Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

:! ., s M ..... '" !!l ., r:: ::l ..., ~ W Z w ~ o >o Jim Pomeroy w as the first Ame rican ever to win a Grand Pri x. He was the fi rst person to ever w in hi s fir st Grand Pri x. and he was the first person to ever w in on Bultaco . He d id it all at the first G rand Prix of the season, Spain . b y J o hn Hue rte r Th is could have been an interview with Jim Pom e roy . In fa ct, that was th e original assign me nt. It is in stead , an account of a ch an ge in the lifestyle of th e best 25Qcc class motocross ride r th at America has ever p ro du ced. T hat also h appen s to be J im Pomeroy , only h e d oesn ' t even really know it. What y ou 'r e ab out to read is a co llec tio n of impressions, facts and an ecdotes after a month on the Wo rld Championsh ip Grand Prix circu it wit h Jim : the only Am eri can, an unsophisticated 20 ye ar -o ld from Yakima, Washington. What's in tere stin g, though , is th at in th e best Yankee fashion he may not be smooth and suave about it, bu t he ge ts th e job done... wh atever it is. . Images: Seein g J im at the start line o f the Swiss GP aft er a bleary-e yed I8-h ou r drive. He's barely recogn izabl e behind Torsten Hallm an nip-down visor, tear-offs tap ed to his goggles and a Jofa too th collec to r. Excep t tb a t he towers over th e rest o f the riders, all 6'2" o f him. and is wearing a white and blue ru gb y shir t with a red "U.S.A." sti tc he d on th e bac k. You can' t help bu t ge t excited seeing the young A me rican, his mouth grimly set to do battle with th e worl d's best. Bu t J im gets even m o re exci ted at see ing a frie ndly face he recognizes. It took him a second to thi nk in English sinc e he 'd been spe aking only French and Spanish - an d not much of that. " Hey, wow ! How are y a, man ?" Lo ts o f th umbs up sign s ex cha n ged over the stacca to o f the factory tw o-s tr okes, lI e the n ex plodes throu gh th e rolling gree n hill s of mud to do in a couple dozen of the world 's be st mo tocross ride rs. God, has he im pro ved! He ta kes a fo ur th . He str ips o ff th e muddy riding gear in the Bultaco van whil e th e facto ry me chanic . a Spanis h b lo nde th ey call " Ru b ion", chides him for not taking third in the first moto.Jim still feel s an o u tside r. "You know," h e reflects, " none o f the really heavy guys would talk to me . They all th ou gh t A me ricans wer e n ice guy s and st uff bu t didn' t tak e the m serio usly on the co urse. T hat's ch ang ed. " Just th en, J oel Rob ert, who hop efully needs no in tr oduc tio n , pops into Jim 's van an d strips down to his raci ng shorts. He lights up a " Bo ule Nationale" cigare tte and asks Jim how it 's go ing? T he heavy guys obvio usly talk to h im now. J im si ts t here, still in awe of th e Wo rld Ch amp ion wh o he ,h as j ust beaten by maybe eight positions. Bu t J oel o bviou sly ta kes him serio usly . J im just sco red World Champ ionship points; he didn't. J oel's Suzuki mechanic co mes to get him and he leaves. Jim begins the meticulous pre-mote preparation that has so imp resse d Senor Bulto and virtually everybody else who has wa tched him. Everything has to be right. We get around to talking about Spain: It wasJim's first Grand Prix, the first of the 1973 season and he wo n it. Ho w d oes it feel ? " It feels great!" he smil es. H was, like, third in to I the firs t comer - beh ind An de rsso n an d Mik kola th en I just wen t aro und Mik kola on th e o u tside in th e first tum . I go t behin d Andersson and he was going so slo w I kep t bumping in to him o n th e down hill s Uim loves downhill s.). I h ad to kee p using 'my brak es to stay b eh in d hi m. " "Th en, I just decide d to go p ast him and I did and I w as in fro n t. t co uld n ' t even believe it. 1 was leadi ng all th ose guys so I j us t gassed it ." It 's always eas y wh en you win. J im even tu ally built up a lead o f o ver 20 seco nds on Hans Maisch wh o had corne up th rou gh th e pa ck. When he took th e chec kered fo r th e first mo to it wa s on his rear wh eel. T h e front end of th e Bu lt ac o was cocked ove r at 45 d egree and he was giving the Vsfingered p eace sign to th e crowd with his left han d . Everybody went wild. They had never seen any thing like this brash y oung American in G P co mpe titio n. " But you know," Jim c on tin ues, " I di dn ' t ge t any start mo ney for th at ra ce. Zero. I didn't have a na me in Europ e then. But I'm building for next year. I 've stilI got a lot to learn . " After ret urning to Ma rcel Wiertz 's h ou se in Belgiu m where h e ran on their lung- burning cross-co un try co urse, dealt with Co mm un ist b ureaucracies to get visas and talked to fellow A me rican, Brad Lackey , J im proceede d to gain mo re Pol and an d World Ch am pionsh ip poin ts in Yugoslavia. ' , He disp layed a n ew seriousness in ap p roach an d an ability to switch from ado lesce nt game- play ing to in ten se con cen tra tio n o n th e even t. He is definitel y th e live wire, the spark - let's face it: the loud American , amongst the serio us-coun tenance d GP rid ers but in prac tice , o r wh en th e ga te drops, he 's all busin ess. His bu siness is beating o the r world-class riders in Grand Pri x co mpe tit io n. And tha t includes th e six -time Worl d Champion. Jim 's lik es and dislikes have become firml y established during five mon th s in Eu rope. He likes beefsteak ; rich , swe et desserts; be autiful Europe an girls ; an d well-p repared mo torcy cles that handle. He dislikes m ost o f the heavy-on-th e-stomach Euro pe an foods; in tematio naI juries and national sanc tioning clubs that ignore Am eri cans (an d d iscrimin ate agai nst the m); sh ocks th at fade afte r 20 minutes o f racing; an d tr ee-lin ed co urse s. He also dislikes th e lack of su pport U.S . rid ers ge t from the U.S.A. Meanwhile , he rises above all the pe tty has sles and officious bo rde r guards to consisten tly run fourth , fifth o r six th amongst th e most tale n t-lade n 25 0 Grand Prix class in th e last eight years. There are close to 15 riders who could win a GP m ota this year. Jim Pomeroy has shown th at he is one of them. Before the Polish GP, h e spots the Russian , Leonid Tcbinkavenko, in th e hotel lobby . He grins broadly, " Is that the fast Russian dude that gasses it? Far out!" . CZ and the U.S .S.R. had brought Tchinkavenko out of retirement to take Kibirine's -, pl ace o n th e GP circui t with a wo rks CZ . Lat e r, a fte r tu rning th ird fastes t time in q ualifying fo r start p ositi on , Jim reflects, grinn ing , " Th at's wh at 's so bitchin' ab out GPs ...th ere are so many fas t guys! Every bod y 's good ." He seems to tak e pl e asure in the fact. There are no easy win s an d all th e 2 50c c ma ch inery is about eq ual in h o rsep ow er an d weight. Th e diffe rence in rid ers is usu ally the d ifference ...an d wh ether they finish. Jim st ill crashes too mu ch. Slidin g o u t, laying it d o wn or, sadly , equip ment ma lfunctions have cost him at least o ne ove rall p osit io n in every GP since Spain. Bu t it d oesn ' t see m to bo ther hi m . He can lay it d own , recove r and still ma ke up th e distan ce to be in the fron t-ru nners . If he st ays upright for another two m o tos o n the same day , h e will probabl y win ove rall again . But he isn't p lanning on be ing Wo rld Champ ion this year. Hakan An dersson is overdue fo r that h on o r an d abo ut has it sewed up. Jim Pom e ro y doe s have definite pl an s to to p th e 250cc Wo rld Ch ampionsh ip next yea r. Alread y , at least three othe r factories besides Buit aco have app roached him about possihly riding their product. Some of the top me chanics, w ith 8-10 ye ars of G ran d Prix ex perience, would like to wren ch fo r J im . H ow has all th e recen t atten tion affect ed him ? It has helped . to develop h is innate' wisdom ; it -has n't ma de his h ead any bigge r. T he subjects th at still ge t him m ost e xci ted , bes ides the racer's N umbe r T wo topic: sex , are cam ping o ut an d tr ailrid ing in th e woods of h is na tive Wash in gton . He in sis ts th at n ext y ear h e 's going to ge t a 25 0 A lpina and d o more trailriding around his horn e sta te. Righ t n ow, Jim Pomero y doesn 't even o wn a motorcycl e. Bu t he's talking semi -serio us ly ab out imp or ting motocr oss equipmen t. _ . Perhaps on e rea son th at Jim displays a cau tio n and sense of long-ran ge planning bey ond h is yea rs or su rfa ce a tt it ude is th at none o f the fac to rie s tha t are just now begin ning to wo o h im would do anything for him a ye ar ago . Some wer e downright insulting; so me just didn't t ry to make attra ctive deals wi th the U.S . Cup winner an d No rth west Champion. He s tayed wi th Bultaco th en o u t o f a sense o f loyal ty and because th ey offere d him the bes t arrangem ent incl ud ing the Grand Prix season in Europe. "J im is an eleg ant rid er ," says Senor Bu lt o in his perfectly accented, aris tocratic Spanish . "I like eleg an t rid ers t h at bring a sense of grace to th e speed and d an ger o f motocross... to th e sport of mo torcy clin g in general. He has given us so me very good rid es. He gave us a good ride today," Refe rence is toJim's fifth place finish, right on Mikkola's tail, in Yugosl avia. T ha t is very hi gh praise fro m on e of th e truly grand old men of motorcycle compe ti ti on . S ta ted in Spanish, it is even stronger in its meaning. Jim has also gotten a lot more "open" in five months on his own. Marcel Wiertz, the Belgian Bultaco importer, has helped him a lot but he has, like most Americans ever to try the GP circuit, done

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