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/127869
about Mike Hartwig or Ga ry Bailey or any of those guys that we re racing the at ionals. An d Europe - that was even farther away. The sport was my life. and I wo uld race eve ry week > sometimes five times a week - in a gOo11 to be CMC nu m ber o ne. That was always the big goal - to be the CMC number one . It was around 1973 that I realiz ed : 'Look at all of this! There's professio na l racing in the U.s.!' So I started to rea d Cycle Neu» to keep up with the big races." Wan ting to beco me a part of America' s fled gli ng profe ssi onal scene, the am bitious Moates began to put himself into a position that would help elevate him to the next level. "Not a lo ng a fter, Suz u ki picked me r up to be an R&D rid er and, alon g wi th Bob Hannah and Ron Turner, we would race the bikes around Southern Ca liforn ia ," says M oates . "1 rode my fi rst National at Hangtown in 1975, wh ere I rode Billy Grossi's practice bike and finish ed seco nd in a mo to to Bob Hannah . I was very encouraged by the result and wan ted to ra ce the Nationals full tim e. However, Suzuki wan ted me to race at th e local level. So I left to race th e " I ser out 10 blly a di/·t bikc, bill tllC)' lalllcd inC Inro buyillg a slreel bikc." Na tio nals o n m y own . It d id n' t take long to go broke, an d I gu ess I learned the hard way; it was an off-and-on experie nce, an d I suffe red a number of small inj u ries. However, my real goal at the time was to go to Europe a nd race the Wo rl d Cham pionship G rand Prix ci r cu it. Those guys we re my heroes - especia lly De Cos ter; he was every bo dy's hero." . And SO beg an Marty Moa tes' eternal sea rch for su pport to help him fu lfill his dream of beco mi ng bo th a Na tiona l and Wo rld Champion. And, as fate would have it, in the blink of an eye, he found a way onto the AMA Na tional Champions hip circuit - an d ultimately onto an ai rpla n.. headi ng for Europe and the FIM World Championship circuit. "In 1976, I received a call from a guy a t Mid-Valley Cy cle to race a KTM in the 500cc Na tio nals and an Ossa in the 250cc N ati onals ," says M oates. " In essenc.., I was racing for both factories. I went to race in the] 9n Flo rid a Win terAm Series and fini shed th ird in th e se ries po ints. I then w en t to rac e th e Da ytona Supercross and did very well before I dislocated my shoulder. Howev..r, a journalist from Solo Mota magazine (a major Spa nish mot orcycle magazine) wrote about how well [ rode, and th e Ossa fac to ry co nta cted me fro m Spain and gave me an offer to ride the 250cc G Ps. So [ wen t to the factory in Barcelona a nd was just stoked to be there. Th e year befo re, I had quit high school and was to u ring America in a truck with Marty Tripes, and here 1 was in Spain, trying to figure out how to eat. I think it took me a week to get beyond ..ating candy bars. "I n the first GP, 1did really good and was running at the front of the field in both motos before the bike broke," he contin ues. "In fact, in the second mo ta, I was r a ci n g w it h Gennady Moisseev fro m Ru ssia for fou rth when the bike broke . Th e fac to ry was really s to ke d wi th me, and I raced eight GPs in a row, an d [ think fifth was my best resu lt, and I also won a number of big international ra ces. I belie ve Beauca ire, France, w as the biggest race that [ won . "I came bac k to America in August of 1977 to have my shoulder - which had been giving me trouble all yea r - operated on. I raced the 1977 Trans-AMA with Ossa but was having big probl ems wit h my sho ulder. My resu lts we ren't good and the bike kept brea king . 50 I sta rted tes tin g with Husqvarna and their new au tomatic. Goat Breker an d 1 would test every d ay and the bike was pretty good, but raci ng it was a diffe ren t ma tter." Duri ng the winte r of 1978, Moa tes, wh o was racing the Florida Winter-Am Series, met a man named Laurenz Offner, who was looking for a 12Scc rider for his Yamaha-backed LOP support team. The two hit it off immediately an d wo uld form a rela tionshi p that would make the LOP team one of the strongest outfits o n the AMA circui t and, u ltima tely, a part of American mo tocross folklo re. "I rode the 1978 Win ter-Am 250cc class that wi nter and finis hed third o n the Husq varn a ." says Moa tes. "Then I met Laurenz Offner, of LOP products, at the Orlan d o Win ter-Am event, and he as ke d m e wha t I was doi ng fo r the approac hi ng season. He was a g rea t guy, a nd hi s afte r ma rke t bus iness wh ich con sisted of pip es, porting, and ot he r mod ifica tio ns - was beginning to take off and do g reat. He wanted me to ride the 125cc Nationals, an d 1 di d pr etty well, finishing secon d to Broc Glover "Lille allyollc tllal mccs for tllC [irs: lilllC I was , jusl ((·mfied. I kCJlI falling ClI til(' Icdg" (lIId wcu sC Cl/'cd 10 clCCltll." at So uthwick. Bu t we ha d a lot of mecha nical problems with the bike and st ruggled at times. We rod e th e TransAMA 250cc support class on Hon d as and wo n some motes, and I think I finished third overall. "In 1979, we sw itched back to Yama ha and decid ed to race the World Cha mpio nship Series. I wanted to go back to Eu rop e to ra ce for th e 250cc World worked perfectly and 1 became mo re Champions hi p, an d we ship ped over an d more comfortable. 1 go t seventh in five bikes and a van. But I got hurt in ti med practice, but the liming clocks Ho lland a nd we ended up selling the were messed up that day and I knew I equipment to Pierre Karsmakers; we just was much faster than tha t." weren't prepared to challenge fo r the Moa tes' date with fate dawned title. 1 had arthroscopic surgery d one on brig h t, ho t and sunny, an d whe n he m y knee a n d be gan to tra in once I pulled into Carlsbad Raceway early that healed up. I raced th e A MA 500cc mo rning, it was like some kind of ho meNationals and finished ninth in po ints. 1 coming. If there was ever such thing as a did good in some races and was almost ho me -field advantage in motocross, always the top privateer, but the bike Moates now had it. broke a lot. But even though that was "I felt really good the day of the race the case, we were always happy racing and was jus t stoked," says Moat es, still th e product ion bikes. We ha d a fe w exci te d about it after all th ese years. opportunities to race factory eq ui pme nt "My pa re nts lived in Carlsbad, a nd I - like in the fall of 1979, when Gaylon grew up in the San Mosier got hurt and Diego area, so I was we we re offe red his "I ,lidn'l Iwow lllal there very excited to race fac tory Kawasakis, the U.S . GP. 1 h ad A nd in 1980, we was allYthing else OUI never ri dde n th e were offered Arlo tllc/'e bUI Saddleback and Gra n d Pri x class, Eng lu nd's fact ory Carlsbad." and I was so stoked Yam ah a s, but w e to see 35,000 people d id n 't take them a t the race - ha lf of be ca u se we were which had see n me race at Carlsb ad at comm itted to what we had. The producone time or another. It was gre at to have ti on bikes we had wer e good and we SO man y friends and fans in the crowd ." wer e pretty happy with them ." At a p prox imately 1 p .m., Moates, Tha t wi nter, following the 1979 sea bedecked in his red- and-white LOP jerson, Marty Moates committed himself to sey and Bel Ray USA-flag ra cin g bib, a relentless training regimen in order to ro lled his number-23 Yama ha up to the ge t his battered body back int o fighting gate and looked out at a suntann ed sea trim and to improve his on-track stamiof humanity. The time of reckoning had na and end urance . And when th e 1980 come. supercross sea son kicked off in Sea ttle "1 pulled the holes hot, and in the first in February. he was in the best racing five laps 1 had 10 seconds on everyone," shape of his life. That year was to be his recounts Moates. "Then Hakan Ca rlyea r to shi ne. qvist started to whittle it down, a nd 1 "In 1980, I was doing well in superfell down. [ tho ught for sure tha t I was cross, where I was finishing between done, as both Carlqvist and Da n n y seventh and 15th consistently, and won laPorte went past me, but within a few some qualifying heats." laps, I caught right back up to them. I Then, af te r a few s trong outings in th e n passed Hakan - who had been the 500cc Nationals, came the 1980 500cc passed by laPorte - in the big spectator United States Grand Prix of Motocross area; then, a few minu tes la ter. I wen t at Carlsbad. And without Moates knowaround Laf'o rte. I was real ha p py to be ing it, all of the years of practicing, trainout in front, but then, o n the last lap, ing, raci ng and clamoring for support Hakan was rig ht on me, a nd I almost were about to payoff in spades. fell on top of the big hill. By that time " I went out on the track with my the fences were falli ng do wn a nd the practice bi ke," reflects Moa tes, "a nd it fans we re jumping up and d own, wavwouldn't tu rn that well, but [ liked it ing thei r shirts, wavi ng flags and goi ng and rode it anyway. 1 felt real good on crazy. I held on and won the mota , and 1 th e track. A ft e r practice, I got o n a felt great because I knew I had d one the brand-new bike, a nd I was o n cloud best that I could . I was worried between n in e im m ed ia te l y. Ev e rything jus t r-, 0\ 0\ .... o .... .... CIJ ..0 S CIJ ~ o 15