Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

your logo has been on TV in focus, how much time that is, and how mu ch that would be in doll ars if that was an advertisement. I gu ess the y have some formula for figuring out the actual amount of m oney. So if I wear my Pe rformance South hat on TV for 15 sec on ds, tha t' s worth so much money based on th e viewership of that show. They d o tha t for the teams - NASCAR, Indy Ca rs, Ind y Lites, they did Supercross for the AMA one year - they also do it for the sponsor, so Per formance South's sponsor will also get a report on what I do for them. So the two people then have something they can negotiate with. They both know what they're worth - instead of having this va gue idea that I'm a rea lly good racer an d I have this really good team, wo uld you like to sponsor me. N o, you can say, "I' m a really good ra cer, I'm Na tional ch ampion, and I raised $372,000 worth of med ia exposure last year . That's what you need." Are you worried about the future of the 250cc class in AMA racing? No. What I'd like to see, though, and I'll give my reasons for this, I'd like to see a 125cc class. Because if we have a 125 class we'll have a better 250 class. And if we have a really good GP ride r starting at a really young age, they'll go in and make the su perb ike class better. They'll go to Europe and make GPs be tter. The 250 class is the kind of class that's right in between a beginner, starting out, and a seasoned profess ion al do minating or racing in it. It' s kind of difficult to get into 250s unl ess you give yourself a coup le of yea rs to get up to speed . Now 125s, th ou gh , th ere ar e a lot of people that can jump right on and be competitive with d irt track experience or mo tocross exp eri enc e. It's a light little tiny bike that's not too intimid ating. We've got 30 or 40 of them in America now, probably mo re. And I cou ld take a rider from the re, a young guy with a lot of dirt track experience, put him on that, and build him up to a 250. And he' ll be a very exp erienced 250 rider before he goes on from my team and moves on to som eth ing el se. And it build s a good base of people I can take from the 250s. And it's a stepping stone kind of thing. What are we going to do? Are we going to pu t a 16-year-o ld on a superbi ke ? There's no wa y. We've got to start them somewhere. The flip side of that is tha t the re are ' to o many cl as ses at a race and the re isn 't enough time fo r anyone to set the ir bike up p roperly. That's a very rea l problem. And at some of the AMA meetings that I've bee n to they've sai d that th ey' d li ke to see a smoother more streamlined program. What yo u've gotto d o is deci de w hat races are most important to keep . And you've go t to d eci d e that yo u don 't want d uplications. You don't want a 750 Supersport bike th a t looks just like a superbike, tha t looks just like a Team Challenge bike. In my opinion, you need a 125, 250, 600cc Supersport , H arleys, and Superbike. And you need those classes to run on Sun day. And on Saturday you need heat races. Exciting fivelap heat races tha t the fans can come on Sa t urd ay a nd see doub le the races they'll see on Su n d ay beca use they'll sp lit the classes an d run two heat races. What you d on't need is the same kind of bikes in d iffe ren t classes. You d on' t need a lot of endurance. I think it's great if you're into tha t, but I think the AMA is working more towa rds a sprint p rogral):1. And, of course, superbi ke is the domina n t class and I have no problem gi ving superbike any amount of time they need to get the thing done. But I think going and reducing the program d own to two or three races on Sunday, I think is boring. And I think if you pay 20 or 25 bucks to come to a race you d on' t wa nt to see two hou rs of racing and then go home. What they need is an exciting build-up an d an announcer that knows the racers and knows what he's ta lking abo ut; 20 minutes in between each race so the fans could go get a beer or go to the bathroom or wha tever they ha ve; introductions that are exciting for each race; and we'll build th is up to a su perbike finale at the end of th e day. Fans d on ' t have to get ou t of there by five or four o'clock. They w ant their money's worth. And if you were going to bu y a ticket for Saturday and Sun day and you got to see six to 12 heat races and six races on Sun day, that's a pretty actio n-packed weekend of racing. All d ifferent classes. Why do you th in k a 250 is a better stepping stone than a 600? The only thi ng abou t 250s is th at yo u can be competitive for the lead and the win. 6005, let's face it, if you're not on a good 600 fro m a factory you're racing for a little ways back. From my min dset, if I was in a 600 race - Jon Cornwell is a good example - he's riding brilliant on a 600, but he's sti ll back a litt le ways off th e lead because he doesn' t have the speed. I would rather race in a class I can win. Maybe it takes me two or three y,ears to m ast er the class. But at least you're not held back as you are in the 600 class. The 600 class is a great class, but it' s turned into a factory showcase. T he fac tory stars a re ridin g, it looks like they' re riding the 6005 almos t ha rde r tha n they're rid ing the superbikes sometimes. I think if you were going to start, it'd be be tter if you were go ing to sta rt in a class you could be competitive righ t off with a good-ru nning sta nda rd bike. I'm obviously biased towa r d the G P s tuff because tha t's what I'm doing here, but I understand the d esire to race what I'm intereste d in. I may not race Ha rleys, but it's good racing. I enjoy watching it. I d on't race 600s, but I admi r e w ha t those guys can do with them . I jus t think it's important to have a place to start at a professional even t that you d on 't feel like you to have eyes in the back of your head because here comes a pac k of eight p ros that's going to just wipe you ou t. I m ean look at Loudon in the 600 race, those backmarkers just got taken out by the frei gh t tr ain . Maybe they weren 't rea dy for that type of racing . That happened in th e 250 also. Didn't Takahito Marl tak e a guy out? Mori hit Cortes, Leon Cortes. So it can happen in any class ? It can happen in any class, yeah. Maybe it wo uld be better for those guys to start on 125s an d have a lot of racing experience and then m ove up to 250s. The thing is th at w herever yo u are in the world the very best rid ers are going to be rid ing in the best classes. I'm not saying you shouldn't start on a 600if that's w hat you wan t to do, or if you want to build a superb ike in your garage and go out there and superbike. That's you r prerogative : If you want to d oit, go ou t there and go ahead. But I'm just saying from a common-sense stand poin t, it'd be better, and less intimidatin g, to start in a class that you have a po tential to win. The n move to the ne xt class, that , you have a poten tial to win, and then get hired as a factory superbikerrder and have the potential to win. But it's kind of hard ' to go straigh t into superbike and go, "Great, now may be they'll notice me running around in 15th place and they'll hire m e and I'll w in next week. " It just d oesn't happen that way. I tried it, it doesn' t happen that way. If I had been smart when I was younger I would have gone st raight in to 250s . I would have raced 125s am ate ur - I do n't know if they had a 125 pro class, I don't think they d id - I wo uld hav e gone in to 250s, I'd ha ve started winning, winning, winning 250s, I' d have on ly been 20 years old and I would have had four or five yea rs experience at a Grand Prix .level. Then, maybe, I would have gotten hired by a superbike team. If there's a logical progression to how you go about your career, I think 125s would hel p a lot of people get started, especially people tha t aren't familiar with road racing. What d o you think of the schedule? Are there enough races or should there be more? - - - - - - -COntinued on page 47 Q) en 33

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