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/127214
F:j B b rou ght. H e star ted bullish , with a ch ip on his sho ulder a nd a poi nt to p rove abou t new " tea m ma te" Eddi e La wson. He fini sh ed as a n unwill in g h ol ida y racer , with th e Law son q uestio n un resolved , a nd o the rs looming. T he bi ggest one, the q uestio n foremost in his ow n m in d , being: " Ca n Wayn e Ga rdner p u t th e winnin g co m bi na t io n toge t her agai n?" Obvi ou sl y G ia com o Ag o stin i th ought so. H e tri ed hard to lure Gardn er in to hi s Marlboro Yamah a team, and the size o f th e wad o f dolla r bills he was wav ing must have been tem p ting. " It cos t me money to stay with Honda - but in the long term it p robabl y d idn 't. An ywa y, I'm happy wh ere I a m , and th at 's worth its weight in go ld. Obviously Eddie Lawson thinks so too. Gardner recounted a co n versation th ey'd had th e previous ni ght. " When I co ngra tula ted Eddie, he sa id : 'T ha t means a lot , co m ing from you.' I said to him : 'I'll be back.' H e rep lied: 'T ha t's what worri es me,' It 's good th a t people sti ll co nsider me with th e to p th ree , a fter th e year I' ve had" In th e en d, o nly time will tell. Bu t we can stand o n th e sideli nes and ma ke a n ed uca ted g uess, The facts a re th ese. On th e o ne hand , Wayne is no w a very rich man , a nd need never work aga in 10 mainta in a jet-s et lifesty le that sees h im a t home bo th in Aus tra lia a nd in m ill io nai re 's Mo na co. H is ini tial hunger for the ti tle was satisfied in 1987; th e next goal of two in successio n has already slipped aw a y, And in 1989 he ca me face to face for the first tim e wi th pain , in j u ry, and th e su bseq uent loss o f confidence. On the o the r hand , he has the mach in ery a nd the skill to do th e job, a nd su p posed sta tus as H onda 's num ber o ne works rider, no matter. what happen s with Lawson . But no ne o f the a bove means any th ing when set aga ins t th e si ng le facet o f Gardner 's character that has impressed itself most u pon his tea m , his rivals, a nd indeed a nvon e wh o knows him . . . raw deter;n in at ion . Thus, if he decides he is going to get back to th e top nex t year, then o nl y more o f th e gravest mi sfortune ca n stop him. But will the inner sp ir it th a t d rives that legendary determ ination have th e strength to ove rco me the psych o logical confidence barrier that bu ilt up in 1989? It may need refreshment from th e sweet springs of su ccess, a nd if Wayn e finds th e ros tr u m elusive ea rly in 1989, th en he ma y not hang arou nd a ny longer than he has to . Outward ly , G ardn er h asn 't cha nged much. In spite of his long a nd stress fu l recuperation, he ended the year still looking taut a nd fit. Nor had his manner cha nged - he's bru squ e, o u tspo ke n, pull s n o punch es. There's no preten se, and he doesn 't m ind going o u t o n a limb to sta te hi s views. All with a very Au stral ian strea k of up-front honesty a nd a co lorfu l turn of sla ng that means he 's a lwa ys good for a q uot able q uo te, even if sometimes he does put hi s foot in it. Like his press con ference promise o n the eve o f th e fa teful US G P meeti ng: " I've decided th is year not to go a t it like a bu ll in a chi na shop, bu t to try and th ink it throug h mor e." In p racti ce, he ra n team mate Michael Doo han off th e tra ck a nd later fell heavil y himself ; in a race he broke his leg. May be he's me llowed a bit, even , if o n ly because o f ci rcu ms tances. That shows in the improvement of h is relationsh ip with Eddie Lawson. In 1988, d u ri ng Gardner's unsu ccessful tit le defe nse, th e two were hissin g a nd spitting in the ir separa te tents, enco uraged by a g leef u l goss ipmongering pr ess. By the en d o f 1989, no longer riva ls for the cro wn a nd now working for th e same firm , th ey were p u bl ici y exp ressing respect for o ne another 's achieveme nts o n th e d ifficult Ho nd a , and privately makin g arr angements to meet up during the winter. La wson has told me how he bu ilds up a ni mos ity aga ins t h is ra cing rival s as a sp u r to improve hi s own performance, and Gardner admits to sharing sim ila r feelings. "T he thing wi th Eddie wasn 't any thing like as bad as th e press mad e ou t," said Gardner. (I' d disagree - but I see hi s point ). " Bu t we were g rea t com pe tito rs, a nd you have to . . . not hate th em, but to turn some o f th at feeling in on yourself. Mayb e Eddie does manufacture ill feelings for that reason - I su p pose I do in a wa y. But there' s a limit to ho w deeply it reall y goes. " He and I honestl y get on good now . I pl an to visit h im in the USA this winter." It ma y ha ve been different bu t for Gardner 's cra sh. Certainly Wayne had every th ing to p rov e a t th e start of th e year. H is po sit ion as H onda 's n u mber o ne had been q ui te unfath omably undermined when HRC had tak en over rei gn in g World Ch ampion Lawson from Yamaha. In deed , Gardner's a ccident reli eved HR C of a potentially very emb a rrassin g sp li t o f loyalties. " It was n't th e fact th at the y'd hired him that upset me - it was th e way I found out a bout it - in a newspap er repo rt . T hat hurt me. " Bu t it p ut me in a no -win situation. If he bea t me, th en I'm a wa nker; but if I beat him , th en that was o n ly wh a t was expected, because I was famil iar with th e H onda. In 19 9 0 Way ne Gard ner wi ll attempt to regain th e confi dence that w on him t he 19 87 Wor ld Championship. "T he resu lt was tha t I p u t too much pressure on m yself too soon." Wa yn e has other exp la natio ns [or th e lack of sharpness at th e start o f 1989, where hi s fin e figh tin g win in Australia was th e o nly hi gh poin t among a str ing o f accidents and near misses that to be fair were not always h is fa u It. One is his huge load o f p u blic relatio ns work, especi a lly in Australia. " I' m still basi cally th e same. I lik e to speak o u t. I'd rather get things o ff m y ches t. Bu t I was willing to be moulded into what the sport needs. I enjoyed it , and I worked hard on my jmage and o n m y public speaking, and al so o n matters o f tra ck safety wh en I was th e World Champion. It 's the o pposite of what Edd ie Lawson 's lik e. _ "M ayb e I did too much, and neglected the rid in g. That 's' one o f th e changes I'm go ing to mak e thi s winter - much less TV and PR work, much more riding." Some o f th at will be in Austral ia, and some in Monaco , wh ere th e Maritime Alps meet the Mediterranean Sea (whe re h is new deep-sea spe edboa t awaits his pl easure), and th e mountain tra ils are a lmost o n h is doorstep. " I go trail ri di ng wi th Didier (de Radigues), J eff Leisk, Eric Geobers and people like that. The Fren ch mountains are fantasti c." Wa yne is also taking th e ste p tha t th e Wo llongong papers have been urg in g o n him for so long . . . in Novem be r, he marries lo ng- ti me gir lfriend Do n na Forbes, a nd he even a d m its that he is q uite looking forward to it. For an Australian, th at 's a p rett y ro mantic co mment. T h e re lax i ng w inter Gard ner plans has a dead ly purpose. "I'm rea lly pl eased th e season is over, and I ca n ge t back in shape, a nd sta rt with a clean sheet next year. "T h is year, trying to ca tch u p halfway through th e season was too ha rd . Everyone was going faster by th en . It 's like th e tra in's left the station, and you 're not o n it. Nex t year, I' ll be o n the trai n." Gard ner faces u p to 1990 under even more pressure tha n he had at th e s ta rt o f 1989. The L aw son q uest io n rema ins u na nswered, and he is running ou t of tim e. He ad m its he has signed for two years with Honda (on ly one with Rothmans), a nd p uts a min imu m of two years o n h is own ridi ng career. Bu t he has develo ped new views o n retirement. " After I broke m y leg in Ameri ca, th at was the first nigh t I' ve ever spent in a hospita l. It was the lo west I've fel t in my li fe, a n d I seri o us ly cons idered reti rem en t the n. " When I got home, I got an in sigh t o n what reti rem ent wo uld be lik e, and I di dn 't lik e it. I watched a ll th e G Ps, a nd I watched videos of m yself racing, a nd th a t rea lly made me want to get back. " After I stop riding, I'd sti ll like to be invo lved in racing in some way, as a tea m man a ger o r something. I co u ld n e ve r si t at ho m e doi ng no thing," He has his new-found maturity to help h im wit h the pressure, as well as th e sneak ing Ieeling that: "Everybody has problem s wit h th eir co nfidence a t o ne tim e or another." And th at determination , is a lready mak in g its dem ands. " I' m not one of those riders who cou ld come fifth all th e tim e and be content ed," he sa id. ''I' m o u t th ere to win , And if I can' t, th en I'll retire." . ~ ~ l.!') c-r $-< ยท v ..0 o ... u o 15