Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

we must be in front. We can' t make o ur figh ting in 15th p lace.". Stran ge as it ma y seem, it is Garri ga . wh o is mo re feared by the 500cc fraternity than Po ns. Most of the 500cc est ablishment feel th a t it will be Garriga and no t Po ns wh o will come to terms mo re q ui ckl y with th e level of competi tion and bru te horsepower of th e 500cc class. Rath er surp rising ly, some hav e al ready dism issed Pons as a 500cc threat. 'Hrace for the win and it doesn't matter who I beat. If Garriga is second than I am very happy to beat Garriga, but if . Garriga is 11th, I will be very angry if I finish 10th." But this is not a first. Solo Mote's (Sp a in 's weekly motorcycle new sp ap er) G rand P ri x correspon de n t Dennis Noyes , a lo n gt im e Pon s obse rver, says th at the dim in uti ve Span ia rd ha s a lwa ys be en tak en ligh tly. As he, Garriga , Carlos Cardus and the rest of th e Spa nish con tinge nt cha rged through th e ra nks en ro u te to the GPs, it was always Pons th at was desti ned to fail. But recent his tory sho ws o ther wise - Pons has wo n whi le the o thers have not. Garri ga has the flashi er riding style of th e two Spanish stars, but Pons is th e th inker, the more intell igent of th e two. Case in po int: Pons has com p leted . six of the seven years of study necessary to become an architect, with th e last year put on hold as he changed h is profession to Grand P rix racer . H is bu sin ess sma rts have p u t hi m in a unique pos ition among G P racers for he is not on ly th e rid er on h is o neman team , he is also the owner. Wh en the checks arrive from petroleu m and banking giants Campsa and Ban esto, th ey are made ou t to Sito Po ns. He banks the mon ey, pays the expe nses and keeps the profits. . " I take the mo ney from everybody, and I do whatever I want with the mo ney," Pons says wit h ch uc kle. " But this is not the best way. T he best way is to be only the team owner. That way you risk no thing , and only take .th e "In the beginnin g of our testing I not iced a big differen ce qu ickly," he said. " Bu t now it's (h is progress) more slo wly. Also, I changed bikes between all of thi s testing. In Australia I sta rted rid in g th e 1990 bike a nd it 's a ll different. I had confidence in the '89 bike, and now the '90 model is completely different. It 's no t any harder to ride, it 's just differen t." Durin g one of hi s test sessions in Spain, Po ns go t to see firs thand just how difficult h is task may be. He was at Jerez whe n hi s good friend Wayne Rain ey consistentl y circu la ted under the lap recor d. " Whe n I see Wayn e and Eddi e (Lawso n ), I know it will be very difficult for me," Pons said. " Bu t they are the World Champion a nd vice cham pion, so this is normal. T hey have a lot of confidence in th e bikes after so many seasons. I just got my bik e, but I hope during the season that I can fight wi th them ." O ne of the things Po ns no ticed im med iate ly was the extra physical effort riding a 500 requires. " Physically, i t is much more than a 250," he sa id . " You have more horsepower, lo nger races and ·it is so much more work than a 250. I think it is mor e wor k for yo ur head because if you work more (p hysically), then your head m us t a lso wor k mor e. T her e is mo re tim e that yo u hav e to co ncentra te. I have tried to do mor e train ing th is winter than ever. But I haven 't reall y h ad eno ugh time becau se of all no t be in th e 250cc race - my heart is already in 500," Pons ·said. " I'v e a lread y for go tten about 250s. I o nly th ink abo ut 500s now. " Wha t Pons leaves beh ind is wha t many people are call ing the best race bike Honda has ever bui lt - th e 1990 NSR 250. Numerous riders will have them, as th ey do batt le aga inst th e Yamahas of Kocinski an d Cadalora. So who does Pons think will succeed him as 250cc World Ch ampion? "I don 't know who wi ll be 250 cha m p io n now," he said. " I left very a Joining Sito Pons in his 500cc endeavo r is noted chassis man Anton io Cobas. The Spani ard is the man behind Pons' two 250cc titles, as well as bu ilding the Rotax-powered 11 Cobas th at Alex Cri vill e rode to the 125cc ti tle last season. Pons tested the 1990 H onda NSR500 at Laguna Seca in February, dipping int o th e I :28 range on the third and fin al da y of testing. money." Po ns' Laguna Seca test in February was the seventh of hi s planned eig h t pre-season test sessio ns. The Spani ard was still coming to gri ps with the 1990 H onda NSR500, an d this was obvio us to trackside observers. "I th ink the biggest prob lem is o n the exit of th e corne r," Pons said. " I must ga in confidence in traction, and that's the biggest problem I have right now. The ot her things are mo re o r less th e sa me - brakin g and goi ng th rough th e corner. But the exi t is a little bit different. Not difficult, but different. You must have con fidence. R ight now I'm losing the most time in the exi t of th e corner. But I think it's just a matter of tim e." After the first day of testing a t Laguna Seca , Pons wa tched Gardner in the corkscrew secti on of th e track. He watched carefull y as Gardner exited the left-rig h t combina tion with his customary crack of the throttle and subseq ue nt rear wheel slide. Pons then went ou t th e next day and lowered his lap times fro m 1:31s down to a respe ctabl e I:28.4. Pons, the thinker, had given th is ch alle nge some th ough t. the testing, but riding th e bike is also very good for my physical condi tio n." To mere ly say th at Pons was do minant in 1989 would be an understateme nt. The Sp an iard rode hi s red and orange Honda to seven wins in the 15race series, incl uding four victories in a row du rin g the heat ed middle part of the seaso n. T oss in fou r second place fin ishes, o ne third and no DNFs and you ca n see how Pons topped West Ger man Rein hold Ro th by an u nheard of 72 po ints. Po ns ' seven -win season also p laces him eig hth o n the all -tim e 250cc GP win list wi th 15. Pons says he leaves the 250cc class with fond memories of inten se bat tles wi th Carlos Lavado in 1986, Anton Mang in '87 and th e new-wave gang of Luca Cadalora , J ean -Phillipe R uggia and J o h n Kocinski in the fin al two years. But he is comm itted now to th e 500cc class and there is no looking ba ck. " Sure, I wi ll watch some laps of th e 250cc G P in Japan, but my hear t will is perfect. It doesn't have any problem s anymo re in , the corners. It has very good fram e so now I don 't think th ey (the H o nd a riders) wi ll have problems wi th the Yam ah a riders in the corn ers. And also th e engine is even better. " Pons, his fans and his sponsors may ha ve want ed h im to venture to the 500cc class, but Ho nda tried to persuade the Spaniard in to staying put. They wanted him to win ano ther 250cc titl e on .th is mast erpiece NSR250 tha t he 'd help bui ld. " I don't kn ow if I convinced them good ma chine in the 250cc class . For two years I worked on the Honda, and in the end they've b uilt a very go od 250. I thi nk all the people at Honda "Sure, I will watch some laps of the 250cc GP in Japan, but my heart will not be in the 250cc race - my heart is already in 500",' wi ll have a very good chance to win the 250cc champ io ns h ip. I rode the prototype after H on da said to me: 'S ito, p lease, you must try yo ur bike because we mad e your bike - like you asked.' I tried this bike and Honda has done very good work. I think th e bike abo u t me going to 500s," Pons sa id. " But they didn't ha ve a cho ice." Actually Pons th e bu siness man sho p ped hi s talents and lar ge sponsor sh ip dollars to th e o the r factori es before decid ing to stay with Honda in 1990. " 1 prefer to use Honda because I' ve raced for man y years -with th em, " he said. " Bu t of course if Honda doesn 't gi ve me all th e th ings I ask - I would hav e to look at an other maker." Po ns does not tak e on this formidab le task alo ne. H e brings with him noted cha ssis man Ant onio Cobas, th e o ne wh o has helped Sito get to where he is. " For Ant onio, this is als o a new cla ss," Pons said. " He is dis covering different problems, and he is still learn ing - li ke me. I think all the team learn ed thi s winter. We have tried to learn very qu ickly , but we still do n't have clea r ideas yet." Alt ho ug h he has been slightly off th e pace a t most of his off-seaso n tests, Pons remains o p tim istic. He's a gamer, th e type who performs better under the pressures of competition. T hos e wh o know h im well think he' ll solve this 500cc di lemma like he ha s solved the o thers 'in' his stepping-stone climb to the 250cc Wor ld Championship. H e says he wi ll be read y when th e season gets underway in J apan on March 25. " I need to get to J apan ," he said. "I need the ambiance. I need to go faste r, to feel the p ressu re. I need distraction. I need to see the lap times the o thers are doing. I need to be angry. And when I get to J apan and see the first practice tim es, sure , I'll be angry. An d w h en I' m an gry, I'm more determined." Cl'l 17

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