IN
THE
WIND
P28
Motocross Championship. From
1985 through 1987, Muzzy-tuned
machines that won the 125cc
AMA National Motocross Cham-
pionship, the Daytona 200 and
the AMA Superbike Champion-
ship.
Winning with Muzzy as crew
chief or tuner were Hall of Fam-
ers Eddie Lawson, Ricky Gra-
ham, Scott Russell and Doug
Chandler as well as Ron Lechien,
Miguel Duhamel, Rickey Gadson
and numerous others.
In 1990, Kawasaki agreed
and provided Muzzy with "a very
minimal budget" to build a race
bike and hire a rider. He recruit-
ed Russell and Chandler, who
subsequently finished first and
second in the 1990 AMA 750cc
Supersport Championship.
Chandler also won the AMA Su-
perbike Championship that year.
Kawasaki then asked Muzzy
to run its FIM World Superbike
team. He accepted, and the team
won two World Championships.
Muzzy said the 1993 season
was his most memorable, work-
ing with teams that won the AMA
Supersport Championship and
the FIM World Superbike Cham-
pionship and notching Kawa-
saki's first victory in the Suzuki 8
hours Endurance Road Race.
Muzzy Performance Products
is still operating in Bend, Oregon,
and Team Muzzy is still racing.
WHY TWO?
W
hy did Valentino Rossi
insist on a contract re-
newal of two years rather than
one? At the German Grand
Prix, he revealed the reason –
curiosity. "I wanted two years
because I want to try the 2016
bikes," he said. "I think Mo-
toGP will change very much…
the crucial things, electronics
and tires. I think it will be very
different, with another kind of
riding style and another way to
control the bike. It is like Year
Zero."
Rossi will be turning 37 when
the new all-the-same Open
bikes come in for 2016, and
starting his 21st season – or
coming of age as a GP rider.
But this curiosity is yet more
proof that age has not withered
his talent or enthusiasm.
Year Zero sees the end of
"Factory option" prototypes,
with all bikes using control
electronics and the same tires
etc.
More significant still is the
switch to Michelin tires from
Bridgestone. The French com-
pany has a different engineer-
ing philosophy as well as differ-
ent wheel sizes.
The first Michelin tests are
penciled in for Brno in the
Czech Republic - after the
summer break.
Michael Scott
Valentino Rossi wants to try out
the new MotoGP rules before he
retires.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
