Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

love in doors - they are fun and I love putting on a sho w for a crowd. I am far more nervous ridin g in fro n t of three people than 3000. To be hon est, I' d be happy just riding ind oo r eve nts." Since signing with the Gas Gas factory, Colley ha s spen t several days practicing on the unfamili ar m achine, and feels that he can adapt qu ickly and efficientl y. "To d ate, I ha ve only practiced on the Gas Gas , but I am super confident of a big comeback," said Co lley. "To p five in the world sho uld be no problem . I 'prefer the 250 model to the 330 - that big beefy motor jus t d oesn ' t suit my maxrevs style. The JT25 has strong power at the bottom end and rea lly revs out . I'll be living o n the bike between now and th e fir st world ro u n d, rid ing indoors and an occasional ou tdoor. And I think all of that practicing wi th [ordi in Spain won't hu rt either..." ........................ Steve Colley' s introduction to motorcy cl es w as n o d iffe re n t th a n tha t of th ou san d s of other yo ungsters. A t the age of six, his dad, Brian, p resented him w ith a Ya ma ha TY80, which Steve p romp tly rode th rou gh a hedge. What is different abo ut Colley, tho ugh, is that he was reared on th e Isle of Man, just a co u p le of hundred yards from the wo rld -famo us TT cou rse. "At school, I loved the TT an d fancied myself as a racer, but my p ar ents wo uldn't hear of it, hen ce the TY80 trial s bike," h e said . "Dad was a club tria ls wo bbler who rode a Ho nda TL125, and that put me off four -strokes for life. "Living on the Isle of Ma n was great for the TT bu t it had - an d still has - one mighty drawb ack," said Colley. " It may only be 35 mil es away fro m main land Britain , bu t ferry costs are unbelievably high. My mom and d ad ma de tre me ndous sacrifices in order to cover ferry decid;d~t~og;i;v:e~t:n;.a;l;s:a~~:'';'~::J,~~!:,,;~~2~~~~:~ j~~I~ costs when we real go. And d ad sold his bike in order to buy me a m ore com peti tive Fa ntic 75." Co lley's first break came when Pantie im porte r Roy Cary, always a sh re w d ju dge of character, came up with a bike fo r nine-year-ol d Steve to contest th e televised Kickstart Series. Colley wo n, an d thus started a to-year relationship with Cary and Fantic. Des pi te the obvious talent, the tall, gangling yo uth never won a Junior title. "Rob Craw ford always seemed to pi p me when it mattered, bu t we had some great battles." Maybe su rp risi ng ly, Steve's introduction to the big time was in Ame rica, whe re he had his World Ch ampion ship Series baptism as a 17-year -old in Tennes see ba ck in 1989. "I wa s tot ally ove rawed," h e admits. "We were so gree n th at th e o n ly Wor ld round s we h ad seen were on videos. I was you ng, daft, tota lly fea rless a nd crashed in every section . Even th o u g h I nearly killed myself, I knew then th at th is was th e life for me." Bu t there was to be no fa ir y tal e . "The 1990 season was a disaster, it was written off at the first World Round in Ireland ," said Colley. " I crashed and broke my ank le. I finished in agony, stupidly try ing to ride in Belgiu m while I was still in agony. Then, at the German round, I jumped ou t of tlie van an d collapsed in pain. I w as taken to a German military hospital." Sn ap ped tend on s were diagnosed an d a sick - in more ways th an one Colley was retained by the Germans for a week and given a series of awful stomach injections that he never wants repeated . "Effectively, 1990 was written off, but w hen Rob Craw fo rd left Joh n Lam p- .. ki n' s Screenart Beta squa d a nd I was offered a deal, th in gs began looking a whole lot better," sa id Co lley. "I had Jak e Mill er as a minder and w e had a brilli ant start to the yea r w ith me winning my first Britis h championship trial. I beat Steve Saunders in his lo cal Cotswold Na tional." The con troversial Miller see med to wo rk well with Colley. "Jake was blood y hell to live with, he's such a perfectionist," said Colley. "But I have to be honest - he taugh t me a lo t. I w as so green tha t I simply wou ld not have survi ve d withou t him 7 even in Eng land, never min d Europe. Jake organized eve rythi ng, d ro ve the tru ck, cooked , cleaned, p repar ed th e bike and w as a superb mind er. Together, we achieved a lot, incl udi ng a top 15 World Championshi p Series fini sh . I was gutted when he left to rejoin Rob Crawford at Montesa . Not a good move for him as it happened, tho ugh. "I was lucky, though, as John Lampkin enlisted Woody Hole as my minder. I had always thought of Woody as a playboy, but he was actually brillian t with a much more laid-back approach to life than Jake, although just as dedicated ," said Co lley. "And I admit that I can be an asshole to live with at times, especially on trial day whe n I ge t hyper. But we d id okay, moving up to nin th in the world . I was relieved when Wood y - a good rid er himself - staye d on for 1993. "I was looking for a big jum p in the rankings in '93, bu t had a string of 7-8-9 fini shes after riding in the top five for most of the season," Co lley said. "In the end, we only moved up one p lac e to eighth, but that is not the full story. In order to move up that p lace, I sco red 30 points more than the p revious year. My s ta n dar d o f ri d ing h ad certai n ly improv ed, but apparently, so had eve ryon e else's. " Bu t w e d id p ass one m ore mil esto ne, and th at was claiining my firs t Worl d round win in Finla nd. I rod e on my own, r ight a t the fro n t a n d just cleaned everything. I couldn't believe it when I looked at the scoreboa rd. There were a lo t of really big steps, like indoors, and it suited me fine . Woody and I celebrated for 24 hours on the boat hom e! "The following week's British World round - at Pataley Brid ge in Yorkshire was a major anticlimax after that," Colley said . "I felt a lot of pressure after the win in Fin land, and I was never eve n in the hunt. I was actually fortunate to stay in the to p to. I tried too hard in the slippe ry, wet conditions that I h at e, and I jus t feel that I let everybody d own. At th e Tria l d es Na tions in Ir e land th e weekend after, though, I posted the best individual sco re. There was no p ressure there. "All in all it was a good year. I won virtually everything at home, includ ing my first British Championship. Thi ngs were brilliant on the indoor circui t an d I was sti ll movin g up the World Cha mp ions hi p rankings." And then there was 1994... But, as Colley ret urned to his Isle of Man home for the Christmas holid ay, he was full of opti mism. He looked forward initially to some fun trainin g wi th another famous 10M resi dent, roa d race r Steve H is lo p . And then h e looked toward 1995 with a new factory and a new Contine n tal lifestyle, but wi th th e s a me goal - a Worl d Trials Champia onship. 17

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