Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

How about the feel and ambiance of it, the international aspect to a GP, jumping from country to country and all that? It was a real culture sho'ck for me. Like I said, the first two years I was over there, being so young and basically only knowing travel in the United States, never being out of the country, and, back then, going into nations that were behind the Iron Curtain like Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria, countries that were like going into a maximum security prison. You know, you went through checkpoint after checkpoint, and they check your bags, and they check your passport, and you get out of the car, it was a shock ahd now it's a lot easier traveling in Europe than it was 10 years ago because most of the countries now are a part of the European community and the borders are all open. But even six or seven years ago, you had to travel with different currencies and every country that you went into you had to pay the tolls and t!)e gas, and they wouldn't take different currencies, so it was a real problem. Did you ever have to payoff border guards? You hear those tales from the "past. Well, a lot of times you give things out of your heart. Maybe giving some guy a T-shirt or some stickers. For sure it speeds things up a lot at the customs patrol when you pass out a bunch of Tshirts and stuf£. You kind of want to give 'something back to those guys because you could really see that they never really had any kind of a sticker, or a fender of a motorcycle, or an old tire or anything. How about the individual nations? Did you ever experience anything very unique or out of the ordinary in any one of them? I can remember a story back in '89 when we went to Bulgaria. All of us traveled basically together, all of the motocross guys traveled together in a big convoy. We had almost gotten to the track in Bulgaria. Alex Puzar was driving in his motorhome" and his mechanic was in the passenger seat. While driving into town they didn't see this yield sign and drove into this four-way intersection. This car pulled out and puzar plowed into it and overturned them into this ditch. Although no one died, it was still pretty bad. They were really messed up and there were a number of broken bones. The scary part about it occurred when we pulled over and alI of the police showed up. They took all of the their passports and harassed everybody and all of that. They then let us at least go up to the track which was about a mile away, but no one got their passports back. So we had to sit there and could not leave the country. It was a real scary point because at anyone time the authorities could take you' and put you in jail and that's it, you're not coming out. You and Donny Schmit were good friends weren't you? Yeah, as a lot of people know, we were teammates in '92 and lived together in the same home. Although I didn't know him very well before that, we realIy became close living together and we did a lot of training together. He was a very, very strong persQn, and I'm very thankful to have known and lived with the guy because he was so strong mentally a,nd that he taught me a lot. InJact, I wasn't a World Champion until after I met and lived with Donny becau~e he taught me. things about not giving up and being real strong mentally that I think I needed to become a World Champion. I give a lot of credit as far as the things that I learned from him, not necessarily the things he taught me, but from just being around him and training with him. I can remember one time when we were mountain biking and there was this road that was straight up this mountain. The top of it was at least an hour from our home - it was uphill the whole way and we got to where it was just nothing but stones and rocks and trees hanging down. It was so steep that you were in first gear just trying to stay on the pedals, and he kept looking back at me because he was a much better mountain bike rider than I was, a lot .stronger, and he would look back at me and say, "Don't let this mountain beat you." Although I didn't make it that trip without having to get off my bike and push it, I did eventually make that mountain all the way to the top. It's just little things like that when I think back about Donny. He will be missed. Did his death blind-side you? Were you in Europe when you heard about it? Well no; actually 1 was home and no one over here contacted me. I found out from my former team manager Michele Rinaldi, who calIed me and told me about it. At that time it was already too late. I couldn't really arrange anything as far as getting back to the funeral because it all happened so suddenly. I found out on Friday and Monday was his funeral. When I found out, I was really in shock, and my wife and I were just trying to get over this thing and trying to get back to his funeral, and I'm sorry that I didn't go, but it really doesn't make anything different as far as how I feel about him. You mentioned to me last night that you guys would talk about death every once in a while. Yeah, sometimes when we were out mountain biking or just messing around outside we would talk about how good our lives are and how lucky we are to do what were doing. A couple of times he said, "Man, if I die tomol'row I don't have any regrets, I have lived the life of three people, and I have done so much and I've traveled the world." You know it was weird that those conversations came up more than just once. Anyway, remembering that made me feel better, because a lot of people really fear death and, of course, it's hard to think about, but for him it was part of life and I think that I basically look at it the same way if I was to die tomorrow, I know that I have lived a great life and I'm not really afraid of it. You are kind of an expatriate. You left America and went to Italy where the Italian people have really taken to you and supported you and you also speak the language. My question is that when you race, do you race for America, or do you race for Italy? You know, when I left here I was very, very young. I had only done one year professionally in American racing. So now, after being over there for 11 years, when I am racing, even the past four or five years, I race more as a European.. I consider myself to be a· European rider. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to trade my passport in and live in Europe for the rest of my life. I love America and I'm going to live here when I'm done racing. I've learned so much over there. I've been German champion twice, and I've won the World Championship over there and I've matured as a man over in Europe. Spending anywhere from eight to 10 to 12 months in a year over there - when you spend so 'much time out of the country - it makes you appreciate the, thmgs that you have when you come back. I've also met a lot of nice people over there and I wouldn't trade it for anything. What are your best memories from the 11 years you spent in Europe? Well, for sure my first Grand Prix moto win in Czechoslovakia in 1990 was a nice memory. Another really nice race that I remember was getting second place in Germany in the first year that I was over there in Europe. But for sure, in 1994 when I won the World Championship, I had a season that was just perfect. Having a year like that just made everything negative that I experienced all the crashes, all the broken bones, all the nigh ts sleeping in the tents and freezing in the truck, because there wasn't enough gas to keep the heater on, all those bad memories - worthwhile. I mean it doubled it. You were a World Championship runner-up in '90, '91 and '92. Did that get frustrating? The first one, when I was riding a 125, that didn't really bother me, but the second orle did because I was so close in . the championship behind Stefan Everts. I really though I had a chance with that one. The third one in the 250cc class was a surprise l:1ecause a lot of guys said, "Well, Bob will try to get in the top 10 but can't. run with the 250cc guys: I turned a lot of heads that time because I ran second to Donny Schmit, and I won some GPs, and I was up there in the championship week after week after week, so that was a really good year for me. In fact, 1992 was my second-best year in Europe, because I had a great season and won a lot of motos in the 250cc class. Do you have to love the sport more to put up with the differences in Europe? Yeah, for sure. You have to eat it, breath it and sleep it. For so long, until I met my wife, that is all I ever thought about. There wouldn't be a Sunday that would go by that if I didn't race it was like something was wrong. Now I think differently. Being married and settling down a little bit more and achieving my goals that I wanted to has made me look at it differently. You really have to love what you do. You have to live it. Of the 11 years that you raced over there, who were your most respected rivals - the ones that were a cut above?' The first one, definitely has to be Donny Schmit. He took two World Champi-' onships away from me. He beat me in 1990 when he won it and I got second, and he beat me in 1992 when he won it and I again got second. Also JeanMichel Bayle. As far as a talented rider, I think he is one of those one-in-a-rnillion guys that can get on a motorcycle and just do anything. What does the future hold for Bob "Moore? Is this going to be it for you? Well, my wife and I are expecting our first baby in December. I've already decided, this is actually the first time I've said anything to a journalist, but I've already made up my mind that I am announcing my retirement from motocross. Being over there a long time, and having a lot of good memories, it has been really great for me. Luckily I'm at a point now in my career to where I don't have t,p get back on t,e motorcycle to make a paycheck and to survive. Also, I told myself that if I was at that point where I wasn't ou.t there winning races, or winning Grand Prixes, or going after the championship, maybe like on my downhill slide, that I was going to stop. For a rider that was winning GPs and had maybe won a championship before to go out and maybe finish 12th, or 10th, or 7th or 5th, or whatever, is not very good. To have the young riders come up that had maybe seen you before, like maybe two or three years ago when you're winning, and now you're barely qualifying, they completely forget about yOt,!. And just being out there to make a buck is not something that I really want to do. Do you want to stay in the sport? I would love to stay in the sport! I really like coming to the supercross events. Since I've been in Europe, I have come and watched Anaheim every year and for the past five or six years people have been saying, "Bob, do you want to com~ back and r.ace supercross?" I love to watch supercross. I really, really like it, I just don't like doing it. I'm not going to come back and ride supercross, or I'm not going to come back and do nationals or anything over here. I might do a few races and stuff for fun, but doing a whole championship is not something I want to do. I would really like to be involved in the sport. Maybe helping younger riders, or becoming a team manager or something like that would be great. I really tltink that I can give something back. I'm not looking to make any big money, I just want to be involved with it. To me, it sounds like you really love the sport. It's not just something that you made money off of. You have dedicated your entire life to it. Yeah, you hit it on the head there because I had a lot of chances where I could have given up, but my love for the sport has just kept me going and going and going. Like I said before, winning that World Championship just did everything for me. I can always say, "Well, at least I went over there and won one championship." I really want to stay involved in the sport as much as I can because I just love doing it. eN 25

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