Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

USA Champion Tray Batey By Colin Fraser Photos by Fraser and Ko Kagiya ,--:5- ennessee born and bred, Tray Batey is not your average top-line professional road racer, even though he recently shaved off his Elvis Presley sideburns. For one thing, he has only competed in two AMA road races in his entire career. For another, Batey's first full-time featureclass ride didn't arrive until 1996, at the tender age of 36. That campaign ended in victory with Batey riding the Team Valvoline Suzuki GSXRllOO to the Sunoco Formula USA National Championship in his first attempt. Multi-time WERA champ Batey built on his experience with the ultra-successful Team Hammer Endurance effort, part of the same Valvoline-backed, John Ulrich-owned, Keith Perry-led program. He was Mr. Consistency during the 18• race 1996 Formula USA tour, establishing a points edge and then earning his first career F-USA win in front of a big crowd at Pocono. By the time the series hit the penultimate round at New Hampshire International Speedway, Batey was able to shake off a scary morning warmup crash to snatch another win. Even more impressive, Batey was up front at a track he didh't know, on a machine many experts considered inappropriate for the tight Loudon venue. At the 1996 Formula USA finale, part of Daytona's NASB/CCS Race of Champions, Batey clinched the Championship with a cautious run in the opener. Finally able to relax, the class rookie then battled with the Dutchman Yamaha of eventual series runner-up Fritz Kling for victory in the season-ending race. This year, Batey opted to stay with the GSXR1100 design, while new teammate Chris Taylor (the 1995 F-USA champ) runs a fully kitted 750. With four races complete, Batey currently holds fourth in the F-USA series standings. We talked to him shortly after he scored a pair of fifth-place finishes with his Jerry Dagget-built 1997 Suzuki in round two at Willow Springs. Was winning the F-USA title a surprise last year, since it was your first fulltime season on the tour? The championship wasn't so much of a surprise. It was kind of a surprise to find myself in the points lead so early in the season. After I was able to maintain that lead for two or three races, then we started thinking that we could actually win this thing if I didn't do anything stupid. By the end of the year it was a relief, since I'd been thinking about it most of the year. So you thought you were capable of winning the series, even though it was your first attempt and you didn't know some of the tracks? I knew I had a good bike under me, so there was a possibility I could win the championship - I felt that before the season even started. I didn't feel I'd be out there every weekend winning races. It seems like every race we went to, there was a different guy that was on the ball that weekend. I wanted to win a race, but it wasn't in the cards for a while. Especially after we got into the points lead, I just couldn't ride the bike like I would a Superstock bike. You know, where you don't worry that much about it, you just pitch it in there. There are a lot of Suzuki GSXRllOOs in Formula USA, but only a few regularly run up front. What made you decide to stick with the big bike for this season, rather than going with an AMA-style GSXR750? I think the 750 is going to be a good bike. I have ridden our 750, my teamma te' s bike, a couple of times. It's a beautiful bike to ride, it's a lot of fun. I can ride my bike, feel like I'm riding the way I have to, then get on Chris' 750, and the amount of effort is about 60 percent, to do the same thing with his bike that I have to do on miIie. The 750 is just so much more nimble, it's beautiful to ride. But to give up all that horsepower, it's just not something I'm ready to do just yet. We've got the GSXRI100 developed to the point where it's practically nothing like the bike on the showroom floor. It doesn't even look like the same bike. It's so low, it's so short and so light, at least relatively. It's probably the most developed GSXR1100 anywhere in the world. It's a pleasure to ride, but it will never handle like one of the new 75Os. I would like to win more races this year than I won last J[ear. My numberone goal would be to help Jerry and Keith develop the 1100 Suzuki even further. They're really working hard this' year. The bike's not all used up yet. I want to try and do things on an 1100 Suzuki that no one has ever done before. I think winning the championship last year, it just really gave everybody a breath of fresh air. It meant a lot to me too. I could have taken my number-one plate and ridden for somebody else, but they worked really hard for that plate, and I definitely didn't want to take it away from them. I wanted that numberone plate to be on one of Keith and John Ulrich's bikes, for sure. They deserve it as much as I did. It's a good situation. What do you think when you meet some of the fans in the paddock, the die-hard horsepower nuts? To a lot of those guys, especially GSXRllOO riders, you're a hero. If I am in that position, it's kind of strange. But I'll try to carry that horsepower torch as best I can. I understand all the horsepower-crazy riders, because I definitely fall into that category. The conventional view held by many racing experts is that endurance racing is good for building skills, but when you get to the top level it teaches you to be too conservative. Yet you lead the team's endurance program too, riding with Grant Lopez. What's your view? I really enjoy the endurance racing. It's a lot of repetitive laps to be sure; you never can really go all out and risk totally throwing the bike away. A lot of that is an attitude that I'm supposed to have, and I try to remind myself of that. But every time I get on the endurance bike, even though we have that plan, you find yourself being a racer, even if you're four laps ahead. You want to do the best you can, you want to challenge yourself. But you have to be careful, and remember to do what you're paid to do. It's hard sometimes, to ride at an endurance pace. But it is good practice, the endurance and sprint bikes are similar. The endurance bike is a lot easier to ride. It's a little heavier, with a little less horsepower. Keith does a good job of setting the bike up to where it's just cushy. That's the best way to put it. It's a little soft, but in those conditions, it's great. I wouldn't want to ride endurance on any other bike. Is it hard to switch from selfish sprint racing Formula USA National Champion to co-rider and team leader on the WERA number-one endurance bike? You have to try and remember when' you're on the endurance bike not to do something a 17-year-old wild man might try to do. Even if you're not on the pace on that day on that bike, you still have to give the crew a chance to do their job on the pit stops, let the strategy play out, follow orders, and follow the big plan. If you go out with the attitude tha t you're going to win the race all by yourself, most of the time it will work out for you, but every now and then it will bite you. Then you're going to be in the doghouse, big time. You've got to try and walk the line, win but stay up, not do anything too crazy. Things like stay away from traffic in the tight parts of the track, then give the big 11 00 a chance to breathe on the straightaways. You've been on the same team with Kurt Hall, Chuck Graves, Michael Martin, David Stanton, Jamie Hacking, riders of that caliber. What has it been like in that environment? I was around Kurt (Hall) a lot before I got on the team, and unfortunately for me he decid~d to call it quits before I joined up. I never actually got to be on the team wi th Kurt. I did ride with Michael Martin. I did race against Kurt a lot, when I was a privateer and he was with Valvoline Suzuki. He is a competitor that I will always look up to. No matter what I achieve as a competitor, that doesn't weigh on the scales for me compared to who I look up to as my heroes. All I know is, the things I saw him do when I was on thl? track with him, they really impressed me. I wished I could ride like that one day. Those kind of memories always stick with you. One of my biggest thrills last year was when Kurt came up and wanted a signed poster. I couldn't believe it! One of my heroes wanted me to sign something. Is it tough being part of a team with a high profile at the track, with people wanting to come up and meet you? I don't think so. If you are fortunate enough to struggle and reach a position of high visibility, you've got to realize you're probably not going to be there very long. It would be nice to be there forever, but you're not going to be. I know while I'm in a position of that nature, I'm going to try and make the most of it, and be as friendly as I can. Any person who takes time to stop by our pits, I'm going to try and talk to them if I can. We've had a lot of spectators come around, bring their kids. I look a t these people and think, they could be doing anything today, they could be at the lake or out at Disney World. But no, they got in the car, probably got up at 4 in the morning, and drove ou t here. They paid a lot of money to get in. The least I can do is give them a few minutes'of my time. You started racing motocross in 1974: you also raced ATVs before you got into road racing. Have you pretty much been a gear head all through yOIU life? I guess I got hooked on mechanical stuff. My father's people were farmers; they worked on their own equipment in

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