Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW , '. • ~. , , :.>' ~"'.' • • By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams and Tom Riles strange as it ma y seem, th ere m a y co me a ti me wh en Ja s on Pridmore looks back at the 1998 AMA racing season and says, "Boy, was I lucky I got di s qu ali fi ed a ll th o s e times." Thanks to the fact that Pridmore was disqualifi ed tw ice - once after winning the 750cc Supersp ort final a t Da yt ona and a second tim e after finishing second at Mid -Ohi o - the future sudde nly loo ks a bit bri ghter for the 28-yea r:old Cali fornian. Say wha t? Simple, really: The second disqu alificati on at Mid-Oh io was th e last stra w . Pridmore threw up his hands and op ted ou t. His d ays of racing a Su zu ki GSX R750 fo r H yp er Cy cl e Su zu ki we re over. He told Suz u ki he wa s no lon ger inte res ted in being a par t of th e Ca rry An drew-owned H y perCycle team . As it turns ou t, neither was Suz uki. Th en Pridmore ta lked to Jim Leonard , the crew chief fo r Vance & Hin es Duca ti, and wit h Terry Vance, the team ow ne r who also has had a somewha t tumultuous 1998 racing season. With Anthony Gobert under suspension fro m the AMA for failing a drug tes t, Va nce had no lead rider. Enter Jason Pridmore - Mr. Unappreciated 750cc Su persport Champion. With Su zuki 's blessing. it was a ma tch made in heaven. Vance suddenlv had anot her rider to joi n T hom a s St evens o n the fac tory Duca tis, a replacement for Gobert until the suspension was complete . And Pridmore was finally going to get the opportu nity to fu lfill his dream of racing a factory su perbike. Drea ms don' t us ually come true, but this on e did . On a su nny d ay in Minnesota, everythi ng finally fell into place for Prid more. O n Saturday, he'd qual ified the red Vtwi n on the fro nt row. On Su nday, he w as ' lead in g th e AMA Su pe r bi ke N at iona l. We could exc use hi m if h e w anted to re a ch do w n und er hi s leathers and pinch himself. "I don' t really know how to explain it," Pridmore sai d . "I guess if it wo u ld ha ve been six years ago, I wo u ld ha ve been a lot mor e nervou s. I had such a ' great belief in my team and I'd already proven I could run the times - an d we kn ew what we cou ld run on race tires. I felt very con fiden t. Right before I went out for the wa rm u p la p , Jim Leonard said to me, 'Don' t be surpris ed if you' re leading.' I thought, 'Man, all thes e pe0ple have such confidence in me.' And I had it in mys elf. When I led into turn one, it wa s a big thrill; it was pretty cool. I led for six laps . The only thing that surpr ised m e was , I thought it was goin g to be a b ig draftin g war and it w oul d go back a n d for th e very lap down th e front stra igh taway . Wh en I led for three, fou r, five laps without getting passed, I tho ugh t, 'Where is every bod y?' I felt really comfortable up front. N" problem - it was great." , Pridmore eve ntu ally got passed, bu t eve n that wasn't a big d eal. He was still right there and looked like a shoo- in for a pod ium finish . Then came the hiccup : an off -track excursion in tu rn five - a problem, but not enoug h to wa ke him ' fro m his d rea m . By the en d of the race he was fourth - his first time ou t on the bike. It was impressive. "The spee d and get ting us ed to how the bikes work on slicks - that's the big di fference to me between the Ducati and what I've been racing," Pridmore explained . "The funn y thing was, it S wasn' t the speed that really go t me, it was accelerating off the slower corn ers. T ha t was w here I felt r ne ed ed to improve. And also with th e br ak es - I nevereven once util ized the full capa city of th ose fro n t brakes on th e bike. I look back on i t now , and I know I didn't. I rode that bike so well, but r wa s so within my limits with the exception of the time I ran off the track - and that was just a little lack of concen tra tion . All wee kend lo ng, I did n 't pu t a w heel wrong on that bik e. N ot once. I di dn't hav e any moments, I didn't hav e any scares, until I ran off the track. Up until that point, it was a perfect w eek end. I made one mistake, and I won't make it again." Fourth place, a nd an opportunity to try aga in . His next chance was supposed to come at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois. But that race was cance led . Dream over? N ot reall y. Gobe rt was under a thr eerace sus pensio n. A canceled race didn 't cou nt tow ard that sus pens ion, so Pridmore gets to have a no the r go a t Pikes Peak International Rac eway over the

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