With turmoil at US Honda over the offseason, their budget was very much up in the air. While Benolkin was waiting to hear from Honda, Kawasaki came through with an offer to race for them. Much as he would have liked to stay on the powerhouse Honda team, the Kawasaki ride was on the table.

A year after his breakout ride in Florida, Benolkin returned in 1981 as a factory rider

In his first season as factory Kawasaki, Benolkin was consistently in the top ten in the 125 Nationals, often running in the top 5. His best race was at Washougal where he finished second overall with a 5-2 score. This was the year that Barnett won every race he entered (he missed the last round due to injury) so second was almost like a win that year.

1981 - His factory mechanic, Mike McAndrews

Benolkin finished fifth in the championship. In front of him were three past or future champions; Barnett, Ward, and O'Mara. The riders behind him included Rick Johnson and Danny Chandler. He achieved many “First Minnesotan to” milestones, including riding for a factory team, appearing in national gear ads, finishing on the overall podium of a Motocross national, finishing in the top ten of a Supercross main, and finishing in the top five in a national Motocross championship.

1981 - Wheelieing thorough a small pond that formed on the rain-soaked Millville track

Werner Straub captures Tom on the gas at the 1981 Red Bud National

In the second year of his contract, Kawasaki moved Benolkin to the 250 class. This is when the prototype nature of the works bikes began to show its dark side. Benolkin pushing his broken machine back to the pits, or limping it to the finish line, was an all too familiar sight. "Things were not race ready on this prototype 1982 machine. I also know I was really hard on equipment, motors, shocks, frames, spokes, seat bolts, so my mechanics were challenged each week."

A muddy visit to Millville between nationals

Benolkin was in second halfway through the first moto of the mid-season St. Petersburg, Florida round, and looked to be on his way to a career-best 250 finish, but then things went sour. The silencer end cap came loose. The bike would not run because when it bounced around, it would intermittently block the exhaust completely.

Things went much worse in the hot and humid second moto. Despite crashing once, he was in third late in the race, but was kicked sideways off of a jump and landed off to the side of the track. The deep sand had not been touched all day and it stopped the motorcycle cold. He hit his torso so hard that he suffered internal injuries. He had a relatively long recovery period so he missed the rest of the season.

Official 1982 Team Photo (but not quite his regular gear)

Page 1   Page 2   Page 3   Page 4