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/141054
.. ~ - (_ " '" '" n. - -r- ... M ~ r- Q. « en w ;: Z W ...J U >- U ':;' ..; .. - ~3-:-~ ~ ..~:.~;'~,; motocr oss school a ye~r- befortLac ke§' and D eS o t o. I t wa s t he r e ' i n C z e ch o sl ov akia th it ' M arty really ' learned to ride . "Th e Cze ch oslovak ian 'trainer taught : m e ho w to stand up and go through the turns. Wh en / came back to th e states / tried it o ver h ere and j ust kept wo rking on it. It is a lot easier to ride standing up . Easier through th e corners and yo u don't get as tired as f ast. When you 're sitting down an d hit a bump yo ur legs are unab le to act as sho ck absorb ers and abs orb th e bump ; you j ust hit y our butt. /t ju st jars yo u too m uch. A lot of Am erican riders are used to sitting do wn. / f eel better standing up because it is easier. Being h eavy is a disad vantage f or m e because it 's harder getting up and dow n on .th e seat. /t tak es a lot ou t of m e so th at 's why I stand. .. Marty co n tinue d to rid e for CZ until the spring o f 1972 wh en he signed with Yamaha. His Colis eum win last July was the big race th at put him in th e spotlight but most o f the other races h e rode during the Inter-AMA Series were unimp ressive. When th e Inter-AMA end ed and the Trans -AMA Series began Marty still didn ' t do well. ' " It was part of both th e bik e and m e. Th e bik7 broke so much it just wen t to ! m y mind. I t wasn't that I stopped trying but I knew in my m ind that if I rode hard the bik e wo uld p robably break . " M arty did d o better o n a 250 Yam ah a during t he Inter-AMA Seri es than o n a 36 0 d u rin g the Tran s-AMA so I as ked him h o w he felt about th e tw o different displacement class es in general. "A 25 0 I lik e a lot m ore. A 400 (the CZ he no w rides) is not really all tha t mu ch. You ju st go through a co rner th e n w h e n 'y o u get t o a l o n g straigb touiay y ou use the pow er. When I ride I don 't need all that power. A 250 bike you can use m ore t o its f ull ability. " Marty 's prototype 250 Yamaha ' had always be en light an d fast. Sin ce he is now riding' for CZ . I wondered how a 200 pound rider lik e Marty wh o readily a d m i tte d he was twenty pounds overweigh t would d o on a 2 50 CZ in th e Inter-AMA this year . The b asically stoc k 400 CZ wh ich he rode in the Flo rida series wouldn't be much heavier tha n a 250 CZ. Th e 400 had weighed in at 265 pounds with a full tank of gas at Ft. Pier ce , over 40 he avier than any of th e other factory machines. . " I don't know. Th ey have p romised new bik es that will be lighter and f as ter. A s it is right n ow th ough I don 't k now if I'll be riding CZ m uch longer. .. After Mar ty said that I had to get hi s version of why he was ri ding CZ in the first pl ace . It had be en rum ored he was going to ride for Honda in the rem ainin g few races of th e Trans-AMA after he qui t Yamaha. " I 'was for so me of the Trans-AMA bu t I had ridd en a CZ th e week befo re / qu it Yamaha and / had given m y' word to CZ that / w ou ld ride th eir bik e fo r on e m ore race. Honda wanted me t o ride. their bike .at the same time but / told them I had alread y given m y wo rd, so I rode CZ that week as promised and lost th e Honda ride f or th en . I'm still hop ing to get with them . I'm suppo sed to sign a contract with CZ bu t I don't thin k th ey really want a USA Numb er One rider. Th ey don 't fee l for the team ; they 're no t fo r th e riders; th ey 're just fo r the publicity. Th ey 're not out to h elp th e riders. In oth er w ords you never kno w what 's goi ng on with th em. Th ey d on't con tact you; they j us t m eet you at th e race. It 's really hard to get along with th em . American [a uia on the w est coast at least tries t o help th e riders, bu t on the Mart y proved to be master of the mud where at the Orlando and St . Petersburg Florida WinterAMA races he took th e overall win . Marty Tripes and his somewhatu nique stand up srvle . east coas t they don 't kn ow what th ey're doing. " ' The Fl orid a Win ter-AMA Series is I now over and it seemed pretty sup rising th at Pierre Kar smaker did so well wh en y ou c onsider that Lackey, Weinert, . Blackwell and Jones wer e able to be at Pierre b ac k d uring th e Tr an s-AMA . Rep orting on t he Flo rida series for Cy cle News I saw th at non e of t he top riders wer e takin g th e series really ser iou sly. It seem ed lik e one real lon g seven week pa rty. Pierre was the only factory rid er wh o didn't h ave a d rin k in hi s h and after a race. He actu ally see med t o h ave go t te n be tter sinc e the Tr an s -AMA, wh ile o ur ride rs have gotten slo we r . Maybe fo r an Ame rican rider being o n a factory te am me ans the y hav e m ad e the top and can take things ea sy . "I think that La ck ey has slow ed down.•.Back du ring th e Trans-AMA h e could b eat Karsma ker every race. I th ink what it is th at Karsmaker 's a Eur op ea n rider and has everyone psy ched ou t because he is Eur op ean. In the Florida series wh ere the tracks are all san d, well, he has beat en R obert and DeCos t er o n Sandy track s. He is supposed to be the best san d rider the Eur op eans have. It 's ju st gon e to eve ryo ne 's mind . " But then don't you think that proper training and being in shape is a factor? "That 's th e pr oblem right th ere; it's training. Party ing is OK if it 's three or f our day s bef ore a race but it can 't be all th e tim e. People say that La ck ey parties all th e ti m e but he's pr obably more serio us about his racing t han a n y o n e els e. . Wein e rt has started working ou t two or th ree tim es a w eek . I c o u l d n 't tell y ou abo ut L ackey tho ugh. .. Both Weine rt and Mar ty 'h ad rac ed under Don J ones when they were with Yam aha. Don wa s kno wn for being a strict coach an d m ad e his so ns, alo ng with Jim Weinert and Marty Tripes , work out an d pract ice daily. Don 's coaching refl ected itsel f in th e team and his son Gary went o n to win the Inter-AMA Series and the 25 0 National Mo tocross Ch ampionship . The entire team looked good , but then som e of . them r e v o lte d agains t Don's stric t tr a in in g and Yamaha's co mp eti tion dire ctor Pe te Schic k b acked up the riders. From th at p oint on the team w ent downhill and Yamaha's poor showing in the Trans-AMA was the partial result. Are you and Weinert now finding o ut that Don J ones had the right idea? "Yes. Every on e is no w beginn ing to fi nd ou t tha t it 's not like it was a ye ar or so ago. Th ey're no t ou t racing f or gam es bu t it 's all serious. It 's their job and that's h ow thr y're mak ing their living. Peopl e are no w starting to train and do th eir best to bea t the Europ eans. I didn't use to train bu t I started about a - week and a half ago. Run ning and working out and riding. It tak es a lot of tim e bu t it sh ould be wort h it in th e end. .. S o ended o ur in terview on th e b alcony of a p lush m otel o n - Day to n a Beach . Below us a t the swim mi ng p ool we re a number of p retty girls sunni ng th emselves o n th e deck. We wa tch ed th em for a few mi nu tes b efor e we we n t ins ide wh er e it wa s co oler . I left to go out to Day tona Internati onal Spe edw ay for the ru nn ing of the 20 0 m iler while Mar ty prep ar ed to leave for Tex as. Marty's pl ans were to ru n the first big race of th e upcoming T exas series, then go on to his h ome in California. There he would train and get himself in sha pe, trying to lose tha t twenty pounds of b aby fat. He would probably race in the Han g Town Grand- Prix, th en return t o th e final event of the Texas series. Fr om t h ere i t would b e th e Intemat ional-AMA again. Sixteen year old Marty Tripes has a big fu t ure b efore him and if he can take it seri ously , in fo ur years he will b e a World Ch ampion.