Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

o 00 O'l ...... The obvious question. The move to Honda. In the past you've turned down some really big offers to leave Suzuki, but now you've finally done it after nine years. What were your reasons for leaving? I never missed one moto for Suzuki. I rode some Grand Prix with injuries and won more motos than any other rider. I think I have done many things for them that I did not have to do. but I thought it was the right thing to do. But at the end of last season they did some things that were not very nice. I think. During the season they very quietly gave some new engines to Gernt and Rond. I can understand them giving one to Gerrit because he was ahead of me in the points. but I did not appreci· ate not being told. They had been talking to Rond at the end of the '78 and through other people I learned about it. I think it would have been nice ·if they asked me how I felt about hiring Rond or if I had any comments. I talked to them about it and they would say, "No, that's not true." Then they made an agreement with his father to be team manager. And that's when I said if he is going to be team manager, I am leaving. It is bad to have a racer's father involved, es· pecially the father of a young rider coming in. So they backed off, obviously. I did suggest they put Rond in the 250cc class and give him one season there. They said in the 125cc class he was doing the same times as the 500cc class, so he was going to ride the 500cc class. Anyhow, it was a very big dis· appointment. He crashed many times and finished 10th. If he had been put in the 250cc class I think he would have been in the fiTst three in the World Championship. Have the Japanese factories sort of quietly agreed to stay out of 250cc racing and leave that to the European factories? I know Suzuki was concerned about that for a long time. Continuing with your reasons for leaving ... At the end of the GP season when it came time to make some machines for 1980 we had an agreement that 1 would keep working for them and be a part of their race team. I did not want to wait until the first of January to know what I was going to do so I started aslUng some questions about where I would be: in Europe, the U.S. or both places. It would always be: Next week, next week. We have to ask the factory. So I finally called the factory and asked: Do you want me to ride the Trans·Am or not? They told me I had to talk to U.S. Suzuki. U.S. Suzuki said sure. And then the factory said: You can ride the Trans·Am if you want because we have a contract with you. and if you ride we have to supply you with equipment. But we can't make you new bikes every year. Every year since I've been riding the Trans·Am for Suzuki we started with a fresh bike. All my bikes in Europe were prelly tired. So I thought if they didn't want to give me a new bike for the Trans·Am then they were not very interested. So I said: Let's work on the new bikes for 1980. I figured if I didn't go to the Trans·Am this year I could take a good rest. I was riding really good at the end of the season. In the back of my mind I thought we would work on the new bikes and if they were really good I would try to ride a bit more. Up to that time had you decided you were going to retire? Yes, I had pretty much decided that I was not going to race anymore. But then I started thinking. I thought I had some good ideas to make the bikes quite a bit beller. I think we have a lot of potential with the front fork. So, finally the factory sent someone from Japan to talk to me. When I asked him what they would be paying me, the offer was less than the Grand Prix mechanics make. I thought may· be they only wanted me to work three months out of the year. Then he told me I would have been travelling twice as much as I do now, and they wanted me to do all the dealer meetings around the world. I would have done that if the offer had been reasonable. I have never been after making the last penny, otherwise I would have changed a long time ago. Rumor had it that one year you received an offer that was double Suzuki's. Yeah, That's true. The most important thing is to race the bike that you like. That's the most important thing for your results. And, of course, you have to make some money. Some years they paid me reasonably. but there were years I could have made more, like twice as much, from another company. I stayed because I had respect for certain people in the company. and I'm not the type who likes to change all the time. It takes some time before the bike becomes like you want it. That's the thing that disgusted me so much through last winter; they were not loyal to me after I had shown a lot of loyalty through the years. Then when they made that offer it was like a slap in the face. And, on top of that, I said: What if I want to race next year? Do you want to support me like before if I want to race? They said: We can· not prepare you Grand Prix bikes anymore, but we can give you a pro· duction bike if you want to go to some local races. This was from a Suzuki Japan representative? Yes. When he said that I didn't show any emotion at all, but that made up my mind then. I did have an agree· ment with Mr. Miyashita of the racing department at U.S. SuzulU. U.S. Suzu· IU had always been very fair in the way they handled me. I had told him that things did not look too good between the factory and me and men· tioned that if U.S. Suzuki wanted to keep me maybe they should talk to the factory a little bit because they have a lot of pull. I know that U.S. Suzuki was very much on my side. So he said: "Before you make a final decision come and see me and I'm sure we can do something." "They (Suzukz) said: We cannot prepare you Grand Prix bikes anymore, but we can gzve you a production bike if you want to go to some local races. " So, in the meantime Honda since '74 has been. on and off, talking to me about coming to them. They showed interest and showed that they wanted me, and Suzuki was the other way. I had helped Suzuki in many ways I wasn't supposed to. They spent time at my home and used my workshop. There were so many things I did for them that I was not supposed to do that saved them a lot of money for me and the other team riders. It seemed like that was all of no value at all. The Honda people seemed to be more and more interested and called me every ot~er day. Someone from Japan came to see me. I kept pUlling off the Honda. In the back of my mind, I suspected that Suzuki would change their mind because we had had a difficult time at the end of '7S and 7

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