Cycle News

i Bob Gill ; WHAT MAKES AGOOD OL' SOUTHERN BOY JUMP 15 CAR :; .., w Z ~ W ..J o > o > have my QINf1 By Bob Gill with John Hueller. ON COMPETITION: "Well, my life is motorcycles and I'd like to eventually racing team. I really would. I raced the National circuit as a Junior in 1969. A lot of other riders had ponies on me - a lot of horsepower, but I did real good as a Junior and usually had the lirst BSA across the line. I earned 39 points as a Junior but decided I wasn't ready to move up.. Traveling the National circuit as a Junior when you're married is not neat. It is very expensive. If I were eighteen now, I'd still be racing. l'tI tell you one thing, my racing .xperience has helped me a lot jumping. I've been abl. to save it several times when I staned sliding on pavement because of my racing experience. "t've thought of so many things when I was racing that I would like to have done with bikes - an idea about a bike. t'd like to have the means to do them. If I could get a couple of kids who are really fast and follow the National circuit. I'd do thal Nth a racing team. 1get some good ideas and I enjoy building bikes." ON JUMPING CARS: "I'mindir.ctly sponsor.d by Suzuki Ihroul/l Suzuki of Greenville. It sometimes takes forever to get parts that way. As for as Ih. bike (TM400) ilself, ii's Iroubl. fr••. I don'l ev.n think Ih••ngin.'s brok.n in y.t. I do ••ry Iilll. to prepare the bike aclually. Th.r. is on. k.y secr.t that keeps the bike togeth.r, but I don'l use frame gussets or anything. It's a trade secret. ""ve been scared jumping - parlicuJarly an indoor jump. When you're up there in the air, those cars look like peanuts. At the San Diego jump, the .nd of Ihat ramp was nine feet off the ground. Th. ap.x of the jump was mayb.16·18 feet in the .ir. ThU's il long way. I went qui~e a distance past the b.st CM. That wu a steep trajectory ju mp. On most of my jumps, I use a low traj.ctory and wast. a 101 of room beyond the cars. You always wanl 10 b. turning 6500 RPM in high gear at the top of the lak.off ramp. Th.n you can figure you're all right. "A lot of times when you hit, it jars your ~nds off the ban. Th. impact is pr.tty strong. That's - no kidding- on. reason I lik. the DiffBrak•. I can still g.t stopped with my hands off the ba.. for a while.. I don't know why more jumpen don't use motocross bik.s. Th.y w.re design.d to go straight through the air. You can jump on anything, bUI landins straight... uJumpinl, especially long jumps, is mainly a 'NUtr of shaping your h.ad. I try not to preach at my performances, tho.... Telling kids not 10 jump is a good way to g.t them to try it. If you say 'don't', th.y'li go do it. It's human nalure. If you don'I say anything, maybe only a very f.w are loing to Iry it. u.f £w:I's jumps Me a result of prilctice, I'd hate to be around when h.'s doing his practic.s. I did make on. big misUke. I W~ iumping four or five can for some photolraphs. Th. photographer, K.n Dunlap, stood below the ramp and I hil him with Ih. fOOl peg taking off. Broke' his urn, smashed his equipment I.nd I did about two endoes through the air, landing with the bars in my ch.st. Br.alhing blood, the whol. shot. That was Ih. worsl bUll'•• only fl.llen four times. "Surfac.s are a probl.m. Wh.n I mad. Ihat canyon (155 ft. I.cross I. river in Louisiana...Ed.) jump. the surface was pumpsand I.nd I couldn't get any traction during my practice runs. Never got inlo high g.ar unlil I aClually mad. Ih. jump. Th. floor in San Di.go had some kind of powd.r on it. W. used dragslor traction Sluff, tri.d •••rylhing. Jusl mad. il worse. I slid into the grandstands a coupl. of limes trying to get stopped in praclic•. II was r.ally usinl me up. Thai wun't too neat at 1.11. We spent hours trying to get thl.t floor rilhl and at the .nd it was aboul half as good as plain concrete. "Anything thai happens to you wh.n you're on thai tak.-off ramp continues throughoul Ih. jump. It's gr.atly magnifi.d by the tim. you g.1 10 the oth.r sid•. Lik. Super Joe w.. a little 100 fast up at Sacram.nto. I got too much traction once on a ramp thai had sand in the paint. Th. fronl end came up and just k.pl lifting wh.n I was in the air. About halfway o.er I decided to rid. il out and cam. down straiJht up on the rear wheel. It pilched m. o.er wh.n I hit but all I did was cut my fing.... "Not using I. ramp is actually better for landinI, be'cause if you land wronC on the ramp, you're done. But if you come down a littl. crook.d withoul the ramp, you have a chane. 10 correct. Th. bike has a t.ndency 10 strailhten itself on the ground. The more you plan a jump, fi,uring ramp anlles and the Iik., the bett.r and eventually, longer, jump you can mak•. You can take any idiot, stuff his pockets full of money, shoot him off I. ramp and scrape him up on the other sid•. I make jumps to land upriJht and k••p it 10IOth.r. "There ue no easy jumps." ON HIMSELF: "Falling down, either racing or jumping is against my whole deal. It just doesn't work. I try to figure out just exactly what I have to do in making a jump and stay with it, even if something in my head is saying 'This isn'l right.' "I try to make my own decisions aboul my life and my work. My manager will sel up dales for me to jump and all but then I decide where I'll go and where I'll jump. I won't perform at some things. I don't think of my jumping as a carnival sideshow. I prefer to do it at races: motorcycle or drag races. Not al a circus kind of thing. "I think I can be doing this (jumping) for another two years. I'm 26. My wife is very understanding about it. She likes anything I do. She's kind of used to me coming back afler some weeks of racing busted up, when I was aJunior. "I knew when I started I couldn't go out an.d jump 15 cars ramp to ramp, so 1 though. just to ~ different, I'd jump five or six cars with no landing ramp. When I first started, I destroyed a lot of scooters, a 101 of wheels, and hurt myself several times. But I .fmally got it together. The more prq>aration, the more thought that goes into what you do, the better it works. "Slarting reaDy soon, I plan to start conducting safety clinics for riders. Talking about what I do, motorcycling in general, trying to make street riders safer. It's amazing how many people there are out there on bikes thai don'l know what they're doing." Already two wins in only two cycle races ... that's the current record of the new Thermo- Chem CYCLE COOLERS. Top honors were grabbed off in the "Tulsa Sportsman 1/2 Mile' and the' AMA Professional 1/2 Mile" by cyclists using this highly advanced cooling system. Made of all aluminum. the CYCLE COOLERS are designed to prolong bearing life and improve the performance of most 4-cycle motorcycles by cooling the engine oil. Model CC101: Harley 74. Sportster and Supergllde; BSA-250cc. 500cc. 650cc. and 750cc. Triumph-250cc. 500cc. 650cc. and 750cc; Norton -750cc. Model '::Cl02: Honda-750cc. . :::J PREVENTS OIL BREAK-DOWN DUE TO HIGH OIL TEMPERATURES - helps reduce emmisslon pollution =:J INCREASES ENGINE RELIABILITY -fewer costly repairs or breakdowns or P.D.1lea 45504/1.9181 66J.515f1Tuls•. 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Features a low-profile racing tread pattern and zig-zag wrap-around traction tread. Formed of non-chunking, hIgh-hysteresis rubber. . The K102: The Universal Tire. For front and rear use In on and off-the-road riding. Dee.p (11/32") tread for extra mileage. Outstanding all-weather traction. to do a man's Job. You E:ould say, we offer you a superman 'On'lnen'al~ '\.:?) The ~B: The Front Tire. Ribbed tor precise steering. Cross grooved tor instant stoppmg. . ~ Conti RUbb~.r Products. I~c.• Carteret. N J. 07008: Tel. (201) 969.2200 Western Off,cft: 4900 Hannover Place. Fremont, Calif. 94538: Tel. (415) 657.8080 For Superbikes

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