VOL. 51 ISSUE 16 APRIL 22, 2014 P61
soon as you stop working at it everyone's
going to catch up and you'll lose."
When asked what he thought was the
biggest single characteristic he thought
it takes to make a top-notch factory me-
chanic, Williamson was quick to say self-
discipline.
"When you travel and are stuck in a
semi for a couple of days rebuilding the
bikes, no one is watching over you," Wil-
liamson explained. "It would be real easy
if you wanted to, to run the thing how it
is or take short cuts, but I feel like I've al-
ways had that self-discipline to do the max
every time. That's one of the things that's
missing with some of the guys these days.
Some of the stuff I see go wrong with oth-
er people's bikes, a lot of times it's simple
stuff that could have been avoided."
>>People Skills
Many a mechanic can work on bikes, but
how do you relate to people? A relation-
ship with the rider is ultimately one of the
more important elements in forming a
winning combination. Williamson said the
chemistry is just there or it isn't. He said
when he began working with Villopoto
there was a pretty big learning curve.
"We spent a lot of time just sitting down
and talking," Williamson said of his early
days with Villopoto. "There was a lot of
time teaching him how important testing is
and how to figure out what he was look-
ing for in bike setup. I can't believe how
far he's come. He's really come around
on testing. He didn't use to like to test and
now when we go testing he's the last guy
out there at the end of the day still working
Although it
looks like all
glamour to an
outsider, the
job of a factory
race mechanic
demands long
hours, hard
work and
dedication.
