Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

22 well. He went just as fast there as he went on th e Mi chelins. The tires he felt were really good. It was real hot weather and we thought mo st of th e races a re reall y run in th e heat. I tested a cou ple of tires a t Laguna Seca a nd I was not anywhere near th e tim es I wo u ld do in a race, but it was cold. But I to ld Kenny that I was n ' t a frai d to try them . I'm not afraid to give it a try. I said it's a bi g chance, bu t I was n't afraid to take a cha nce. We cou ld co me o u t ahead o r we could come ou t behind. It .was a tea m decision to go wi th Dunlop because th ey were going 10 be a good sponso r for the team. They're goi ng to be beh ind us 100%. They're going to be workin g real hard 10 develop tires. How would you compare the performance characteristics of Dunlop to Michelin tires? Well. it's hard 10 say because there are so man y different tir es. Some o f th e Dunlops perform very sim ilar to . the Mich elin s. Wh at I have Ioupd just in a few races is that at the colder tracks like in j apan where it was really cold but dry , we couldn 't get them 10 work. I don't think they're coming up to temperature. In Spain we had the same problem - we couldn't get them to work. As soo n as it got hot at some of the races, then they would begin to work well . The Michelins definitely work better the first few laps before they go away, but once you 're on the eighth or 10th lap, they seem very close. But yet, some of the Dunlops stick really well in the first few laps. They're working with so many different ideas right now - they ha ven 't come up with th e best combination yet. But th ey're all round and black, you know. Concerning the tire selection for a particular race , who's imput do you rely on? How is the tire choice made? Hopefully, it 's just mine. Sometimes other people put in the ir irnput, but I try to make that decision on m y own. I ta ke imput from the Dunlop guys and everybody , but I make th e choice. So it's your decision in the end? It . has to be. There's only been a couple of times when someone else has chosen a tir e for me. I never felt that was the thing to do. I've always ended up regretting it. Because if it 's my decision a nd it 's wrong, I could go home and say, ' he y, you screwed up - it was wrong.' But if it 's someone else's d ecision a nd it 's wrong, it 's too much to expect o f some bod y else, to o much o f a lo ad to put o n somebody else. . The radial and bias-ply tires - are there certain conditions or tracks that favor one over the other. It a ll depends o n what's worki ng. Sometimes the radial front wi ll work good a nd sometimes it won 't. Sometimes the back radia l wi ll work, sometimes it won 't. T he first few radials we tried wit h Dunlop - some of them worked good. The ones mad e in England worked no t so good. T he o nes mad e in j apan worked good. Then the o nes mad e in j apan didn 't work well and th e ones mad e in Engla nd worked grea t. It 's always cha nging a t th e moment. Mich elin was always prett y co nsistent. They would j ust say, " here's th e tir e everybo dy' s runs, put it o n. You want th is front or that front?" and you put it on. I'll tell you, I ran th e same tire on the front all last year a nd the same tire on the back all last yea r - the same model , the same serial number. Never changed, stayed with it a nd d idn 't bother cha ng ing. I got used to it, felt comfortable with it a nd didn 't change. T ha t's the way I like to do things. I like t o get used to one th ing, get com fort able with it and then push it past its limit. You can do that our bikes go through and other bikes go through, a n d Honda's g ot through a nd co mi ng back and telling us and he'll lea ve it to us. H e doesn 't try a nd get in there (and tell you wh at 10 do ). It 's hard for h im a nd I kn ow he wants to , he's tryin g 10 hol d h im self back, but I th in k it' s because if you ge t 100 man y people's imput you get things conf use d. Yo u have 10 stick wit h wh at you kn ow. You have to keep cha nging the bik e and d ia l it in th e way you a lways dia led bikes in . Because I've been diali ng bikes in for 10 years, ever si nce yo u first go to the racetrack you're tryin g to d ial a bike in. T o try and cha nge tha t system to some o ne else's, doesn't wo rk o ut. Are yo u using an y exotic training programs or do yo u rely on your own intuitions for physical preparation? .In the winter I have a tread mill th at I jog and run on. I'v e done a lot o f aerobics during th e last co uple o f years. Aerobics, because a n aerobic sessio n lasts abo u t 40 minutes and What are your ambitions for the next few years? There's a n unfulfilled goal to win a Grand Prix. I reall y thought that if th e Dunlops turned o u t - as I said before, it was a team decision to go wi th Dunlop, but th e real bas ic reason was to ho pefull y find an adva ntage o n Mich elin. Tha t's why we too k th e cha nce of going 'with a n u nkno wn tire. Because th e tires we're using thi s year are a ll new. We wa nted to hope full y fin d a tire that was bett er than Mich elin. Rather th an a lways go ing o u t th ere wi th the sa me tires as everyone else, we hoped we wou ld have a n advantage over every body else. I thoug h t well, if we do have a slig h t adva ntage o n tires, that's a ll it tak es , a nd y~u can win GPs. I was hopin g to win a GP this year. In j apan I fell tryin g to win it. To win a Grand Prix is the main thing. If you weren 't ' raci n g, what else would you be doing? Do you have any other career ambitions? No. I don 't even th ink ab out it. '. when you get used to something. If you push something past th e limit that you're not used to, then you get into trouble. Let's talk about Kenny Roberts. What's it like working for him? How would you rate him as a manager, as a boss? H e do esn 't like to be called manag er. H e says, " I' m not a manager, I'm the team owner. " .H e has someone else as a manager and says that because if something goes wrong he can fire th e manager. H e's just th e boss, but the team would not be what it is without him. No question a bo u t it. It would not be the same without him. It 's because he's a former World Ch ampion and he has won so many races and he knows what it tak es to win. H e appreciates what it tak es to win. When a rider has a problem, a lot of other people wouldn 't think it 's worth worrying a bo u t. But he's been in th at position a nd he knows - he 'll fix it, he'll change it. H e'll accom modate that p roblem . Plus, he's very useful. H e goes out a nd sees th e o ther ri ders riding a nd comes back and gi ves im put. H e says, " these guys are doin g th is and you're doing th a t." If someone else does th a t, you say so what, bu t if he does you go, 'he kno ws' - it's a lmost like I was out there wa tching the bikes. As a teacher, how does he communicate his skills and abilities to you? He does n't try to do that. H e'll j us t say "whe n the bike used 10 do thi s, I would try to cha nge tha t 10 see wha t wo uld happen." H e wo uld just give me his experience bu t he never tries to teach me to ride. I've a lways fel t tha t racing these bikes is self taught. You hav e to g o ou t a n d tea ch yourself, you can' t really listen 10 other people teach you how 10 do it. You ca n tak e th eir advice and try to short-cut your way to the answer, but you have to find th e answer yourself. Someone else can 't teach it to you. It's not something you ca n learn in a school. When Kenny was racing he was known for his mimy requests for equipment ' modifications in search of the perfect set-up. How has he helped you set-up a bike? H e's helped me set up bikes by going ou t in turns and watching th e way Baldwin relaxes with his pet Collie at his waterfront home in Connecticut; rehabilitating for a return to the Grand Prix scene. it 's a pace. You have to be able to pace you rself o ff through th ose' 40 minutes 10 last , which is ver y simi la r to a race . It builds sta mina rather than burning your energy in the first IO minutes and not having enough for the last IO minutes. Beli eve it or not, aerobics is a real good way 10 develop a rhythm and pace for 40 minutes. I just go toa health dub for the aerobics a nd wh en I go down to Florida in th e winter , I do a lot of water-skiing and I just go 10 a local pl ace down there for aerobics classes. You can find th em everywhe re you go , they're amazing. You're 32 years old and you've had your share of asphalt encounters, what keeps Mike Baldwin racing? I really enjoy it. But, I also know that it 's th e thing I do best so I struggle 10 do it better. I really do enjoy it. Complete this sentence - Mike Bald- . . , win IS.... Determined. Because when I ride, I'm very det ermined. You don't have to win, but when you stop and finish a race and you know you did your best, and I know I try my best, I felt I've done e n o u g h, more than eno ugh . And who could argue with that... •

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