Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pasta for myself an d I eat as muc h fru it as I can. We all brin g ou r .own va ns to coo k a t the track because yo u don't know what to order or what to eat, or maybe the wate r is bad , In th e Stat es you can count on the food, bu t here you can 't. I me an , what did you order to eat last night? I'm not exactly sure. Exactly. You can' t always find a Burger King or McDonalds over here, bu t when you do - you better stop and eat there! I used to be really stressed about w ha t I ate and w hen I ate, but I think that really d oe sn 't me an shit whe n ev ery thi ng else is going right. It' s just another thing that r ider s in America st ress ove r, beca use they d on 't knowwhat real stress is u ntil the y come over here for a year. What will be the biggest ob st acle for Jim m y Button this year? He's riding outside of America for the first time in the 12Scc World Championships. We saw Jimmy go ing r eal fast in the pre-seaso n races wh en he first got over here, just like I d id t he firs t ti m e . I mean, the first time I went to Beaucaire I was kicking everyone's bu tts and I just did n't have mu ch respect for them . But after abou t thr ee or four weeks the differences start to bea t yo u d o wn . You want to fly home every time you have three weeks off, b u t th e n when you com e bac k yo u have to get used to Europe all over again. Jim my already told me that he was going to fly home to Arizona and th en fly straight to one GP. I tried that my first year - fIying 'back on the Saturday before the race and it was the wo rst night of my life . There was pressure from the ra ce and the fact that my body s till thoug ht it was 10 timezones away in California. I couldn't sleep all night long. I tried tak ing sleeping pills and then get -awake pills. Man, it was terrible! I'm af raid Jimmy is going to go thr ough the same thirg. Ha~t; you given him any adv ice about hOl\" to make the transition easier? Yeah, I tried to tell him not to go home everf break. It's better to get on a schedule and get used to the food and the climate and everythi ng. If Jimmy asked Bobl;'y Moore, he would tell him the same t hing . Bob lives over here, h e speaks It alian - he is pret ty m uch a Euro pea n n ow . And he' s a World Champ ion, Back to the truck thing. JHK takes your bik!!s to the races in a nice box van, but you drive your truck anyway. Wh y not just hang out with your mechanic an d the bike? I have to d rive myself beca use I do n't always go back to the hea dquarters in Holland wit h them. My tru ck is a turbo diesel Ducato from Italy. I built a cooker and a si n k and so me cabinets in the back, and we pre tty much just ha ng ou t in it all weekend. It's not a nice va n or anything, but I co uld do wha tever I wa nt in it - load up the practice bikes or lay down a bed - and just brush it all ou t wh en I get back home and it's good for the next race. I just use it for work . I don 't need an ything great and fancy. I do n't wa nt to worry abo u t putting a scr atch in it every time I lean my bike agains t it. Do you sleep in the truck? No, not right now. I'm staying in hotels now every nigh t, even when we're d riving. But I used to. How long is Tyson staying over here? He' ll be here fo r th e w hole season to he lp me out. He 's not racing anymore, so he can give me 100 percent support. We go jogging and tr aining togethe r, and I think we're on the rig ht schedule. Do you speak any l anguages, o th er th an English? I speak It a li an pretty well. My girlfrien d is Italian and when I'm in Italy I feel pretty much at home. I can get alo ng in that cou ntry rea lly well and do whatever I want, but it took a w hile. Europe is not as convenient as Ame rica. Wh en a Europ ean goes to America I think they can get along pretty easily. There's one la ngu age, one currency, whatever. But w hen an Ame rican first comes to Europe it's really hard to get things done. Now that I've lived in the same place for a w hile, I know where to shop for food, where to ge t my car wo rked on, where to go at night. When you first come over your sponsor tries to do everything for you, b u t there eventua lly comes a tim e when you have to be independent enough to do things 'for yourself. Otherwise, you lose your confidence in yourself and it can affect your resul ts 'on the track. Being over here takes a lot of getting used to. I prob ab ly lost a year and a half just getting comfo rtab le with where I was livi ng, th e tr acks I was riding, everything. In the en d, I th ink that wil l pay off. How do the tracks differ between the U.S. and Europe? I think that the biggest di fference is that the FIM has a rule that says no double jumps . The tracks here are a lot fas ter but the overall condition of the tracks is pretty good . They have all the flags and .banner s an d people - World Champi ons hi p motocro ss is a pretty bi g d eal over he re. Each coun try is excite d to have the riders there, and they put the extra effort into putting on a big show. Which track in the States most reminds you of a,Grand Prix course? The track wher e they had the USGP last year - Bu dds Creek - was n't b ad . Unadilla is pre tty good, but it's so muc h roug her than the GP tracks. Still, the layout is pre tty good. Those ar e prob ably the closest ones . Ar e the fans treating you better than American fans have treated Europeans, in the past? Well, for the most part, yes. But there' s a few countries like France and Belgium where the fans are rea lly into their ow n rid ers. Other countries, like Italy and Spain, really like havin g forei gn riders come and ride . You might not ge t the same attention as your teammate Everts does from the fa ns, bu t do you feel like the team manager, Jan De Groot is treating you equally? I know he does. The only thing that Stefan has tha t I didn't was a pair of works forks that were shipped ov er fr o m Japan, bu t we don't even kno w if those forks are be tter or no t. Our bik es are a bit different because I test different than he does. As far as parts and stuff goes, they give us the same stuff. Do you and Everts get along very weI!? In the beginning we d id, bu t since I've been doing well it seems like it's just "hi" and "hello," and that' s about it. We had some problems last year because he said I took him ou t in France, It was a big fuss and I wasn't too happy about that, but I just p u t it out of my mind when it came time to sign the contract . When we saw each othe r after th at he was really cool and it never came up. So far, so good. There's a lot of pressure on Eve rts now because AIbertyn is gone, so he has to win. I don' t have any pressure on me because nobody really thinks I'm going to win - at least not at the beginning of the year. Now I feel that I can wi n. Wh at's Yves Demaria like? He's a pretty good guy. We always got along good las t year w hen we were teammates. He 's really fast, he cares a lot about his business . How ab ou t Kurt NicolI? He's also a really good guy. All of these guys over here are pretty good people. It's not like at home. I went back to the States last year for the Washougal National and those guys were unbelievable! They all have their heads shaved and they ha ve these a tti tudes .. You couldn't even talk to them on the starting line . I'm like, "Chill out, dude. You don't have to be that serious ." Everyone seems to get along over here. We have a riders' organization and we all work together and talk toge ther to make the sport better for us and the fans. Trampas Parker got that together as a way to help the FIM and the industry to work better with the riders. It's not a union or anything. There was ta l k in the States about st art ing up some sort of riders' union. Well they need one . The AMA just does . what it wants and the riders just complain a little , race anyway, and forget about it. Nothing ever gets do ne. How much longer do you want to keep racing? I do n't really know. It just d epend s on how things go this year. I have a full box van at home tha t I used in '91 that's just sitting there . When I'm d one he re I'll just jump in it and hit the races in th e States, but I don ' t think I'll ever do the Na tional circuit on my ow n again. If I wo n tw o World Championships and got a big offer like Greg Albertyn did, then I'd go back. If not, I'll do as ma ny big money races as I can, try to help some younger riders and just ride. What about the path that Ty Davis, Rodney Smith and Guy Cooper have taken? You could be the Next Big Thing in woods racing. Rodn ey m a kes go o d m on ey n ow , doesn't he? That's so impo rtant whether yo u're a motocrosser or a woo ds rid er or whate ver. Rod ney d oesn't ha ve to wo r k a job, he d oes his enduro th ing and he gets to spe nd lots of time wi th his family. I like that idea, but right now I'm not thinking that far into the future. When I go back I look forw ard to doing some things like the Golden State Series for a couple of years before I woul d ever get into woo ds racing . The 1995 seri es is fi ve races old and you and Everts are 1-2. How happy is your boss Jan De Groot after Everts narrowly missed out on last year' s title to De Groot's former rider? I think he's very happy! Stefan has had some trouble with crashes but he hasn't do ne any really serious damage to himself. At th e opener in Sp ai n w he n he crashed in practice and I got a bad start in the second moto after getting second in the first moto, I was still fourth and he was sixth. At the second ro u nd in Holland everyone kinda kn ew that Stefan would do well because it was so close to his ho me. All the fans love him there. It's really sandy, too. I'm not as good in the sa nd as some of th e other guys, but Tyson and I rode in the sand twice a day to get ready for Valkenswaard . Stefa n won both motos bu t I almost bea t him in the first mota . I didn' t really wa nt to take too many cha nces, though, because in my own plan I figu red I would give away some points in the sand but make them up in the next three rou nds, which are at ha rd-packed tracks. I end ed up goi ng 2-8, w hich was the same score I had in Spain . I was th ird overall, so I was sa tisfied w ith th at. And th e next three rou nds in Switzerlan d, Italy and Austria we nt accordi ng to plan, thou gh I would have liked to have won an overall. I ha ven't won one yet, but I got the poi nt s lead so I mu st be d oing so mething righ t! £N

• Cover