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/127870
INTERVIEW • Grand National Rookie of the Year Johnny Murphree (Left) Star on the rise?: J ohnny Murphree (center) made his third year as an AMA Grand National Expert a big one indeed. Murphree won his first 883 National at laSalle and finished the season as AMA's Grand National Rookie of the Year. (Above) Murphree has always been savvy on the 600cc bikes . He made the main events at both the Daytona Short Track and the Peoria n in '97. By Mike Law Photos by Flat Trak Fotos • 46 MA Grand Natio nal Roo kie of th e Year Joh nny Murph ree d escri bes his love for mot or cycles as "bittersweet. " As a yo u ngster, Murphree grew up in a fa mily that had a strong love of ho rses. Beca use of the horses - and the fac t tha t they d o not react w ell to th e noise that moto rcy cles p rodu ce - the yo u ng Murphree was denied a motorcycle, and he mi ght never ha ve taken that path in life had tragedy not struck. When Murphree was 7 yea rs old, his mo th er was ki lled in a ho rse-re la te d accident. Following the loss, Murphree's fathe r bega n se lli ng the horses and buying mo torcy cl es . Since th en, m o torcycl es have been a large par t of Murphree' s "li fe. His first race produced a secondplace finis h an d a 4-inch trophy. At that point, he was hooked on motorcycle racing . Two years of local racing followed in Northern Ca lifornia , m ostly at th e Lodi Cycle Bow l. Fro m 1988 to 1993 he won 13 Amateur National Titl es and numerous other track champio nships . H e then turned pro in 1995 , and has devoted his life to rid in g a nd ra cing motorcycles on the AMA Grand Nationa l Championship circuit. In just two years, that devotion has paid off: Murphree ha s been recognized as the AMA Grand National Roo kie of the Year. Congratulations on being named 1997 Ro o kie of the Year. What are your thoughts here? It is an honor for me to put my name in the reco rd books w ith guy s like Jay Springs tee n and Scott Parker. It wou ld b e nice if lh e y s t ill p a id the b onus money, though. Let's go back to the b eg in n ing of the se as o n. What were yo ur goals and aspirations? What goals did you re ach, an d on which goals d id you com e up short? At the beginning of the season, before Daytona, I was very excited: I wanted to win the 883 championship as well as .win Rookie of the Year . Unfortunately, (Left) Murphree (35Z) turned a lot of heads with his stunning performance at the Springfield Mileon Labor Day weekend , as he scored a direct transfer Into the first main event of the doubleheader. (Below) A wild start: Murphree (35Z) drew a fair share of criticism as a wild rider in his first year as an Expert. Though he st ili exhibits an exc iting style , he continues to work hard on "calming down at the races" so that he can be there at the finis h. we ha d equipment problems with the 883 mo st of the year. Your qualifying directly into the main at the first race of the year at Daytona must have been a great wa y to start the season. How did this affect yo ur attitude? Like I said , afte r Dayto na, I was very h appy w ith o u r w hole p rog ram . I tr ained a lot and cou ld n't wait to gel back to ra cin g. Every week w he n I go t Cycle News, I would go directly to th e Natio nal poin t stand ings so I could see my name in the top 10. I w as pumped . As the season went full tilt with the half m iles in the Midwest, you p laced h igh in the 883 program but w ere a few teeth off in the transfers to the Grand National program. D id you get di scouraged? Most of the yea r, w e ran our backup engine in the 750, and it was n' t nearly as fas t as our primary en gine. We stru ggled with that, as w ell as learnin g th e new bi ke o n the new tr acks . I started over-riding the bike and felt like I was going backwards. I learned just how mentally strong you have to be. Speaking o f the 883 p rogr a m , le t' s focus on yo u r vi ctory at La Sa ll e an d how it affected your National program. It seemed like I would never win my first 883 National. It took me a long time to get back th e momentum tha t I had going at the end o f th e season. Then, when I finally felt fast enough to win, I would jump the start or something stu pi d like that. When I won LaSalle, it was