Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I'll be riding 125cc Eas tern Regi on al Supercross and 12Sec Nationals. What if there are competing supercross seri es ? Where will you ride? Hard to say. AMA holds good races. I don 't know. Basically where Yamaha w ants me ride. It doesn't matter to me, just as long as I'm riding. How much SX experience to you ha ve ? I haven't ridden supercross in abo ut five yea rs for different reasons. It's good to be on the factory team, tho ugh. The y all have their own test tracks. It's good for me because I'm getting a lot of time on Yamaha's su percross track. I was there for a week, came home, and a day later ca m e he re (to Muddy Creek). I' ll go b ack to Ca lifornia and s t a y until Thanksgiving, come home, then go back until Ch ristm as . It' s kind of like my new home. But it's givi ng me a lot of time to g e t u se d to the tra cks and ride with . g o o d g u ys like Je ff Emi g and John Dowd.It's going good . H ave you se en mu ch im p rovem en t in yo u r supe rcross skills in the sh ort tim e you've be en on th e Yama ha track? Oh yeah! It' s nigh t-and -d ay difference ju st in a week. When yo u look d own at a s u p e r cros s track fro m th e s t a n ds it d oes n 't look that bad . But when you get d ow n there on the floor it's wild. It puts a psyche on you r mind . But the Yamaha peo p le h e lp me ou t,"ca lm m e down . Th ey don 't ex pect me to d o anyth ing special right now. They're jus t helpin g me so much to get used to it. Yo u turn ed pro la st year, but nev er rode an Eas tern Reg ion al Supercross? No. I was about to, but aft er testing a coup le d ays I'm glad I didn' t. I think it would've crushed my confidence. A t one point ea rly in th e Fall Classic Series (Race way Park) you hinted that y o u w e re tired a n d n eed ed a break fr om ri ding or tr ain in g . Do you s till feel that way? No. Coming off the 125 Nationals ther e seeme d to be a break, and that's the way I too k it. I shou ld n't have. I didn't real ize I had race s coming up (Fall Class ic rounds). Getting done w ith the Nationals, 1 tho ught it was over, I could rest a littl e whi le. But I found out it's no t that way . It's like a whole new beginning for me. I ran some pro races last year, but now I'm at a whole different level. The places, people I'm riding with, and help I'm getting are d ifferent. It's a whole different ball game. I'm having a lot of fun. N ow that you're w ith Yamaha, wh o is you r mechanic? A lley Semar. H e' s fr o m back home . We've always gotten alon g. He rode for Yamaha. Back when I was three or four we rode together. He quit racing and sta rte d w re nch ing . It' s always been a d rea m to hav e him. Was he your mechanic at Te am Green, too? No, m y d ad wa s. Alley worked for James Dobb last year at Pro Circuit. It's ju st a good deal working with him. It's a big part. If yo u' re with somebody you don't get along with, it takes away some of the fun. You nee d to be concentrating on racing. If som e th in g' s not goi ng right and it's on yo ur mind when the gate drops, it will p laya big part in the race. Yo u raced a few Nationals over the su m mer and did quite well. You have rec e ived a lot of publicity, made the cov e r of magazine s. How ha s that aff ected you? I'm tryi ng not to ge t too wrapped up in it . It feels good to see you rself on the cover of a magazin e, or in a magazine period. A lot of people say it can make you or break you . I'm just trying to stay away from it. Th ere' s been some bad thi ngs written about me, and so me good things. If you're not careful you can start beli eving the bad things and th at can hurt you. If so me thing bad is sai d about me, that I'm not performing like peopl e think I shou ld be for the atten tion I'm getting. I don't let it ge t me down. I try to get ou t there and work ha rd er. On ce yo u get d own it can be hard to ge t back up. You could be on e of the fu ture stars of motocross, or su perc ross for tha t ma tte r, and cou ld be di rectl y affected by th e current AMAlpromoters split. What ar e you r feelings on th e situation? I'm trying not to get wr apped up in that. Yamaha knows what's in my best in terest. Whatever they w ant me to race is what I'll race. Basically I just want to go out and take things one race at time. I'll let them worry abo ut what's go ing on . I wan t ea ch perfo rman ce to be goo d . I" want to be thinking about perform ances, not track promoters and all that other stu ff. If I go and do well in each race, it d oesn 't matter who is running it. Wh o do you see as your main competition next year? Prett y mu ch eve rybody. (Mike) Brown, Robbi e (Reyn ard ), Timmy Ferry , (Ryan) Hu gh es, altho ug h he'll be ru nning outd oors aga ins t me. Every yea r whe n yo u go to th e line, you look a ro u n d a n d th erere 15 g uys w ho co u ld wi n. It ' s hard to p inpoint one pe rson. I jus t have to go out there and d o the bes t I can. If yo u win one time, yo u might be able to go out a nd w in the next week, but it's just whoe ver has the good race. There's 10 to 15 guys wh o are so close, it could go an y way at any time. Do yo u get home mu ch anymore? No. I wen t to Raceway Park in Ne w Jer sey, ca me hom e for a d ay, wen t to a school in Texas, cam e home for ano ther d ay , then flew to Cali fo rnia . I ca me home from Cali fornia for tw o da ys and s pe n t a day driving h ere to Muddy Creek. I'll be home a week, prob ably the most tim e I'll have, th en I go back to California. What do you like to do when you have some spa re time? That' s th e good thing about th e team . It's not just a motocross thin g. We all go out to eat a nd ha ve fun together. I'm int o remot e-control a irpl anes . Keith McCarty and Bob Hannah both fly. We were tes ting o ne day and Jeff (Emig), Jo hn (Dowd ) and the mechani cs just went mountain bike rid ing. It's a team but we're all friends. Any wild, fun th in gs you gu ys do? ot really. A few amuse ment parks. Go to the beach and ride watercraft. Basical ly whatever we ha ve time for. It's hard when we're testing. It' s like a real job , we're worki ng .9-5. Aft er a full day of riding supercross you' re kind of tired. A lot of times we just go eat then go to bed kind of early, or sit in the hot tub for a whil e. With all th e trav eli n g and stayin g in California, what about school? I'm in a home school program. I can bring it with me. I study every day, but don't hit it quite as hard when I'm in California. I can be so tired after riding I just wa nt to collapse . Whe n I' m at home I'll hi t it rea l hard. Do you plan to get a high school dip loma ? Yes. I'll have a di plo ma that will be recog ni ze d b y mos t co lleges. The home school I' m in is real good . You never know wha t cou ld happen. Righ t now I love racing. It's what I want to do . But if I get hurt or an ything, I need so me thing to fall back on. You ' ve won many race s and ch a mpionships as an ama teur. How mu ch contingen cy money can a top rider ma ke? A.s an ama teu r, abo ut $500 a wee kend at big events. Sometimes at the big nati on a ls , that's enough to make the trip home. You can make some money, but if you're racing non-stop it all goe s back into raci ng. It m akes racing pay for itself. What role have your parents pla yed in your racing success? I co u ld n 't be here wi t ho u t the m . They've bee n behi nd me 100%. Dad has never been the type to put pressure on me. He always helps and lets me go at my own pace . That's a big dea l to me. If you ge t a lot of pressure, it can make things tum around . If you let a rider go at hi s own pace, he can progress a lot faste r . He's done a good job as mechan ic - I've never had a DNF . It's not really a father-son deal once yo u ge t to the pros. He'll still be there, he 's going to fly to the races . It's bad that he' s leav ing, but I'll still see him. My mom, she always scored at the races so she's into it too. What do you hope to ach ieve in your career? Basically, I want to have fun. If I' m ou t there having fun, more will come . If I'm ridi ng we ll an d having fun, that's when the m on ey a nd numbe r-o ne p la tes co m e . Whe n you 're having fu n yo u always want to train, do good. I want to w in, but ride on m y o wn and not let a nyon e influ ence m e. If I d o a ll that right and have fun, the wins will come so I won ' t have to wo rry about it. If you .can ge t pointed in th e rig h t direction, everything wi ll fall into place. f~ -q< 0\ 0\ ,....; O~ Cf) I-< (l) "E (l) :> o Z 17

• Cover