Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

would a lso be traveling a lot , an d a lot of the East guys are ju s t pl ain rea lly good. But Suzu ki hooked me up with Mark Hyde - he's a ational Cha mpion himself - and he helped me out a lot." Go in g into th e 1998 GNCC Series, Smith's strategy was to keep things fun and to not put too much pressure on hi mself. "The key wa s making it fu n ," says Smith. "My main goal this yea r was to go out th ere to ea ch race and, rather than put p ressu re on me to win, I just told m y fia ncee (Lori Hamilton ), 'You know what? I'll be happy if I come away with a podi u m toda y: because if I'm riding tha t good, a wi n will come . I just went to the races tryi ng to get at least a thi rd p lace, and a first place just fell into place. But I never we nt there expec ting, 'I've go t to wi n .' If I d id , the n I was p utlin g too much p ressu re on m yself, an d then it beco mes a job. That way, if I go t third or seco nd, I wouldn' t be disappointed ." The opening GNCC round in O keecho bee, Florid a, was o ne of th ose few races that Smit h di dn't .w in . In fact, he fin ish ed th ird b ehind w inn er Fre d A n drews, and Ty Da v is, wh o Sm it h kn e w was o nly go ing to rid e a few G CC ra ce s, so h e wasn 't w orri ed about h im . Unfort u na te ly for Smith, t h ou g h , Andrews w as sc hed u le d to remain for the duration . "Fro m th e ge t-go th is yea r," Smith sa ys, "Fred Andrews wa s probably the one I was wo rried about the most. Fredd y was rid ing rea l good, and right out of the firs t race, he won. The next race Summers won ; th en I won . M e a n d Fred dy w ere on th e podium together the first thr ee or four races, and then he got hurt. ( thi nk Fred dy would've been tough a ll the w ay th rough if he hadn' t got hurt. "I h ad so me problems ri ght at th e start," Smith rem em ber s. "The first thr ee rounds, we had wa ter in th e gas - we actually found out we had wa ter in the gas con tain er at Hyde's hou se. I thi nk it go t moi stu re in the co nta ine r ove r th e winte r - the bike wo u ld just quit. On ce we fig u re d th at out , we go t th e bike dialed ." Smith we nt on to wi n seven GNCC races. " It seemed like J kind of went into this year pacing myself:' says Smith of his on -tra ck strategies. "Then 1 rode the last part of th e ra ces pretty hard . So many th in gs can happen. I look ed a t every race differ ently. Wh en it's goi ng to be real dusty, I wa nted to ge t in front right away and pull away, wh ile, when it's loa my, (wi th) good traction and no d ust, I don' t worry about ge tling such good starts." In th e m idd le of the GNCC Series, Smith changed gears and co m peted in th e final ational Re liab ili tv Enduro Series round at Loretta Lvnn 's. Earlier in the yea r, Smith had verbally com mitted to be a mem ber of the U.S. Trophy team for the yea r-end Intern a tional Six Days Enduro in Aus tralia. To fulfill his ag reemen t, he said he wou ld rid e the Loretta Lynn 's Q ua lifier. Not only did he rid e it, he wo n it, and with it came the Na tional title. "I felt good at Loretta's:' says Smith. "I' ll be ho nest: I d idn 't really go ther e to win the overall; I went there to win the 125cc class and to ge t expe rience on the bike, since I' d be riding the 125cc class in Aust ralia . I d idn 't eve n know if it was possibl e to wi n th e thing overall on a 125. 1 had never reallv ridd en a 125 befo re. We actu ally bon:owed one from Bromely Suzuki - a box-stock Suzuki." The new Reliability champ went on to wi n the G CC title, but he still had one im po rtan t race left on his calendar: the Au stralian Six Days. Since competing in the Six Days isn't in his contract with Suzuki, Smith pretty mu ch pa id all his expenses to rid e the Six Days out of his own poc ket, w hich goes a lon g way in showing you just how mu ch the ISDE means to him. With t h e team ' s be s t in te rests in mind , Smit h ag reed to challenge the 12Sec class in Austra lia and went the re with the intenti ons of winning the class and perhaps coming away wi th America's firs t ISD E vict ory in the Trophy team com pe titio n. Suffice it to say tha t these things did not happen , and Smit h was n' t exac tly happy abo ut it. In Austra lia, th in gs s tarte d falling a pa rt fo r Sm it h a n d th e te am right away. O n day one, Smit h was stricken wi th mecha nical prob lem s. "I think it was a little bit my fault ," Smith admits. "1 sho uld've been a little bit mo re prepa red . 1 had so me problems w it h th e p is ton a t firs t, a nd th e bi ke never really qu ite ran good from there. We cha nge d the pis ton four times during th e week; we d id tha t over tires, wh ich di dn't help my test scores.an y." Through it all, Sm ith kept his RJ\1125 pinned and arrived at the day-si x final MX test in a position to take Top American honors, but a lap into his rnoto, his bike breathed its last gasp . '1 wa s disappointed all week:' Smit h admits. "I mean, 1 was jus t a littl e .bit off th e pace, th e b ike was n 't qu it e fast (because of the mech ani cal problems) - I went to Australia no t caring about Top Ame rican; I wen t ther e to win the class, at the very least. 1 figu red , rid ing a 125, I didn't care if I d idn 't get Top American, (bu t) I realized after day five, I was Top Am eri can . 1 had a p retty big lead - by abou t a minute - an d I went in to th e fina l mota and was making a move for se cond pl a ce when it lo ck ed up . I tho ugh t it was the top end, but it turned out to be the lower en d , with all the di rt a nd stuff d roppin g in to it d u ring the week. It was d efinitely a bad ending to a prett y bad wee k. I was n't really ha p py." Wh en asked if he pl an s o n rid in g next year' s ISDE in Portugal , Smith said after a short pause, "You know , I rea lly don't know a t this moment. I wan t to do it, but it d epend s o n a lo t of things. I know I do n' t want to go if w e're not serious about winning. We need speed if we're going to win, In our qu alifier s, we' re picking the riders who are good at tha t, but we need mo re motocro ss typ es, like Fred Andrews an d Tallon Vohland . 1 almos t hate to sav it, but we (Tv Davis and Smith) need to be the slo w guys on the team ; then we'll be right there. Our qualifiers d on 't help u s or prepare us for the ix Da ys. We need to get together and practice. We need to look at where the Six Days are being held , too. Places li ke Sweden, we prob ably shou ld rely on our off-roa d guys, but in Austra lia, we kn ew w e n eeded fast, motocrosstype guys. The re are a lot o f d iffer en t scenarios for the future, and I don ' t ha ve any real answers ." Off-road racing isn 't a profession tha t man y people consid er if they're hop ing t o make a t o n of m on e y w i th th eir ca ree rs, but Smith says he's getting by just fine . "The re's money to be made in offroad racing," Smith says . "There' s prob ably 10 of us wh o are ma king a living at it. I say I don 't do it for the mon ey, but 1 actua lly d o make prett y good mon ey. I n ever ex pecte d to mak e th e kind of mon ey I'm makin g. 1 think that's sho wing that the spo rt is go ing so mewhe re. Yeah, it's a good spo rt to ge t int o, an d it's growing. ~ think the competi tive ness is there - non e of the top racer s wan t other top riders coming in to their series, but that's what makes the series better, a nd that's what makes more money, that' s w hat makes the sponsors come in to it. I think I came into it at the right time. " My hat ' s o ff to Sc ott Summers, beca use I think he's what reall y brought off-road racing to what it is tod a y. I think w hen J was pret ty much the first motocrosser to come into it , it rea lly helped his job of promo ting it a nd making it bigger. And th en Ty ca me in . I think when me and Ty and other MXers ca me in to it is w hen it rea ll y sta rted stepp ing up. I think Su mmers respects u s for comi ng into it; it made h im ge t fas ter, an d we're all a big family now. Off-readers might not like to see it, but it is w hat's best for the spor t. 1 think Summers look s at it tha t way. I know w hen I came into it 'his goa l was to beat a mo tocrosser tha t was top thr ee in the World one lime . It just mad e him look be tte r, a nd we all just improved from there." As far as Smith's future pl an s a re concerned , he just wants to keep racing "...as long as it's fun " - whic h means as long as he's still wi nni ng. . "1 jus t finis hed up all my contracts for tw o years, " says Smith. "I want to co m pete as lon g as I'm there to win. 1 don' t wa nt to go out there a nd jus t ride around; that's why I' m not d oing three- (Above left) Smith took home a silver medal at this year's ISDE in Australia. (Above) Will he or won't he? Smith will be greatly missed if he decides not to compete in next year's ISDE in Portugal. or fou r-yea r deals. I kn ow I'm getting older. '1 enjoy ridi ng," Smith ad ds . "1 look back at gu ys like (Johnny) O'Mara, (JeW Sta n ton and (Mike) Kiedrow sk i. They d id n' t quit because th ey w eren't fast eno ug h; it' s because they didn't want to rid e anymore. They trained so hard and . rod e so mu ch, it became a job. 1 actu ally cu t back on my tra ining a litt le bit and started ha ving more fun. "To me, off-road racin g is fun. I go back and d o mot ocross now and 1 go, 'Man, ho w could 1 have done that ?' You wait around all day lon g, you pay 40 or 60 dollars a nd you rid e li k e two 10minu te motos. All m y buddies tha t do motocross, I say to them , 'Hey, come ou t and rid e a hare scra mbles.' You pay a $25 entry fee and then yo u rid e for three ho urs. You get way mo re ridi ng in. You can ri de wit h yo ur b ud d ies, li ke the qualifiers. If mo tocross ers knew mor e wha t qualifiers w ere abo u t, t hen we m ight sta rt getting some good riders from MXers. 1 love qua lifiers . I rem ember me, Randy (Hawkins), Steve (Hatch) and Scali Summers all ridin g on the same minu te in Oregon . We ha d five to 10 minutes at the checks, so the second time around, we knew we had plen ty of ti me; w e ' d stop an d c halle nge eac h other, climbing hills a nd stu ff. We had so much fu n rid ing together; then at the tests, we d o our business. 1 mean, wha t a great day of rid ing! "To me, off-read ing is a family spo rt, and it's what the heart of mo torcycli ng is all abou t - the backbone of everything. MXers, right down to the pee wee s, they wa nt something for free, and eve rybody is so co m peti tive that it's not fun. Off wa d ing, ho w ever, is o ne b ig farn ilv. Afte r the su m me r br eak thi s yea r, Lori and 1 could n' t wai t to go back cast and see every bod y agai n." We ll , th e "e a st g u ys " probably weren' t as happy to see Smith as Smit h wa s to see them - at least on the track but either wa y, they'll have to get used to hi m . Smith will agai n retu rn to the GNCC Series full lime nex t year, defend his title, and reitera te the fact that Californians do indeed know how to ride the trails. And fast , especially if you 're Rodney Smi th. l~

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