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/127564
GINTERVIEW Road racer DOll Chandler ~ The thoughts of aquiet contender 0\ ~ By Dean Adams oug Chandler spent 1992 mounted on a Lucky Strike-sponsored Suzuki RGVSOO, his first" A" ride since departing AMA superbike racing as its champion and joining the Grand Prix fraternity in 1991. After a season dedicated to learning the details of the foreign tracks and adapting his riding style to the ferocious 500s, Chandler proved his mettle in 1992 by winning poles, placing on the rostrum several times along the way, and finishing fifth in the title chase - just a few scant points behind his teammate Kevin Schwantz. Chandler has all of the qualifications and requisites a future GP winner and D 24 champion should theoretically have: He was a very proficient dirt track racer; he was the Camel Pro Series Rookie of the Year in 1983 and went on to win nine Grand National Championship Series events; he is one of only four riders to score the "grand slam" - wins in TT, mile, half mile, short track and road race Nationals; and he won the National Championship Superbike title in convincing style on a Muzzy Kawasaki ZXR in 1990. The quiet and unassuming Chandler is different &om some of his grandiose Grand Prix counterparts, perhaps believing that his race results and race track performance should speak for him - ala Eddie Lawson. The Lawson/ Chandler comparisons have just begun to be made but there is much merit to them, witness Chandler's smooth riding and deft touch at chassis setup. The 27-year-<>ld northern Californian spent the off-season riding his dirt bikes near his home just miles from Laguna Seca, working on one of his late 1960s muscle cars, and testing the GP road racer he'll ride for Cagiva, replacing the "retired" Eddie Lawson. Given the amount of time he had on his hands, we had the opportunity to ask Doug about his 1992 season on the Lucky Strike Suzuki, his move to Cagiva, Eddie Lawson, his new Australian teammate Matt Mladin and his goals for 1993. An unusually talkative Chandler, the cow- boy boot wearing, tobacco chewing exdirt tracker told all.... What has been happening with you since the season ended? I've been doing some hare scrambles, actually I did some at the end of last season too. I started doing them this year, but it just got to be real dangerous. Too many guys using you as a target. I only did the opening race and that was enough for me. Last year I did it and it was really fun, this season it got to be too much like racing. It's a really good workout riding those off-road bikes for two hours at a stretch. I have been riding my Suzuki stuff so far because I haven't gotten my Huskys yet, but I expect to soon. I have a little trailer - I guess it's not little, it's 36 feet long - that I can haul my bikes in. It's got living quarters in it and I'm a member of this motorcycle club and we have a National' Enduro down at Clear Creek and i have been going down there working on the course. With the trailer I can bring my wife and son along, and they have quad racers that they can ride around the campground. Do you ever hear any feedback from the Cagiva people? Do they object to you riding off-road events? They knew about me doing those marathon hare scrambles. They're funny...they really want to protect their investment, but they know that you need to go out there and train. It's more like when you're a kid how your parents acted when you rode your first motorcycle. They're really cautious and looking aut for their investrnent. Your leaving Suzuki and signing with Cagiva has been called a money motivated decision on your part. Was it? . Yeah. You know.. J didn't want to leave (Suzuki) and I didn't want them to match the' offer (from Cagiva), I just wanted them to get close. But they were unable to even meet me halfway. To me, it wasn't realistic to stay somewhere when you're going to get something three times as much or more somewhere else. I was real happy there too, I was a little disappointed in myself for the crashes but I thought it was all part of learning. The times when we did stay up we had some really good results. Kevin (Schwantz) was good to get along. with. I wasn't sure what to expect out of him for a teammate, but he accepted it and didn't say a whole lot and just went on about his business. And once you started finishing ahead of him ... There was never a problem with that. That was something that he took and accepted and got along with it, not just started making friction amongst the team. We just kind of went along about our business. Kevin, in the past, has been critical of the Suzuki GP team for not being as serious as they should be abou thaw the team is run and about winning races. How do you feel about that? I don't see it being Kevin's fault, I see it being the whole team. Being with a couple of different teams now, I can see, yeah, Suzuki, they have the ability, it's just the effort ... the Japanese I think are really good and they put out really a tremendous effort. It's the team itself (that) tends to sit back and let the Japanese do all of the work instead of trying to get other things going internally as well. That wasn't really a factor in my leaving. I figured that was something that I could have got changed and got more motivation out of the team itself. What were your impressions of riding the S.uzuki after riding the Roberts Yamaha? Between the two there really wasn't a whole lot of difference. They're really similar, the Suzuki is a little bit more