Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ni nete e n-yea r-old Bailey (11 was a last-minute replacement f or an injured Donnie Han sen on th e winning U. S. t eam at the Trophee des Nati on s in Ga ildorf, Germany, in 1982. tie Rock , Co lo rado . How ev e r, I brok e m y bik e in ha lf there a nd gav e up a ll th e p o int s , a n d Kr is B ig el ow (a Yama ha rider fro m Roch e ster, Michi' ga n) en d ed up getting fou rth . Th en , a t the end of 1981 , I won the Trans USA 2 50c c support c la ss whi ch ra n a t Mid-Ohi o , Unad illa , Red Bud a nd Road At lanta . I won it over Husqvarn as Mike Gue r ra a nd was real pumped. It wa s g ood situation for me that year because I had a half Team Green , ha lf Fox Racing race deal a nd was ma king $27 ,000 between th e two of them which, to me, was good money ." gre at time a nd d idn 't g et d is c o ur aged . In th e third moto I s q ua re d off a turn , passed a guy a nd got s econd from last. I wasn't th e cool guy a nymore , and no one really wanted to hang out with m e . I le a rn e d right up front that it wa s tough t o be in Gary 's shadow , because he was the man back then . There weren 't really any Supercross c h a m pio ns then , so Gary was kind of a star. But we kept traveling to different town s , and I was having fun." As the month s went by , David began to lose contact with his father, an a c cla imed surfer ba ck in Dana Po int , Ca lifornia . And wh ile there wa s n o anim osit y or hard fe el ings between the two , th e new life Da vid had fall en int o w ith Gary a n d hi s mothe r kept th em on the roa d - a nd a way fro m th e te lephon e . "It was a we ird thi ng, a nd to thi s day , it' s still a little bit clo udy," Dav id says. "We we re tra velin g from town to to wn in a b ig Winn e b a g o , d oi ng mot oc ross sc hools, an d it wasn 't like , Let's pu ll ov er s o I can ca ll my dad. The re wasn't m uch going on between us . I'd write letters to him onc e a wh ile in the beg inning , b ut it wa s hard for my dad to get that. At on e point I think he to ld m y mom, "Maybe it's better that I do n't know ." It a ll hurt him , but he and my mom wanted to work it out a nd give me the opti on to see both of th em . I wa s with m y mom a nd Ga ry 100 percent of the tim e , but I did n 't really think of Ga ry as a ste p- dad . He had bikes and wa s fun to hang out with, and I didn 't rea lly look a t him as a fathe r. He'd put me to work, and I'd ride the bik e and wash it a nd work on it, and he'd say , 'O ka y, do m ine too .' I was like his little helper ." Gr a ced w it h n at u r a l a bi l ity altho ug h his ta le nt didn 't im m ediate ly bubbl e to th e surfa c e - David began to devel op into a serious ra c er . Moving on from town to town and co n stantl y subjected to different race rs and rac etra ck s , h e n ev er b e c am e a c cu stom ed to a ny t h in g a nd , as a res ult , learned to deal with advers ity im m ed iate ly. '''We we re in a different city every week - pr im a rily east of the Mis s is s ippi , " he s a y s . " I never had a c h a nc e to g et u s ed to a trac k , a n d t he re were a lways new p e op le a nd new s u rro undi ngs . I wa s s tarting to ge t pr etty g oo d a n d was always learning new thing s . I went up to the 1 0 0cc c la ss; th en I g ot on a 12 5 . Gary saw th at 1 wa s g et ting fas t a nd thought, I n eed to sta rt p ou rin g ga s on this. "I d id n ot reall y fl ouri sh a s an amateu r," he cont in ues . "They didn 't h a ve a Lore t t a Ly n n 's or anythin g like th a t ba ck then , so th er e was no place to m easu re your spe ed against othe r kids . 1 ra c ed a very big amateu r ra c e at Red Bud [Mich igan ] in 1975. 1 go t th e holeshot and fe lt rea lly good. I had th e p la c e w ire d b e c au s e we knew th e Ritch ie fa m ily rea l well . I'm out in fro nt, and here comes th is gu y by m e , co m p le te ly sid e wa y s a nd wide ope n . He pa ssed m e like I was pa rked , and wa s gone . T he rider was Mark Barn ett , a nd he wa s un beli e va ble . He comp lete ly humble d me . It's kind of funn y th at I e nded up sq uarin g o ff a g ain s t h im late r in m y c a ree r ." ( It s ho u ld b e n o t ed that whe n t h is sto ry wa s re c en tly me n t ion e d t o Barn ett , h e la u gh e d out loud .) G R E E N ON REO In 19 80 Ba ile y was dra fte d into a new prog ra m c rea te d by th e Kaw asak i Moto r Co rp oration c a lle d "Tea m Green." Th e pro gram was design ed to brea t he life into the c orpo ra tion 's whe ezing s a les a nd marketing effo rts , and Bailey , aft e r a successful run a s a n East Co a st amateur rider, was now a bo ut to enter th e big leagues . " I w as th e king of o u r district aro u n d Lak e Sugar Tre e , Virgin ia , a nd I wo uld go out and win both 125 a n d 250 c c m otos e ve ry we ek , " h e ex pla ins . "A g uy named Ra y Brumblo of Bulta co re commended me to Dav e Jorda n, th e m an who help ed beg in Te am Green. Dav e had a look a t me a nd sa id to his bosses , 'Give this guy a try - I'll put my ass on th e line for him.' I ro de the Kaw a s aki in th e 1980 Florid a Win ter S eries a t Ga inesville , t hen went o n to th e Atl anta Super c ro s s a nd h o le shot m y hea t race . Ther e we re so many go od guys in th e he a t ra c e s then, a nd Mike Be ll a nd J im Gibson passed me , but I got th ird a nd they ha d to work to stay in fro nt of m e . I m a d e the main , a nd I was sto ke d." By 1981 , Ba iley was on the AMA pr o c ir cuit full ti me . Tapped by Kawasa ki to ride in the h igh ly comp e ti tiv e 250 c c c la s s , Ba iley was forced to line up against s uc h fo rmidab le pilots as Kent How erton , Bob Hannah a nd Donni e Hans en . And while Howe rto n and Hannah s to le a ll the he a dlin es that s um mer with th eir now no to rious o n -track alter cation s , Bail ey hove red up nea r th e front a ll s ea s on. "I finis he d se ve n t h in the 19 8 1 AMA 250cc Nat iona ls , but I actually held fourth up to the last race at Ca s cue I e Through his strong perfor mances that a utum n, Ba iley wa s approached b y t h e le g e n d a ry Roger DeCoster. Taken off the FIM 500cc Grand Prix c irc u it b y Soi chiro Honda in 1980 and dis pa tc hed to Ame rica to sort o ut the m ot or g ian t's a nemic motocross p rogra m , DeCoster was in th e mi dst of for mi ng a dynasty . As part of it , th e Belgian wanted Bailey . Alth ough he had not yet p roven himself as a moto cross clairvoyant, DeC oster was sure Ba ile y had e ve rything it took to be a winner. "T h a t fall , a fter Unad illa , Roger DeCoster c a lle d and as k ed me if I wou ld be interested in rid ing for Tea m Honda in 1982, " recalls Bailey. "Hon da was building a big team of young guys then , and I said to him, 'I' ll tak e it! ' T h e co ntract pa id me $ 12,000 but I would have ridden for free. "O n the te am wer e [Danny] Magoo Cha ndler, Chu c k Sun, Darrell Shultz, Donni e Hansen , J im Gibs on, Johnny O ' Ma ra - guy s whose a utog ra p hs I wa nted! I kn ew I wa s the low g uy o n th e totem p ol e a nd wa s so insecure that I wo rke d m y butt off a nd listened to eve ry thing th e te a m tr a in e r, J eff Spen c er , h ad to say . I wa nted to be fast so bad t hat I was pos sessed . Th e re wo u ld be a race th at I wou ld fin ish 14th in, bu t I wo u ld be at a fe w of the Honda guys a nd say to my s elf, 'at le a st I wasn 't last.' 1 started to get be tte r and bette r - I p laced seventh at Dayto na - t hen I bro k e m y le g a t Ho u st on . I m issed t h e ope n ing nati onal a t Hang tow n, w here Rick John son won , and a lso m iss ed Sad dleback. I made it back to th e circu it at Lak e Whitn ey , Texas [on April 18]. whe re I finish ed thi rd o verall. I was th en s econd at St. Peter sbu rg, Flori da , and s econd aga in at Southwick , Ma ssa chu s etts - I was right th ere . I als o won th e first m oto at the Unadi lla 250c c Un ited St ates Grand Prix. In th e first m ot a , it wa s like , 'S e e ya '. Th en in th e s econd moto I got off line and into th e rut s a nd hit th e turf h a rd . Th e bik e was all bent up a nd done , and I wa s d on e for th e da y. However , n e vv S • M AY 1 0, 2000 35

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