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/127771
'70s was the number of top riders we had in a concen trated area. In Southern California every weekend we we re rid ing ve ry d ifficult events or p rac tici ng toge ther . Then when we wen t to Europe, it was a whole new le ve l. I think that there are some riders who do well locally and some who can progress to the Nationa l level and a few who can make it to the International level. Internationally is a whole d ifferent ball game - you've go t to go out there and compete with those guys if you want to compete against them . It's hard for anybody to do it. It was hard for me. It's tou gh for a European to com e and com pete in the States, but it's even harder for an Ameri can to go and do it in Euro pe. What drove you to become a World Champion? I was very fortunate. Yes, I was driven I thi nk th a t a lo t of th at desire was inst illed in me by my paren ts. They supported me a lot. All the way, my mother an d father were a majo r reason for my success, eve n th rou gh to today. I also had a grea t love for trials. Man, that was my thing. It was the only thing I knew how to do . It was either that or work in my d ad 's machine sho p, an d I felt better out ri d in g in Big T ujunga Canyon . Europe was a re al experience, it was exciting, it was different. I enjoyed the com petition. It never rea lly scared me. Some peopl e have a fear of that. I never felt that fear. I also had di fferen t ways of approachi ng th e se ctio ns - I a tt ac ked them. Peop le say I was always rid ing on the back whee l. It was just my way . You introduced many new techniques to World Championship competition. Do you feel that you were the pioneer of modem trials? Oh, I do n't think that I was the only one. Besides myself, the other guy who was ve ry technica l was (six-ti me National Cha mpion) Toni Corgot. He was a n excellent technica l rider. He was also riding on th e bac k wheel a lot and he used the bunny hop a lot. We were in the same era bu t it was no t something I copie d fro m him or he from me. We both came from areas of dry terrain an d dry terrai n creates technical riding. At the time the British were dominating trio als, but they had mudd y techniques and Vesty (three-time World Champion Yrjo Vesterinen), being fro m Fin la nd, also used the muddy style. The indoors were becoming more important and being dry, they encourage a more spectacular style. Wha t I tried to d o the mos t was learn how to make a tum a tighter tum, without stopping forwa rd motion. Then after they changed the rules a nd allowed stops it didn' t ma tter if you could do a fl o a ter or not . All these changes came around the same time, I was just in the middle of that wave. Who was you r greatest rival? I couldn't name just one . Marland Wha· ley was p robably the pe rson I had the most battles with. We rode against each other from the time we were kids in Southern Ca lifornia right into the World Championships . Vesterinen was tough; taking the World Championship from him was difficult. It was different from Marland - he was a competitor, but with Vesty it was hard ... co ld, you know? Eddy Lejune was tough for me personally, because it go t to where no matter what I did, I could not beat him . What was your swee test victory? Well winning the 1982 Scottish Six Day Trial was very importan t for me because the sport was stilI very British at that time an d I knew that the Brits would never respect me until I won it . ¥y World Championship in 1979 was something special, though, something I'll never forget. D MalcolmOSm,; o R S P .R '1m ., Dealers! Order Your Yearbooks NOW! ~\lU IlCCg 9 ""'L 1~l U U. ; i 111!lF~3f, 6S I U ~R u . . . SELL THE Stluvenn' yearlJcQ[..: IN YOUR STORE; me u.s . 11m O1lclal b tml Prol,tr'allJ of i SUIM:rCros5Sf!rlell For the third year, dealers can sell lhe official event program of the Supercross Series in their stores! What better way to create excitement in your store during the months of the entire Supercross Series? Everything about (he Supercross season is covered: Factory team line-ups, interviews, rider numbers, the tracks, top 125cc and 250cc stars, 1996 schedules, autograph pages and more! . ORDER NOW FOR PROMPT DELIVERY Minimum Or 10 Copies, Refills Available der Shipped with assembledmagazine rack and sti ckers ... 1. Open it up, 2. Set on counler, 3. Ready for business! . Over 80o Dealer Margin· Retail Cover Pr ice $5.00/copY io Call Your Cyc l e News Deal er Sales Manager: 3 1 0 / 4 27-743.3 29