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/127800
IN THE PADDOCK ..By Michael ~ott t may seem a negative. way to greet the access to racing maturity of a finally fully fledged SOOcc-class superstar, but the fact that Alex Criville has now outgunned Michael Doohan twice serves to remind us that the top class in world motorcycle racing is somewhat short of personalities. Racing thrives on heroes - whether they be King Kenny Roberts or Gentleman Geoff Duke, cavalier Mike "The Bike" Hailwood, tragic victim Jarno Saarinen or many others. Sometimes enlivened by great rivalries, like that between Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read in the 70s, where the Englishman took over Ago's throne at MY Agusta, while he moved to Yamaha to usher in the modern era of two-stroke racers. Their names are redolent of heroism. One had "matinee idol good looks," the other was the Prince of Speed; they were followed by more, led by Barry Sheene (Prin.ce of Promotion), then the Americans ushered in by Roberts. People who like their heroes herosized have been left a little high and dry in recent years. The swashbuckle of Schwantz, the tight intensity of Rainey, the braggadocio/bravura of Gardner, the taciturn menace of Lawson and the complex moods of Doohan have been replaced in 1996 by... well, the complex moods of Doohan, except he's cheered up no end these days. His near-constant companion, Alex CriviIle, is a whispering ghost who works hard and keeps riding better, but who keeps his personality for close associates; Desperate Dan-jawed Daryl Beattie, with his thoughtful eyes and 'watchful good humor, has been absent most of this year anyway and the supporting cast includes the aloofly erratic Luca Cadalora, the icily measured JeanMichel Bayle, the somewhat subdued Loris Capirossi and Kenny Roberts Jr. promising in both personality and performance. I Only the last two have the potential dash as prospective replacement heroes in a rather thin field while Max Biaggi, the greatest showman of all, seems likely to remain a 250 rider for another year; and superbikes have seized a monopoly on riders who may not yet realize that a ridiculous haircut doesn't actually make the wearer look anything but. Which leaves just one person to fill the hero mold. Step forward the exsuperbike champ (and Bad Hair Syndrome victim) Scott Russell, if you're ready. The Georgian rider is an interesting case study, full of drawling charm and with an eye for a party, and all the while fully aware that, at 32 in October, his chances are now or never. His Grand Prix career has spanned barely 12 months, but he's packed a whole bunch into it. It began with international lawyers' arguments preventing him from even riding in his first scheduled day of practice on Schwantz's Lucky Strike Suzuki and, as I write, has led to two rostrum finishes this year, plus in Austria the first-ever taste of leading a GP (only until the first corner, mind you, but it was still the front). In between he's been through neartriumph and near-tragedy, a seesaw personal life, and has run the full gamut with his team, from bright hopes through slump and disillusionment and a few no-shows to a rnidseason revival enough to see all forgiven. As the end of the European season approached, he was stronger race by race and on the verge of becoming a serious factor. . '1 feel like a 500 rider now," he said after a near-third at Assen; and liberties he was taking with the bike meant he looked like one too. The accomplishments are one thing; the manner quite another. It is Russell's way of doing things that gives him the cut of a hero, when the results do start coming. Some difficulty getting on the pace in practice can leave him susceptible to black moods - this in a year when 500 times (behind Doohan and Criville) are frequently as cl\>se or closer than 125 times, with 10 riders all within tenths. Russell is different from the others who pursue the top Hondas. The American is not afraid to use the W-word. It takes worse than a third-row start to prevent Scott Russell from talking and thinking about winning the race. Then there's the remarkable thing that happens on race day. All of a sudden, Russell will find another half-second. or more - he's reliably in the top three in morning warmup, tTtd was fastest at Dorrington. And in the race, though a fourth-row kickoff meant he finished but fifth. It smacks of derring-do. Even in only his third race, in France, he accomplished the rare feat of falling off, then sprinting to his bent bike to remount without getting overtaken, saving sixth from a frustrated fast privateer, Jeremy McWilliams. Some glued to the TV images of the fro'nt-runners (the Spanish director shows more than a certain fondness for following Criville, ignoring close battles a little way behind him) haven't really noticed RusselL Judging by his results so far, he's one of several. But those who watch him on the track see it differently. Doohan is one who is wary of his talent, once he gets it together. Other riders remark on his tall stance on the bike - he looms over the handlebars in the same way he looms up behind them on the track; he in turn tends to fight back if passed, and also has a tendency to get the bike to the checkered flag, albeit sometimes in a slightly used condition. Russell on a good day is a very exciting man to watch. How long will it take before he's a top-three regular, a GP winner? His whole career has been conducted in a hurry. He only started racing at 22, unlike his American forerunners, most of whom already had 10 or 15 years experience by that age. He whipped through the AMA Superbike title to take the World Championship after a sustained battle with Carl Fogarty at 29. Just over a year later came his GP break. Much now depends on whether he can keep it up. His revival has not come about by chance but by hard work. He put a failed romance behind him and moved out of America for the season to a summer-time home in Sevenoaks. He signed on with Human Performance, a sports training outfit at Brands Hatch, and embarked on some serious training under scientific. conditions. And he lost a little of his party.-animal manner, though to be fair, there was still plenty left to go round. It also depends on where he will ride next year. His current Suzuki contract has him on a sort of probation until the end of the year, and he hardly strengthened his position with the unexplained no-shows - the most notable being to this year's Italjan GP, where Terry Rymer was drafted in as substitute for the first time. Then again, as a team negotiator laughingly points out, "Scott has a refreshingly different way of looking at contracts." (Suzuki was the beneficiary when Russell found a way out of his superbike contract with Muzzy Kawasaki.) There -is a way to secure his works berth for next year. He can make himself indispensable. By results. In the same way, he can plug the vacant hero gap until the Next Big Thing is ready in a year or two, and can give the lonely Mick some company. In racing, you have to take your heroes as they come. This one's readymade. L~ I LOOKING aACLI 25 YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 21, 1971 15 YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 16, 1981 usky-rider Ron Bohn all but clinched his drive for the AMA National Enduro ::".. ,',F :- 'r Championship :f"-. by winning his ,~. . second consecutive Jack Pine End uro. Second overall in the event went to Penton-rider Ray Kussmaul, who also received the A class championship trophy...Harley Davidson's Cal Rayborn won the Yamaha Gold Cup round held in Arlington Heights, Illinois, followed by Ronnie RaJI on a Triumph and Chuck Palmgren on a Yamaha ... Denmark's Ole Olsen won the World Speedway Championship in Goteborg, Sweden. England's Ivan Mauger and Sweden's Bengt Jansson took second and third, respectively, after a tiebreaker heat decided their positions...For the third year in a row, 19year-old Steve Bast won the California State Class A Speedway Championship title in &akersfield, California. he sixth annual A M A Youth MX National Championships took place in Reidsville, North --,-,,=- . Carolina, and among the class winners were Ronnie Tichenor in the 85cc (7-11) Modified class, Ron Lecruen iJ:1 the 100cc (12-15) Schoolboy class, and Keith Bowen in the 125cc (12-15) Schoolboy class... At the AMA Youth / Amateur National Short Track Championship Finals held in Niles, Michigan, Larry Pegram and Mike Hale took first and second, respectively, in the 50cc class on Yamahas. Jess Roeder took third on an Italjet... America's Randy Mamola and Britain's Barry Sheene split wins in the two rounds of the accident-marred Jody Scheckter World Motorcycle Winter Cup Road Racing Series at Donnington Park, England. H T 5YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 18, 1991 uzzy Kawasaki's ~cott Russell won round six of the AMA Superbike National Championship in Topeka, Kansas. Two Brothers Racing's Freddie Spencer and Steve Crevier finished second and third, respectively, on Honda RC30s...Frenchman Raymond Roche broke a one-year winless dry spell and put a stop to Doug Polen's incredible run of seven straight wins in World Superbike com- M petition by taking the win in Malaysia...CycJe News tested the 1992 Honda CR250, introduced the 1992 KTM silver anniversary motorcycle lineup, and ran an in-depth interview with Harley Davidson's Kevin Atherton. CN Triumph-mounted Gary Nixon (9) tries to hold off Yvon DuHamel (5) and his Yamaha during the AMA National In Kent, Washington, In 1970. Photo by Terry Pratt. ..... 75