Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Motocrosser Paul Malin , By John Dic kinson 60 aul Malin is we ll aware that he is not exactly the flavor of the month in America. Nor is he ever likely to be, thanks to the inspired piece of 125cc class rid ing that he turned in at the ' 94 Motocross des Nations. Malin's double moto sweep of the class saw the likable Brit become the corner stone of a team that was to end the United States' incredible 13-year winning streak at the prestigious event. Until that fateful da y in Roggenburg, it is probable that m o st Am erican m ot ocrosser s wer e not even awar e of th e exis te nce o f Paul Malin. World Championshi p Series bu ffs may remember his attack on the 500cc title in 1991, w hich was pr om ising but all ended in tears at midseason, whe n Paul and h is controversial Kawa saki team manager, Alec Wright, had a difference of opinion ove r machine se tu p . Bu t more of this later .. . So, who is Paul Malin? Where has he been and wh er e is he going? In a nutshell, where he's been is in the 500 and 250cc MX G)' Series. Where he is' going is the 125cc MX GP Series. This is not exactly the normal route th rough the Grand Prix m aze, nor w as it Malin's , ideal way. Once again, it was Wright w ho pl ayed a m ajor p art in shaping Malin's career. Malin' s in t rodu cti on to schoolboy motocross was no different than that of thousands of other British kids. As is the norm in Britain, he followed his dad and olde r b rother , Darren - onto two wheels, His father, Brian, was a spee dway racer, not a motocrosser. It was the sho rt, oval world of speedway and grass track th at Paul was bloodied on as a bab y. At two yea rs of age, Pa ul had alread y discarded the tra ining wheels of his pu sh cycle, so no one was surp rised when Santa left an Italjet Auto behind on his third Christmas. Paul's first compe titive ride was on Boxing Day. (In Britain, Boxin g Day is th e fir st weekday after Ch ri stmas, when gifts, or boxes, a re given to employees, postal carriers, etc.) The early years saw the Malin fam ily racing just for fun . From the ages of six to ei g h t, Paul w on both the Br it ish Scrambles and Grass Track titles each year. "It was brilliant in the Schoolboys in those da ys," said Malin. "I'm not sure it's the same now. Back then we just had a car and a trailer, it wa s very sim ple. Nowadays the parents, not the kids , are mu ch more competitive. They are desperat e to see Junio r win. Ma ybe it is because they h ave so much mon ey invested in them . You know - race bike, pr actice bike, power washer, hu ge tru ck - it wasn't like that wh en I started, and there certainly wasn't an endless pile of money being thrown away." Malin reckons that the highlight of his youth was being presented with his British Championship medals with Mike Hailwood on one side, and hi s hero, Graham Noyce , on the other. This simple state of affairs was soon to chan ge.P: though, because at the age of eight he was taken under the wing of controversial Kawasaki Team Green Manager Al ec Wrigh t. It was th e s ta rt of an unbroken run of 12 years with Kawasaki, with th e fir st se ven be in g in th e Schoolboy ranks. Su dd enly, the yo ung Malin had all the things he had pr eviou sly only dreamed of - the bikes, the tru cks, the su ppo rt. " Righ t from th e s ta r t I was be ing groo med to be a professional motocross racer:' said Malin . '1 had six sets of riding kits becau se I had to be imm aculate at the start o f each race. And 1 had to wash the lot. Dad was my mechanic; but I learned to wre nch, as well." Those early years were action-packed, and he so on found h imse lf becomin g close friends with another young racer, II lad by the name of James Dobb. 'The two were virtually next-door neighbors, living just three miles apart. Soon they were trainin g, traveling and socializing together . Thi s idealistic state of affairs lasted until they were adults, until the fateful ' 91-92 sea son. But mo re on th at lat er , when the story catches up .. . The first three years on Team Green saw Malin battling weekly with Dobb and Jason Burrows, twi ce fini shing as runner-up in the British Championships. He finished second again in '84, having moved up to the 80cc Intermed iate class. Malin finally struck gold in '85, when he rode a KXBO to the Open loocc class title. A fourth in the Senior class in '86 was followed by his first big setback when a broken leg - sus tained whil e on a racing brea k in Florida - effectively put him ou t for the season. But he bounced back in '88 for his final season as a you th. " We wen t in to th e la st r ound at Ha w kst one Park with myself and tw o others even on points," recalls Malin . "I love Hawkstone and was leading until two lap s to go, wh en the pow er valve broke and the clutch went out. I got second: ' There was no time to get despondent , though, as the ad uIt ranks beckoned . Malin had expe cted to remain on 125s a nd double-up on 250 s, but Wright thought differently. "Right ace, let's get you on a 500:' said Wright to an ama zed Malin . "The fir st time 1 rode a 500 was a t Boltby, a tough, unforgiving track," said Malin. "It was the worst da y of my life. I was lapped three times, it wa s aw ful, and I never scored a single point. "And the Alec came up grinning and patted me on th e back , saying , ' We ll done, ace, just what we wan t: . "I wa s totally con fused. Alec th en announced th at I wo uld be d oing 500 Grand Prix. I didn't w ant th is, and I didn't need a 500. 1 had a choice, sulk and give up , or tryto learn and ride the 500. I got stuck in." Malin obvi ously found this early move to the 500s tr a u m a tic, but he adapted quickly:World Champion Dave Thorpe, then still with Honda, took time to offer Paul some useful advice. "Thorpey told me to sto p riding it like a 125 and to take tighter lines," said Malin. "Th e ne xt m ee tin g was at Elswo rt h a nd r finished fourt h in the second moto - ahead of Thorpey." Thorpe was, at the time, talking with Wright ab out the 1990 season, and in . d ue course, Malin found himself riding alongside Thorpe in the GPs. "In ea rly season tra ining in Italy and Ho lland I was anything up to four seconds slower than Dave," said Malin. 'Then 1 broke my wrist trainin g for the opening round and cou ldn' t even ride. But I earned my first points at Payerne in Switzerland, and by the third round in Aus tria, Thorpey had already throttled ba ck on the informa tion. I was a threat by then." . "Al ec pum ped me up for the sta rt, saying, 'You can holeshot this ace, go fori a right-hand gate: I wa nted the left, bu t I did as I was told and went down in a big, predi ctable firs t-tu m crash. Amaz ingly, Alec told me to go right again for the second mot o. I ign ored him, went left, _ holeshot the race and led until myj frame snapped . " In Bel g ium, a t Na mur, I raced to second and fifth - if it had been four th, I would have been the youngest GP winner." In the domestic British series, Malin was holding th ird wh en Wri ght mad e yet another one of his con troversial decisio ns : Th orpe had been strug gli ng all ye a r with the temperamental factory KX500SR and ge tting nowhere. "With third place at stake, Alec sud denly gave m e Da ve' s SR for th e fi n a l ch a m pi onship round. 1 could n' t rid e it and I didn't want it. I practiced for four da ys on that bike, and all that happened was I lost my third-place standing . Why does he do these things?" Which bring s u s to 1991 , a yea r which prom ised mu ch , s ta rte d well, went sour midseason and ended with a breakdown of Malin' s friendship with Dobb . . "The factory 500 Kawasaki in '91 was the best bik e eve r:' sa id Malin. "I led the opening GP in Switz erland until the rear shock blew, and finished seventh in the second moto, The ne xt race , I was seco nd behind Jacky Ma rt ens in Finland, and follow ed this with a third in Sweden . Then it happened, and I won both motos in Ca st elnau d e Levis in France. It w as a big, fast track with a loi of jumps and I won the first moto by 4l! seconds." , Three wins in the big Foxhill Internaj tional kept Malin on the boil and he was still hammerin g at the Dut0 GP wit~ I

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