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/141019
MIKE BAST AND BILL CODY IN AUSTRALIA everything but the underwear... an interview by Bruce Flanders .... N !l> " Q. N .... '" CD c. oct ~ w Z W ...J U >- U Mik e Bast is th e current numb er o ne sp eedwa y rider in th e Unite d Stat es and . one of the seven p eople to ven ture down to' A ustralia on a traveling A men'can racing te am. Bill Cody is one ofthe few underrated sp eed way racers in t he U.S. Cody also d oes equally well o n a half-mile bike w hen he has time to ind ulge in t hat sort of thing. He accomp an ied Bast and the other five men to Australia. Br uce Fland ers. th e interviewer. rid es speedway. announces races, and is a f requent contributor to Cycle News. He was commissioned by CN to find out what it was act ually like 'd ow n under. Break out the cold ones. turn on the tape reco rder, and commence the interview : CN . What was the first thing about Australia that im pressed you? BAST . D rivin g on t he wro ng side of the ro ad. T hey d rive on the left and it takes a long time to get used to it. CN . D id you have to rent cars while yo u were down th ere ? BAST. No . W e stay ed with lo cal speedway racers a nd th ey would go ou t of their way to lend us th eir cars w hen we needed them. I stay ed with Bill Landels and he commu ted to work on his b ike while w e go t the use of his wh eels. CODY . T here was no freeway system o r eve n any good h ighways. It t ook an aw ful long time t o get an ywhere o n th e streets. We had to go ten mi les t o get to th e race tr ack in S ydn ey and it took almost 45 minute s t o get there. Everybody in Syd ney has a road book, they cal1 it , and you have to have one otherwise you get SO screwed up you'll never find your way back. O nce you d o get outsi de of the city the countryside is really beautiful. Great rivers and just real ly beautiful country side. ClI;. Ho w would you travel from racetrack to racetrack? CODY . We flew. The p ro mo t er packed us u p in to a p lan e and they flew us to the n ex t race lo cat ion. The b ik es were lo ad ed in to a van and they wo u ld drive to the next trac k. CN . Even on th e nights that you raced three ni ghts in a row? CODY . The race tracks were ab o u t 500 mil es ap art and w e flew all but one time. BAS T . Yeah, that was in N ew Ze al and an d al l th e airport s w er e closed a nd we had to b e at ano ther track th e next d a y. We h ad to jump o n a ferry and go betw een the isla nds. We end ed up slee ping o n th e d ocks a nd ende d up fly ing anyway. The ferry landed a nd we were waiting fo r our b ik es which didn't sho w for a long time and when they did we had just enough ti me to c.atch a plane to ge t to the races. CN. How many different tracks did you ride? CODY . In Australia there were four. Sydney S howgrounds, Liverpool , Adelaide and Melbourne. We also rode two tracks in New Zeala nd. Liverpool was a "D" shape around 450 yards lo ng. Melbo urne was a Bri tish League track about a q uarter with lo ng c hutes and tight corners. I t was real slick like Costa M es a . Adelaide was th e best racetra ck I've ever seen in my life . It was almost perfectly round a nd y o u had to practically create yo u r own straights. It was 440 on the pole and you just couldn 't believ e how beautiful it was. The su rface wa s just like a ci nder, only it was whit e. Yo u co uld go aro und there feet up, you d idn't even need to put yo ur foot d own. Full bore all th e way. Th e tra ck was at th e bott o m of a ro ck pit and the stands were j us t steps cut o ut of the rock. Most of the people sat o n these steps with pads that they brought themselves because the p romo t er charged them 20 cents more to sit in t he grandstands. BAST. It was beautiful and right in the center of the city. Pretty green grass all over the infield and very clean. CN. How many people would they get at the races? CODY . That night in Adelaide they go t over 18,000 people. They just packed them in . And very enthusiastic fans, too. CN . How m uch would it cost the fans to go? J.C. AGAJANIA N" S D CYCLE EVENTS W edne.day Ni ght ~ EBARB MOTOCROSS Cash fo r E xperts , troph ies for Ju niors a nd Intermed iates .· SILENCERS MANDA T ORY. $5 e nt ry pe r class. Pit p ass es $3. SOME PEOPLE HAVE NEVER SEEN A GOOD HANDLEBAR. MUCH LESS ••• OWNED ONE. General A d m i ssi on $ 2 .s 0. CMC license and 3 number p la t es reQuired . Pit gates o pe n a t 4 :30. Practice fr om 6 :00 t o 7 :00. Slgn·u p e rases 6 :30 sharp . F irst Jun ior race at 7:3 0. FRIDAY NIGHT AMA "'0 \ o Pasade na. California f Unexcelled aua\\\~ HALF-MILE CHECK OUT FLANDERS BARS A T YOUR LOCAL DEALER. THEy JRE THE BEST MONEY CAN BUY. Time trials 7 :30 pm Race sta':1S 8 :30 pm 18300 VERMONT, GARDENA TieS FLANDERS PROFESSIONAL "- orcycle AccesSO . P.O. Box 2297d , Pasadena, Cal. 91105 (213) 681-258 1 ..I ....