12 8 http://www.racerxonline.com
MICKY DYMOND (Chambers-
Gatorade Honda): Nineteen
ninety-two was the last chance
for me. I was like, “Okay, well,
if I can make this work, I’ll keep
racing. I’m on the right bike, and
I’m in a place now where I’ve got
a little experience with this Euro-
pean lifestyle. I can make it work.”MANNEH: Before the ’92 season
started, I met a guy who created
a team. He said, “Hey, let’s do all
the Italian Championships and
the World Championship.” We
had completely standard bikes
from Honda of Italy.HEALEY: Suzuki wanted to sign
me for a lot of money. They werethe team that had the big trucks
and trailers. I was thinking, This
is going to be so cool. I’m on a
big, big, huge factory team!DYMOND: Trampas and I were
teammates, and we trained
and prepared in the U.S. before
going over to Europe. I think we
were both riding pretty good
and working together well. But
when we got over there...
well, some of it was coming to-
gether, and some of it was not.MOORE: I didn’t like the three-
moto format. It was just one more
time that you had to get on the
starting gate to where something
could go wrong in the fi rst corner.MANNEH: I was a good
starter, and I would just sprint.
The races that I would fi nish,
I would fi nish in the top three,
but I had a lot of DNFs.HEALEY: When I fi rst signed,
Sylvain Geboers promised me
everything, but I ended up with
a mechanic who used to be
Pekka Vehkonen’s tire man.
That’s all he did for Yamaha.
He literally couldn’t tighten the
handlebar bolts down tight
enough. I had to go through
every single bolt on that bike.... They ended up giving me
a second mechanic—it was
Harry Everts, Stefan’s father.
That was my second me-
chanic. So yeah, I was doomed
from the get-go.
DYMOND: The opener was
in the sand at Valkenswaard
[Netherlands]. I qualifi ed better
than the other Americans—
11th, I think—but I was four
seconds slower than pole.
Guys like Marnicq Bervoets and
Edwin Evertsen would be riding
with their elbows down, and
you’re like, Man, look at those
goons. Then your mechanic
would say, “Well, don’t laugh at
them—they’re four seconds a
lap faster than you are.”EVERTS: Valkenswaard was my
track, with the sand, and I won.
The fi rst moto was a bit tough,
but the second and third moto I
won, and it was quite easy.HEALEY: Every time Stefan’s
father would touch the bike, it
would blow up. I knew I was
being sabotaged.... So we get
to the fi rst GP at Valkenswaard,Your
mechanic
would say,
‘Well, don’t
laugh at
them—
they’re four
seconds
a lap
faster than
you are.’”MICKY DYMONDCOURTESYMOTO VERTE