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J W: I'd have to say everyone because
yo u j ust don't know . Gary is fast; so is
Marty (Tripes), Ric h T horwaldson, Bob
Gr ossi ; They' re all fast . It's no t like it
use d to be; now it's really co mpetitive
and everyone'sin there figh ti ng . H ey .
CN : How much wo rk do you d o o n
y ou r o wn b ike ?
J W: On t his on e ? I do n' t d o an ything!
Just sit o n it and turn the t hrottle;
t ha t' s wh at t hey pay m e fo r. I wan ted it
tha t way an d tha t's th e way it is ' cau se
yo u j u st can' t d o it all like I did last
year.
CN : True , but y o u have to k no w wh at
makes it tick so yo u can tell th e man
who tu rns th e wr ench wh at 's wro ng.
JW : Oh , I kno w what makes it tick
alr igh t so every thi ng is co ol. I' ve got a
good mechanic an d everyth ing seem s t o
be goi ng pre tt y go od. I' m get t ing t hings
wo rked out ; go t to before the summer
serie s gets here .
CN : Wha t abo ut travel fro m race to
race?
.
JW : Sometimes I go wi t h th e b ik es an d
th e cr ew; so metimes no t. It just dep ends
o n how I feel ; o n how I want to get m y
he ad together th at week . I haven't reall y
got a set pl an fo r th e year ye t o n
exactl y how I'm goi ng to do it ; I'm st ill
pu tting things together.
CN : What ab out testing an d evaluation
of new parts?
J W: Righ t , they have me test things.
~metimes yo u wonder , "Why am I
testing th is?" You d on' t th in k it's
important but to t he m it is. The biggest
t hing is te sting sh ocks; they freak out
o n sh oc ks. I can see wh y . We d on't
re ally h ave a good one yet. T hey keep
~ying they' ve go t something new , but.
Hey, they' ve go t these 90 p ound test
pi le ts o ver th ere an d t hat 's j ust not
getting it . Pet er La mppu and Jim Co o ke
are going to J ap an for te st ing an d w he n
t ho se 90 po un der s ge t a loo k at hi m
they're go ing to say , Ah so, Americans
much , much bigger."
CN : Did yo u p ick up any p oin te rs
racing w it h th e Eu ropean riders last
year?
JW : I go t to be good frie nds with
Ch rister Ha mmarg en an d he sh owed me
a lo t of th ings. T hey we ren' t necessari ly
racing tech niques but m o re like how to
tr ain and about suspe nsio ns, shock
absorb ers , fr ont forks and han dling. It
worked o ut pretty good .
C N: Ho w abou t racing against the
Euro p ean s?
,
JW : I don't think I ever raced against
th em really , to tell the truth. But , I
enjoye d b e i n g l a pp ed b y Roger
DeCoster and Ak e J onsso n-A ke p retty
o ften . You just m ove o ut o f A ke's way
and he n ods his head when he zips b y .
It's cool. My favorite Eur opean wo uld
have to b e DeCoster , t h ough .
CN: Was Ake rea lly t hat good in t he
T rans-AMA?
J W: Oh yea h, he was righ t o n . Ake ha d
it o n. Ni ne win s in a row ; t hat 's S15 ,000
worth . You know DeC o ster had his
money but p oor Ake running for Maico
had to wait to make his.
CN : You mentioned earlier getting y o ur
head together. How much is really
mental for you?
•
JW: For me? All of it. I mean the bike
has to b e perfect also but for me it's got
to be 300% mental , ma ybe even more .
'cause if I'm sto ke d there's no one who
can b eat me ; but if I start wo rrying th en
they've got me ; then it's a race . In
Op elo usas I think I had (Gary) Jones
' cause I clearly p assed him and pulled
away . Bu t th at's j ust o ne race and if I
co u ld j ust d o that in a couple o f even ts
the n I'd know t h at I have him. Each
week it 's always so mething differ ent ;
it 's hard trave ling an d keeping you r
head up.
CN : T here are over 20 races left this
season , co unting th e Na tio nals , Trans
and Inter-AlvlA series. A re y ou going to
b e able to keep up the 100% push?
JW: That's what I'm working on now.
I'm trying and it 's hard but I'm trying.
You're .ust so ood one week and .then
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he was he'd be winning every race.
That's what I call being JR but he 's
doing fantastic . H e's in the top five in
the World 250 standings and he's in
shape; much better shape than any of
us. That's what he 's got on all o f us now
plus he 's go od and can go the distance .
CN: What do you think o f Jim
So wh at's that tell us, right ?
Pomeroy 's successes in Europe so far?
CN : Someone b etter get their stu ff
JW: Gr eat! But Jim didn't really pop _ together .
out of the gr ound like so me people
JW: Really , because n o one kno ws how
thi n k-call he needed was a little gui dance
to train over here. Maybe Karsm ak ers
because no o ne ever guided h im before .
because he's real ly go od.
You know his favorite sayi ng is, HI can't
CN : Is t hat why Kar sm akers is so good
believe it." Well whe n he wo n th e GP he
in t he sand?
probab ly sai d , "Gee, I can 't b elieve it ,"
J W: Yeah . You should have b een in
and it p robabl y has n't registered on him
J acksonville (F lorida winter ser ies) . Oh
yet .
.
my Lord , that was real sand an d there
CN : I wa tc he d him in th e series last ye ar
wasn't o ne smooth spot ; no place where
but he wasn 't spe ctacu lar.
y o u co uld res t. It just , ph y sicall y be at
JW : Yeah, but he' s good . He 's a charger
t he hell ou t of y ou. Brad and I were
and he's never b een hurt ye t . Everyo ne
fal ling off every lap like everyone else
thinks of him now as aJoel Rob ert , but
while Pierre was just going bong, bong,
he 's not. He ' s doing the best o f any o f
bong right o n pa st ever y lap . We kept
, u~ PPW but he's got aJoelyet ' cause if . . say in t h is u _is.makinzrnonkevsout
y o u travel an d it just tea rs y o u apart.
It's hard to travel and keep up with the
J on es, T ripes and Karsmakers. They fly
in and out. What can I say; you get tired
traveling and you just can't ride as h ard
as you should.
o f us b ut the n we realized that he b eats
J oel R ob er t and the others in a sense .
So each wee k that he bea t us we were
get ting closer and closer an d I almost
go t him at Fort Pierce b ut I di d n' t have
t he stamina . I know I can do it n ow.
CN : I doubt t ha t man y people know
t hat you spe n t a few seas o n s as a flat
track er be fore changing to MX for go od .
Did th e experien ce help yo u?
JW: I th ink learning h ow to di ve into
turns help ed me. I we nt around Gary
Jones in a flat t rack t um and he was
b ackin g o ff; I just clic ked ano ther gear
an d went in an d around . I wasn't afraid
of the tum b ut he was kinda b acking off
and shifting down an d I'm th inking,
"This kind of tu m yo u d o n 't have to
downshift for ." I'm cha rgin g rea lly hard
in t he tu rn s now because this is where
yo u can beat most o f the riders. When
you're passin g go ing into an d going o ut
of turns it 's no t really p ow er b ut riding
ab ility. You've go t to have power but ,
hey, y o u got to k now h ow to ride too.
It 's hard to beat a guy who's go t power
and kno ws how to rid e.
CN : You know some people m igh t refe r
to yo u an d Brad as the " Od d Couple"
since y ou're almost op posites.
J W: What's odd? Maybe t h at's t he way
it s ho u ld be; m aybe that's wh at
Kawasak i w an t ed . Now all th e p eople
w ill be putting th eir focus on us and
Kawasak i. They ' ve got a freak and a
geek an d that's wh at they want. T hey 're
getting publicity ; they're advertising and
we 're going to be number one , no two
ways about it.
CN : And y ou want to be number one
too ?
•
JW : Ye ah ! I've got the 250 class points
lead now (Natio nal) and . if m y b ike s
keep go ing t he n I'm goi ng to b e on top.
I'm ge tting support and things are
.ge t t ing better a ll t he ti me . I'm working
on a lo ng term pl an . I may n o t be t he
fir st A me r ican overall cha mpio n but I'm
goi ng to be a living one when I'm there .
Hey, I'm only 21. My fa t he r say s why
d on 't y o u ge t i nto it more b ut
everyti me I get in to th ing s too' fast it
d oesn' t payo ff. I think the wa y that
I'm learning now I'm doing good . It's
co mp letely . different th an the way it
used to be but it's working good and
I'm not getting hurt. I just have to work
out a few de tails and get serious aga in.
Hey . y o u know what I mean. _.
