim Supercross. " Going back to Anaheim was kind 'of tough for me," said Dymond. "Some people seemed real happy to see me again, but others were probably think. ing, 'What's he doing here?' I felt pretty uncomfortable i n the pi ts . Some people were dropping by to say hello and others wou ld just wal k on by. It was hard for me to adj ust to suc h a mixed reception." Making matters wors e for Dymo n d was the fact that the Anah eim main event would feature on e of th e mo st talented field s in the history of su percross; the winners of 27 World and American National titles were on the starting line. And seven top riders fai led to qualify for the ma in event . If Dymond was intimidated in the pits, he didn't show it on the track. After gating just outside the to'p 10 in the main event, he seemed to call up in Vincenza, Italy, he didn 't make the ma in even t after struggli ng with bike problems thr oughou t the q ua lifying program. Dym o n d conti n u ed ri di n g well during the same fortni gh t and finished 16th in Seattle and 13th at San Diego. The fifth round of the series at San Diego was also Dymond's last round; he was out of money. " Duri n g those five weeks I made about half of what I spent just to be there," said Dymond after San Diego. " I can 't afford to race anymore. The purse money seems the same as it did a few years ago. That has to get better if the sport is ever going to grow. impressed with the up per echel on of America n racers. "They've really improved a lot," says Dymond. " It's funny to see kid s succeeding now wh o were just corning up when I was here ." Both Parker and Dymond admit Dam on Bradshaw was most impressive, his aggressiveness, confidence and talent having finally ebbed at once. And they've always felt Bayle to be the smoothest rider in the world. But supercross in general was not as . impressive for either rider. "T he tracks are better but at the same time they are worse ," says Dymond. "The general appearance is a lot more presentable with all the colors and banners and everything, but they don't challenge the riders in a competitive way ." Parker found himself disappointed with all the hassles of waiting for pit passes and car passes and the limited access riders have to the track and stadium. But he's more concerned with the lack of adequate riding areas in . America. "I was surprised with how hard it is to just go riding somewhere," said Parker, who has a bevy of riding tracks near his home in Italy. " Five years ago it wasn 't too bad, but now it looks like the 'green people' are winning the battle here, especially ou t West. To hell with those people! They just don 't understand what the real damage is in this world. Wh y is it okay to build a ranch but not a race track ? Why can you driv e a trac tor across a field bu t not a dirt bike? The world will be a much wor se place if the greens have th eir way, because instea d of riding dirt bikes some kids are going to end up dr in ki ng and do in g drugs dow n on the corner. " the Micky Dymond of old ~nd was abl e through th e supercross regulars up to sixth place. With three laps to go , Larry Ward was breathing down Dymond's neck and he made a mistake through a whoop section. Ward ran into the back of him, knocking Dymond back down to 11th in the final results. For Dymond, it was a bitter end to what had been a remarkable race. . As for Parker, he crash ed out ear ly in the Anaheim main event and finished 20th. He had more problems at the next race in Seattle and pulled out before the checkered flag after running as high as 10th. Then at San Diego, Parker's final race of the series before returning to his European horne to cu t a shar p p a th Seeing how little most of the riders here are actually earning makes me respect the privateers so mu ch more. What Trampas and I did was an unorganized, in convenient way to prepare for the season bu t it helped us a great deal. After living like th is, I don 't think eith er of us will get psychotic if things go bad at the GPs this year." Parker added: " I give the privateers all the credit in the world because they aren 't making enough money to even cover expenses. Ldon't see how they can last through a whole season. Being one of them again for five weeks made me look real hard at what I have and makes me want to work all the harder to keep it." The duo also seemed genuinely The record will sho w that in five supercro ss races, each of the two riders qualified for four main even ts, with Dymond's Anahiem l l th being the h ighest fin ish between them. After San Di ego, Dym ond hel d 13th i n th e sta ndi ngs with 24 total po ints: Parker was back in 16th after pulling out of the An aheim and Seattle races. " All things considered I feel like I did very well ," sai d Pa rker. "I don't ride th is stuff in Italy, but when I get back I'm going to bui ld a track and sta rt. I learned wha t it takes to be competiti ve here and I enjoyed every b it o f it. It was a real learning experie nce. I wasn 't trying to win, just prepare for the World Championships in a more beneficial way." The trip was also beneficia l to Park er in that he found that he an d Dymond clicked well together as a team . "I really go t to know Micky on thi s trip and found out that wha t I on ce read abo ut h im just isn't true. One of the American magazines hurt him reall y bad by writing th ings abou t him bein g lazy and a partier and whatever, things that just weren 't true. He's one of th e hardest working guys I know in motocross , and that's going to help us both. " Parker gave credit to multi-time Supercross and National Champion Ri ck Johnson for giving him the inspiration to come home. "I just didn't kn ow what to expect going in, " says Parker, "But Johnson assured me th at everyth ing would be oka y. Johnson was the one who first got me excited about racing supercross. He made me believe that it wouldn't matter how well I did in the results, but how much confidence and aggressiveness I took back to Europe. He said, 'Don't push it, just enjoy the experience.' I did, and now I think the experience will payoff with another World Championship. " ai 23

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