Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AVIEW FROM THE FENCE BY ERIC JOHNSON I've always told myself that if I won a race, I was going to do something totally different - something that no one else has ever done," declared Team Moto XXX dder Brian Deegan to the nearly 50,000 spellbound spectators sitting in the Los Angeles Coliseum grandstands. Just a few moments earlier, Deegan, a true-to-Iife, dyed-in-the-wool pdvateer, had jettisoned off the back of his nearly bone-stock Suzuki RM125 and ghosted it over the LA finish-line jump. The bewildered crowd roared in approval. fact, the 20 big-time 250cc riders I was standing among behind the starting gate when the move went down all began 'umping up and down and screaming in support as well. It was certainly a move' that will go down in the folklore book of . sllpercross. However, that said, Brian Deegan's well~deserved night of glory ended up eing an evening of mixed emotions. A double-edged sword, if you will. After · asking in the glory of victory and climbing down from the top step of the odium, Deegan was approached by an AMA official who immediately · ormed him that he was being fined 1000 tor dangerous riding and for his echank running out onto the course. At the time, Deegan let it go. He hook his head and said, "Fine." However, once he arrived back at his wellom box van and thought the matter ver, he felt that he was not completely ·n the wrong with his actions; he Iieved he had been sent a mixed mesage by the AMA. "Duke Finch was the one who came p and talked to me." Deegan said over e telephone on the We~esday momng following the incident. "He kept aying to me, 'I'm sorry I have to do his, I don't really want to, but we have o bl!cause we can't let people do this " kind of thing.' Duke told me that they didn't like what I did because I could have hurt someone. "However, once I thought about it, I believe that basically they are trying to make an example out of me, and I don't think it's fair. I think. they're afraid to make an example out of one of the factory guys, because those guys are always doing this type of thing. However, the factory teams are paying the bills to the AMA, and we're just a priyateer team, so they can do what they want to us because we don't have any power, you know?/I While it can certainJy be argued that Deegan's self-described "punk move" was in fact dangerous, he does have a point about the double standard that appears to exist at times on the AMA Supercross circuit between the big-four factory teams and the much-maligned privateer group. "They fined me $500 for dangerous riding and endangerment of their flagman, and the other $500 fine came from when my mechanic ran out onto the track," Deegan said. "1 mean Geremy) McGrath's mechanic has run out onto the track a bunch of times, and what about the time Stanton's mechanic ran out on the track when he won the Supercross championship? (Note: Jeff Stanton was met with open arms - on the track - by his mechanic immediately after winning the 1992 AMA Supercross Championship). "Also, how many warnings have they given Gef£) Emig for kicking people or pushing them, or I heard (Mike) LaRocco launched his bike in the tunnel onto someone, and nothing happens to those guys - that is not endangering someone? They are sending a mixed message. Those guys are intentionally trying to endanger someone. What I did was for entertainment. Raceway in California. Pat Ryan got second and David Damron took third, on Suzukis·. McLaughlin also won the 250cc Grand Prix class, followed by Bob Barker and Marv Fleming, on Yamahas. ene Romero won the 100cc class on a Honda at the California State Indoor Champinships held in LO'ng Beach, California. lliot SchuIttz took second on a Honda d Rick Woods got third on a Yamaha. arley Davidson-mounted Dick Mann on the 250cc Championship, followed y Clyde Litch on a Honda and Mert awwill on a Harley...The 1966 District 7 Heavyweight Club Points were postd and the Checkers MC was at the top f the list. Shamrocks MC got second d San Gabriel Valley MC finished hird ... Steve McLaughlin piloted his awasaki to first place in the Heavyeight Production 250cc class at an CA Road Race at Willow Springs G "What they did is fine me $1000," Deegan said. "I've never even heard of a rider being fined $1000 - factory or not for fighting, or anything in front of pe0ple. What happens when people are fighting on the track? That endangers the riders and everyone. What I did the crowd totally loved and probably made all the people want to come back and watch another race. All I did was try and pump the crowd, and now they're trying to make an example out of me, and I can't do anything about it - and it took $1000 out of a privateer's pocket. I have to pay my own way to get to the races." It's hard to say who is right in this situation. While Deegan - seemingly with the best of intentions - did take a chance and pull a "that's entertainment" move out of his bag of tricks, the potential was there for someone to be hurt by the flying yellow Suzuki. However, it can also be argued that the·AMA may have come down a little too hard on the Nebraska-based privateer. "At the time we didn't even argue it we figured we would just pay the money," Deegan said. "We know this was going to be huge exposure for me and all of the privateers. Now all of this is just another blow to all of us. They see that the AMA isn't afraid to take half of my purse. I don't want to burn the AMA. They have gone out of their way for me before, but ~ey don't stand up for the privateers. I don't want to sound like a whiner, but the AMA has to back up the privateers. I mean I didn't even get a warning or anything." Despite all of the high drama of probation, fines, rule infractions and finger pointing, no one can dispute the fact that Deegan was dazzling in his Coliseum victory. Arguably the most impressive fact to come out of Saturday's festivities, Deel';an is the fiISt true American privateer since Mike Brown in 1994 to win an AMA 125cc Supercross. And in an era where the high-dollar factory teams are pledging huge financial resources and technical support in this the supposedly "entry level" class, Deegan should be quite proud of his accomplishment. . "1 bought my own bike," Deegan said. "1 mean, I went down and paid $4000 for it. I'm a true privateer and I won!" So, even after all of the fallout and bickering, was the brilliant - and spooky - ghost rider move worth it? "So far, every single person I've talked to - and my phone has been ringing off the hook - thought it was the coolest thing they had ever seen," Deegan said. "Like I had McGrath say to me, 'That took a lot of courage and it totally fired me up.''' High praise from a high source. "What I did that night, - I mean I have always been a little wild and I'm not one cif those guys who is going to let myself be bossed around by the factories," Deegari said. 'Tm not afraid to do what I want to do. I want to be who I want to be. It's not a theory of causing trouble, but a theory of being myself." And what of the detractors who feel that he may have crossed the Une (no pun intended) and put the safety of the trackside people in jeopardy? "Yeah, at the time I thought, 'I hope the bike doesn't hit anyone when I let it go:" Deegan said ruefully. "But I figured we were racing for the lead and no one is going to be. on the track anyway. Who is going to be on the track when I'm the first guy coming across the finish line and there are 20-some guys behind me? "What can they say to a guy who is out there making the crowd go nuts? How can they come down on him?" f:\' Maely's all-American speedway motor and bike package that sold for $2500. .~ The package included the complete _ ~ ~ motorcycle, spares and five days of -"-z.-~ training from Maely and Mike Bast. ~ ::::r.:,.. . , "',,-::, breaking his wmt the year before, and defending 250cc champ Rick Johnson crashed and knocked him1~7JiJtl~;~~::"self ou t in the main. Kawasa• ki's Jeff Matiasevieh won the 125cc class, with Dean Matson and Craig Canoy finish.ing second and third, respeca tively. .:/ r m " -, . . ~'~ 10 YEARS AGO... 20 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 9, 1m riumph-mounted John Hately won the Houston Astrodome TT in Texas. Alex Jorgensen got second on a BSA and John Gennai closed out the top three on a Triumph, making it a British bike sweep. A day later, Harley Davidson's Jay Springsteen won the short track event, followed by Harleymounted Ted Boody and Mike Kidd got third on a Penton...Tom Brooks won the AMA Western Regional Hare and Hound Championship in Fremont Valley, California. Larry Roeseler finished second and Dwayne Carter crossed the line in third overall...CN track-tested the Maico AW 250 - the Adolph Weil replica...CN also took a closer look at Ken T FEBRUARY 11, 1987 ro motocrosser Tim Hannah crashed during the CMC Golden State-Nationals at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California, suffering two broken vertebrae ... Kawasaki teammates Jeff Ward and Ron Lechien finished first and second, respectively, in the 250cc class at the Anaheim (California) Supercross. Yamaha's Brae Glover ended up third in his first supercross since P Freddie Spence~ at speed In the 1989 Australian 500cc Grand Prix. The Australian GP was Spencer's second race aboard Marlboro Yamahas In his 1989 500cc GP racing comeback. Photo by Paul Carruthers. 59

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