(2001)

Vance and Hines crewchief Jim Leonard has spent a decade in the AMA paddock, and he's pretty much seen it all. In a paddock dominated by Alpha Male egos, Leonard is a clear-thinking pragmatist. Simply put, Leonard understands more about Superbikes and Superbike racing than just about anyone.

A Southern California guy with a dry wit, Leonard garnered the attention of Terry Vance after the Vance and Hines squad at a club race at Willow. The then-new Vance and Hines Yamaha organization was testing their bikes, and Leonard was tuning for a local privateer who just happened to beat the V&H squad. Since then, Leonard has worked with riders like David Sadowski, Thomas Stevens, Eddie Lawson, Tom Kipp, Jamie James, Anthony Gobert, Ben Bostrom, Troy Bayliss, Steve Rapp, and John Kocinski. He's been a part of AMA Superbike through the growth decade of the 1990s.

Currently the V&H squad is in limbo for 2001, a competent and successful race team without a manufacturer to back them. Rumors persist that the Southern California outfit will return next season with Harley-Davidson or Aprilia, but at this time there is no 2001 deal.

After the Willow finale, Soup sat down with Jim and asked him for his views on a few topics.Jim fondly recalls the early days of the Vance and Hines Yamaha team. "We never really had the best bike, but we did a lot of neat and creative stuff with Byron (Hines), a lot of engine development in both Superbike and Supersport."

After Vance brought Leonard on board at the end of 1989, the race to get to Daytona began. The team was fielding Thomas Stevens and David Sadowski on the old five-valve OW01 Superbikes. "Time wise, we were under the gun because we were going to Daytona in March. I built five engines and we had one factory engine from Japan. We got to Daytona and we qualified one-two, and won both Twin 50s and the 200. When we left, I still hadn't seen the track," Jim laughs. Sadowski won the 200 for Yamaha.

The dream season tailed off, however. "We left Daytona, and we were pretty pumped," said Leonard. "We thought, this might not be too bad. We were going pretty good at the next races. I was Ski's mechanic, building his bikes and engines, and by then we had worked another mechanic in to building engines. Then Ski fell off and hurt himself, and it went downhill from there."

"At the end of '90, I was pretty disappointed. We tore up a lot of equipment. A lot of things went on that didn't make much sense to me, but I was new to the game, so I was kinda leaning the hows and whys. At the end on 1990 Thomas Stevens approached me and said he was going to re-sign with the team, but he wanted to work with me. I had been keeping an eye on him and I liked what I saw, so we made a game plan for 1991, and stuck to it. It worked out." Stevens was the 1991 AMA Superbike Champion.

Competing in the Transatlantic Match Races that season whipped the team into shape. "We went over to Europe and did the Match Races in England, and It helped us out tremendously. We did Brands and Mallory. We got over there, and there were six or seven guys that just rode 100 percent from the start."

"We got over there and man, they just handed us or butts on a platter. It made our weaknesses painfully obvious. We got back and started working harder. It really made things better in a short amount of time."Leonard describes Eddie Lawson's 1993 Daytona victory to be a "magical experience". Lawson won despite severe reliability problems from the machine.

"We worked really hard in the winter to get not only more power but better acceleration. We did that by making a lot of combustion chamber changes and porting the heads, and we picked up a substantial power increase. The problem was we made the engine more efficient, and we didn't have an adjustable ignition. We were running too much advance, and when we got to Daytona we were overheating and blowing up engines left and right. I was literally building engines in the garage at Daytona with the bottom end from this one and the top end from this one, and grinding off parts and clearancing things and struggling and struggling."

Leonard recalls Lawson's extraordinary ability to ride past all the problems, and be a difference-maker on the bike. "Here we have Eddie Lawson coming in and we know he can do the business. We were trying to rise to his level and had all kinds of problems going on. He remained calm and never got upset. He never lost focus with all this stuff going on."

"At one point I asked him, you know, we're pretty far off the pace. We really haven't changed the bike much at all. He said, 'Well, I'm going to pick up a tenth in each corner.'

"I started doing the math in my head and thought, we're in pretty good shape if he can pick up a tenth in each corner. I didn't know if I fully believed it or not."

The four-time World Champ came through. "Sure enough, he was dead on. Just in his riding. We didn't change the bike, he just worked on his riding, and picked up a tenth in each turn, and we were there."

Despite being on the pace, everything was not kosher. Engines continued to blow up at an alarming rate. "We were having a lot of problems. We got through the Twin 50 with one engine, and that was the only time that anyone came in for a tire in the Twin 50 and still finished on the box. We had one engine left, and we put it in for the race. We guessed on jetting, and we pushed him off."

"I'm not sure if we would have won or not if Colin hadn't dropped out, because we did an extra stop." Instead of the two pit stops most runners choose, Lawson came in three times. "Eddie and Scott were really going at it head to head. Before the last stop, I really thought about the tires. I thought, If I put him on a new tire he is gonna lose so much time on the out lap, Scott was gonna kill us. So I grabbed one of Colin's scuffed tires. It was a different tire, on a different width rim, but it was scuffed. So I threw it on the bike on Eddie's last stop. On the out lap, we gained over a second on Russell." Lawson went on to win the 200 over Russell. It was Lawson's only Daytona 200 victory.

"I asked Eddie in the Winner's Circle, how about that last tire? He looked at me and said, 'The last tire was spinning in fifth gear on the banking'. When he said that I was thinking ,this is not good. But then he smiled and said, 'It was bitchin'."

"That was pretty cool."Jim felt the 200 season was one in which the team worked hard, but circumstances kept the team at a disadvantage.

"This season started before the end of last season. We were building our program around Ben. We were okay to get a 'B' rider, if we had Ben. We had confidence he could do the job. When we lost Ben, things diminished pretty quickly.

"We were lucky to get Troy, and were really happy with Troy. We thought we could have done really good with Troy. The team was working well, He and Steve got along well and were helping each other out. Troy was good enough that I didn't have to spend a ton of time with him and I could spend a lot of time with Steve, working on his riding."

"When Troy left, things again went downhill rapidly."

"So we got John(Kocinski). John's a different guy, he'll tell you that. We have worked so hard to get the bikes the way he likes it. So much work. The crew has done an excellent job and it isn't fair because it hasn't shown in the results. They have done a great job."

Not winning is obviously painful for Leonard. "Did you realize that last year (1999) we had both riders qualify on the front row at every race? To go from that to not even getting on the box is just...almost unbelievable. We go racing to win. There are some teams that are out there just to be out there, but we're not one of them."

"Even though we didn't win the championship, we felt we put Anthony in position in '98. We felt we put Anthony and Ben in position last year. To go from winning all those races and being in position to win the championship, coming back this year and struggling has been really tough. But you know what? You do this game long enough and everything changes. It goes in cycles, and sooner or later you're gonna get your butt kicked. That's when you find out how hard you're gonna work and how bad you want it."

Jim feels working with Ducati was a great experience, and has nothing but positive feelings for the Italian brand. "The bikes are beautiful. For a small company like them, to do what they've done, to produce the product they've got, and support it the way they do...We were constantly updating stuff and the communication between them and us has been excellent. If we have problems we let them know right away. If they have problems they let us know. We figure out a solution, they get it, and vice versa. It's been a positive thing all the way around."

Jim understands the priorities Ducati has in taking on the Japanese factories. "This year, it was a bad deal for us the way it worked out, but they have to win in World Superbike. They have to."

"When Carl got hurt, we understood. We didn't like it, but we understood. It's business. What's job one? To win in World Superbike."

Leonard understands Ducati needs to pool their resources for 2001 to mount the best WSBK challenge possible, even though it will cost Ducati the V&H AMA effort. "From my view, right now, we're splitting up, and they have to win next year. They don't have Carl anymore. They've spent a lot of money improving the engine, and it looks really good. They've gotta get it done next year so it makes sense."

"I've been doing this long enough, I've seen Honda and Kawasaki win championships and races, and then pull out of racing, so I know it can happen. I've seen it happen, and most of the people here (in the paddock) haven't, so they don't understand. In the big picture, I understand why. I don't like it but I understand."

Despite not winning a race this season, the crew rates high marks from Leonard on their efforts. "I'm really proud of my engine room this year. We've had pretty much zero engine problems. I don't think we've had a failure all year. John took a rock through the radiator at Road America. It slowed down but it kept going for six laps with no water in it. That was pretty impressive. Bob Reichman and Claudio Peretti have been building engines with Dave McGrath, an those guys have done an outstanding job."The Vance and Hines team has used the single injector fuel injection for the past two seasons. "We've used that for a couple of years now. We actually started using it first."

"It's car technology. You look at one injector squirting on top of the butterfly and you just don't think it would work at part throttle applications, but they tried it and it worked."

Corse's fuel injection map no longer measures "points" along the rev range to meter fuel flow. "It's a sweet system. We don't even measure it by points any more. It's just a curve. The mapping's got much more user friendly."Leonard sees potential improvements in the promotion and administration of the sport. "I'll start by saying they've got good people. I think they are good people and they really want to do a good job."

"On my end, over the years, there seems to be an attitude that they are happy if they cover their operating costs from weekend to weekend, and if the series remains relatively healthy. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the back gate." The back gate consists of the rider and team member entry fees.

"Instead of promoting the Superbike race, or the Superbike race and 600 Supersport, they're watching the bottom line real close. I don't know if we'll make that big jump unless they change that attitude."

Jim feels that there are currently too many classes held at Nationals. "You go to a NASCAR race, and cars don't turn a wheel on the track until race time on Sunday. You go to a CART race, there's a warm-up, a support event, and the main event. Everyone that comes in the gate knows what time the races are, and they know what's the big event."

"You go to an AMA race, man, there's noise from eight 'til five. It's a huge club event with factory involvement. We're never going to attract the non-hardcore enthusiast until we make it accessible and don't make them feel like idiots. We have to present it in a way where they know what's the big show and what's not the big show. I don't think it's being done that way."

"There's so much reliance on the manufacturers to support the series. It's not a problem right now because motorcycles are being sold. All the manufacturers are healthy and the economy is good. What happens when it downturns? It will effect the series drastically."

Jim also thinks the AMA should stick with the time schedule regardless of red-flagged sessions. "I get asked a million times, what time is the race. Quite often, I can't say."

"Here's an example: the first year we did World Superbike was very smooth operationally for us. I didn't have to listen to the P.A. I didn't have to worry about what our delay was, I didn't have to run around seeing what was going on. You have your schedule, you know when it starts, you know when it stops, regardless of what happens with the weather. It is up to the teams to go out and be ready. It takes a huge load off the teams. I'd like to see it work that way in the AMA."

Leonard thinks the Superbike competition level is very high. "We've got guys racing over here in the AMA, then going off to World Superbike. If you brought some established World Superbike riders over here to some of the tracks they go to, they would be completely lost. I fully believe that."

"We have a lot of specialized tracks and specialized tires. It requires a lot of different riding styles. You can go over to Europe and get in a groove. The tracks tend to flow and tend to be fast."Who is the best racer Leonard has worked with? Eddie Lawson. "Eddie. That's easy, very easy. The guy's a machine. My personal opinion is the best riders do not have to get emotional. They don't have to hate somebody or get pissed off. They just do it, and that's Eddie. A lot of the guys have to get charged up and on that emotional peak to really create some stuff."

Who is the most talented? Anthony Gobert. "Anthony. At Vegas (in 1997), he showed up Saturday morning, had never seen the racetrack. Cruised around the first practice session, came back Saturday afternoon and damn near put it on pole. That was pure magic."

"The guy's got the best throttle control out of any rider I've ever seen." Jim says the results can be seen on the data acquisition print-outs. "I would have to say he and John are opposites. John rides like he's on a 250. I don't think he can change doing that. Anthony never chops the throttle, it's always a roll. He rolls it off, he rolls it on. And that's why he keeps his corner speeds so high."

What does Leonard think of Colin Edwards II? "I can't really say. He was very young when we had him and his learning curve was very steep. I have been very impressed with what he's done this season from the races I've seen. Having the championship on the line and winning the last couple of races. That was big."

"Again, that deal hurt too. He won three in a row, and probably could have won the last race but helped his teammate try to win the championship (Jamie James). Same type of deal as Ben. We were gearing our program around him. The call came and Boom! he was gone. He's a great racer and has the whole package. He has the desire, he has the work ethic, and he doesn't have problems off the track. Those are three big things right there."Steve Rapp's 200 season didn't click as Leonard thought it might. "I really thought we would do more. It was a big disappointment for us when he fell off at Sears. The guy is unbelievably tough to ride with his hand injured. It doesn't even bother him now because he's dealt with it so long. That was a big disappointment. I had hoped we could get him near the podium, get him on the podium, and then shoot for a win by the end of the year. I'm happy to see what he did this weekend. Out of the guys out there, he's got a future. He has a will to win, a good work ethic, and he's got talent."

"John coming on board detracted to Steve's program, there's no way around it. We didn't want it to happen, but... On my end, I had to spend a lot of time and a lot of resources towards John. Here we have a guy who has won the World Superbike Championship and all kinds of races. We need to win, so we had to cut Steve loose in some ways and concentrate on John. It hurt Steve's learning curve."

"He used to be able to bounce things off Troy, and overlay the data with Troy and learn stuff. If you compare the data with John, you don't learn anything because his style is so different."