Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.INTERVIEW B an es rettL d Like his father, Lan d es has a good business sense and "went into business" for hi mself at the age of 17. "My dad gave me the idea, and with $100, I started my own vending mach ine bu siness," said Landes. "Over the yea rs it' s grown, and now 1 own seven or eight big machines th a t dispense soda and candy - stuff like that . It ' s n o t eno ugh to live on, by any means, but it gets me th rough the winter." While in h ig h sc hool, Landes also too k on a job as a construction laborer for Craig Rogers. Yes, that Craig Rogers : team owner of A&R Racing, sponsor of six-time Na tional-wi nner Will Davis. At th e tim e , Rogers a nd La ndes s pent ma ny a free weekend trail riding with a noth er of Rogers' e m ployees, 1979 G ra n d N ati o na l Champio n Steve Eklund . "At the time, Craig was jus t about to ge t his son in to racing, so he talked me into bringin g out my KXI25 an d racing at the Monter ey short track," said Landes. "So I went ou t there - kno bby tires an d all - and 1 wo n the 250cc Amateur class. "1 thi nk I was p robab ly h arder on m y s e lf th a n o the r p eop le, 1 knew I look ed like an idiot out there wi th a fuIIon mot ocross bike. I wasn't eve n slidi ng - I was ou t the re squ arin g off the comers like a mot ocrosser." Landes competed in two mo re races at th e infa m ou s Lo di Cycle Bow l which he wo n - before fina lly purch asing class C tires fo r hi s motocrosser. Five mon ths later, Landes was hooked . "1was getting pretty into flat track by th at poin t," he said. "1 th ou ght it was pretty cool watching Steve race at the Sacra me n to Mile an d Asco t, and mo toc ross jus t d idn' t seem to int erest me. I orde red u p a new Woo d-Rotax 500 toward the en d of '90, but that was righ t eda ey Jon es and Maeda t's hard to believe tha t Bre tt Landes is already in his third full season as a Grand National Championship Ser ie s Expe r t. La n des ' debut was a qu iet one . Teamed with a reju venated Ricky Graham on the newly formed Team Undo squad, Landes fou nd himself in the shadow of his fellow Californian thr oughout his rookie '93 season. Wh ile Graham raced to his third Grand National Ch amp ionship and numerous records, Landes qu ietly ba ttled wi th fellow Northern Californ ian Ben Bostro m for Rookie of the Year h on o rs . Though he qualified for six Nationals and finished as high as 10th, he los t ou t on tha t honor, edged out by Bostrom ' s strong sixth-place fini sh a t the Peoria IT. Lan d es retu rned in '94 with a n ew teamma te, th e often outspoken Larry Pegram. Once aga in, Landes found hi mself in the "s hadow" of a mo re experienced teammate . Still, h e n ever co mplained, and opted instead to learn as mu ch as he co uld fro m Pegra m. As it hap p en ed , th in gs d idn't work ou t for Pegram and Team Undo. Alt ho ugh he sco re d a v ictory for th e te am a t th e Me cha nicsburg Half Mile, Pegram left the Un do camp and finis hed the season aboard an Erion Racing Honda. After splitting wi th the team before th e sta r t of th e season an d re maining suspicious ly abse n t from the race track, Graha m m ade a brief return to raci ng aboard Tea m Un do m a chin ery and p rom p tl y won the H a gerst ow n Ha lf Mile. A nd a ll the w hile, La nd e s re mained conten t to sit back, wa tch and learn from h is tea m mat e. No req uests fo r g rea ter a tte n tion, no co mplaints abo ut h is "second class" status. That I I.!') 0\ 0\ ..... - u-) .I-< .... 0...

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