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/1414541
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 P123 it became obvious where the fac- tory was going to put its primary efforts. Mashburn was relegated that year to more or less being the guinea pig rider for the facto- ry, testing and helping to perfect the machines that Roberts would eventually win on. Despite being overshadowed by the new young gun, Mashburn wasn't totally unhappy about his situation. He was still getting to race all over the country and he'd turn in an occasional great ride, especially if the tracks were rough. "I knew Kenny was a special talent," Mashburn said. "But I was faithful to Yamaha. They were the ones who gave me my first big break and I was happy to go along with the program." After Roberts' impressive rookie expert season, teams came calling. If Yamaha wanted to hold on to the best prospect in AMA racing for the 1973 season, they were going to have to pay, and pay big. "Kenny had a manager, and no one back then had manag- ers," Mashburn said. "With his talent and a manager, he was able to secure a major portion of Yamaha's total racing budget. Yamaha decided to eliminate its existing team and form this new one with Roberts and give a little help to Don Castro. I found out I'd lost my ride in Cycle News. I told Yamaha they were crazy for putting their eggs all in one bas- ket, but obviously it turned out to be the best thing they could ever do. It was amazing how incred- ibly good Kenny was. "And, of course, that hap- pened to be the same year BSA and Triumph stopped having a factory racing team, and I had turned down an offer from Harley a year before, so there was no chance to go out and pick up a last-minute factory ride." Mashburn emerged from the burgeoning scrambles and TT racing scene as a young rider in the mid-1960s. He became a Bultaco factory-backed rider and won a slew of District-37 races in various disciplines. He was so good that he actually beat Roger DeCoster, Joel Robert, Dave Bickers and the rest of the European stars in an early 125cc motocross race at Castaic Park. "Cycle News had a $100 reward at that time to the first American who could beat the Europeans," Mashburn remem- bers. "The 125 class really didn't get any respect back then, and they told me they meant it had to be in the 250cc class. So that's one of the claims to fame I never got credit for." Yamaha recognized the talent of young Mashburn and hired him to race its new DT-1 in TT races at Ascot Park, where he may have earned the dubious distinction of becoming the low- est paid factory rider of all time. "I was paid $20 per race, and they would match the purse up to $20," Mashburn says with a laugh. "So, the maximum I could get from Yamaha was $40 per race. But I was 18 years old, and I had factory leathers, and all I had to do was show up at the track. They gave me the best tuner in the world in Dennis Mahan." The Mahan and Mashburn relationship didn't get off on the right foot. "In retrospect, as good of a tuner as Dennis was, he was prob- ably a little put off by the fact that he was building bikes for a nov- ice," Mashburn says. "I told him I wanted a pillion pad put on the rear fender and he said no. I told him that I was the rider, he was the me- chanic, and I wanted a pillion pad. He said the bike was designed for the rider to stay in one place. I told This Man's Career