Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

- -- - don 't know abou t Stepha ne Peter hansel, but Pro Grip is a spo nsor of Peterhansel, and th e y' re working on gett ing him over here for a cou ple of races; ma yb e we can tie some thi ng in wi th Stephane. Q A S far a s riders are concerned, how many and wh ich riders would you cons id er for th ese training camps ? Wha t we want to do is select and invite probably 10 or so riders and no t name the Trophy teams specifically until after the Loretta Lynn 's finale. But the Trophy team will be selected from these ]0 or so guys. We'll have thes e ]0 guys competing for six spo ts. We wa nt to invite peop le like Fred And rews, pe0ple wh o feel like, "I'd like to d o it, but no one really mad e the effort to come afte r me." So this year, he'll be invited. We'll see wh o e lse m ight be in teres ted a nd what o ther new riders we ca n a tt rac t. Maybe I'll ca ll Guy Coo pe r. I think we need som e of these rea llv fast MXers to ra ise th e le vel o f co m pe titio n . Th e se mot o guys can reall y he lp u s, becau se they've been professional rid ers. Look at Rodney (Smi th). The first Six Days he rode in Australia (in ] 992) on the Cycle Ge ar Suz u ki, he almost won overal l. His first Six Days ever and he was just outstand ing . That was beca use he was hot off the MX circuit. Back in Europe, look a t Joel Smets. I've been told he rides a few enduros in Europe, but he 's basica lly a motocrosser. H e comes over to the Six Days (this year), says it 's th e toughest th ing he' s ever td one, but because he rides GPs - where they have to qu alify for thei r sta rt positions - he's used to goi ng one lap really, really fast. Rodney was the same way. It was easy for him; it was na tu ra l. But first and foremost, Rodney loves to ride motorcycles. I'd like to talk to Tallon Vohland; he would be a good candidate for us . I want to get a group of 10 or so of these people, not all MXers, of course, bu t we could train, practice, take lap times, do line-selection d ri lls . I th in k tra ini ng cam ps will bring us up close eno ugh to where our talent wi ll get us there. A There ha s been a lot of talk about changing our curren t National En uro format into FIM- formatted events. Do you think th is is the way to go? I think it is if to win Six Days is our goal. I think we ha ve to transform the Na tiona l End uro Series into qua lifier format, and I think there is a wh ole host of benefits to do ing so. Any rid er can show up an d ride it. You don't need timekeeping eq uipmen t, and if yo u make gas stops 20 to 30 miles, you don't need a big tank. We' ll ma ke it th at you don't need the lig h ts , horns and mi rrors. Eve ryo ne al ready knows you need all that for Six Days . An MXer can just show up, g e t on a row with A - - - - - - -- - - -- - - -- - - - --- th eir buddies, and you can tr ail-rid e, yo u ca n jump off s tuff, yo u ca n ro ost yo ur fr ie nds - as lo ng as you keep a decen t pace going and ge t to the chec k by your sched u le - th en yo u sit a t the check, get a d rink, eat a Powerba r a nd have fun. I wo u ld always look forward to the qualifiers . I would always hook up with on e or ano ther rider, and it's basicall y a real fun trail ride, and then, when you get to the special test, it's time for busin ess. You ride th e special test, yo u wait for your buddy on the other side of the test, he comes out, and you ride the next section of trail. Qu alifier format is very easy to learn and will attract more riders than traditional enduros. It'll attract the cross coun try rid er, the casual trail rid er who d oesn 't know any thing abou t time keeping, an d you will attract the mota guy. But what abou t the clubs? Isn't it ha rder 'for them to put on a qualifier-type enduro? . L.1 I think it's eas ier for the club s to put .i loon. The mileage d oesn 't have to be exac t. Yea h , you h ave to drive s ome sta kes into th e g ro u nd and run so me ribbon in a field, but you ca n us e the same grass track and ride it six or eight times , whic h wo uld be .good practice for our riders. You can have one terrain test. You d on ' t ha ve to have a big two-day race where you have 200 miles of trails each day. The club s don't have to go to that much effort to put on a good-quality qualifier. But what about the timing equ ipment needed to run FIM -formatted en duros? There are people who will come out and time it for a fee. The AMA has the connections on who th at will be . I think the Tulsa people will still do tim ing . I'm no t sure of the cos t, but I know it's reasonable. They'll come and time it so the club doesn't ha ve to do an ything. I thi nk promoting an event like this is eas ier. Q A s o why haven't the manufacturers in the United States been mo re supp ortive of our Six Da ys effort? I fail to see why they' re not more excited about six Days. The co mmon respon se I ge t fro m the facto ries is, " It's no t in A merica, and we sponsor American racing." Yeah, it migh t not be in America, bu t it is fo llowed in th e American press, and it's followed bigger and better tha n any other si ngle eve n t th ere is . H o w m an y books a re ma de from the eve nt? A lot. There's that guy ov er the re selling books, an d yo u ca n thumb throug h it and see Rod ney Smit h and Ty Davis everywhere - color photos in a boo k distr ibuted worldwide. Publicatio ns, magazines worldwide cover the event. In America, the Gran dNational Cross Cou ntry is the biggest off-road series. It's Q A (Above) This yea r's Pro Grip U.S. World Trophy Team: (left to right) Rodney Smith, Destry Abbott, Chris Smith, Ty Davis, Randy Hawkins and Scott Summers. (Below) Bertram gives U.S. J unior World Trophy rider Mike Lafferty a little advice on line selection. a great series. All of the ma nu facturers are going head to head at it. If you compare the cos t to go to Six Days to'what I know what the factorie s are spe ndi ng on going to, GNCC - an d I'm n ot sayi ng "Don' t go to GNCC"; you have to, that's y ou r nu mber -o ne se r ies - but n o w they 're doing 13 races in the GNCC. All th e o the r ser ies seems to be no tched d own quite a bit , and many of the factories aren't even competing in them. To add one more race like the Six Days - I ju st thi nk the promotio nal va lue is tremendous. In Italy last year, it was estimated tha t] million spectators attended throughout the course of the wee k. Guys like Rodney, Ty, Scott Summers and Randv Hawkins know th e promotional value of Six Days. Say Moose, for example: Moose realizes that when Rodney an d Ty are there, there're goin g to be probably hu ndreds of ph otos worldwide taken of them fro m that one event. Eve n though Rodney isn't making a lot of money to go ther e - if any - he knows that promotionally it's worth value to his sponsors that sig n his pay check. Plus, with the AMA and the Ride To Wi n sup port mech anism in p lace, it 's very cost effective to send a rider over . It wouldn't cos t the ma nufa ctu rers a lot of money . Fo r th e cos t of a co u p!e of Na tional races, yo u could do a rea l good job sen ding a top rid er over there. What would you have done perso na lly ha d ou r Trophy riders s ai a t the meeting that the y w e re through? if the riders said, "Hey , I' m not sure I w ant to go next yea r, " and the AMA said , "Yeah, I don' t think we need A to improve the qua lifiers," and that had been the ton e of the mee ting, I would've been through . Cycle Gear wou ld continue to house the containers - I would continue to load 'it, because I made that commitment - but I'd just shut the doors and sen d it on its way. You wouldn't see me at the Six Days. Bu t, hey , they would do just fine wi thout me. I mean, the AMA, Gunny, they 'd d o a great job, but if the tone of the w hole Six Days is like, "Hey, let's go on vacation and ride this race," I'm no t in teres ted in bein g involved . It's either an A effort or no thing. If you look at our riders, they're all champio ns, go ld medallists, local champ ions , fac tory rid ers, pro fess ion al s; they're no t going to wa n t to go over ther e and pu t in a half-ass effort. I thin k we have the ability to win; we just have to stav focused and st rive for better resu lts. So, why do you do this? Wh y do you put so much of your own time an .effort into the U.S. Six Da ys effort year after year? It can't be easy. Primarily to give back to the spo rt. . So many yea rs that I've ridden Six Days an d na tion ally, I just felt like a lot of people did a lot of things for me, an d so man y rid ers just so rt of qu it and drop off the ma p. When they're do ne taking, they go off and do so mething else. I jus t wan t to continue to be involved in racing and help bu ild the sport. I' m in the busi ness, bu t that's not w hy I do it. I really feel that off-road racing is a grea t sport, and the Six Days is the pin nacle of it: It's th e u ltima te off-ro ad ra ce, the Olym p ics of mot orcyclin g, an d to me it's the biggest single eve nt there is, and we need help there. I~ A 45

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