Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/103448
INTERVIEW P98 AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION JOSH HAYES MotoGP, Baby! G et Josh Hayes talking about his MotoGP experience in the season finale in Spain and it's hard to get him to shut up. Here are some nuggets taken from our conversation about his debut in the premiere road racing series in the world. Was he nervous…? "I have never been so nervous in my life. It was really kind of funny because Melissa [his wife] kept telling me, 'Dude, you've got to stop. What are you doing?' Because I kept saying out loud how nervous I was. And I just couldn't even help it. I wasn't that nervous for any of my five AMA Championships. I wasn't that nervous at my wedding. I've never been so nervous in my life. "When the garage opened for the first time for me to go out on the racetrack there must have been 50 photographers standing there to take pictures of me rolling out. And I thought, 'Wow it's like they're all here.' It wasn't but a third of them, maybe. Just a few of them that were there, but it felt like everybody was standing over the top of you." It was hard to come back to the pits… "There were so many unknowns about the bike. I had been told all these horror stories about things to look out for on the bike. There were eight guys waiting to debrief me when I came back in. It made me not even want to come back to the pits because I didn't know what to tell the guys. I was just trying to figure it out. In the second session I stayed out the whole 45 minutes. I never came in. There was so much to take in. A lot of people were talking about expectations, wanting to know what I thought. It was a little overwhelming for me. I was absolutely scared to death. The only time I felt good the entire weekend was when I was actually out riding the motorcycle. Anytime I was waiting to get on the bike I was nervous, when I came in and got off of it, I was nervous about riding it the next time." How about riding the M1 in the rain… "I'm thinking, 'oh my God.' But when I got out there really it didn't feel any different than an AMA race to me. I was experiencing everything for the first time. I'm riding around going, 'Heck at least it's all one surface, it's the same kind of pavement all the way around the racetrack. It's kind of nice. You can get on the curbs without killing yourself… its kind of 96-105 Hayes Interview.indd 98 Wheelies in the rain: Hayes admits being nervous for his MotoGP debut in Spain. nice.' So I was just trying to take in as much as I could." What about the worry of getting in someone's way, of getting the middle finger from Casey Stoner...? "I was never nervous about that. Never at all. Maybe it's just my outlook. It doesn't matter, racers are racers. I think the top-level racers in just about any series in the world – BSB, AMA, World Superbike, Australian Championship, GP. The top riders are good riders and will fit in just about anywhere. The thing is we need to be given enough time to sort it out. It's hard to jump on a GP bike with no knowledge about them. Give me a year on the thing and I think I can be competitive on the MotoGP bike just like anybody else out there. It's why I'm a multi-time AMA Champion, that's why a multi-time World Superbike Champion would be a successful GP racer. Getting in anybody's way was never an issue for me. Living up to my own expectations… that's the hardest thing I can possibly do. My expectations for myself are very, very high. I'm a professional in the sport and I'm very critical of people in the sport. Mostly of myself. So to be able to live up to your own expectations, that's the tough part." The stress of it all… "I was truly concerned about underperforming in people's eyes and losing validity in our own series. I wanted to show that we have a credible series by putting in a credible ride. And showing that we have good riders 12/9/11 3:12 PM