Gordon Crockard becomes Honda's Off-Road Racing Manager!
For many people who watched motocross at the turn of the century, Northern Ireland's Gordon Crockard is known for his victories on the Honda CR250 two-stroke. He won British titles with it and was able to challenge GP riders at the highest level. A few years later the sport switched to four-stroke engines and although the change was not easy the Ulsterman continued to enjoy success.
After an active career spanning over 20 years (and still continuing if you include the Vets Motocross des Nations at Farleigh Castle every year), Crockard has swapped his racing jersey for one with a collar as he now takes on an Off Road Racing role Manager for Honda.
“I feel like I have a lot to offer because of my background as a rider, as a mechanic and as a coach. I think I am in a very good position to take on the racing activities,” said Crockard. “I've had 30 years to build up experience and knowledge,” and those three decades have clearly changed – not just for “Crock” as he is known in the sport – but also for the Honda CRF and for motocross as a sport.
Gordon's role was a natural progression from his previous position as Head Coach and Series Manager for the Honda 150 European Championship. It has helped many young motocross riders in the junior MX categories. Change has never been something Crockard feared, especially while racing in what was one of the most tumultuous periods in motocross history at the turn of the millennium. As the sport switched from two-stroke to four-stroke and experimented with a variety of different classes and race formats.
“There were a lot of changes, not only from two-stroke to four-stroke, but also the championships started to merge into one main class that was a mixture of 250 two-stroke with 450 four-stroke. You had to be very good at accepting the change. You had to learn new ways to prepare and adjust.
“We came from 250cc two-strokes, which were very tricky and very difficult to master. They were very exciting to drive and still are. We switched to four-strokes, which are much more controllable, have much more linear power and more torque. With such a change came the need to approach things differently as a rider, and also led to a boost in technical development, which Honda once again proved to be very adept at.
While the purists resisted at the time, the four-strokes soon won all, with the Honda CRF450R taking the lead. “I felt confident about making the switch because I was on a Honda. It was the future. It was inevitable. Certainly, on Hondas they had developed a truly groundbreaking motorcycle and had done such a good job. It came onto the market and was immediately very successful.” Thus began the legacy of the Honda CRF, which continues to this day and helped Tim Gajser seal his titles.
Gordon himself took his third British Championship title in 2003 with Honda but he certainly had to push and change the way he rode. “250 two-strokes were tiring to ride. It took a lot of energy to be fast and I knew that from the start. That is why I have developed the most conservative driving style possible, with the strategy of 'minimum input, maximum output'. All I could do when we switched to four-strokes was try to increase my base speed, because the Honda CRF let you carry more speed everywhere – there was always traction. I couldn't rely on the old two-stroke strategy and hoped that the competitors would get tired and I could catch them at the end of the race.”
Technology has also made enormous strides in recent years. Alongside the development of the Honda CRF, devices such as mobile phones and social media have now really come into prominence to help a rider on and off the track. Simple things such as re-watching start images or viewing a competitor's lines on a tablet immediately after training are common in the riders' quarters. That simply wasn't possible when Crockard was racing. “I had a camcorder and I let someone film me, but even then you had to have a TV and all the directions and that took so long. Sharing images and video is a huge help. Now, if you're struggling as a rider in a certain corner, you can have someone film it with a phone and you can almost immediately see how others are doing."
The general standard of machines produced has risen sharply over the years, so that there really are no bad engines being made anymore. This was certainly not the case early in Crockard's career. “With today's four-strokes, the starting point is to refine the engine at a very high level. Our Honda teams in MXGP start with a stock CRF450R or CRF250R and the bikes are so good straight out of the box.
“Before, that just wasn't the case and you could easily identify some of the things you wanted to change and some of the things you didn't like.” And that development has even really helped the playing field at the starting gate. “The difference between factory engines now and a modified standard engine is very small compared to the 80s and 90s. There was a huge difference then. Materials are important. Nowadays magnesium, titanium and carbon fiber is available to everyone and much more affordable – just look at the spec sheet of the new 2020 CRF450R – it's truly remarkable.
Sport is an emotional experience, regardless of discipline, and there are always debates among fans about the greatest era. That's largely subjective, but as Gordon says, there's no clear winner: “Riders in the '70s, '80s, '90s, or whatever period, all wanted to win as much as today's drivers do. The goal has always been to get the absolute maximum out of your machine. That has always been the aim, so the appreciation of what it takes to win should be the same for every era. You have to have a bike and rider that can go faster than anyone else and it's important that you don't lose yourself in that." And that's something Honda's Off-Road Racing Manager knows a lot about.
Photos: Honda
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