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/127722
Daytona Beach's Municipa l Stadium,
winn in g th e 500cc cl ass a t the
Youth I Am ateur National s. In ' 92, Lande s returned to the facility in the Junior
class, and was on his way to a runaway
win at th e Thursday ni ght Regiona l
when a dropped valv e cut h is ch ar ge
short on the last lap .
" I th ink I had lapped up to ab out
third place," Landes said. "The trac k
reall y s u its me, it' s a lot lik e Fred 's
track."
Landes' '92 Junior season was int errupted when a crash at the San Jose Mile
pu t him on the sidelines with a broken
wrist. He returned to action eight wee ks
later at the Oklahoma City Half Mile,
and ende d the season wi th a
seco nd at the Peori a TT; and
a win at the seaso n-endi ng
Castle Rock TT.
"Winning that ra ce felt
great, " said Landes. "At that
. time th e Jun ior class w as
tough, and I was scared racin g w it h th em. You n ev er
kn e w w he n so m eo ne was
goi ng to crash in fro nt of
you."
But the Junior class was
eliminated at the end of '92
in order to make way for the
ill-receiv ed H arley-D avid so n 883 Dirt Track Se ries,
and Landes fou n d himself
with an important decision
to make.
"I d idn 't know if 1 wa nt ed to keep racin g and move
up to Expert, or just pack it
up: ' sa id Landes. "I decid ed
t o ra ce with th e Exp er ts,
becau se 1 figured that they
wou ld kn ow wh at they
w e r e do ing, a n d b e a lo t
safe r th an the Ju nio rs. 1
didn't really think"! w as fast
enough to race with them
yet."
Earlier that yea r, Landes
h ad b e com e frie n ds with
Graham, and the two spe nt
severa l da y s practicin g
together o n Faltersa ck ' s
track.
" I rem ember o n e day
when Ricky and 1 were rid ing ou r 1OOs,
an d we were runnin g h igh and lo w:'
Landes sai d . "I was going in high, and
he w as running und erneath m e, so 1
would hit the brakes and cut back under
him. One lap, he stayed behind me and
when 1 hit the brakes he ran into the
back of me and w ent ove r th e b ars.
After that, 1 d idn't want to run so close
to him. 1 was in awe of him - Ricky Graham was practicin g with m e, and 1
didn't want to be the re ason h e got
hurt."
Landes mentioned to Graham that he
was planning to race Expert in '93, and
that wa s when Graham sugges ted h e
contact Johnny Goad abo u t riding his
spare motorcycle. Goad agreed to tak e
Landes in as a second rid er, and basically, Team Und o wa s born.
That winter, Land e s Sr . becam e
actively involved in rounding up su pport for the newly form ed team. Thanks
to his automobile-indus try connections,
Landes w as ab le to sec u re one o f the
series' first major outside sponsors in
. quite some time - Pana sonic Car Audio.
Frontier Ford provided the team with a
new transporter and fifth-wheel trailer,
a nd th e team of Graham and Landes
wa s quite a sigh t to see at the Dayton a
Short Track series opener.
"I was a little emba rrased," said Landes. "Here 1 am, team ed up with Ricky
Graham! Ricky Grah am ' s te ammate
sho u ld be some fas t guy, not someone
like me. But bein g at the Daytona Short
Track on 600s made me feel a little better.
."At the 600cc National. 1 qualified for
the fron t row and had Jay Spri ng steen
on my left and Steve Mor ehead on my
righ t. Ricky was on row two behi nd me.
I couldn't believe it. I ended up highsiding near the end, and 1 didn't qua lify
for the Grand National the next nigh t." •
Two months later, Landes th re w a
leg over the powerful Hond a RS750 for
the first time ever, only hours before the
Sacramento Mile.
"Yeah.J wa s real nervous:' said Landes. "I had hoped that we could hav e
gone to the dry lake bed before the race
and ge t used to it. I had only ridden a
ran high or low, and he'd just tell me to
go w here I felt comfortable. H e didn't
tell me a lo t o f st uff, but 1 le a rn ed a
who le lot just watching him and from
practicing wi th him. "
Landes ended that season just a few
points shy of wi n n ing Rookie of th e
Year.
. "Th at was a little frustrating," sai d
Landes. "I had qualified for six Nati onals, including a mile, a half mile and a
TT. Ben Bostrom finished sixth at Peoria
and won the title. Ben's a great TT racer,
but 1 have to admit that 1 wa s a bit disappoin ted."
Thanks to his previ ou s sea son's performa nces, Landes was giv en his pick of
750 twi ce before - a Harley both times. 1
th ink maybe tha t's why 1 w as so nervous about turning Expert and racing a
750. The Honda felt much better ."
Landes struggled at first, but by the
midway point of the series, had learned
enough to qualify for his first National.
Landes qualified fo r the Ha gerstown
Half Mile, but suffered a flat tire while
running 13th. One week later, he qualified for the second leg of the Syr acuse
Twin Miles and finished 10th - his best
finish of the year.
Meanwhile, Graham was busy enjoying the best season of his career.
"We were all really happy for Ricky,"
said Landes. "It was gr eat to wa tch him
w in the championship. The only thing
th at bothered me that yea r was when
Ricky sat down to sign a utog ra p hs,
every one on the team always wanted
me to s it n ext to h im and sign autographs also. 1 was thinking, 'These people don 't w an t my au tograp h, 1 have no
bu siness sitting next to Ricky Graha m
and sign ing autog raphs: People probably felt bad after asking for Ricky's au togra p h, and ask ed m e fo r m ine so 1
wouldn't feel dumb: '
Though one might ass ume tha t Graham continually offe red ad vice to hi s
younger teammate, Landes reports oth-
National numbers. After som e conside ration, he picked 41, Graham's pre-championship number.
"I didn't know how Ricky wo uld feel
about it, but 1 liked the number, and the
fact that it used to be his: ' said Landes .
That winter, Graham left the team in
hope s th a t a ma jor outsid e s p onsor
would materialize, and Go ad pi cked
Larry Pegram to fill the vacant numberone-rider sp ot, Audiovox also replaced
Panasoni c C ar Audio as th e te am ' s
major sponsor, and Landes Sr. wa s able
to 'attract th e atten tion of Qua ker State _
oils as well.
"I knew from the start that 1 was the
number-t w o rider," Landes sai d . " I
liked Larry; w e h it it o ff pretty wel l.
He' s a funny guy."
But only one race in to the new seaso n, th ings began to go so ur between
Pegram and Goad . "Larry didn ' t d o so
good at Dayt on a, and 1 think Joh n ny
sta rted to get a little disappointed : ' said
Landes. "I thi nk maybe he d id n' t give
Larry a chance."
Though Land es finish ed a solid third
at Da yt ona, Goad con ti n ued to tr eat
Pegram as the number-one rider. As the
seaso n p rog ress ed, th ou gh, rel ati ons
between the tw o became more and more
stra ined . Even though Pegram won the
Mechani csburg Half Mile, he en ded up
pa rting ways with the team the following week.
One week prior to Peg ra m's d epar -
erwise.
" Ric ky is so ta lented th at 1 d on ' t
think h e kno ws ex a ctly w ha t h e ' s
doing," he sa id . "I cou ld ask him if he
ture, how ever, Goad made con tact with
Graham, who had failed to secure a
sponsor and had thus fa r sat out the
series. "Johnny wanted to bring Ricky
b a ck o nto th e team , " sa id Landes.
"Larry wasn 't too happy about it, bu t 1
jus t sa t back in the com er like 1 figured 1
was sup posed to."
In only his second race back, Gr aham
returned to the top of the winner' s box
at the Hagerstown Half Mile. One week
later, though, h e w as involved in a
rough-riding controversy and elected to
return to the solitude of his California
home. Th is left Land es in the numberone spot. Or so he thought.
"A s soon as Ricky and Larry were
both gone, Johnny brought
in Mike Hacker and started
wo rki ng with him: ' sa id
Landes. "Towa rd the end of
the season, thin gs sta rted to
ge t a li t tle s tr ai ned, and
e veryone was walk ing on
eggshe lls."
Lan des fin ish ed the ' 94
season ran ked ninth overall, m ee t in g h is goal of
breaking into the top 10.
As expected, Goa d parted w ay s with Team Undo
d uring the off-season, an d
Rick Canode was chose n as
the team 's new tun er. Having wo rked with series veteran Ronni e Jones for the
p ast tw o seasons , Canode
brin gs a wealth of know ledge to the Undo squad.
"Rick is great to work ·
with:' said Landes. " He's
ve ry good a t exp la ining
what changes will do wha t
to the bike. Most of all, Rick
is rea lly pos it ive. Tha t's
importan t."
Most im po rtantly, Lan des now finds h im self the
center of attention.
"Th is winter my d a d
asked m e if 1 wa n te d a
teammate, and 1 sai d no,"
La ndes sa id . "I wanted to
ha ve m y ow n tuner, o ne
that I didn't have to share
with a teammate. That way,
if 1 d idn't do good, the tuner wouldn't
look good . That's extra incentive for him
to do all he can to get the bike the best it
can be. 1 figured that 1 was read y to be a
number-one rider. It's my tum now ."
An d Landes proved exactly th at at
th e Day tona Short Tra ck seri es op en er
onl y a few short weeks ago. After grabbing control of the lead in the first corner, Landes rode like a seasoned veteran
as he soundly trounced the field .
"It still hasn't sunk in: ' sai d Landes.
"Looking back, it feels like 1 just won a
Regional or something. I've been wa tching a tape of Mot oW orld where they
say, 'Brett Landes scores his first Grand
National win: When 1 hear that, 1 think,
man, maybe 1 really did. This is real."
So, with only five y ears of ra cing
exp erience and a mere two seaso ns of
GNC competition under his belt, Landes
ha s ma naged to accomplish his goa l of
winnin g a Grand Na tional. What more
could a kid ask for?
"Well, once you win one National. of
co u rse yo u w an t to w in another a n d
then another: ' sai d Lan des. "M y dad
ha s always made su re 1 was aw are that
there's more in life than racin g motorcycles, but for now, that's wh at 1 want to
do. How long will 1 do it? As long as I'm
g etting better . Wh en 1 rea ch a p oint
where 1 can ' t go fast er th an 1 used to,
then I'm done."
And that sho uld be a long, long time
l:"
away.
I.!)
0\
0\
. ,.-f
-
If)
.....
I-<
0...