Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128312
HOW important is havi ng good timekeeping s k ills fo r win ning a title? Tim ekeeping is just - you got to know when to go ~ast and when to go slow. The majority of the time in enduros, the Na tio nals especially, you 're supposed to go in on your minute, and the fastest guy no rmally wins, and that's the way it shoul d be . [But] the re'r e a few times it hasn't happened th at way. Q A lt seems that a lo t of people are afraid to try e nd uros because of the t imekeeping t hing. I do n't t hink it's that difficult; everyone just needs to I""'give it a try. It's very important that everyone should try it at least on ce, because it rea lly isn't that difficult. Uke anything else, t here are a few things here and there that you have to learn, but anyone can do it. It's not that hard . I wish more guys would try it. It's a lot o f fun, and I enjoy it. Q A Q W he n was the last time you b u rned a check? A In a National? 01ery long pause.) I don't think I "",,,urned one last year; I don't think I did. Normally, there's always one [check] that everyone gets [burned] here and there, but I try to stay out of trouble with that, try not to fall into t hat scene. Burning a check by one minute gives you tw o extra points, and that's a lot o f time to make up, especially late in the day, so it's rea lly hard to do that. I'm not sure at all when I last burned a chec k, maybe so mething from the year before . Yo u know what , I've never tho ught of it. Now Robbie Je nks, he burns t hem all. (laughs) There's always a race that they have a sneaky something; he's the guy that burns t hem (laughs). T he las t few years, you've been a lso ridin g the GNCC ser ie s . Is the GNCC serie s importan t t o you? W he n it co m e s to t imekeeping , d o yo u gamble A Yup . Where enduros have been kind of second very oft e n ? JIo'nature for me, now I'm trying to do the GNCCs. YOU know, not a lot. Where there are certain times, It's like I have to learn how to ride all over again. 'f you gam ble to get ahead and take a chance, I'm Diffe re nt tracks and speeds and strategy never that guy. I mea n, if there's a spot and - you' re talkand everything else . I've got some ing abo ut a gamble [where] you can go in ea rly and yo u things figured out, bu t like everycan make up time at the e nd and actually get ahead - I'm thing else, it takes a little bit of neve r the guy to ta ke t hat chance. I've always been real time, es pecia lly doing both . Doing se ries back to back to cautious. I take my time, and I'm never that guy to gamback, when you have an ble . I th ink I may have tried tha t back home when it realenduro one weekend and then ly didn't matter, maybe when I was behind by a lot o f you have a GNCC and then points beca use I had some problems. I know that nine out you have an enduro, it's pretty of 10 times, it [gambling] never works. I always got burnt. hard to get things - not only I'd rather not. I'd rather come up straight. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _you body acclimated to ea one - but you have to get the Whe re do you usually like to r id e in your bike set up and get everything ready again. I want to win minute? both championships, but to do that, you have to be able Q Q A Q It depends on the place and the time. If you have the experience [at a certain enduro] and they run checks real ea rly or at the top all the time, I'll stay back, or if it 's a race here yo Uneed to reall pa ttention, I'll ride a little early, because they'll have [checks] a little further in, w hich means by the time you get to the check, I'll actually be in the midd le of my minute. I'll adapt to whatever race it is. Being here [Arizona] , I'll stick to the strategy of what they're used to doing , Next weekend [Coa linga] it's a little bit different. You change, maybe slide back in your minute a little more. So ha ving prev ious e x perie nce at e ach end ur o is a good t hi ng. Yes, becau se everyo ne does a race a little differently. T hat's the thing, especially races like GNCCs - they 're all the same : All the tracks are the same; all things are the same . When you go to an enduro, there are 10 of them, you have 10 different clubs putting them on, and I don't say you have to remember, but you kind of know from years previous what they're known for, and you can kind of remember that and adjust where to ride in you r minute. Q A HOW do yo u keep focused in a n end u ro? It ' s easy t o start w orrying a bo u t t h ing s, like bu rning a check, es pecially la t e in a ra ce when yo u're d o ing well. I'm more cautio us, so I try not to think about that a whole lot. Normally, I'm [either] catching up and I'm mad and I want to make up time , or, if I know I have a cush ion, I just kind of relax. I just know that , "O kay, there's one section left and just stay on two wheels and get to the end ." Q A to win enduro one weekend, GNCC the next, and an enduro the following weekend . You have to be able to do that and get set up for that , but it's pretty tough . Especially th ings like Bike Wee . I love Bike Week - I want to win Tuesday [Palatka], Thursday [Alligator Enduro] and Geo rgia [GNCC] on the way home [Sunday]. That's like the ultimate, that's three races in like five days. T he GNCCs are good, and I like them, and it's something where I'm venturing off into , and I'm having a good time doing them. Hopefully, I can do them for the next few years and try to pull off two championships. Yo u r speed in the GN CCs has inc reas ed d ra rnat icall y over t he ye ars. How do you eXp lain that ? I think it's com ing fro m practicing motocross. I ride a "",,ot o f motoc ross to get my speed up. T he faster, more open stu ff is what gets me in GNCCs, but in t he trees and in the woods, I'm fine; I feel con fident; I'm as fast as the to p guys. The speed wasn't as hard to get to , but the conditioning to stay there for three hours... I can ride faster than that pace at an enduro for 20 miles, then you stop and rest, regroup, and then you go for another 20 miles. In GNCCs, it's 20 miles for th ree hours. So, it' s just different. Where I have the experience in enduros, they have it in GNCCs. They [GNCC racers] are into chillingout, chilling out for the first couple of laps. I want to gao I want to race. I don't want to hang out at all. It's hard to slow back down and get your strategy back together. The races are won and lost in like the last two laps. I led t he most laps last year, but they weren't the right ones. There are I3 races, and you only need to lead 13 laps. I led some 20 laps; for what? Q A W ha t is your p r iority now ? Is it still enduros, o r is it G N CCs now? Q www.cyclenews.com I'd like to say that they're both the same. I like them both pretty equal. I'm still pressing on to put my best effort in the enduros, but I want to do well in the GNCC, as well . They're pretty mu ch equal on my scale . Aft e r w in n ing six e nd u ro t it les, how d o yo u st ill stay motiv a t e d in e nduros? (He points to his race bike.) Keep changing them out - riding different bikes. Going from the four-stroke to the stro ke . :rile four-stroke was fu fo 0 yea rs; was having fun. That was the thing at the end of the year [2003] . I wasn't in it for the GNCC championship. It was already dec ided, so I was like, "Let' s start for next year. I want to ride the new two-stroke. It's all brand new; let's try that ." So we started with it at the end of last year, and that's what got me motivated. I haven't ridden a two-stroke in a National enduro in three years . I'm like excited that Iget to ride it again. That's one of the things that help me . It keeps it inte resting. I can't wait to ride it here in Arizona and take it to Geo rgia and ride it back there. It's quicker, faste r and lighter. I'm excited to ride the two-stroke again. Q What is your number-one long-t erm goal ? Pe rhaps beating Dick Burleson's eigh t enduro titles? A People ask, 'he you going to go for that? Are you #"'\going to go fo r this?" I'm like, "You know, I'm not setting my goal for it [Burleson's record], but I'm not saying I'm nat going to go for it." I'm afraid that you can get caught up in that. "O kay, I've got this many now ; I've got this many to go," I just want to win a championship every year. My goal is to win both [GNCC and enduro]. Dick's won eight, and whoever has wo n the GNCCs this many times, but I do know that nobody has won both [G NCC and enduro titles] in the same year. And to me that's more motivation to do both . I'd like to be the first guy to do that. That 's my goal. I'd rather try to go for both of them . That would be a bigger ail accomplishment. That would be a heck of a year. Q CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 25. 2004 41