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►"It seems like when you
get the championship, people are different around you—some of them anyway," said
Mark Barnett after winning the 125cc title. Just turned 20, Barnett is growing
up fast, yet he says, "But I don't think the championship's changed me."
Barnett is a power rider with a fierce will to win, a
late-lap charger who pursues victory with the tenacity of a bloodhound. For
three years he's stalked Broc Glover's Yamaha in quest of an elusive 125 crown.
This year he finally piloted his Suzuki to the title, but Glover fought him all
the way and the championship wasn't decided until the last moto of the last race
under a searing Florida summer sun.
"It felt
better beating him at the end, rather than him DNFing," says Barnett. "I had to
prove something; people said I can win races but not championships. Well, now I
know I can do both."
Barnett is
perhaps the strongest athlete on the national tour. "I like to work out," he
insists, "I have weights at home, and when I go to California, I do the Nautilus
machine. You know a really fun workout, though? Hauling hay in Alabama in the
summertime; that puts me in shape. I like it when it gets hot. The hotter the
weather and the bumpier the track—that's the way I like it."
Barnett
lives on his grandmother's 400-acre farm, and has built his own track in the
front yard. His tractor was purchased with bonus money from the 1979 season, and
this year's championship bonus went towards 26 head of cattle. Off-track,
Barnett is quiet, polite and completely without guile. He retreats to the farm
after each race, avoiding the Turbo-Carrera-and-Led Zeppelin life that some
moto-stars lead. He eats fresh vegetables from his garden, works hard and rides
his practice track.
He puts much
of the reason for his success, however, at the feet of Blackwell. "Mark
Blackwell has taught me so much," says Barnett. "He can point out things that
you don't know, tell you what you're doing, tell you what to watch out for on
the track. It kinda gets you excited when you come in from the racetrack and he
tells you you're looking good out there."
Barnett's
future plans are enviable, considering his youth. "I'd like to have a shot at
the world championship, and I'd like to win the Supercross series. I figure to
work real hard right now, stay healthy, manage my money right—and when I get to
be 30 I won't have to worry."■ |
