Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

that they made the courses a little easier and decreased the amount of time for the event made it better for the masses. And another thing is, the races can now go off without a hitch. If you have really technical terrain, and you have 600 riders, there's going to be a lot of places on the course that just become big bottlenecks. The tracks would have just become a big parking lot. Is it difficult to make those decisions and stay sharp, mentally, for three hours? Yeah. It's pretty intense. I often describe it like sitting down in a chair, and working on a math problem, and not looking up from the paper for three hours. You just cannot afford to look up from the paper. If you're to look away or lose your concentration, then you're going to fall down and hurt yourself. It's really intense. With the changes, have the pro riders had to change their style? Yes. The events now cater a little more toward a European riding style. And when I say European, I mean the guys who compete for an FIM World Enduro Title, or at the ISDE. Those guys are really good at carrying speed through flat corners. The style I developed involved keeping the bike very upright and steering with the rear wheel. That worked great because in the tight trees, you can't lean the bike over. Now the courses are a little more open, which lets some of the guys with a European style, like Shane Watts and Paul Edmondson, do well. A A Your il\iury hit just as you were making the transition from your familiar, air-cooled XR600 to the new XR650R. How was the development of that new bike coming along? well, with the 600, I would swing a leg over that bike and just feel comfortable. It was almost like the engineers over in Japan built that bike for me. But there were some drawbacks to that bike. Its power-to-weight ratio was off from the other bikes, and some of the components weren't strong enough for what we were doing, which was much more than most riders were doing. With the XR650, we didn't have any of those problems. It has a lot more power, a super-strong frame, and a lot more CR-type components. It's unfortunate because that bike had a lot of potential, but I was never able to show everyone what it was capable of. Q A So even if my leg IIf8f8 .DO percent today, if IIIIOfIId take yealS fo get back fo rIIIIIere I was. that race at Loretta Lynn's [where Watts dropped outJ is really hot and really humid. And for anyone who hasn't raced there, it gets really whooped out. It's probably one of the more physical races that we have all year long. I think he just got tired, and that affected his mood. It's a big downer to be leading a race and get tired, and he probably would have won had he done his homework. It was just something he had to deal with, so he got in shape and started winning races again. YOU won your last title in 1997, and Rodney Smith has won three titles since then. What do you think of him? Rodney is one of the smartest guys out there. He races for championships, and he makes good decisions. J have a whole lot of respect for him. He's also a guy who's not going to take you out, or cut the track. I think that his personality and his great decision-making have helped him have a great career in so many different types of racing. Q A Q smith, Watts, and Fred Andrews are the main riders expected to contend for this year's title. They've all been there before. Who are some of the new riders to watch for in this series? well, I think Jason Raines has shown a lot of desire. The fact that he moved away from his home in Washington and now rents a place in Pennsylvania shows that he's committed to doing well. It takes a huge commitment. Getting to the top in motorcycle racing really requires a kind of abnormal mentality, where you forgo a lot of activities that are a lot of fun, just for the sole purpose of succeeding. A Shane Watts also came into the series just as your injuries began, but you did get to race him a few times. What do you think of him? well, I've always been impressed with Shane. I went over and did the ISDE a long time ago, and Shane won that event overall. Anyone who does that has some serious skill. I think there are things on a dirt bike that he could do that I couldn't do. But at the same time, maybe there were a few things I could do that he couldn't. We did get the chance to race a couple times before I got hurt, and there was some great racing going on. The last race I competed in before breaking my leg, I won. It was the Big Buck in South Carolina, and a race developed between Shane and [meJ. I won that day, but that race was on my kind of terrain. I'm sure there were some races where he would have been much better, and I would have had to put a lot of pressure on myself to improve in those races. When you can carry speed through corners like he can, the speed difference is absolutely phenomenal. It's not about horsepower, and that's something I've argued for years. When you carry 25-percent more speed through a corner than everyone else, you're going to do well. The corners are where it's at. Q A There are a lot of young riders coming up, but experience still seems to be a big factor in this series. Smith and Andrews finished first and second in the series last year, and they've also been out there the longest. How much of a factor, then, does experience have in becoming a successful GNCC racer? Doing well in a GNCC is all about making the right decisions. It's a lot like life. Some people make good ones and some people make bad ones. In the GNCC, a guy with a lot of experience has a lot to draw from. A guy like Jason Raines has a lot of skill, but when he gets into a situation when there are 25 ruts, a log and a knee-deep waterhole, he needs to have experience to draw from to make that one call. It would be really interesting to see how many decisions have to be made in a three-hour GNCC. I think it would be phenomenal. And I don't even mean decisions where you get to think about it, but decisions that have to be made very quickly, and that one decision determines your finish, or even your health. Any idea what happened to Shane in '01? Well, I think it was just his training. I don't think he was in the shape he needed to be in, and !\\S1f £$ iliUM t:4G #4. W,roIWOW; )g: You were always known as one of the more media-savvy racers. What led you to be that way, and what do you think of the current riders' approach the PR aspects of the sport? Well, I think the guys have learned a lot. I was very fortunate early on to be surrounded by people who were very savvy - people like my dad and Fred Bramblett, who really understood the big picture. Fred was kind of a mentor to me, helping me understand how racing is a business. He did things with our program to keep everyone's best interests in mind. We wanted to do things to help our sponsors sell product, and the only way to do that was to work with Racer Productions to make the series bigger. So we did some things that helped the series, but were also self-serving. Things like going to the local TV stations and helping the journalists do a piece on the event. That helped the series, and it helped me with my sponsors. So I think it's really cool to see where the GNCCs are now. It's a great show! , one of the biggest steps for the series was the new TV deal that began last year and will continue in 2002. Unfortunately, you were injured last year. Do you wish you could have been a part of the TV program? Yeah, I think it would have been cool. I thought years ago that the guys racing supercross were on TV, and the GNCC racers were just as skilled with what they do, so why weren't they on TV? So I was really glad to see it. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't be a part of it, but I was really happy for the guys that were there. Q A What's the level of respect you've gotten from racers in other disciplines for what you've accomplished in your career? Well, those guys have always treated me really well. You know, we've seen a lot of motocross guys come over and have a go at GNCC racing, and those guys have gone back and talked to their peers. So I think that those guys in general have respect for what we do, just as we have respect for what they do. I absolutely love going to supercross races; I think those guys are phenomenal. I think that if Ricky Carmichael or Mike LaRocco came to a GNCC, they would have the same respect for us. A WhO are Q your finalsome of the people that helped you in season? f, Honda and the Honda Riders' Club of America, Wiseco, Twin Air, White Brothers, Pirelli, Oakley, Tsubaki, UFO, Alpinestars, Arai, Answer, Silkolene, and SRC. I'd also like to back up to the beginning and say thanks to my family; they made sacrifices from the time I was really young, and these created many opportunities for me. Fred Bramblett has been like my older brother in that we have had such great fun, but he's also like my dad in that he has given me so much great advice. I learned that it's just never wise to question him and that if I just take his advice, everything will work out. I'd like to thank the many people who have helped me; I'd also really like to thank Honda and all of my other sponsors throughout the years who provided support that always exceeded my expectations. Finally, I would like to thank Racer Productions and the Coombs family for the work they do. You see a lot of other promoters coming to their events to see how they operate, and I think that's a great compliment. Overall, I'm excited about the future of the sport and am happy about the role everyone has played in its past. Everything has worked out well.CN ~ cue I e n e _ S • FEBRUARY 27. 2002 29

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