If you missed the earlier posts of Gary's European adventures, you can check here for part 1, and here for part 2.
I honestly don’t even remember how I did that day, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t set Holland on fire by beating all the sand specialists. At the same time I think I did okay. There weren’t very many good paying international races in Germany and I wanted to carry on with my original plans of meeting up in Belgium with Graham and his mechanic’s brother, Jeff Goffings, who was going to be my mechanic. I was ready to get the bikes, parts and truck that I was originally supposed to get, and head north to Belgium. There were better practice tracks and races there and it was a long haul back and forth to race each weekend from Germany. But I couldn’t go until I got the goods from Honda of Germany and they hadn’t even told me if they could do anything for sure. So I had to stay there and see what would happen. About a week or so later the President of Honda put a package together for me. Some American Honda people had been there a few years earlier and left a Dodge Van so they agreed to let me use it. It was not a box van, just a regular van with a lot of miles on it. The Pres. said I could have one new 1982 bike and one 1981 bike, a few spare parts (very few) and that was it. Well, Fred must have felt that I should have more, after all he was the one who was supposed to have set me up to come there in the first place. So unseen by the Pres., Fred and I raided the warehouse and left with two new 1982 bikes, a spare engine, spare wheels, and many, many spare parts. Thank you Fred, that was a huge help.
My next step is to find my way to Graham’s house in Genk, Belgium. Of course, it's much more difficult finding your way around in Europe. Crossing the borders from one country to another was also difficult. I had to have these special papers for each bike. If you didn’t have them, you didn’t cross. Fortunately for me, Fred had hooked me up with these papers, too. It wasn’t too much trouble for me to find my way into Genk. Once there I called Graham and he came to guide me the rest of the way to his house.
I stayed at Graham's house for a few days and met his mechanic, Francois Goffings. Francois had a nice workshop where Graham and I visited him while he worked on Graham's bike. Francois was good to me, letting me use a left over set of Works Showa Forks and introducing me to the Ohlins people who ended up sponsoring me with a good shock. They also did a lot of testing with me in order to get and keep the shock dialed in for the different tracks. I also got hooked up with free pipes, which made a big improvement in the 480's power delivery. I don't remember the name, but it was from a good aftermarket pipe company in Belgium. Those are the only mods on my race bike, the Works Showa forks, the Ohlins shock and the pipe and silencer. Other than that it was a stocker. Luckily for me the stock '82 Honda 480 was a pretty good bike to begin with.
I moved in with my new mechanic, Jeff Goffings. Jeff and his wife were really nice people. Jeff had a big garage in back of his small house that he used as a workshop. He hadn't been using it for a while, but now was motivated to give it an upgrade. He spent a few days cleaning, organizing, even painted the floor. I felt bad that I couldn't help much since I was having another setback with my illness. I was so exhausted all I did was sleep, pretty much all day and night for a few days. During the day I'd get up for a few hours and then go back to bed. After several days I felt good enough to get back at it. Over the next several weeks about all we did was practice, test, and race International races on the weekends. The Ohlins people were doing a lot of testing with Francois and Graham. Jeff and I also got to go and they kept helping us with our suspension settings as well. I very seldom got to do any suspension testing in the US, even when I was on a factory team. Of course the preload adjustments were made and any obvious problems were adjusted but other then that I just rode it. I didn't know anything about setting up suspension. But I was ready to learn and the Ohlins people taught me a lot.
Most of these pre-GP International races were close by in Belgium, Holland, and northern France. However, once we traveled to southern France for two high-paying international races. I was riding good and placed 2nd in one and 1st in the other. I still couldn’t do any training because I was still fighting that deep-seated illness thing I had. I would feel okay for several days, then I would get sick again with a sore throat, hot and cold spells and become really weak and tried. But I was noticing that I wasn't getting as sick as before.
When we arrived back in Genk, from the two international races in southern France, the first GP was in a few weeks in Nancy, France. I felt like I was about as ready as I could possibly be considering my illness, and being on a slightly modified production bike against full-on works bikes. There was no production rule in GP racing and there still isn’t a production rule across the pond, only a weight limit. This first race was really important to me because I had been trying to negotiate a better deal with Honda of Japan to get a works bike and parts. At this time the GPs were still two 40 minutes plus two lap motos, safe to say two 45 minute motos. I had been told some of the tracks had well over three minute lap times.
We made the trip from Genk, Belgium, to Nancy, France, on Friday, stayed in a motel and were at the track early Saturday morning. On Saturday there were two one hour practice sessions then, two groups of 45 minute timed qualifying sessions. All but the top ten from the previous year had to qualify. After the two one hour practice sessions I found out I would be in the first group of qualifiers. Each and every lap of the qualifiers were officially timed on this fast, wide, hilly, hard-packed wet and slippery track. The top fastest 15 riders from each group would qualify for Sunday’s main motos. That’s 30 riders from the two qualifying groups and the top 10 riders from last year making a 40 rider gate.
After qualifying was over I went back to the tent to see if I had indeed qualified or not. As I was going down and down through the list looking for my name I finally found it in 16th place, one position out of qualifying. I felt terrible. With all the hardship I dealt with to get there and then have a stupid mistake like that take me out of even qualifying was just gut wrenching. Then there was still a glimmer of hope. My mechanic Jeff found out that I was the first alternate, meaning that if someone didn’t make at least five laps in the mandatory timed practice Sunday morning for starting positions on the gate, I would get to race, being the first alternate from the first timed qualifying session. This also meant that I would get to practice and do timed practice Sunday morning just in case someone who already qualified didn’t make the mandatory five timed practice laps or didn’t show up for the start of the first moto.
That night was depressing. There was a good chance I wouldn’t even get to race. The next morning I was being optimistic thinking that someone would have bike problems and not make the five timed laps or not make it to staging for the first moto. First thing Sunday morning was an one hour practice session. Man, I’m telling you between Saturday and Sunday those GPs gave you plenty of practice time. Next was the half hour of timed practice for starting positions where each rider has to do at least five laps. I was 10th fastest in this session, which obviously was plenty fast enough to qualify but remember qualifying for the race was yesterday. I went back to the pits anxious to find out if some rider didn’t make the mandatory five laps. Unfortunately for me everyone made them. Now my only chance to even get in the race was if someone didn’t show up at staging for the first moto.
Near the end of that timed practice I had an accident on the track causing a German Maico rider (who I think was Herbert Schmitz) to crash very hard. It was a total accident but it was mostly my fault. On a very fast sweeping corner (fourth gear pinned of a 500) I was slowing down to get off the track, I looked behind but somehow didn’t see Schmitz coming up very fast behind me. As I was heading for the side of the track he high-sided over my rear tire. When he got himself together from the yard sale and returned to his pit, someone must have explained to him my situation and made it sound like I did it on purpose so he wouldn’t be able to race and I would take his place as the first alternate. No matter how badly I wanted to race I wouldn’t try something as low and difficult to pull off as that sketchy move. But Schmitz must have believed whoever told him that exaggerated tale, and showed up for the first moto. At the time I didn’t know who was going to show or not show so I had to get ready for the first moto and wait to see if everyone showed up or not. I waited between staging and the entrance for the gate where the riders began to go pass and fill the gate. Every last rider made it through so I had to head back to the pits and watch the first GP go off without me. Schmitz pulled off after the start with sore ribs, but it was enough to keep me out of the race.
I really don’t remember if I had to go through the same ordeal in order to have a chance to race the second moto or if I automatically couldn’t race the second moto because I didn’t race the first. But I do remember that one way or another I wasn’t allowed to race the second moto either. So all I could do was watch the races that day.
After the race and after the riders came down from the podium and started walking back to the pits, I ran into Brad Lackey (one of the only other Americans) who was in his 10th year of GP racing. I believe Brad placed second overall that day. He filled me in on just how tough it was at the GPs after I told him how I didn’t qualify. That was like rubbing salt into my open wounds. Right after the salt sting from Brad I saw one of the Honda of Japan Race Team manager guys. He had heard about me trying to get some help so when I introduced myself to him he seemed happy to meet me in his broken English. The first thing he asked me was how I did. As I tried to explain to him what had happen he just kept saying, you no qualify, you no qualify as he walked away. And that was about it, that was my big showing in the first GP of my 1982 tour. I had worked so hard and made a lot of sacrifices for this chance. I had high expectations for myself only to come away disappointed and humiliated.
I headed back to the truck so we could get out of this nightmare, but there was no escaping this depressing outcome all week. The first GP had come and gone, I didn’t have any points and the people from Japan that I was trying to impress didn’t even think I could qualify. And on top of all that I was still sick. Next week the GP was in Holland. I'm not sure about the name of the track, but it was a typical rough sandy circuit. Now my fitness would be a major factor. Check back next month, for part 4, as I share what went down at the 2nd 1982 500 GP in Holland.
I honestly don’t even remember how I did that day, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t set Holland on fire by beating all the sand specialists. At the same time I think I did okay. There weren’t very many good paying international races in Germany and I wanted to carry on with my original plans of meeting up in Belgium with Graham and his mechanic’s brother, Jeff Goffings, who was going to be my mechanic. I was ready to get the bikes, parts and truck that I was originally supposed to get, and head north to Belgium. There were better practice tracks and races there and it was a long haul back and forth to race each weekend from Germany. But I couldn’t go until I got the goods from Honda of Germany and they hadn’t even told me if they could do anything for sure. So I had to stay there and see what would happen. About a week or so later the President of Honda put a package together for me. Some American Honda people had been there a few years earlier and left a Dodge Van so they agreed to let me use it. It was not a box van, just a regular van with a lot of miles on it. The Pres. said I could have one new 1982 bike and one 1981 bike, a few spare parts (very few) and that was it. Well, Fred must have felt that I should have more, after all he was the one who was supposed to have set me up to come there in the first place. So unseen by the Pres., Fred and I raided the warehouse and left with two new 1982 bikes, a spare engine, spare wheels, and many, many spare parts. Thank you Fred, that was a huge help.
My next step is to find my way to Graham’s house in Genk, Belgium. Of course, it's much more difficult finding your way around in Europe. Crossing the borders from one country to another was also difficult. I had to have these special papers for each bike. If you didn’t have them, you didn’t cross. Fortunately for me, Fred had hooked me up with these papers, too. It wasn’t too much trouble for me to find my way into Genk. Once there I called Graham and he came to guide me the rest of the way to his house.
I stayed at Graham's house for a few days and met his mechanic, Francois Goffings. Francois had a nice workshop where Graham and I visited him while he worked on Graham's bike. Francois was good to me, letting me use a left over set of Works Showa Forks and introducing me to the Ohlins people who ended up sponsoring me with a good shock. They also did a lot of testing with me in order to get and keep the shock dialed in for the different tracks. I also got hooked up with free pipes, which made a big improvement in the 480's power delivery. I don't remember the name, but it was from a good aftermarket pipe company in Belgium. Those are the only mods on my race bike, the Works Showa forks, the Ohlins shock and the pipe and silencer. Other than that it was a stocker. Luckily for me the stock '82 Honda 480 was a pretty good bike to begin with.
I moved in with my new mechanic, Jeff Goffings. Jeff and his wife were really nice people. Jeff had a big garage in back of his small house that he used as a workshop. He hadn't been using it for a while, but now was motivated to give it an upgrade. He spent a few days cleaning, organizing, even painted the floor. I felt bad that I couldn't help much since I was having another setback with my illness. I was so exhausted all I did was sleep, pretty much all day and night for a few days. During the day I'd get up for a few hours and then go back to bed. After several days I felt good enough to get back at it. Over the next several weeks about all we did was practice, test, and race International races on the weekends. The Ohlins people were doing a lot of testing with Francois and Graham. Jeff and I also got to go and they kept helping us with our suspension settings as well. I very seldom got to do any suspension testing in the US, even when I was on a factory team. Of course the preload adjustments were made and any obvious problems were adjusted but other then that I just rode it. I didn't know anything about setting up suspension. But I was ready to learn and the Ohlins people taught me a lot.
Most of these pre-GP International races were close by in Belgium, Holland, and northern France. However, once we traveled to southern France for two high-paying international races. I was riding good and placed 2nd in one and 1st in the other. I still couldn’t do any training because I was still fighting that deep-seated illness thing I had. I would feel okay for several days, then I would get sick again with a sore throat, hot and cold spells and become really weak and tried. But I was noticing that I wasn't getting as sick as before.
When we arrived back in Genk, from the two international races in southern France, the first GP was in a few weeks in Nancy, France. I felt like I was about as ready as I could possibly be considering my illness, and being on a slightly modified production bike against full-on works bikes. There was no production rule in GP racing and there still isn’t a production rule across the pond, only a weight limit. This first race was really important to me because I had been trying to negotiate a better deal with Honda of Japan to get a works bike and parts. At this time the GPs were still two 40 minutes plus two lap motos, safe to say two 45 minute motos. I had been told some of the tracks had well over three minute lap times.
We made the trip from Genk, Belgium, to Nancy, France, on Friday, stayed in a motel and were at the track early Saturday morning. On Saturday there were two one hour practice sessions then, two groups of 45 minute timed qualifying sessions. All but the top ten from the previous year had to qualify. After the two one hour practice sessions I found out I would be in the first group of qualifiers. Each and every lap of the qualifiers were officially timed on this fast, wide, hilly, hard-packed wet and slippery track. The top fastest 15 riders from each group would qualify for Sunday’s main motos. That’s 30 riders from the two qualifying groups and the top 10 riders from last year making a 40 rider gate.
After qualifying was over I went back to the tent to see if I had indeed qualified or not. As I was going down and down through the list looking for my name I finally found it in 16th place, one position out of qualifying. I felt terrible. With all the hardship I dealt with to get there and then have a stupid mistake like that take me out of even qualifying was just gut wrenching. Then there was still a glimmer of hope. My mechanic Jeff found out that I was the first alternate, meaning that if someone didn’t make at least five laps in the mandatory timed practice Sunday morning for starting positions on the gate, I would get to race, being the first alternate from the first timed qualifying session. This also meant that I would get to practice and do timed practice Sunday morning just in case someone who already qualified didn’t make the mandatory five timed practice laps or didn’t show up for the start of the first moto.
That night was depressing. There was a good chance I wouldn’t even get to race. The next morning I was being optimistic thinking that someone would have bike problems and not make the five timed laps or not make it to staging for the first moto. First thing Sunday morning was an one hour practice session. Man, I’m telling you between Saturday and Sunday those GPs gave you plenty of practice time. Next was the half hour of timed practice for starting positions where each rider has to do at least five laps. I was 10th fastest in this session, which obviously was plenty fast enough to qualify but remember qualifying for the race was yesterday. I went back to the pits anxious to find out if some rider didn’t make the mandatory five laps. Unfortunately for me everyone made them. Now my only chance to even get in the race was if someone didn’t show up at staging for the first moto.
Near the end of that timed practice I had an accident on the track causing a German Maico rider (who I think was Herbert Schmitz) to crash very hard. It was a total accident but it was mostly my fault. On a very fast sweeping corner (fourth gear pinned of a 500) I was slowing down to get off the track, I looked behind but somehow didn’t see Schmitz coming up very fast behind me. As I was heading for the side of the track he high-sided over my rear tire. When he got himself together from the yard sale and returned to his pit, someone must have explained to him my situation and made it sound like I did it on purpose so he wouldn’t be able to race and I would take his place as the first alternate. No matter how badly I wanted to race I wouldn’t try something as low and difficult to pull off as that sketchy move. But Schmitz must have believed whoever told him that exaggerated tale, and showed up for the first moto. At the time I didn’t know who was going to show or not show so I had to get ready for the first moto and wait to see if everyone showed up or not. I waited between staging and the entrance for the gate where the riders began to go pass and fill the gate. Every last rider made it through so I had to head back to the pits and watch the first GP go off without me. Schmitz pulled off after the start with sore ribs, but it was enough to keep me out of the race.
I really don’t remember if I had to go through the same ordeal in order to have a chance to race the second moto or if I automatically couldn’t race the second moto because I didn’t race the first. But I do remember that one way or another I wasn’t allowed to race the second moto either. So all I could do was watch the races that day.
After the race and after the riders came down from the podium and started walking back to the pits, I ran into Brad Lackey (one of the only other Americans) who was in his 10th year of GP racing. I believe Brad placed second overall that day. He filled me in on just how tough it was at the GPs after I told him how I didn’t qualify. That was like rubbing salt into my open wounds. Right after the salt sting from Brad I saw one of the Honda of Japan Race Team manager guys. He had heard about me trying to get some help so when I introduced myself to him he seemed happy to meet me in his broken English. The first thing he asked me was how I did. As I tried to explain to him what had happen he just kept saying, you no qualify, you no qualify as he walked away. And that was about it, that was my big showing in the first GP of my 1982 tour. I had worked so hard and made a lot of sacrifices for this chance. I had high expectations for myself only to come away disappointed and humiliated.
I headed back to the truck so we could get out of this nightmare, but there was no escaping this depressing outcome all week. The first GP had come and gone, I didn’t have any points and the people from Japan that I was trying to impress didn’t even think I could qualify. And on top of all that I was still sick. Next week the GP was in Holland. I'm not sure about the name of the track, but it was a typical rough sandy circuit. Now my fitness would be a major factor. Check back next month, for part 4, as I share what went down at the 2nd 1982 500 GP in Holland.
12/15/2014 6:41am
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