Eddie Lawson interview

http://www.cyclenews.com/2018/06/article/eddie-lawson-past-present-interview/

 

Thanks man.
I'm a huge fan of Lawson, he's on my top three favorites of all time. Shit, my kid is named after him (#3 choice but only because Schwantz would have been a weird name for a girl and Sam sad f@ck no to Noodles).

 

Thanks for sharing that, Lawson was always my favorite rider. And I'd LOVE to have an original ELR, although the new one looks pretty badass too.

 

“When I went over to Europe the first year, of course, I had to race against Kenny and had to race against Barry Sheene. That was tough, all those guys. But then the next year, it was Freddie (Spencer) who was the guy. Then of course there was Wayne Gardner. Then came Schwantz and Rainey. From the start to the finish, I had to battle some heavy hitters.”

But Doohan had to race against Checa and Barros.

 

Too bad corporate Kawasaki doesn’t have the race mentality like they use too. Pretty cool to have all the suits involved and also,being passionate about it.

 

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Good question. According to Lawson they were involved at a higher level or at least the people in management were race fans themselves etc. Other than Honda it seemed as if most manufactures farmed out their race programs at the time.

 

It’s unfortunate that Kawisaki USA isn’t involved with MOTO America. The zx10 would be very competitive.
I can’t even remember the last time they were directly involved in AMA outside of their deal with Attack.

After Muzzy it never really felt like they were committed 100%, one year in, the next year out. Repeat. LOL

 

Rossi won a bunch of championships against Checa and Barros too

 

Reading the article, but I just had to say, man that Z900 is HOT!!! That is one proper looking UJM.

 

So you went with Eddie? Nice! Us too!

 

Yeah, um, no. His last name for her first and it totally trips people out.

 

Think 70's. Gary Nixon, Yvon Duhamel, Art Bauman. You kids need to show some respect.

Let the good time roll!

Bonus to anyone that can ID the first and fourth mechanics from the right.

 

Erv Kanemoto, Kevin Cameron?

 

I agree. The Scott Russell years. That was the biz. Would be great to see them back.

In regards to the first part of your comment, was Kawasaki USA not involved when they ran Jamie Hacking and Roger Lee? 2007 - 2008 ish....? My memory fails me.

 

How were you guys watching this stuff in the 70's and 80's? It wasn't on any sort of media when I was a kid. Never saw it on tv except once in a while on I think it was Wide World of Sports. I don't remember any magazines except dirt bike stuff.

 

Back at you, who's far left?

 

You watched it in person. Daytona, Road Atlanta, Talladega (NASCAR track), Charlotte.

You waited on Cycle News Dixie to show up about a week later with coverage.

You waited a month after GP races for the Motor Cycle News to show up with coverage.

You have a dad that went to Daytona for motorcycle races starting in 1948. Rode down from Fort Bragg.

You have a Japanese mother who helps with learning inside info from the teams. Or helping me meet Rodger Decoster at the Belgium MX GP when I was nine years old.

Here's a pic of my older brother in Daytona for one of his earliest "Bike Week" experiences. I was not yet born. He was three. Now rides an R1.