Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

W orldChampion WayneRainey INTERVIEW By Henny Ray Abrams t was nearl y a week after Wa yne Ra iney had cli nc hed his firs t 500cc World Cha m pio ns hip a nd he was exhausted. " I was tired a ll week ," th e 29-year-o ld Down ey, Ca liforn ia, resident said follow in g th e fin al practice sessio n for the H u nga rian Gra nd Pri x, " beca use I wasn' t thi n ki ng a bout the poi nt s lead, th e cha m p ionsh ip , tha t the bike has to finish. When I wa ke up I don 't have 10 thin k abo u t that stuff... The celebration was brief - o ne party , fo ur g lasses of champagne and it fo llo wed hi s victory in th e Czechos lovakian Gra nd Pri x, the 13th of 15 ro u nds in th e Worl d Cha mpionship Road Race Series. " I'm relieved a nd relax ed a t wha t it a ll ca me do wn to. It 's starti ng to si n k in act ually . I don 't ha ve to finish ." Ironically, he wouldn 't fini sh the Hungari a n race, p ulling o ut near th e end when his b ra kes we re co m p le te ly s ho t, h is decision to use th e iro n in p lace o f the carbo n reflec ting the lack of serio us ness he sho wed toward th e race . Goi ng int o the H u nga rian ro u nd he ha d a n extremely en via ble reco rd o f fini shi ng o n th e podi um every ra ce. Seven wins, five seconds, a nd a th ird, a nd the o n ly 500cc rider,to finish every . race he ent ered. Gra nt ed , there was a touch of luck invo lved. H e discovered a cracked front di sc after the Ita lia n Grand Prix was interr u pt ed by rain , a defecti ve part th at co u ld have been disastrous. And th ere was th e p rac tice cras h the followin g week in Germany where he walked awa y from a 100-plu s mph ge t-off wi th a mi nor hand inj ury . The highlight for Ra iney: " There were abo ut seven of th em ," he said. " Japa n a nd the U.S., Spa , a ll of them. Th ey a ll did th e same for me. In Czecho, Sch wantz went ou t and I was gla d I won th e race a nd championship a t th e sa me time." The har dest ra ce, " Spa in the ra in , a nd Ge rmany . Fall in g in pract ice a nd no t rid in g 100%." But what won him th e cham pionsh ip was a ded icat ion to exce lle nce from both h im self a nd the team. A com m itme nt to test ing that ga ve th em an adva ntage o n many o f th e tracks th ey visi ted a nd a machine, li tt le cha nge d from the previous yea r, th at was sto ne rel ia ble. It was a n a m bi tio n th at Rain ey felt was ac h ieva ble after th e first race of the year a nd after the seco nd race, the U.S. G P at Laguna Seca, ma n y had co nceded the ti tle to h im. It was so me thi ng tha t Rainey had th o ught a bo u t for a long time. " 1988 wa s the first time I set m y sig h ts o n th e Wo rld Championship, " Rain ey said. " I dirt tracked all th ose years and wa nt ed to be Grand Na tio na l Ch ampion . T hen I wanted to be the Na tio na l Road Racing Champion. Wh en I got th e chance to race th e World Championship I wanted to be Worl d Champ ion." Rai ney's fir st shot a t the Grand Prix road races ca me in 1984 when Kenny Robert s put tog ether a 250cc tea m for Ra in ey a nd English man Ala n Carter. It was , in Ra iney's words, " T he worst seaso n I've ever had." The tea m had been p u t together because Ka wasak i had pu lled o ut o f racing in 1983 rig h t after Ra iney wo n th e Su perb ike title. Ro bert s ha d asked Rain ey to joi n hi s first team in 1986, a tea m th a t wo uld , even tua lly incl ude Rand y Mam ol a and , Mike Bal dwin , bu t Ra iney decl ine d. " I wasn ' t ready in '86. I knew the a tmosp her e from '84 a nd wha t it too k. Not aga ins t th o se g uys . " And H o n d a o ffere d a sligh tly better dea l tha n Ro berts. Wh en 1988 ro lled around, Ra iney had just wo n a superbike tit le for H onda a nd no w he was ready. I " It'sstarting to sink in" Schw a nt z was goi ng to Eu rope. " Log ica lly, it was th e next step I had." Wh en he retu rn ed to Europe in 1988, Ra in ey fell he was a mu ch bett er ride r, but it was hi s first on a Gran d P rix 500 a nd he started th e seaso n tryin g 10 learn to rid e ' one wi th out fallin g down. It was a goo d season , he wo u ld fin ish th ird. "The th ing a bou t 1988 is there was a bso lu tely no pressure to w in. Onl y by mysel f. If you h ire a gu y to go o ut a nd wi n , he's not going to do it. I always feIt like I was go ing to fall down wi th it. It too k me four races to get over th at. " Th ere were t h o se who t houg h t , Roberts was foo lish to bri ng Ra in ey back in 1988. But Rainey knew tha t Roben s had fai th in h im a nd thai was inspiring. " All throughout th e years he let me do it on my own. He can relate to wh a t it 's like to go through . I couldn 't ask for a better guy," Rain ey said. "When I need he lp he co uld go up to a co rner and wa tch ." Wh a t Rain ey also knows is that when you have a two- rider team - on e o f whom is a four-tim e World Cha mp ion - so mebody's going to lo se. " It was n' t good tha t Edd ie (Lawson ) cras hed, bu t I sti ll had to race Kevin (Schwa nt z) a nd Wayne (Ga rd ner ). We ha d Ma rlb o ro m oney, we had Mich el in tires : We'd left Du nl o p . We we re a u tomatica lly supposed to w in. Wh en Edd ie went ou t it mad e it wo rse, but it 's worked o u t. At LeMa ns he let me by and held th e ot her g uys u p. " Ra iney was asked to evaluate th e other guys . " Ga rdner, he's probabl y th e to ughest rider out th ere. H e's th e a n ima l; a lo t of excuses , ta lks a 'lo t o f 'cra p. Sch wa ntz is fast wh en he has to be fast. Just goes to show th e pressure o n us. For sure he' s th e g uy to beat next year. Eddi e, it just wasn 't Eddie 's season. Every time he go t go in g there was so me thing to br ing hi m dow n. H e'll be back n ex t yea r." T h is was th e first year that Rainey raced head to head w it h the best o n th e sa me tir es. H e's used Dun lops h is first two years with Rob erts, th en mad e th e swi tch o ver th e w int er. " I was happy we got to rid e head to head w ith th em a nd we bea t the m," Ra in ey sa id. BUI , he no tes, he got away wi th a lo t more ri ding with th e Du nl ops. T he Miche lins, he says, gi ve no warn ing on when th ey're going to b reak away. The side-grip is so good wit h the Michelins tha t it causes addi tio na l stresses to th e fram e and the Yamaha was beefed up over th e off-season to dea l with it. " It migh t co me off th e corner better, but it 's to o heavy ," Ra i ney says. " Kevin 's bike is 20 pou nds lighter. It was 116 kilos (225.2 Ibs.) in France, sa fe by a kilo (T he 11 5 kilo FIM mi nim u m ). Min e was 126 ki los (277.2 Ibs.). T he H onda was 116 also. With th e ca mera o n it in Ame rica m y bike was 131 kilos (288.2I bs). It was ac tua lly th e fastest Yamaha, but always 7 k's (1.35 mph ) down , th a t's top spee d a nd yo u ca n ' t stop as fa st o r c ha nge di rection. We didn' t ha ve to develo p as much because the tires were so good. T he chassis is stronger. T hey mak e it heavy, tha t's why it's reli able." In H u nga ry, Ra iney was test in g parts and chassis co mbi nations th a t he co u ld n 't test d urin g th e year. " You get a lo t don e wh en th e cha m pions hi p is o ver," he says. But th ere wi ll be a lo t more test in g, beg in ni ng wi th the test a t Eastern Creek, th e si te of nex t yea r's Au stral ian G ran d Prix, the week after th e seaso n ends. It wi ll be there th a t Mich el in o ffers the spec tir es, two fro m . IwO rear, that it wi ll offer for sale to th e teams next year. Ro ben s hasn 't decided wh ether to sta y with Mic heli n, go back to Dunl o p, or try Pirelli, b ut Ra in ey, for o ne, is happy to see tha t everyo ne wi ll be getti ng th e same tires. It 's a n issue that was divisive a nd contentious this year a nd, wi th Miche lin 's withdrawa l o f su pport for th e top tea ms, as well as developme nt, it a p pears to be settled, for the time being, a t least. " If everybody 's o n the same ti res, it's goi ng to be even. I thin k it's the best thi ng th at cou ld hap pen ." Ra iney not ed tha t it wo uld a lso prevent so me of the pra cti ce crashes riders suffered trying to earn the best Mich elin tires. Ano the r issue th a t's divid in g th e G ra nd Prix wo rld is the fut u re o f the 500cc class. Vario us so lu tio ns ha ve been proposed , the cu rre n tly most popul ar a lterna tive to th e sta tus quo being 50Dec twins. Ra in ey, how ever, isn 't b uy ing it. " It's u p to the factories , wh a tever they wa nt to do. Are th ey gea red up to go twin raci ng? H ow wi ll th a t ma ke it more competi tive? I' ve never ridden a 500cc twin , bu t I' m sure it's not go ing to be as fast . O ur las t year's bike co u ld 've been raced th is year. Yo u have to mak e th e bi kes avai lab le to ca pa ble teams. Yo u need somethi ng w ith flas h , some th ing exciting to watch o n TV." And Ra iney knows tha t television is th e key to the sport 's g ro w th in Am erica. "For the first ti me my fa mi ly ca n see th e race 10 days la ter in th e Sla tes." H e a lso knows th a t th ere is incred ibl e co mpet i tio n for a sh r ink in g viewing a udience a nd, in the U.S. mor e so th a n in Europe, from conven tio na l stick-and-ba ll sports. . " T he prob lem is th a t we race in Europe a nd no t in America." Ra in ey, like a few o thers before h im, wo u ld like g rea ter recogni tion in hi s ho me co u n try, and he has a few ideas o n how to go abo u t it. " I thin k we've got to ge t it o u t there more th an it is. It' s pa rt o f the job. If I do n' t ta lk to you guys, it won 't do me a n y good.: Wh en it's the rig h t time I do it. I do n' t wa nt to be a bad buy. Po pu la rity comes from proving to be the best at wha t I ca n do. I don 't wa nt to pu t a circus o n o ff th e track because th a t's not me a nd I can ' t win fans that wa y." Ra iney wi ll be back with Roberts ne xt yea r. " We' ve got everything sorted out but the tires," he says, fai ling to ment ion tha t the second rider issue is sti ll u ndecided. T houg h Lawson a nd the team had a few rough spots tow ard the end of th e season, Ra in ey would like him to be his partner in 1990. "I hope he stays o n nex t year. We ca n bea t eac h o the r a nd st ill be friends o ff the track," tho ug h Lawso n d id n ' t fin ish in front o f Ra iney th is season. Ra iney's also plann in g on employing a driver fo r h is mot orhom e next year beca use he' s ge ll i ng tired of dri ving it. " We've seen a lot of Eu ro pe a nd slow ed do wn quite a bit." H e a nd Rob ert s bo ug h t a ho me in Sitges, Spain, near- Bar celon a, a nd he plans to spe nd mo re o ff-ti me there with hi s wi fe, Shae, nex t season. It 's good news for ' Ro berts a nd th e Ra ineys, but no t so good for the ride rs who spe n t th is year chas ing him , a nd a re lik ely to do more of the sa me in 1991. e e G(') .... CJ.) ..0 o .... u o 13

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