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/127729
« ,INTERVIEW Tallon Vohland By Davey Coombs ive years ago, Tallon Vohland to be in the fast track to stardom in motocross. While still I an amateur, the Sacramento, California native had built himself a reputation as a hard-working racer with factory speed.' He landed a spot on one of the U.S. factory teams and lived the American motocrosser's dream of plane rides, box vans and ondemand hotel room movies. But a U.S. National Championship was not in the cards for Vohland, and it was time to look elsewhere for a career in motocross. Now 23 years old, Vohland is following in the footsteps of well-known American travelers Brad Lackey, Danny laPorte, Trampas Parker, Donny Schmit and Bob Moore, five men in the record books under "World Motocross Champions." With his older brother, Tyson, in tow as his business manager/training partner, Vohland lives in Europe and is competing on the grand prix circuit. He has an address in three different countries, but has so far spent his fair share of nights sleeping in his van. Now he is the unexpected leader of the 1995 World Championship 250cc MX Series. How many years have you been in Europe? This is my fourth year. I started out on a 125 in '92, but I've been in the 250cc class the last three years. Wha t is the n a m e of your te am th is ye ar? Team Silkolene/Kawasaki/JHK. Jan De Groot is the team manager and the main riders are me and Stefan Everts. The support rider is Remy Van Rees. Wha t hap p en e d to your Becch i s l Pep si/Honda dea l from last year? Oh, that was a terrible deal right from the start. When I talked to the Becchis brothers they said that it was going to be like the American Honda team with Roger DeCoster helping out as the team manager. When I saw that Roger did sign with them to help, I thought it had to be a very serious deal, but it wasn't serious at all. They didn't have enough money right from the start and all of the money seemed to be coming from Honda of France, so no matter how good I was doing at the beginning of the season, everything went to (French teammate) Yves Demaria first. They hired his mechanic for him and paid him a lot of money and then they gave me three different mechanics through the year. It was the worst team that I've ever been on. It was a joke! I could run a privateer team better myself. Did it ruin your year? It certain ly cost me a lot, but I still finished eighth. The good thing for me was that I was able to show enoug h potential to ge t on Jan's team, whic h is reall y a serious team . They wil l work well wi th the bikes and they are comm itted equally to the riders. At the end of last year your results got a lot better, especialIy after the USGP when you almo st won the second moto. Demaria was winning all of the races, but you were right up there, too. I seemed ~ Speed-wise I was certainly up there and people saw that. But I didn't have the consistency that it takes to win the title and that's what the sponsors want. I showed that I had the speed to do it but it was what was on the inside that was affecting me. You see, from the outside of the Pepsi team tru ck it looked great, but on the inside it was terrible. People would think, "yeah, Tallon 's good, but his res ults still aren't consistent enough to be a World Champion." But Jan De Groot saw what was happening in the team an d he saw potential in me. I hope that I can repay his faith in me with the title. So you quit the Becch is b ro thers, and so did Demaria? That's right. Even though he won all those races at the end, Yves left them for the Chesterfield Rinaldi team . What is y o u r brother, T y son doing he re? He came over to give me a hand. He came over at the end of last year to help me negotiate m y new contract because of h o w th e Pepsi t hing turned o ut. Tyson checked th in gs out wit h all th e tea ms to ma ke sure the one I wen t to was on the level. Does he handle your start money and off-season race contracts, too? No, he doesn't. I have a manager in Belgium that handles those pa rticular contracts. Tyson han dl es the main sponsor for the year and all of our p ers ona l fina ncial stuff back in the U.s. He also does my bookkeeping here in Europe. I get start money for every pre-season and post-season race I do because I have a repu tion for charging all the time. I'm probably the most popular rider in Italy right now, next to Alessandro Puzar. Do yo u see Puzar arou n d? He's sup po sed to be quiet and reclu siv e. We see him around sometimes . It seemed like he was almost through with racing, b ut then he bo ught th is helicopter and spent all of his mo ney . He sold everything to get it, and now he needs money to fly it, so he's riding really good. If he keeps it up, I think he might win the 125cc World Championship. Where are you living now? We have one apartment in Bologna, , Italy, which I call my base because my girlfriend also lives there. The place is " all set up with a satellite and everything { It has pretty good carpeting and furni - ; ture, so it ' s realIy nice. I also have a ; place in Mol, Belgium, near the team ; headquarters, which is also really nice;" but I haven't,had time to fix it up theA . way I want it. As the year goes along \ and we get an idea of where I will be Cl next yea r, we'll decide how much time r, and effort to put into that place. JHK is~ l actualIy located in Holland, but countries are so small, it's like driving from Sacramento to Marysville, or something. Do you an d Tyson liv e together in the U.S.? We bought a house together, but now l that we're over here for a wh ile, we' re ren ting th e house in the States out." Tyson stays with his girlfriend mos t of! th e time, anyway, and I stay with my V grand ma when I'm home. Rig ht now" , I'm spending 11 months a year over_ here, so there's really no reason not to rent out my American home. Was racin g in Euro pe wh at you expected w hen you firs t came over in '91? No, it 's definitely a lot different than what I expected when I first came over"I here. I think that all of the American riders think it's going to be easy, but" they find out pretty quickly how hard it really is. The level of competition is as high as it is in the U.S. - maybe even higher. In the last two GPs that they held in America, the Europeans won both times. And then there's the Motocross des Nations thing last year; The Euros are getting better every year. I thought I could win easily when I first came here, but it was much tougher than I expected . Not just speed-wise, either. It's the living conditions and the adjusting to a different way of life and the different style of racin g an d so on 'and so forth . I mean, the top U.S. rid ers would never think abo ut ca m p ing o ut a t th e t ra ck all weekend long, but th at' s how it's done ove r her e. ..J I noticed a makeshift stove in the back of your van. Do you cook alI of your own food ? You have to. Practice and time training a nd race day d rag out so lon g over ' here. You can't just go over to the concession stand and grab a hamburger . The food is rea Ily weird here, so I cook