Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

American Express BYKENNY ROB'ERTS JR, Ow tha t the su mmer break's almost ove r, I' m read y to get back on my m ot orcycle and keep the momentum going from Germany . What a lot of p eople have asked me about here at home in Mo desto is why it took so long to w in my third race after I'd won the first tw o at the start of the vear. Part of it is th e tracks, a nd part o(it is th e bike, and part of it is me. The track in Mal aysia is a very downhill-uphill , off-ca mber-ca m bered race tr ack, very p recise, very technical; it allows for no m istakes. And we di dn't make m an y m ist akes durin g th e race. Th e reason for tha t was that we' had the righ t com bina tio n because w e' d test ed the re a cou p le of tim es before th e se ason, w hich mea nt we we re rea dy for th e, race. A n d , of course, I thi n k th e wet .w eather in Ja pan help ed . I' m not su re how we would have been in the d ry. It's one of those race tracks where yo u have to ge t a good s ta rt. The team pro ved that in both cond itions w e were compe titive. But there were still things on the bike th at Warren (W illing) a n d I weren' t happy with and th at Suzu ki was working on and still is. A ny how, af ter Japan, all is we ll. Suzuki's comeback is on its w ay . We go to Jerez, qu alify on the front row w ithou t too much of a hassle and ge t a bad start, a nd (No bua tsu) Ao ki go t in the ba ck of m e. But the lap tim es we re good co m ing thro u gh the p ack . T hen we d ro pped a plug and fell back to 13th . A n d th at was the race whe re M ic k cras hed . I was happy after that race beca use I proved th at we were in Euro pe an d I ran up front and had a sho t to win and didn' t give up. But everything changed with Mick' s crash . All winter , I'd prepared to beat one g uy - Mick Do oh an . M y m ental a n d physical training, my testing, ev ery thing re volved a ro u nd beatin g Mi ck . Then, when h e cra shed, I had to ch ange m y thinking entirely . I had to think ab out N beating someone else - Alex Criville. It was a whole other way of thinking that I wasn't read v' for. On top ~f that, the pace of development in SOOcc Grand Prix raci ng is the highest in th e world. So o nce we got back to Europe, eve ryo ne had stepped it u p a bit. O ne of th e p roblems I faced early on is th at I wo n tw o GPs and no one expected me to d o it. The bike 'w as pe rfect. When we go t to Europe, I realized that if you don't get your mo torcycle 100 percent right, there's three of four guys on Hondas that wi ll leave you beh ind . The next race in Fra nce, basica lly, I was ou t for bl ood and I w an ted to ge t . back to wi n ning .the races a nd get th e ch ampionship lead b a ck . I was o n ly down by a couple there. I shou ld've settled for second. I learn ed a big lesso n. I had a lot of warnings that race an d I p ushed th e fro nt th at la p comi ng onto th e ba ck straigh t, going in to o ne and two, enough to fall d own. I was on top of it and I had a lot of feel with th e bike . I just didn't have th e necessar y grip . I was abl e to pick it up there and accelerat e ou t of th e corner. I was ru nnin g in very cautious mod e as far as ex pecting so me thing to happen pushing the front. I had my gua rd up q uite a bit. Whe n I p ush ed the fr ont in th e la st co rner, maybe I reacted too qu ickly and I saved th e fro n t too much and the rear came arou nd and high -sided us off. Th e biggest problem we 're having is th at th ere' s a little bit of a lag in th e powerba nd . You o pe n the th rottle and the po werband lags w hen you 're trying to spin th e ba ck w hee l, so th e fro nt tends to oversteer.a littl e. It's something Suz uki's w orking on and w e have so me new p a rt s to test right af ter th e GP at Cze cho . We know w e're d own on power . But Su zuki ' s v ery happy b e cau s e t hey kn ow what w e need to w ork o n, and we have a so lid base. We made a bo u t half th e steps we need to in the sus pension for Germa ny. It w as one of th e first ra ce s s i nce M ala ys ia th at th e bik e stayed ba lanced the w ho le race. I could p ush the front eq ually as ha rd -as I cou ld push the re ar. And w he n yo u have that, yo u ride with a certain flow and rh ythm. You d on't have to adjust a lot because of the bi ke doi ng somethi ng . The p roblem is th at we've done half t he work tha t we need to o n th e suspe ns ion; no w the hard part is to get th e ot he r hal f. We we nt to Showa with a totally di fferen t se t of probl em s tha n they'd ever seen. We have tot ally different forces than the o ther bikes and we just need to improve th e way th at th e sus pens io n works, basicall y th e d ive ra tes and the way the bik e rides in th e comers. Right now , if I hit the brakes too hard or if I let up a littl e bit and am not as aggressive as the lap before, or if I'm too aggressive, it shows o n th e data and it overloa ds the fro nt or it overlo ads the rea r. Th is bike yo u have to be very, very precise wit h. In m y opi nio n, nobod y else cou ld ha ve d on e wh at Warren and Suzuki hav e done this yea r. We came in an d we've tried to kee p our heads together. We s taye d w i t h a pa ck a g e and we haven't det oured fro m that. Suzuki has d on e a n inc red ib le job; if yo u think abou t it. You ' re talking ab out a company tha t didn't hav e th e right combi natio n for four years, five years, w ha tever it was, and they got bad ad vice fwm th e rid er s th ey d id have and go t tot all y lost. Her e's an exa mple: It makes a h uge d ifference w here the weigh t of our bodies are. You put a Smm or lOmm pad on the gas tank and Warren Willing can see it on th e d ata . It' s that big of a cha nge. Nobu (Aoki) has -his se at 30m m fart he r back than I d o, and Warren sees that, and Nobu has problems w it h s tee ri ng because of that. And that w as the problem of do ing so well in th e two races : W e hid th e probl e m s that we were h aving . G erm an y - t ha t's a p erfect exa m p le. We went to a track that we sai d, "Look, we don't hav e what we need to d o the job, but this track should hide soine of our prob lems." We go t pole on Friday, I jus t concentra ted on race setup mostly Sat- · u rday, and we won the race on Su nday. Fro m the ou tside, it looks like we know wha t we're doing. The problem is th at we s till need to kee p worki ng on the p ro b lems we ' re im proving . Th e problem is th at we nee d t6 be-able to do Germa ny at Czecho, We nee d to be able to do it at Hockenhe im and Barcelona. We need to have no deficits. Right n o w th e Su z u ki h a s some advantages on the other bikes. But we d on ' t have enough advantages to mak e u p for our disadvantages. We're just trying to equa l out our advantages and d isad vantages . The n we ' ll be ab le to make a consistent run on the other guys. And I thi nk without Mick tha t's ve ry possib le . Everybody says th at th e H ond a d oes th is o r d oes th at, but Mick's st ill the guy who ca n ride it the fas tes t and the ha rdest and can develop the bike as w ell. We' ve go t Warren a nd we've go t a g rea t tea m structu re th at Ga rry Ta ylor put together . We need to improve acceleratio n and im prove sus pe nsio n, which is ma in ly fron t s uspension, a nd then impro ve the weight, because we're s till heavy by a good cou ple kilos. The way I feel abo ut th e mo to rcycle and th e way I reel about improvem ents th at have to b e m ad e, I fee l the sa me w ay abo u t m yself and th e w ay I ride. N obod y e ve r asks m e : What d o yo u think yo u ca n d o? Wha t do you think yo u ' re going to -ride like th is year o r wha t do yo u think yo u're goi ng to ride . like next yea r? I'm not w here I need to be. I'm no t a Mick Dooh an ye t, or w hat a Wayne Rainey w as w hen m y da d left, or an Ed d ie (Lawson). I need, and think I ca n s till make, bi g improvements in my rid ing. Cycle News welcomes Kenny Roberts Jr. to its fa mily of contributors. One of just two Americans in 500cc Grand Prix racing, Roberts will keep us updated throughout the rest of the season on his exploits. This is the CN first of those columns... Editor. Looking Back 3D YEARS AGO,.. September 2, 1969 im Rice (BSA) h is p il ot ed Ro ck et III t ri pl e - c y li nd er ed dirt t racke r to its fir st Nationa l w in at the IS-mile Na tio nal in Seda lia, Missouri. Tr iumph-m ount ed br ot h er s Ch uc k Pa lm g ren and Larry Pa lm gren ran in second a nd third p la ce, r espe ct ivel y .. . Som e 689 riders invaded th e Salina s Rod e o Fa irg round s in Sa lina s , Cali fornia , as the Sali nas Elks and the Salinas Ramblers teamed tip to put on the World' s Larg est Spo rtsman Scrambles for chari ty . Th e competition w a s fierce . In th e 2S0 cc Expert class, H arry Dring (Ya m) was th e w inner, w hil e K enny Robe rt s ( Bu l) w a s 10th!... The Lo st Angel s M.e. wa s putting o n TT scr a m bles a t th e Tij ua na Au tod romo, and Frank Close was the man doing the winning in . the O pen class ... Bullaco ran an int er estin g ad for its P urs an g l in e of mo toc ross m a chin es . " Th e Pursa ng 'h as th e m ost co m fortab le seat in the world," the ad rea d , "beca u se more winners sit her e than anywhere else!" J 20 YEARS AGO... . AUGUST 29, 1979 T he Latest Poop in f orm e d reade rs of th e wa ter s k ii ng acci dent th at ended the 1979 m otocro ss sea- : son fo r Bob Hannah . It see ms th at H annah was hanging ou t with pal Ma rty Tr ipes, skiing o n th e Co lo ra do Riv er n e ar Blyth e , Cali fornia , w hen h e hit so me thi ng in th e wa te r a nd was la u n ch e d onto th e sh ore, s u ffe ri ng th ree compound fractures in th e tibia and fibu la bo nes of his left leg . There was no perman ent damage ... Ma rk Barnett (Su z) w ent 4-1 to win th e battle at the Metrolina Speedwa y Park, N orth Carolina, round of the AMA l2Scc National C ha m pions hi p MX Series , bu t Br oc Glove r wen t S-3 to w in th e war, cl inc h ing h is th ird consecutive AMA 12Scc National MX title . In th e SOOcc National ra nks, Danny LaPorte (Su z) an d Mike Bell (Yam) were still going at it for the cro wn . Bell took the wi n at Me trolina, wi th LaPorte finis hing se cond overall... Mike Kidd (H -D ) w on the Topeka, Kan sas, Half Mile. . 10 YEARS AGO... AUGUST 23, 1989 h r i s Carr (H- D) led every lap of th e P eoria TT to ' cl a im his six t h w in t here as a n Ex pe r t, a n d hi s first Grand National wi n of th e ye ar. Sco tt Parker (H -D ) wa s s eco n d, and R o nn i e Jones ( Hon) was third .. . J ohn Ko ci n s k i (Ya m) clin ch ed hi s thi rd con s e cut i v e AMA 2S0 cc GP champi o ns hip b y wi nning round se ven of the series at Sea rs Po in t lnter- : national Raceway in Son oma, California . In 7S0cc Supersport action, Scott Ru ssell (Suz) outran Doug Chandler (K aw) and Jamie James (Suz) for the class win... Ke vin S chwantz (Suz) w on th e British SOOcc Grand Pri x, and Sito Pons won the 2S0cc Grand Prix and also clinched th e World 2S0cc Road Racing title... Kawasaki went th e radical route with it s 1990 KX motocross lineup, in tro d ucing works-bred perimeter frames to consumers ... Suzuki and Yamaha also in tro d u ced their '90 MX models, prefe rring revisio n over revolu tio n. CN C I ~ !!Ii IIiii III U :iii Q ... en en en Cl :::> c:( 79

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