Profile: Skip Aksland
PROFILE: SKIP AKSLAND
It’s His Turn for a Protege
D. Randy Riggs
Motorcycle racing has extremes. Usually the racer's road wanders between peaks of elation and valleys of disappointment. Skip Aksland, now four years into a promising pro career, knows all about those peaks and valleys. He hit them all last year.
After a brilliant 2nd-place finish in the Charlotte Road Race national and 8th place in San Jose’s May Mile, the Skipper stood 5th in the 1977 point standings, a start on the long season ahead. But after San Jose, Aksland went a full month before earning additional national points. When they finally came it was on the pavement, not in the dirt track events as he had expected.
Something wasn’t clicking on dirt tracks. It was his first year riding what he thought might put him in contention for the championship, a Harley-Davidson XR750. Skip had ridden Yamahas almost exclusively since turning professional at Ascot in 1973.
That was when, through his brother Bud. he first met Ken Roberts. Bud Aksland was Roberts’ tuner, an association that grew out of young Kenny hanging around the motorcycle shop owned by Bud and Skip’s father. Things just sort of fell into place and it seemed only natural that Roberts, already well on his way to winning his first Grand National championship, would lend a bit of racing guidance to his young friend and future racing competitor.
Whether or not the first year pro rider tried to emulate Roberts back in those days is hard to say, but he wore leathers identical to those used by K.R. as a novice, and went on to become the nation’s high point rider in his division . . . just like Roberts. Already the motorcycle press was calling him “Kenny Roberts’ protégé,” a tag he has yet to live down.
As a Junior, things didn’t go quite as easily for Skip, even with Roberts opening a few doors and offering sound advice. Aksland had trouble adapting to the Yamaha 750s he rode for Shell Thuitt and he wound up as the 4th-ranked Junior when the 1974 season ended. But it w^as a year in which he began road racing in earnest and it was apparent from the beginning that the wiry teenager had definite ability on the pavement.
When Aksland began traveling around the country in 1975 as a rookie Expert, he found out how tough it really is out there.
“When I’d go to Ascot I’d know what tire to run, what gear to use—I had it all down pretty good,” he recalls. “But anywhere else I was totally lost when it came to figuring out how' to set up the bike. The whole year was a learning year.”
It w’as also the year that Jay Springsteen bounded into national prominence by winning two quick dirt nationals, races that became stepping stones to his “Rookie of the Year” title.
Aksland w'as hired as a test rider for Yamaha in 1976, working closely with Roberts, Kei Carruthers and his brother Bud. Like the previous year. Skip was learning, and the Yamaha support wras more than welcome. But it could’ve been a better year.
When Skip saw' that Yamaha support would not be forthcoming in 1977 (they were committed to an all-out effort for Roberts) he got together with his friend Terry Sage and a fellow' named Stormy Winters to build some equipment. Sponsorship came in large part from Skip’s father Cliff, PJ-1 Lubricants and Goodyear Tires.
“I knew after the May San Jose in 1977 that the Harley could work for me if I could learn it faster,” says Aksland. “Its power is so much different than the Yamaha’s. It took me half the season to figure it out.”
His pavement prow'ess didn’t suffer while he was figuring out the dirt tracker. Aksland led the Sears Point National until Roberts got by, and Skip finished 2nd—this after winning the 250cc event going away. His next chance came at Laguna Seca, in the Lormula 750 event. Roberts was in Syracuse, New' York, at a dirt national, but newly-crowned world champion Steve Baker and Aussie Gregg Hansford were there to fill the gap. Aksland went on to win over Baker and the rest in convincing style, a victory that really put the Skipper on the map in the road racing world.
But the best was yet to come as Skip saddled up the Stormy Winters/PJ-1 Lubricants Harley the following weekend at San Jose. Although several riders, including Roberts, were in a “must win” situation, Aksland took the all-out high speed battle of the Mile against the best in racing.
The back-to-back victory weekends marked the high point of Aksland’s racing career to date, and they naturally had a positive effect on his confidence.
“One thing about me. I can’t really kid myself.” he says. “I have to beat someone before I really have the confidence I need. I have to prove it to myself first. I can’t just say on the starting line, ‘I can beat all these guys,’ even though I have worries about some of them.”
After proving he really could “beat all these guys,” the Riverside national arrived. People were buzzing about the expected Roberts/Aksland confrontation, because Skip was riding the bubble.
The bubble broke even before the race got underway. Skip and Kenny were out on the track to do some filming and Skip got off in a high-speed turn, breaking his arm and putting an end to the season. Not only did the spill end Skip’s hopes for Riverside, it ruined the chance for him to run the last national of the year at Ascot, the track he knows so well, on the Harley he’d finally come to grips with.
Skip Aksland had learned about the peaks and valleys of racing in just a few short weekends.
This year Skip again has support and sponsorship from his dad, PJ-1 Lubricants, Goodyear Tires and Lectron Carburetors. Terry Sage will be his traveling mechanic and Stormy Winters wall build his dirt track equipment. The road race machines will be prepared by his brother Bud. One can’t ask for much more than that.
With Kenny in Europe, Aksland is more than ready. “I won’t have my mother hen around anymore. He’s the best and I’ll miss him. but I think road racing will be better for the riders who never had a chance with him around. With Kenny gone, if I can pick off all the road races and finish consistently in the top 10 in the dirt races, I have a good chance at Number One and I’m going for it.”
What about being Kenny Roberts’ protégé for so long? “Sure, I’ve been his whatever-ya-call-it, but I think I’ve proven I can stand on my own two feet. I think now it’s my turn for a protégé!” [§]
