Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

8. '" 0- Eighteen-year-old Steve Hernandez became an overnight sensation last month as a result of several spec tacular performancesin a ser ies of big-buck indoor sho rt trac ks on the East Coa st . He became the h ighes tpaid Nov ice in th e history of the American Motorcycle Association. St eve won because he co uld beat everyone ou t of t he hole, time after time after time. Perhaps h is performan ce was a fl uke ; perhaps not. On ly t im e will tell. But y o ung Steve Herpandez has su ddenly joi ned the ra nks of professional racing . By Bill Spencer. N .... '". .... ~ :; '" ~ w z W ...J U >- U Founeen th ousand can make a young man confused a nd eve n turn his head , especia lly if the screaming has just brought him into the limelight o f success and fortune. While many hav e b een unable to cop e with this type o f suc cess, 18-year-old Steve He rnandez is n o st ra nge r to the bright ligh ts an d babules o f motorsport raci ng. Some 10 ye ars ago , at the tender age of eight , Steve Hernandez was the subject of a fou r-page article on go·kart racing. T he ma gazin e was Sports Illu strated - co verage was far grea ter th an their co verage o f th e firs t Yamaha Sil ver Cup in 197 1. The sto ry b rought out th at St eve had \0 wa it for seve ra l mo nth s t o b e allow ed to race as the minimum age w as eigh t , but wh en h e fina lly farmer's field," says Steve. " 1 didn't d o so we ll th ere but I gue ss I did alrigh t aro un d t he tracks h ere lik e Uvas and Fre mo nt. " Steve advanced to Am ate ur on the 100 and then So n ny Ken yon talked t hem into a 200 Bult aco. At th e end o f t he second year, Steve mad e Ex pert at th e last Haywa rd me et. T he 200 was turned into a 250 and the fight fo r th e b ig ti me was j ust about to start. "I really d idn' t feel t hat I was go ing to be ab le to d o w ell as an Expe rt . All those guys w ere really good ." Steve refers to AI Kenyon, Dave Hansen an d Jim Fole y and oth ers as th e comp etitio n of 1970. While he was o ne o f t he new est Experts, J ohn G ennai and Mike Renslow w ere a lso h is racing "T h ey brought out Markel for the Main and I knew they were screwed up." started, h e was t he gre atest. One picture sho wed him di vin g under a co mp et itor o f at least tw ice his size. His father , Claren ce , reponed th at he h ad to add I 00 pounds to the kart just to get to th e minimum. ' The Hernandez famil y wen t go-k art racing for three years whil e Clarence was racing his mo torcycl e. The difference in trophies was phenomenal, something like 38 to over 100 in Steve' s favor. The d emise of th e kaning at ag e 10 was not at all dish eanening; St eve and th e family would go to the delta for fish ing trips. Clarence wan ted Steve to wa it for his mo torcycle racing debut, a go od idea as too many of th e y o ungsters today are being pushed into the sp ort way before th eir time. A t 15 , t he ti me had come to give cycle racing a try so th e Tohatsu 50 was put away and a 100cc Kawasaki was ch osen . The Northern California scrambl es circ u it in 1968 was a fast and furio us one wit h th e likes of Jim Rice , Mark Brelsford an d Jim Od om m aking a name fo r themselves. T he lit tle kids o n th e 100's were mere fodder, to b e used as traction. "M y first race was at the o ld .Manteca track in th e back of som e co mp an io ns and so S teve really h ad his work cu t ou t for him. "The first race for th e 197 1 sportsman season was at Reno and I got a second. I re ally wasn't do ing so well with th e 250 but when I go t on the 40 incher, I wa s troph ying nearly eve ry time. " Steve's first full season as an Expert saw the battle between National Scramb les Champ J im Foley and th e relatively unknown John Gennai develop. There were oth er such b attles within th e top 20 point-win ners an d it made for a brilliant seaso n of racing for all those interested in seeing just h ow fast a nd action-packed Amateur racing c o uld be. The outcome was go od for Steve as h e fini sh ed 11t h in the p oint co unt an d will w ear th at number for th e District racing, when not ra cin g o n th e professional circ u it. 8 ,teve was actually h eld b ack from t urning Expe rt b y fat her Claren ce : who didn 't think that Steve wa s read y to make the ru n . " Wh en I was an Amateu r, I wat ched Paul J ohnson and Dave Hans en. Han sen rode for Cancillia and used to be at the sh op and talk to us." J ust about every young kid has a hero who he J ollo ws and, in many cases, . e xemp lifies in st yle . If y o ung Steve Hernandez had to pick any two riders t o st yle himself after, he couldn't h ave p icked tw o more d edicated professional guys. Hansen h as sin ce become National Number 23 whil e J ohnson left the sp a n as one o f the fastest men aro u nd . While many th ou ght of h is leaving as a blessing, o thers were sad d ened by it and h ave tried to c oa x him . ba ck. A man 's d evotion to racing has many - strange manifestati on s; some race every time t he re is a n eve nt within 10 0 miles ; others are devo te d to specific tr acks. T he guy that w inds up in th e top 20 is usually a rid er wh o rid es nearl y every ty pe of raci n g an d every race. In Northern California , most o f the racing is smooth scrambles and shan tracks so th at is wh at nativ es d o b est. Steve star t ed rid ing ' hi s dad 's 6 50 . T riumph almost im med iately u pon mak ing Expert. Having two motors would give him more of a chan ce at gett ing more p oin ts. "When I' fir st rode th e 40-inc he r I wo uld go in to th e corn ers an d let off re al soon. I was reall y slow. " While S teve felt he was going slow, it wasn't very long befo re h e was in the troph y circle on both the 250 an d 650. T he battle fo r h igh p oin t was really shap ing up and with th e p oin ts being anno unced at nearly ev e ry r a c e ( a l t h o ug h man y times inaccu rat ely) grim d et ermination se t in. On the shorter tracks such as Hayward an d A lviso, Steve's experience w ith the 2 00 was invalu ab le. He c o uld come from b eh ind and get a fter t he heroes. H e o fte n won. On the lo nger, faster tracks su ch as Fre mont, he p ut h is lightw eight to good use with super starts. All this combi ned to m ake for an accomplishe d racer. St eve' s 18th birt h da y cam e in late J uly, 1971 and afte r a few weeks o f wa iting fo r a Class " C" ca rd to co me, a half-mile was sch ed uled in Orland. T he team of Hernand ez an d Hernandez was ready for its d ebut. He rnandez lo o ks b ack, "Orland was something n ew fo r me wi th all th e cross-ups and slides, wh ere as m y first San Jose see m ed to b e re al easy . I sp ent a lo t of time p racticing and just at the end of practice I w ent o ut an d seiz ed th e motor. " For a first effort th e results weren't a ll t hat good but it was a very important experien ce fo r b oth members of th e team. San Jose was more prosperous, with Steve doing the trick through the qualifying h eat and heat and then go ing o n to a seventh in th e. Main. 8 ,teve is a diminuitive 5 '5" and 110 pounds. When ask ed wh eth er he thought th is was to his dis advantage lik e o n the 650 he rep lied , " I ca n reall y feel the balan ce o n the bigger bike and re all y feel more comfortable on it. Th is size fact or isn't really as important as strength is and conditioning." Gu ys lik e Steve and Gennai and even Mark Brelsford were naturals o n the big bikes be cause of the nature of bal an ce. That : is wh at makes those feet-up slides look so gre at. A seri es of short t racks late in the season gave Steve some more sh ort track time and he was rema rkabl y fast and consist ent throughout. "My o n ly problem in the races was getting caught napping on the st arting lin e:' Roben 1;:. Lee commented th at th e o nly kid h e co uld n' t ca tc h wa s little Steve Hernandez. N ot everyone hadn't h eard o f this kid. . During the regular indoor season, Bob Swanson approached St eve an d Clar ence with an offer to rid e an Ossa fo r h im. Because of financial reas ons, th ey acc ep te d . No thing wa s d one to fit it to Steve so th e difference in the tw o b ike s co u ld n 't have b een mu ch. T he Amateur races were run and

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