Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

John Van de Berk The 21-year-old Van den Berlf won just three CPs in '88, but consistency paved the way to the 2S0cc title. He has no interest in r iding the SOOcc CPs next y ear. a battle between just two or three rid ers for severa l yea rs now. Also it is more difficult to kn ow wha t each o f th ese riv al s will do in a particular situa tio n. Racin g aga ins t Str ij bos week a fter week , yo u learn to kn ow how he will rea ct to a particula r mov e, but in th e 250s yo u arc rac ing d ifferent g u ys a ll th e time. It is a lso very difficult to race aga inst Pek ka Vehkonen . He is a very clever rider , an d yo u ca n never be sure what he w ill d o n ext to ga i n a ta cti cal adv a nt age. He is so diffi cult to pass. I learned very ea rly in the year that it is no good to si t beh ind Pekka wa tchi ng h im for a few laps and looking for wh at yo u th in k will be th e best wa y to pass him. Wh en he knows you a re the re, Pekka doesn' t gi ve yo u a ny chance to pass. T ha t wa y yo u will o n ly get h im if you are reall y lucky. You ha ve to close q uickly o n h im , ge t past im media tely a nd rid e away or he wi ll a ttac k aga in. At th e Ita lian G P, in th e seco nd moto, yo u saw thi s. I . ca ugh t a nd passed h im af ter a few laps a nd h e im med ia tely repassed . me. T h en I dropped back for 10 m in u tes befo re a ttac king q u ickly, so I ca ught him by surp rise . Even a fter th at th ough , I made the mista ke o f sitti ng beh ind Pek ka for . too lon g , th in king th at it wou ld be no probl em to pass h im la ter. But he is like a di esel mo tor; he just never gets tired and goes faster a t the end o f a race . Were you su rp rised that you r rivals m ade so man y mi stak es this year? No, n ot rea lly. If yo u loo k a t th e 250cc World Championship in the pa st, it has a lway s been th e sam e with th e riders ma king stup id mi stakes and a tot al lack of cons istency. J ust look a t (J erem y) Wh a tley. He h as a lways been th e same. H e is n ot professio na l en o ug h. He wi ns GPs an d th en fai ls to q u ali fy, like in Bel gium. You have finished 24 motos this year, while your tea m ma te R ob H errin g has s uffered with injuries and mech an ica l breakdowns so that he fin ished only 12 races, Herring would do better in America where th ey have short m o tos a nd ride cra zy, go ing wid e o pen from start to fin is h. That wo uld be good for him , but the approa ch which yo u need for 45-m in ute GP m o tos is di fferent. Herri n g wants to go from last p lace to fir st in o ne la p an d then he cra shes. It d id n ot rea lly hel p to be on th e same team as h im, because h e is not a good test ride r. He j ust rides th e b ike wh ich he is gi ven a nd is sa tisfied with it. T hat p ut a lo t o f pressure o n me beca use I had to test everything my self, just like last year wh en Mika Kouki was injured . I need a good bik e if I a m go ing to ride fast ; H erri ng n eeds a good da y if h e is goi n g to wi n. It doesn ' t ma iler with him w hat sort of b ike he has, if he is o n form th a t day th en he wi ll win , but w hen he is havin g a bad da y, th en h e will cras h no m atter how good th e bike is. I ha ve to form a _ rela tio ns h ip with m y bi ke, w here I know ho w it will react a nd I a m ha ppy with it. Is it yo u r tactic to fi nish every race, an d be sa tisfied with a not-so-good placing whe n yo u ar e n ot rid ing so well o n an y particular day? Yes, tha t has a lways been the case . When you try to go harder th a n feel s righ t o n the day, the n yo u wi ll crash. T en po in ts, or even three or four are better th an not h in g when you ad d the m up a t th e en d o f the year. T he cha mpio n is th e man w ho scores th e mos t points. I a lways do m y best, but w hen I have prob lems, then I accep t tha t a nd go slo wer. T he re is n o p oi nt in try ing to charge h ard to the end o f th e mo to a nd losin g every thing, whe n you ca n slow down a littl e and sa lvage so me th ing. But I thi n k that I am very co nsistent m yself. There were a co up le o f rno tos th is year when I felt that I co uld have done better and tha t the prob lem lay with me. On the other occasions I h ave no t been hap p y with the b ike , like th e first m o to i n Germ an y wh en I had th e wrong tires. When th e bi ke is good, the n norm a ll y I a m good. I ge t very frust rated wi th m yself wh en th e bike is good a nd I do no t do justi ce to it. An d th o se a re th e races w he re I a m tempted to overstretch m ysel f. Wh en I a m not ha p p y wit h th e bike, th en I find it m uch easier to co nsole myself wi th a lo wer p lacing. Did you feel that the tracks at the start of the year, many of which were not traditional GP tracks but rather a kind of serni-Supercross track, he lped to boost your confidence? Fo r sur e th e tracks whi ch we ro de a t th e start o f the yea r li ke Arsa go Seprio in Ita ly we re techn ica ll y ~ d ifficu lt, a nd I lik e trac ks like that. I don't li ke wide op en track so m uch . Did you feel confident th at you cou ld win the title by the time yo u wen t to the GPs o u tside Europe o r did yo u sta rt to ge t nervous th en ? I had a few bad races in th ose G Ps in America, Venezuela and Argen- ' By Alex Ho dg kinson Photos by Kin ney Jones and Hodgkinson tin a. T he resu lts were not too bad because I kep t my lead in the po ints, b ut if every thing had gone well , then I th ink I cou ld have been cha m p io n a lready wi th th ree G Ps to race, but I wasn't ha p py wit h th e b ike over th ere. I never go t n ervous. Not even in Yugosla via? No . T ha t wa s so me th ing e lse. I was n't ha ppy wi th th e b ike th at weekend. T he b ike was just no t ru nning prop er ly a nd I was down o n power. In South Am eri ca yo u were cra shing before the first corner, T hat was in Arg enti na. T he first co rne r wa s very dangero us, a n d 'in bo th hea ts I wa s in the m iddl e o f th e pack wh ere th e dan ger of cras hin g is a lways gr eat er. I thi nk I wa s just unlu cky. But normall y I wo ul d n ot be in th at p osit ion becau se I am good from th e start. After th at race we cha n ged m y bike a n d in Sweden everyth ing went bett er aga in. At the final round in Sweden, yo u seem ed so calm and cool all weekend, Yes, the bike was runn in g well a nd th a t gav e m e co n fide nce. If I ha d had th a t bike in Argentina , then I wo u ld a lready have been cha m p io n th ere. But perhaps it . is just as well. If I wo n th e cha m p io nsh ip in Arge nti na h ard ly a n yon e wou ld ha ve been th ere to celebra te it with me - ther e were Do you stay in the 250cc cla ss next yea r or are you . tempted to try for th e 500cc title? .No , I stay 250. The 500cc class ho lds no interest for me. I thi nk that th e 250cc GPs are th e most interesti n g . particu larl y if St rij bos a nd Bayle mov e up nex t year. I a m g lad I have o ne yea r o f learn ing more th a n they do . Bu t I wa n t to be cha mp io n aga in, ho pefu lly wi th the fu ll factory 250cc Yamaha. My eve nt ua l ai m is to be th e undisput ed top rider in th e 250cc class, j us t like J ohnson is in th e sta tes. He is no w 24, so I ha ve thr ee yea rs o n hi m. I hope th a t when I ge t to tha t age, th en I will be even better th an he is. T his year wa s a tra ining yea r. O n ly in Ita ly was I reall y go od . I wa nt to be th at go od every day. T ha t is wh at ma kes Ri ck y so good. Thai means g etti ng eve ry th ing perfec t. We cha nged the bike to o much thi s yea r fo r me to be goo d every week. Tea m Rinal d i a nd Rodn ey Smit h got tha i righ t; th ey had th e fastest bik e a ll year, right from th e first GP to t he last. Johnson has just beat en Hannah's record of US titl es. Are you a iming for the six of Joel Roberts? Six, I th ought the reco rd wa s five. I don't kn ow a bo u t that , perhaps I not so many press th ere, a nd m y su p porte rs co u ld not afford to travel to So u th Am eri ca - th en it wo u ld n ot h ave been so good . It wa s g rea t to win in Sweden with a ll o f m y su p porters cheer ing me o n a nd ab le to cele bra te with me. You could have settled for an easy third in the first moto in Sweden to clinch th e crown, but you kept racing Vehkonen for second, Yes, I felt so good th ere .with a ll o f the su p port a nd being hap p y with my bik e. I was never worried. I was faste r than Pekka and I wa nted to show everyone th at I was faster by dropping bac k from him a nd th en catching up again. will already have sto p ped before tha t. Do you have any special plans for this winter? The hi gh point will be my weddi ng to Angel ique a t the begi n ni ng o f n ext yea r. Before that I will be riding all o f th e m ajor Supercross races and th e Masters o f Mo tocross, p lus I will be going to J ap an again, though I h ope I can go for the G ra n Prix rather th an th e Su percross th ere. They build ' th e j umps so b ig an d lon g , an d we j us t aren ' t used to them when we race in Eu rope on tracks bui lt to th e FIM ru les-.So m y holida y this winter will be m y h on eym oon. Then it is sp ring a nd we sta rt a ll over agai n. •

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