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Damon Bradshaw’s third coming
At the end of the 1993 AMA motocross season, Damon Bradshaw hung up his helmet. Fed up, burnt out and completely over motocross racing, he walked away from a four-year factory contract to get away from it all and live the quiet life in Idaho.
Once known in ad slogans as the “Beast from the East,” he became just a dude in the West, kicking back and taking it easy. It’s hard to blame him for wanting some time off. He had been a highly touted minicycle racer brought up to be a motocross champion. He ultimately became a fan favorite on the national scene, running at the front consistently, winning 35 AMA national and Supercross races in the 125 and 250cc classes. He even snagged the 1989 125cc East Coast Supercross championship along the way. But a lifetime of racing pressure had gotten to him. After calling it quits in ’93, he made a brief comeback in ’95, and again in 1997 on a private Honda team. Then, he was gone again.
But now the 29-year-old is back, and on Yamahas, just like in the old days. But this time, he’s racing for himself and doing the 2001-2002 National Arenacross series.
How’d it happen? Bradshaw says that while he was out having “fun” just riding occasional motos or testing with factory teams, he tried a few Arenacross races. “It sparked a fire,” he says enthusiastically. “I knew I wanted to do them all, and 1 knew how I wanted to do it.”
How he wanted to do it was on his own terms. So he went out and bought a motorhome and a trailer and started talking to sponsors. Even though this was definitely his team, he was more
than a little relieved when Yamaha finally came aboard. “I’d already spent a boatload of money!” he says.
With the season fast approaching, Bradshaw landed a few big sponsors in the form of Simple Green, Sidi, M2R and No Fear, all with the help of No Fear’s own Jeff Surwall. Long-time SX/MX tuner Wyatt Seals signed on as mechanic. Bradshaw’s wife Angela and 3-year-old son Dalton, meanwhile, were ready to hit the road. “Getting the motorhome was the best thing I ever did,” Bradshaw says. “I should have done this a long time ago. Now, I’m ‘home’ minutes after the race and I can get away to relax between the practice and the show. Plus, my family is right here all the time. That makes it so much
easier than traveling every week and rushing back home to see them.”
Nursing a sore back from heavy training, Bradshaw had a hard time at the first Arenacross round. “It couldn’t have gone any worse,” he says. “I hadn’t had a chance to practice on my 125 at all, and I just wasn’t ready.” One podium in the three (of four) mains for which he qualified was all he could muster. In for the long haul, Bradshaw put his head down, worked on his weak spots and picked up the pace.
But surely the Arenacross kids were stickin’ it to the old man, too, right? “It wasn’t them,” Bradshaw says. “I was surprised-it’s not a ram-fest. You have to race against these guys in four mains a week and everybody knows what comes around, goes around. The tracks are tight and sometimes you bump, but it’s just racing. It’s the ‘two-week’ riders we worry about,” Bradshaw says, referring to the occasional drop-in racers not concerned with on-track paybacks over the long haul.
“I want to win so bad I can’t stand it,” he adds. “I want to win and I don’t want anybody else to win.” You can hear the desire in his voice as he says it. This coming from a young man who was known for hiding in the factory big rig to avoid reporters, usually because he had nothing good to say. This is a new Damon Bradshaw.
After the season-opening hiccup, things looked up for Bradshaw. He took a couple of wins in each series round, plus became the “King of Geneva” with three wins and a second place when Arenacross went international with a round in Switzerland. “I’m stronger than I used to be and I’m still healthy,” Bradshaw says. “When I retired, I got to do all the things I wanted to do when I was a kid-ride snowmobiles, trailride, fly airplanes-the stuff I thought I missed out on. Now, I want to race. I probably ran through more gas in the last two weeks on the supercross track I built at my parents’ house than 1 did the whole time since I built it.”
Now quite happy and enjoying himself again, Bradshaw is looking to the future and might even venture back into the AMA outdoor nationals. “We’ll see how it goes but, for sure, I’m not doing the whole AMA series. The good thing about this team is it’s my deal.”
-Jimmy Lewis
Too much talent?
No sooner has the Valentino Rossi era begun in Grand Prix roadracing than there are rumors of its end. The Italian prodigy has progressed through the ranks of motorcycle racing’s elite classes with such apparent ease that he’s already looking for new challenges.
Sure, Rossi loves his 200-horsepower Honda NSR500 like a 12-year-old girl loves her pony, but now that the twostrokes are being made obsolete, he’s forced to ride a four-stroke he describes succinctly as being, “Not fun.” He doesn’t like it, it’s heavy, he says, but does anyone really think he isn’t going to win the MotoGP title in 2002? Rossi doesn’t seem to relish this seeming predictability, either, and we may lose the loveable 22-year-old to four-wheeled sport way before we’ve had our fill of him.
Rossi a car racer? It could happen. In the past, Rossi has stated he’s a big fan of rallying. More recently, he’s gone as far as saying he’d consider hanging up his leathers to change disciplines. The class he has set his heart on is World Rally. This series is contested over 11 months and visits five continents. This year, seven major manufacturers have entered factory teams and the organizers are well on their way to making the World Rally Championship rival Formula One as a global TV spectator sport. There’s no doubting the incredibly popular Rossi would be a major asset to this burgeoning series.
At the recent Michelin Race of Champions in Gran Canaria-one ofo Spains Canary Islands-Valentino had the opportunity to show he possesses the skills to climb at least the first few rungs of the WRC ladder. He took to the dirt track in a variety of rally vehicles, one of which was a Honda Blackbirdpowered buggy, and proved moving into race cars is no pipe dream for the talented Italian. Not only did he spank every other invited bike rider from Troy Bayliss to Ruben Xaus, he more than held his own against the very best professional rally drivers.
“I’ve seen him drive and he’s a natural,” said Mitsubishi WRC star Alister McRae. “You get the impression anything he puts his mind to he could succeed at.”
“He’s impressed me a lot,” said German WRC contender Armin Schwarz. “He’s a talented rally driver. The only doubt is if he could work from pace notes. At a track like this he’s very good, but out in a forest he might struggle a bit and would need more experience. He definitely is a talent. He could be a very good driver.”
Stig Blomqvist, 1984 World Rally Champion, has no doubts, saying, “Rossi’s a big talent. When he gets into a car, he drives likes he’s been in it a long time. If he got a good co-driver and got used to the (rally-book) notes, look out. A guy like him would get used to everything quickly. I think if he gets the right support, he can go as far in rallying as he has with bikes.”
With plaudits like those, it seems inevitable we’re going to lose one of our brightest stars to four wheels, but it’s not all bad news. Rossi has signed a two-year deal to ride Honda’s V-Five four-stroke. Let’s hope the next two seasons are as entertaining as the last one.
-Gary Inman
Hayden’s winter sprint
American Honda’s Nicky Hayden continued his run of dominant performances with an unofficial record lap late on the final day of Dunlop’s annual December tests at Daytona International Speedway. Hayden, who won the final four races of the 2001 AMA Superbike season, made the most of three new rear qualifying-tire options, turning a lap of L48.141 to beat reigning series champ Mat Mladin’s existing track record by almost .3 of a second.
During ’Ol qualifying, the top Dunlop runners were unable to get a complete lap from the soft, dual-compound “Q” tire. In December, the top guns could get two flying tours, although Hayden’s rear was just starting to blister following his record run.
“I wish it was for the watch right there!” smiled Hayden, referring to the Rolex that goes to the pole-sitter for the 62nd running of the 200-miler this March. “I know it will be different when we come back, but this shows we got a lot of stuff done. The lap was good, nice and clean, but I didn’t know it would be that good.”
The pair of 2002 development Honda Superbikes on hand attracted the bulk of attention, both bikes showing impressive speed, although Hayden set his fast time on last year’s RC5L Teammate Miguel Duhamel unfortunately suffered an engine failure while riding one of the new Superbikes, oiling the Chicane and bringing testing to a halt for half an hour in the afternoon of day three. Erion Honda’s Superbiker Kurtis Roberts set third-best time with his newly liveried 2001-spec bike.
For much of the test, Yamaha’s onform Anthony Gobert set the pace with his Yamaha YZF-R7, and with an hour and a half left to go, his 1:48.428 looked likely to be the best lap, even though that rear tire was actually out of round! Gobert’s team expects further engine updates in time for the seasonopener, courtesy of a Japanese development program.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mladin is looking to win his third-straight Daytona 200 this year, which would be a nice start to the campaign to win his fourth consecutive Superbike crown. But the Australian wasn’t too happy during tire testing, complaining of a lack of performance from the lead GSX-R750. His team experimented with engine, exhaust and aerodynamic options, but Mladin says more work will be required to hold off the ever faster big Twins. Mladin set sixth-fastest time without using qualifying tires.
Happiest racer at the track was Pascal Picotte, the former Harley-Davidson team leader getting a lifeline in the form of a factory-supported HMC Ducati ride. Two brand-new, carbon-black 998s were on hand for the French-Canadian, and Picotte was quickly up to speed, even though he suffered a minor crash on the second day. Solidly into the racepace l:50-range with limited technical support, Picotte is expected to win races now that he is back on Ducatis after an eight-year break.
Fastest 600cc Supersport time be-
longed to Suzuki’s fully fit Aaron Yates, with a lap at 1:53.9, half a second off Roberts’ track record. Yates was the 2001 preseason favorite before a dirtbike crash sidelined him. He has to be a favorite once again as his primer-painted GSX-R ran through the traps at a solid 163 mph, and he set fastest time without the benefit of a drafting partner. Most of the other best 600 times were set by riders running in drafting packs, a tactic considered to be worth close to a second per lap by the top Pros.
For the first time, the Daytona sessions were timed by the AMA’s official transponder system, making for a more accurate and competitive environment. Warm and humid conditions helped Dunlop evaluate a wide selection of new rubber choices, with several new slick and DOT options making the grade to go into production for the March races. -Colin Fraser
Musical chairs
The Grand Prix paddock isn’t only changing with the addition of 990cc four-strokes for the coming season, as the new bikes have brought about many a rider shuffle as well. The big teams are set, naturally, with guys such as Honda’s Valentino Rossi and Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts Jr. staying on with their respective factories to flog their new “diesels.” But the old bikes ain’t dead yet, and there are plenty of seats left to be filled, plus a new one in World Superbike.
Brit James Haydon was going to ride a Yamaha YZF-R7 in the British Superbike Series, but was poached by Carl Fogarty’s new Sauber Petronas WSB team. Yes, this is the same Sauber that was tipped for GP work, but a couple of snags (uh, millions of dollars, anyone?) made them punt and switch series. They won’t run a full season, and they’ve ditched plans to ally with Triumph, but hope to have the new Triple homologated as a production bike by the fifth round of the season in Monza, Italy, May 12.
With all the liter-class four-strokes popping up in the GPs, the competing WSB series and its organizers are no doubt making whatever concessions they can to get this new brand in the series. Having “Foggy,” the best-known Superbiker on the planet, as the head man of the squad no doubt sweetens the deal for them. Recently let go by Aprilia, Troy Corser hoped to hook up with Fogarty’s team, but that was very much up in the air at presstime. Replacing Corser at Aprilia is the flamboyant Noriyuki Haga, who spent the last season in the GPs with Yamaha after three years and 11 wins in World Superbike. With the full support of the factory. Haga’s team will be run outof-house by Florence-based FGF Corse
But back to the GPs: After winning the 500cc world championship in 1999, Spaniard Alex Criville hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak, and many thought he’d call it quits after 2001. But surprisingly, he’ll be back this season, still sporting Repsol sponsorship, although those logos will now grace the side of a Yamaha YZR500, with Norifumi Abe as his teammate. Bigger news for U.S. fans is young American John Hopkins landing a ride on the Red Bull Yamaha.
Another former world champion, 1993 250cc title-winner Tetsuya Harada, has signed up to ride a factory Honda NSR500 V-Four, after spending the last few seasons on Aprilias.
WSB and GP winner Regis Laconi, meanwhile, has moved from Aprilia’s WSB effort to the firm’s new fourstroke Triple GP entry.
This season will be the last for Kenny Roberts’ KR3 two-stroke, which will be ridden by Nobuatsu Aoki and Jeremy McWilliams. The former spent last season doing development work for the Erv Kanemoto/Bridgestone tire test team, and this year it is expected the KR3 will be shod with just such rubber. As for 37-year-old McWilliams, he was unemployed as of the end of last season, so was pretty happy to get the gig.
The first Grand Prix in this season of change commences at Suzuka, Japan, April 7. It will no doubt be interesting.
Mark Hoyer
