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/127173
board). Once it gets p ast 15, sure I' m going to slow down so me because th at 's when yo ur min d starts to wander ... whe n yo u get a b ig lead. Are you surprised that the competition in the U.S. wasn't as strong as it had been? Well , I th ought it was going to be tough, a lot to ugher th an it was. A lot of riders had so me m echanical problems. I don 't kn ow, it didn 't seem like people were up to speed. At a lot of tracks th ey didn 't go any faster than they did last year. And I went faster a t every race track, no less than a secon d. A second, a second and a half to two seconds quicker. That's because I hope that I learned over th e winter and, of course, the bikes are better. Like Tom (Stevens), he did a go od job this year, started to figure things out a nd put th em together. But like I sa y I think it would have been tougher if h e would have been in th e sa me cro wd as '88. The guys were racin g o n every inch o f th e road. The most co ns is ten tly fa st g uy was Ri ch Oliver. You know he does most o f hi s own tuning. Tha t's why he's prett y much d ia led. But guys like Don G reen e, h e's wo n three cha m pi onsh ips, a nd he's no t even breaking into the to p 10. Were you surprised at how well Stevens did this year? Not rea lly. I don 't pay much attention to h ow we ll a ny body else is doing. I just worry abou t h ow I'm doing. But he's part of your team and you had to pay attention because, in the end, he was the only other one that could've won the championship. At Sears Point I was going ab out two seconds qu ick er per lap: T he thing that I just had to hope was on m y side was lu ck , that I didn 't th row it down or th e eng ine didn 't break. We felt th e ten si on wh en th e fl a g dropped. But when T om jumped th e start I felt like I lost about 100 pounds off my shou lde rs. I sa w it right from th e start. And wh en he jumped th e sta rt it took me about three .laps to ge t m otivated to want to go fast. And th at's th e honest truth. I co u ld n ' t believe it. I was just riding around a n d m y co nce ntra tion was in a nother world. I co u ldn' t even think of where I was going. I felt like I was a lmost runnin g o ff th e tra ck a nd I th ough t, .' H ey I better sta rt th inking abou t what's going on. ' Do you think the competition here will be any better next year? I th ink so. H opefull y a co u p le of teams are going to get tw o or three bikes, h ave a sponsor. I think Oliver is goin g to be th e toughest guy to beat next year. I tell you, a t Road America h e was go in g fast. H e's consis tent ly th e fastest guy o n th e tra ck , next to T om. H e and T om usuall y go abo u t th e sa me s peed. Sometimes, T om goes a bit quick er. But Ri ch 's problem is th at hi s bik e breaks. At Sears Point his transmissio n broke. And th at 's where he lost o u t on th e Castrol $10,000. I think next yea r it will be Don Green e, Oliver , T om (Stevens) . I hope th ey get better , Ther e's n o reason why th ey sho u ldn' t. The bikes will be better. Do you find that you learn more by racing ~rands Prix or racing here? Actually, I learn more . . . even test - ing. I ca n go somewhere and lest with Kenn y a nd Bu d and learn just as much as I cou ld a t a G ra nd Prix. J ust having them th ere to watch me, to h el p me, to tell me where the p roblem is. Racing i n J apan and th e G rands Prix ha s been a n adva ntage because I ca n co m pare myself to th e bes t in 'th e world. I ca n see h ow far off I a m. And it's tough, but yo u ca n' t let it bother yo u. In Am eri ca I'm on a sta ndard TZ, and I go to Europe and rid e a ca r bo n -fiber TZ, th en I ride a second and a half wi th the n ew front tire. I used it in J ap an a nd that's where I made up over 15 seconds on (Dominique) Sarron a nd G arri ga. Di fferent profile, different co mpou nd . Wha t sma ll a mou nt tha t I use d it I had so m uch co n fide nce in it. Did you use it here? I tried it at Sea rs Po in t a n d it wouldn't work. I thi n k because Sears Point is just so grea sy and slip pery a nd has too many cha nges in th e kind of surface it is, it 's just really a mess. til II: W :r >- ::l II: II: « u ...J ::l ~ >ttl o >o :r e, John Kocinski made his 250cc Grand Prix debut at the 1988 Japanese GP. The then-19-year-old finished fifth . the factory 250, th en th e 400. I' ve never been on th e sa me bike fo r mo re th an two years. So it 's like I've been ab le to ge t used to a ny motorcycle . I' ve ever had. I know th e job is yo u have to d o th e best yo u ca n. But I kn ow th at, like Eddie (Lawson), he's been o n a 500 n ow for ove r five years. I ca n see where th e guy ca n be co n fide nt an d learn every in ch of th e motorcycle .. . a n d why th ey ca n ride it th at wa y because th ey've had so much ti me in th e sadd le. Same track s. They kn ow every in ch where they ca n go faster. They kn o w what it ta kes. You were saying earlier that the biggest thing you have to learn on the 500 is the braking. The power and the braking. . Just getting th e brake m arkers do wn . Li ke when I rode it in J apan th e h ard est th ing is I would brake a nd I wou ld look u p at th e co rner a n d I wa s o n it. Things happen a lot faster. I only made thr ee laps a nd I was pretty much used to it. I lik e th e power. I like to keep th e rear wheel sp in ni ng . Because when you keep th e wheels movin g , p us h in g th e front, pushing th e back , yo u kn ow wh ere th e limit is a n d how fa r yo u ca n go. When bo th tires gri p, I don ' t reall y li ke th at. I li ke a bik e to sl ide, bu t I lik e it to slide fo rward. When th e tires go off, th e bike will . slide side wa ys. It makes m e more co n fide nt th at I can' t fall. Whereas if th e front an d th e rear ar e sticking lik e g lue, I don 't like it. And you have confidence in pushing the front end? Like this last tire that Dunlop m ad e I have a lot of con fide nce in. In J apan, I broke th e 400cc lap record and th e 250cc track record by over Are there any tracks in this country that you would rather not go back to for any reason? Sea rs Point's o ne o f th e worst. Every time I've been to Sears it's been good to m e so I can' t say I wo u ldn' t wa nt to go b ack. But a s far as sa fety-w ise, Sears Point is probabl y th e m ost dangerous pl ace. Because if yo u fall down th ere, you' re ~oi n g to p ay. I kn ow if I'm gomg to fall th at's so me thing tha t G od already has pl anned. If I'm going to crash that wee ke nd H e kn ow s if I'm go ing to live or di e or h ow bad I'm going to ge t hurt an d th ere's no way I ca n co n trol it . Yet youdidn't crash all year. T han k G od th at I didn 't fall down. There are some people that would say there are a few reasons for that. One is that yo u weren't pushing it hard enough and the other is that yo u know where the limit is. Which do you think is more likely? I push it hard in th e right p laces . Actually, th e times that I' ve won a nd didn 't fall down I kn ew whe re to push it a nd wh ere not to . A good exam p le is Sears Point. I think it's probab ly th e mo st danger ous tra ck. And th ere're so me .p laces a t Sea rs Point th a t, no matter how bad o ff th e p ace I a m, the re' re o n ly so me points I'm goi ng to g ive it 100%, because it 's too dangerous. There'r e o ther times where I mi ght put in 115% so I'll mak e up for it. There're so me places th ere where yo u just ha ve to slow down - th e way . I look a t it - if yo u want to live. Wh at little I'm go ing to los e in so me certa i n spot to keep from crash in g, I'm going to m ak e up so mewhe re else, so I'm not goi ng to worry about it. And us ually when I make a mistake in a corner, I know how m uc h time I've los t and how much time I h ave to make u p somewhere else. A lo t of tim es I cou ld've got it (la p times) ca lcu la ted close. Like at Sears it was 46.3 an d usu all y I would ride wit h i n a 10th (o f a seco nd). Sometimes I'm right o n th e m oney. I' ve never been further off th an a 10th. If Kenny said, 'We'd rather have you go for the 250cc World Championship in 1990: What would you say? It 's hard to a ns we r th at because I don't kn ow what's goi n g to happen in 1989. It depends on how well I do, what I learn, w here I feel I'm a t. What I ca n do for him. Sure, I had some offers for some 500 rides this year, but I know in m y own mind I'm not a millionth prepared for it . I feel like I'm still a kid. Just like you can 't ' gi ve a f ive-year-o ld kid so me 20-year-old g uy's res ponsib ilities. H e just doe sn ' t feel he ca n handle it. At th e ti me I d id the Grands Prix in Europe I made some mistakes, bu t I woul dn 't give up that experience for a nythi ng in the world. That was the best thing that could happen to me. I've been to Europe under the (worst) co nditions, worki ng ou t of a pa pe r bag, getting the worst resu lts. H ey, I know w hat it's like to do th e worst. That 's ac tually good because yo u know if you win yo u're going to be ha p p y, but what's it like to lose? I know w hat it's like to work o ut of a paper bag , have no spare parts, no spare wh eels, using whatever tires yo u ca n ge t your han ds on. H ey, you j ust had to get on that son of a b itch a nd ride it. And I co mplai ned, but I go t m y ass chewed a n d that's probably why I don' t have much ass now ... beca u se I go t it straigh tened ou t. If I do so meth ing wr ong I lik e Kenn y to say, ' H ey, look yo u' re screwi ng up.' I like fo r peop le to tell me. I don't like for peopl e to beat a ro u n d the bush. Becau se when Kenny sa ys I'm screw ing up, I kn ow I'v e got to do so me thi ng d iffere n t. It seems that you either like to have people make decisions for yo u or give you a lot of help in making them. Yeah , I have a hard time m aking decis ions, I reall y do, Beca u se it 's like I said, maybe I' m not grown up en ou gh. Actuall y, in m y own m ind, I j u st don 't wa nt to screw up. I'd be making a lo t of decisions o n m y own if it wasn't fo r Kenny, but who's better in the sport than h e is? Look where he's gotte n me in two years. Where do you think you'd be without · . hrm.~ I don 't want to think abou t it. It 's a lway s been a dream si nce I was a sm a ll kid to ride for Kenny a nd th is is where I want to be. It's always wha t I wa nted to do. Do you ever think 'of the day when you might split up? I feel th at I'm loyal to peop le. I've been with Sh oe i, PJ -I . .. like Dunlop tires. I've been on th em for five yea rs; I've never ri dde n a ny th ing el se. To switch to Michelin it wo u ldn' t be so methi ng I co u ld j ust do. Those guys take ca re o f me. Whether th e tires are good o r bad th em guys put their heart into it a nd th ey try to ge t me th e best stu ff th ey ca n. So what m ore can you as k for? You know th e • guy's trying . ~ 00 ,......; 9