Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~. INTERVIEW Part I: Jos P. Vaessen to look at what is left of 500cc racing to see what is happening and what , must not be allowed to continue to happen. A few years ago we had national 500cc championships, international 500cc races , European Championship 500cc races , and now what is left? Almost nothing!" It's true the grids are small, but there "' are 12 or 13 factory riders one less ~ now that Sito Pons is out but still ........ a dozen ... Q.) What we have is four brilliant AmerI:: icans and two splendid Australians, ;j and that's it. Sito Pons is th e best I---) example. He 'was the best 250cc rider we had for years, but when he entered the 500cc he was out. It was hopeless: Kocinski was not as good in the 250cc class as Pons, but he has the special training on dirt that only th e Americans and some Australians have and he has been able to adapt to the powerful four-cylinder 500cc machines which is a very exclusive little group of six, no more. It is so expensive to lease, develop and race these bikes that riders like Mamola, Mackenzie, Magee and others (who are now in Superbikes) are out. And when you see that a good rider like Mackenzie loses his place to a not-so-good rider like DeRadigues just because DeRadigues can bring sponsorship to the team, then you see that this is all wrong. We need bike racing to be in 500cc like it is in 125cc and 250cc where there are a lot of riders who have a chance of doing well. What th e big teams want is for ' the same big teams to continue to dominate because they kn ow that as long as th e factory bikes are 500cc fours th e J apanese factories can not even th ink of producing production racers. Not so many years ago th ere were priva te riders lik e our Dutchmen Middleberg, Van Dulman and H artog who could afford to run production ra cers in th e 500cc class and th ey were am ong th e leaders ... th ey won ra ces and they came up to 500cc from th e smaller classes. But they did ride four-cylinder bikes ... Yes, they did. But the development has become so advanced now that no one can build competitive four-cylinder bikes to sell to private riders. If you look at today's four-cylinder machines you will see that they are beautiful, magnificent things . . . technical miracles . .. but they have taken us nowhere. We don't have enough bikes .. . and even if we did we would have no riders capable of riding them because the riders coming from 125, 250cc and Superbikes cannot master them without having ridden them in national and European competition. Suddenly on e day you ride this machine with no preparation and you cannot ride it. So we must change something and the change we make will not favor the big teams who want to keep their advantage over everyo ne else, but the FIM does not exi st to perpetuate the advantages of th e happy few who have more money concentrated into three teams 'tha n in the rest of the whole paddock. It is a shame that the costs of the four-cylinder bikes and the big budgets of th e tobacco companies have driven away a fine sponsor like Pepsi Cola. Let's talk about the twin-cylinder proposal that came from the Road Racing Commission (CCR) ... No, it did not come from th e CCR. It came from a letter signed by all the Japanese factories signed on th e 10th of August last year. With key representatives present from Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Ten delegated persons met with the J apanese federation to discuss the 500cc crisis and the conclusion was the letter e 22 to the FIM asking us to change to twin cylinder bikes for 1993. I have been told by various persons in IRTA that none of the Japanese factories are for the twin-cylinder proposal ... that even Honda is now against it, and ,tha t Suzuki, Yamaha and Cagiva are strongly in favor of continuing with the fours. First of all , let's not make a joke, Cagiva is Yamaha. If now the Castiglioni brothers say th ey are for fourcylinder bikes it is because th ey have talked to Kenny Roberts. I do not think Kenny Roberts and Yamaha are one in the same, but it seems th at Roberts speaks for Yam aha. All th e factories you m entioned , eve n H onda, are supporting th e two -cylinder in itiative. I have a letter from H onda in which they reaffirm their support for th e proposal from th e Japanese Federation to introduce twin-cylinder 500cc racing. They say, "Please make a firm decision. We ' support the Japanese Federation proposal." Honda and the others say they cannot any longer afford four-cylinder development and they all support a decision which would open the door to European factories who could afford to develop twin-cylinder racers. To get another five to eight four-cylinder bikes on th e grid is not helping the future of 500cc racing. It is just making things look a little better for the spe ctators and the TV . .. just so we can survive for a year or so more. But we must face the fact that not even Honda is interested any longer in continued development of the four-cylinder 500cc racing engine. We all know wh at Roberts wants. , He is involved in 'fou r-cylinder development because it is his busin ess. I like Kenny Rob erts. H e was a great cham pion, but we must never let Kenny Rob erts be th e one wh o tell s us wh at is good for all of us and for the sport in general. Kenny Rob erts is working for Kenny Roberts. H e's a businessma n and 1 have no problem with that as long as we all understand th at he is working not for the future o f th e sport but in order to continue another couple of years with his Marlboro co n tract. Right now all the principal sponsorship is concentra ted in very few teams and th e rest are in the dark. With the four-cylinder 500s the ri ch will co n tin ue to become richer and th e poor will con ti n ue to become poorer ... and Kenny Roberts is the ri ch est ... he 's the man at th e center of all this and th e one wh o has th e most to lose if the formula cha nges. ,H is interest is completely diff erent from mine. That doesn't mean I don't like him, but we are on different roads. 1 must think of th e whole sport. If Kenny were here now I think he would say that Yamaha is prepared and has the capacity to produce a sufficient quantity of engines so that the Yamaha 'fou r could become like what the Cosworth engine used to be inFormula 1, but that Yamaha needs the security of knowing thatthere will not be an immediate change to twins .. . that news of the twincylinder proposal has basically stopped development of the fours, but that if the threat of a rule change were lifted they , could carry on with their plans and teams could begin to order motors and frame builders could work to build bikes around these motors. This is no solution. This is only prolonging the dying of th e 500s. If , we carry, on like this, hoping that a few more bikes will ap pear, then we can only stand out in th e sun and watch the 500s die. Are we supposed to believe that young boys will buy 500cc YZR motors and build special frames in order to ride in national and European championships? If we do not have 500cc bikes available from national racing right through to the GPs, we don 't have a real 500cc class. I have been to Formula 1 rac es. Bernie runs a great show. It is like another planet, like a trip to the future, but not to the fu ture of bike racing. Let me continue to be the devil's advocate, or .Ro berts' advocate in this case and say that what makes 500cc Grand Prix racing exciting ,an d spectacular is the same thing that makes the bikes difficult to ride and expensive to produce. Their tremendous power produces spectacular sliding and acceleration and very high top speeds and very low lap times. If 500s were converted to twins, and if these twins were easier to ride (Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson have assured me that twins will be harder to ride, by the way) but less spectacular, would not 500 racing lose some of its impact? Would not Superbike racing ... or Formula 1 motorcycle racing, as practiced in the Japanese championship ... not then become the most important class? I get a little bit suspicious when the big teams tell me that they are working to save 500cc racing and that we must preserve the prestige of the class. There was a time last year when we had only a dozen bikes going around in a GP and this year I have already seen a race with 17 starters. All winter we have sought solutions, but it is only after all m eetings are over that Roberts and Yamaha, and I do not believe they are o ne in the same by the way, co me up wi th th eir hopeful plans for the future. Where were these wonderful id eas w hen there was still tim e to do some thing and 'when we were seeking suggesti ons? This is nothing new . T he y promised before to build mo re bikes a nd motors, but th ey did not. And no w th at th e racing is under way, th ey again make promises. We ca n not ra ce on promises. I take it that you are totally convinced that the twin-cylinder proposal is the way to go. In fact it sounds to me as if you consider that the decision is made. The decision is not made but it will be made. The discussion in the CCR took place in the Spring Congress and now we are having consultations with th e Japanese factories I already have a letter from Honda and we will make the final decision in June . . . but, yes, I am sure that this, the twins, is the only way. I have many people who tell me that nobody will build twins. We must do something. If we do nothing we know that the end is coming. If we decide on twins and then this is a fail ur e, then th e 500cc class will di e. But I will not as president stretch out this death by running a cha m pio nship just for the big teams and waiting for a couple more ma chines to appear. And even if we had more four-cylinder machines, we would not have the riders to rid e them . Riding 250s does not prepare you to ride 500s and th e only 500s that exist are in the World Championships on ly. There ar e no 500s to learn on. Look at Sito Pons. H e was the best in 250cc but he is absolutely nowhere in 500cc. The European riders don't have the background of riding dirt track lik e Kocinski has. No European rid er in the last four or five years has been su ccessful in 500cc. Probably what Roberts would say is that while American riders train all season long, every week, riding on dirt over the winter, European riders do not carry out the kind of programs that prepare them for 500cc riding. It sounds like you are saying that the fours are too powerful and we must have bikes that the European riders can ride. Not that European riders can ride .. . that all riders can ride. At all levels of co m pe ti ti o n .. . from National to World. Now we have a select group of elite riders and teams, a very small group of riders who are capable of riding them and a very small circle of three teams who can afford to lease them . When Honda; the biggest bike builder in the world, says they can no longer afford to develop 500s it should tell us something. In spite of what IRTA people say, I can tell you that it is not only Honda but also Suzuki who say they are pr epared to build twins. Suzuki says that if the proposal is a p p roved by th e Managem ent Council that they will be able to produce twins in series . . . som e hundreds of them. And we also know that Aprilia and Bimota will build twins. Of course I have no contract signed with the factories to oblige them to keep their promises, but what th factories tell th e FIM is what theh intended to do ." ol But the factories seem to be sayingj something completely different t0 1 IRTA. , 1> Look, think about this . ' Why are ' Honda, for example, going to give their plans to Paul Butler, who is an employee of Kenny Roberts and Yamaha? If you look at the executive committee of IRTA you find it is in the hands of the big teams through their employees like Paul Butler, Garry Taylor, Ian McKay ... they are working for th eir own interests, they must. We receive our information directly from th e J apanese factories. It is normal that th e factories talk di rectly to th e FIM a nd not through IR T A. The fac tories do not speak through IR T A, but IRTA goes around saying th at th e factories have told th em this or tha t. I don't lik e people spreading information th at th ey are manipulating and I don 't like people wh o wear th e uniforms of teams saying that they represent th e best in terests of the sport. , This do esn 't mean that I don't lik Paul Butler. H e is a friend o f mine, but he do esn't try to look over the horizon. He looks to the immediate'! interests of his team. One more year ' with the Marlboro contract is very-l important for his team, but the FIM looks to the long-term good of the G sport. I cannot let the king class ofJ racing, the 500 class, di e just so the > top teams can continue for another " year ." When would the twin-cylinder rule go into effect and would there be a handicapping system to allow fours and threes to compete as well? We still have fin al talks scheduled with th e factories but from what I have been told and from the other information that I have, th e factories will support this and we will then decide if it is to be for th e 1993 season or to start in 1994. The idea of handicapping is one of th e things we a re discussing, but I am absolutely against it. If we are to replace th e fours with twins, we should let the grand fours die with dignity, not load them with weight and restrictions. I want a straight ch ange to twin-cylinder bikes withou t handicapping. And I will also say that I am open to di scuss with IRTA whether th e twins would g o in 1993 or 1994 . . . if th ey want to dis cuss this ,they can when the time comes. The deci sion will be made by June 22. CN N ext week we'll present th e concluding portion of our int ervi ew with FIM President los Vaessen , in which he discusses the con troversial Grand Prix TV rights con tract, the thr eat of a parallel World Championship Road Race Series - the " W orld Series," and other subjects . . . Editor.

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