Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW By Henny Ray Abram.s 28 didn't take long for Larry Pegram rove he belonged. In his second on the Fast by Ferracci Ducati, year-old former dirt tracker finishe second to Smokin' Joe's Honda's Migue DuHamel in the AMA Superbike ational on the temporary circuit at the Pomona Fairplex. But in the following race at Laguna Seca, he finished 27th after pitting twice to fix a loose rear wheel. And that's how the 1996 season would go. Machine problems and crashes kept him from consistently finishing well. Yet, when he finished, he was usually near the top. In Homestead, the fourth race of the year, he qualified and finished third, after running second for much of the race. Then Came a wet-track spill at Mid-Ohio. At Road America, he was up and down in the same weekend. First Came his first-ever supeibike pole, in just his sixth outing, followed by a cautious seventh in the second consecutive wet race, the memory of Mid-Ohio fresh in his mind. In the third race in three weekends, this time at Loudon, he started third and ended fourth. Off to Brainerd where he qualified second to temporary teammate Alessandro Gramigni, only to be sidelined by a broken primary gear early in the racE!' while running second. The only race he wanted to forget came a t Sears Point, a practice crash leading to an off weekend which he was happy to disregard. In the final race of the year, it looked like he'd be back on the box. After qualifying a dose second, Pegram led the Las Vegas race early and held down second place until machine and tire troubles dropped him to an eventual sixth. He ended his first AMA Superbike season seventh in the championship point standings. The season didn't end at Vegas. Pegram ran the fall Daytona NASB/FUSA races, finishing third in the first leg and chunking a tire in the second: Asked what he'd be doing in 1997, he repeated what he'd said at Las Vegas: He was fairly certain he'd be staying with the Fast by Ferracci team. Then came word that he was on the move; joining Pascal Picotte and Aaron Yates on the Yoshimura Suzuki team. The first test was at the Dunlop tire tests in early December and the alwaysexpressive Pegram was anxious to talk about the future. He spoke during a break in the testing on the secoItd day of the three-day test. You thought you'd stay with Ferracci, even as late as the Daytona NASB race? That was my plan. Even up until then I was talking with Suzuki a little bit, but I didn't know what they (Ferracci) were going to do. They hadn't made me an offer, but they kept telling me they were interested in me. I figured if they were interested enough they'd make me an offer. But I think they were waiting on Mat (Mladin) to see what he was going to do first. I kind of made a plan to stay with Ferracci and he seemed to want me there, but he told me I had to wait until he went to Italy to sign a contract before he would give me one. I said okay, and then these guys called me up and said, "What will it take for you to ride a Suzuki for '97?" (I talked to them in) early November, late OctQber, right at the beginning of November. And they wanted to know what I needed and I told them what I wanted and they pret- ty much said okay. And then I talked with my manager, Bubba Shobert, and we decided that, to do it, we wanted a two-year deal because they were new bikes and I didn't want to switch bikes every year. I wanted to get on something and go out and concentrate on it. So we told them we wanted a two-year deal' and they came up with it and they seem really confident in me. So I figured I would stay here. Eraldo Ferracci said you made some requests that he couldn't satisfy. I gave him the 0pPQrtunity" to match what Suzuki was giving me because his numbers were way off and he didn't want to do it. I gave him the opportunity because I felt like I owed it to him. He just said that he didn't have it. How did last year measure up to your expectations? I think it went real well. I think, for me, it didn't go as good as what I had planned, but I think it went a lot better than what a lot of people thought I was going to do. I knew that J could go out and win a race on those bikes. We came dose a few times. I think I rode well all year, but never had a weekend where it came together. We finished seconds and thirds. You can make excuses all day. I didn't ride very good in the rain, which I should have done better in. At the beginning of the year 1'd never ridden on rain tires in the rain. We went to Mid-Ohio and I fell, so at Road America I was really tentative. I really felt like if it hadn't rained at Road America, I would have won that race. I felt really confident and I felt like that at Brainerd too, if we hadn't broken. But if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas. I can sit there and say what I would have done all day long, but I didn't do it. What kept you from winning a race? I don't think I needed good Iuck; I just didn't need bad luck. I just needed a day where everything didn't go perfect, but something didn't go bad either. There

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