Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GUEST EDITORIAL By DENNIS NOYES guess a rat's ass is about the least you can give for something and, if it is true, as Paul Carruthers wrote here st week, that American fans don't give rat's ass about Alex Criville, the Aoki rothers and Tadayuki Okada, then Occ Grand Prix racing, which was ominated by American riders from 78 through 1993, has hit bottom in the is country. I believe I am the only American urnalist who has been on the Euroean scene from the late '60s right rough to the present season. Because I ved in Spain and wrote largely in panish, I followed the Spanish story... anti Herrero against Kel Carruthers in 69. Angel Nieto against DeVries and heene, Victor Palomo against Gary ixon, right up through Pons against arriga, Cardus against Kocinski and riville against Doohan. Why does Spain have five factory ders in the 500cc class while the Unitd States has only one? I'm glad you sked. Read on: Spain in 1969 was a poor and primive country in comparison with the rest f Europe. With Generalissimo FrancisFranco firmly in power at the helm of military dictatorship, Spain was a bit f a pariah. The Spanish motorcycle dustry - Montesa, Bultaco, OSSA, erbi, Sanglas and Ducati-Mototrans njoyed the benefits of a protectionist· ustoms policy that placed huge tariffs n European motorcycles and banned panese bikes outright. The Japanese, in reaction, would not ven consider signing a Spanish rider. erefore some of the best riders of the Os, men like Nieto, Tormo, Canellas, rau and Palomo - the equivalent of aying Hennen, Baker, Roberts, Mamola nd Rayborn from this country never ot a sniff at a Japanese factory ride. Whe Barry Sheene broke onto the cene his popularity went far beyond reat Britain. Barry, the Cockney kid, on of Bultaco privateer Frank Sheene, ad the look and the flare, both on and ff the bike, that young Valentino Rossi as today. Everybody cheered for "Bazza," cept in Spain at first, and the USA a Htle later. It was Kenny Roberts who came to urope in 1978 and shut Barry down, ut it was Angel Nieto who took on arry in the 125ee class in 1971. Nieto on he factory Derbi battled and eventually on the title from Sheene on the ex-StuGraham, ex-works Suzuki twin. It was that epic season that really urned Spain on to GP racing. Nieto ecame a national hero. He was eceived in the Pardo by Franco. His arne became synonymous with victory. pain had few international heroes and e press, the national TV and the govment were quick to seize upon the ough little poor boy from the slums of allecas whose-father had raised chickns and who was, because of this, lovgly referred to privately as el pol/era the chicken farmer). Manuel Santana, he tennis player, was a Spanish hero, 00, but it was el nino de Vallecas (the allecas kid) whose popularity reached e masses. Not many people in the pain of the early '70s played tennis, but lmost everybody, especially the poor, ode 50cc Derbi motorcycles. Imagine that you are a Spanish alban11 (stone mason), or a factory worker in the early '70s. You can't afford a car: Yon can't afford to get married because to do that you'll need to rent a small apartment. To get around you ride a Vespa scooter or a 50cc Derbi with your girlfriend sitting sidesaddle on the back. Suddenly you start hearing about this kid from the slums who is beating the best riders in the world and he's riding a Derbi, like you. In 1971, I saw the showdown between Barry Sheene and Angel Nieto that took place in El Jarama outside Madrid. It was the final race of the season. I've never been at a race with such an atmosphere, and I doubt seriously that there ever has been or will ever be again a race for which an entire nation unabashadly gave a rodent's bottom. Nieto was fighting for both the 50 and 125cc World Championships that day. The 250cc world title had also come down to the last race. The 500cc and 350cc titles were decided and Agostini and the MY team stayed home leaving the privateers to battle it out for the wins, but in Spain nobody gave a rat's ass for Agostini, Phil Read and the rest. Sure they watched and, in case of a battle between an Englishman and anyone else, they cheered, like Spaniards always do, for anyone other than the Englishman. Spain will never forget the loss of the Armada and the low deeds of that despicable Sir Francis Drake, given knighthood to launder his piracy. Angel Nieto was brilliant. He was fire under the sun - hotter than the proverbial aroused but sexually frustraled fox in a forest fire. He postured and poised, he made the sign of the cross, he dedicated his triumphs to the people of Spain - he was wonderful. Then he came out for the 50cc race and promptly crashed, losing the title. There were probably 40,000 people there that day. The crowd estimates ranged from 90,000 to 150,000. It didn't matter. In one way or another all of Spain was there. The race was on Spanish TV, although with only a few cameras. It was live on radio. All around Spain in bars and homes people leaned forward toward the small black-and-white screens or strained their ears to hear every detail of the radio call. Nieto had crashed. He was on the ground beside the track, unconscious. The circuit commentator stopped talking about the race and commentated on the arrival of the doctor and the stretcher bearers. Nieto was not exactly unconscious, but he had swooned. Photographers and officials ran onto the track to crouch beside Nieto. He was carried across the track on a stretcher by the Red Cross to the little clinic. The Spanish Civil Guard took up defensive positions around the building. The circuit speaker implored the crowd to pray for the recovery of their hero. I swear that 1 saw tears running down the face of grown men, while many women openly wept and implored the heavens that Angel would ride again that day. Cars all over Spain pulled to the side of the road as drivers shouted to their children to hush as they leaned forward and twiddled the dials to" tune in Radio Espana's news bulletin. Everything they said on the radio was true. Kriedler, desperate to win the 50cc World Championship, had hired two of the top young riders in the world, Sheene and Saarinen, to support DeVries. Although the race went on with DeVries winning from Saarinen and taking the title, all eyes in Jarama were on the clinic where Nieto was being attended. The next event was the 250cc race which was the final showdown between Phil Read and Rodney Gould. Read was making a comeback. He traveled to the GPs in a glittering Rolls Royce, and his truck - srnaJJ by today's standards, but huge in 1972 - bore the words "The Phil Read Castrol Team." Read was in his prime and battling back· after his disputes with Yamaha when he broke team orders to take titles from his teammate, the late Bill Ivy. Jarno Saarinen won his first GP that day._Read, once Gould had retired, was content to take a safe second and the title. Noone in Spain really ga ve a ra t' s ass. . The roar from the crowd came when it was announced that Angel Nieto had left the clinic and tha t he was going to ride in the 12Scc Grand Prix. I remember Nieto, limping, still wearing the scuffed and torn leathers from his fall in the 50cc GP. He was almost invisible in the center of a swarm of journalists, mechanics, friends and Guardia Civil. The works Derbi was a tiny thing, but it was surrounded by a red army of Derbi mechanics. That little 125cc twin must not go down like the Armada. Angel was Spain. Barry was Drake. You should have been there. The crowd chanted Nieto! Nieto! Nieto! It was a seven-rider battle - Nieto, Sheene, Jansson, Mortimer, Simmonds, Andersson and Buscherini all running together, swapping places.... but at the front it was Nieto on the red Derbi battling Jansson on his yellow Maico and Sheene on the blue Suzuki. The crowd cheered every lap. They willed the Derbi on. They implored Angel to break away. All traffic had stopped on the Burgos highway outside the circuit, and drivers climbed the trees and fences to catch a glimpse of the action. Truck drivers stood on the tops of their trailers. For 56 minutes, 23.8 seconds Spain counted down the laps and cheered on their hero. With just a couple of laps to go, Jansson's chain tensioner broke when he was leading from Mortimer, with Sheene and Nieto on the brakes for the Bugatti hairpin. Nieto, seeing Janssen sit up suddenly, made his move and took the lead. Nieto! Nieto! Nieto! . The circuit commentator was chanting. He lied a lot, too. When the bikes went ou t of sight of the main grandstands for the Bugatti hairpin, he narrated great passes and slides, and bumping of knees and fairings that never took place but which raised the passion of the moment even higher. The crowd started to move onto the track to cheer and wave Nieto on. When Nieto won the fans broke onto the track. The race director - his battle name was "Cauca" - threw the checkered flag into the air when Nieto crossed the line and went running and cavorting after Nieto, leaving the race to direct itself. The rest of the field had to dodge fans to get across the line. Nieto was carried on the shoulders of the crowd. It was wonderful. Kent Andersson, battling the late Dave Simmonds for fourth, was slowed by the invasion and collided with a woman, who was uninjured, but he bent the forks of his Yamaha. When he protested and tried to get the organizers to pay for his forks - Jarama official - his name was Barona dismissingly said, "Buy a Derbi, Swede, and a woman's butt won't bend your forks!" Nieto cried on the podium, flanked by a smiling Chas Mortimer and a dismal-looking Barry Sheene. Spain trulJ cares just as much today when Criville battles Doohan. And because Spain really gives a rat's ass, it plays host to two Crands Prix and has five works riders in the 500cc class. America cared when Kenny Roberts came to Europe and took on Barry Sheene. Unfortunately, we didn't have a U.s. GP for the faithful to chant Roberts, Roberts, Roberts! as he chased the 1978 title. Kenny never had that and neither did Freddie Spencer. The greatest years of 500cc GP racing were when Kenny took on Barry, then when Freddie Spencer took on Kenny Roberts, when Eddie Lawson took on Wayne Gardner and later when Wayne Rainey battled Kevin Schwantz. Bu t for some reason t!tere were never enough fans at Laguna Seca, not even in 1988, in spite of the exaggerated estimates, to make the U.S. GP a real.suc. cess. Why don't the major sponsors and the Japanese manufacturers insist anymore that the top 500cc teams have an American rider? They used too. In part, it's because the current generation of Australian, Spanish and Japanese 500cc riders are very, very good, probably the best riders available, although I agree with Paul that John Kocinski and Colin Edwards should be included on anybody's short list of the world's top 5-10 riders. And, hey, look at the results that Scott Russell gave to Suzuki last year - and he got replaced. Lucky Strike, "The American Originai," no longer felt that having an American rider on their works Suzuki was all that important. American riders are still among the best, but one of the reasons that the people who pay the bills are not insisting that Americans get rides in 500cc is because American fans do not support Gr,!nd Prix racing the way Australian, Spanish and Japanese fans do. In Australia, Doohan is a national hero and Beattie, Corser and Gobert are celebrities. In Japan Abe, the Aoki "Fireball Brothers" and Okada are recognized on the street as stars. And in Spain Alex Crivile is the Nieto of the '90s while Checa and Puig are idolized. It is true that World Superbike racing is drawing fans on a par with Grand Prix racing in Great Britain, but in the rest of the world - from Indonesia to . Brazil, from Japan to Australia and everywhere in Europe - we are seeing increased enthusiasm, more hours of TV and bigger crowds. And if anyone doubts the determination of the Japanese to continue to support Grand Prix racii\g, they should look at the effort that Yamaha and Suzuki are making to catch up with Honda, and the effort Honda is making to keep their newlyfound (since 1994) superiority. I believe American motorcycle racing fans still know that 500cc GP racing is the world's most exciting form of motorsport. Superbike racing is great, too. In fact, it was .superbike racing that prepared Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz for the ultimate challenge. . Tha t ultimate challenge is 500cc Grand Prix racing, and American riders will be back, the Modenas KRV-3 will get even more funding and U.s. GP will return to stay, if, in fact, American fans send the message to U.S. importers and major sponsors that they want their U.S. GP and want to see the young generation of American road racers taking over where Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz left off. If America really gives, to use Paul's words, a rat's ass, then it will happen. (N 87

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