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/127413
eINTERVIEW AMA Superbike National Champ_ion T _asS_te_ve_DS _ _h_om _ _ ! The heady ~ ~· champion ~ § l---') By Paul Carruthers homas Stevens won the 1991 AMA Superbike National Championship in part because he was fast. . but mostly because he was savvy. He resisted the urge to go for bro ke, to throw caution to the wind, and he now has a National Championship to show for it. The others may have mo re trophies, bu t only 'Stevens will carry . the Number One plate in 1992. The tanned young man from Florida put together a season of consistency. H e tasted victory only once, but stood on the · podium four other times , finishing second once, and third three times . He battled sickness in Kansas and fini shed fourth, his worst result of the season. His Vance & Hines Yamaha never faltered and Stevens never crashed. Not even in practice. For ma ny, Stevens' anno uncemen t on December 5 tha t he'd switched from Yamaha to Kawasaki, from Vance & Hines to Muzzy Racing, came as a surprise. But it's really only the latest bu sin ess decision in a well-calculated career for the 27-year-old. Tell us a little about the negotiations that went on between you and Yamaha, and ultimately with Rob Muzzy. Sin ce I didn 't have a manager, I didn 't want . to sit down with Yamaha and have me highball them and they lowball me. I just asked them for the things that would keep Thomas Stevens happy. I gave them the numbers I wanted. But it wasn' t strictly money. I was looking more to the future and what the factory could do for me. There were things such as the Suzuka 8-Hour, Formula One rides in Japan, etc. I needed some stuff to expand my career on . It came down to the fact that Yamaha cou ldn 't give me those . answers and Rob Muzzy could. I just felt my career opportunities were far greater with Muzzy. Was it difficult do in g the contract nego tiati ons yourself, without a manager? I just don 't feel I need a manager at this time. I know what the mark et in the U.S. will bear and I don't need somebody goin g in and making mon ey off me. I think th e wor ld of th e people I deal wit h and I just ha ve to make it clear whe n we're negotiatin g that this is stri ctly busin ess and not persona L That 's the hard part of doing it myself. I just try and explain to them tha t I don 't ha ve an ybody representing me, and I have to look like the bad guy. Usua lly, a manager comes out loo king like the bad gu y. Right now , there's just not a whole lot of money to be mad e; and at th is point I'm not willing to give somebody 20 percent. I did all the negotiations with Muzzy, but I'll have somebod y negotiate my helm et and 'leather deals. I just don 't know the peop le involved well enough to do it myself. Will you concentrate solely on defend, ing your Superbike championship, or will you venture into Supersport racing again? It 's strictly Superbike again for 1992. But if it were to come down to it and T - 8 Scott (Russell) needed help to win the . (75Occ Supersport) cha mpionship and Kawasaki asked , I'd step in and help hi m. The decision came down to Kawasaki vs. Yamaha. Were those your only options for 1992? I spoke to Martin Adams at Commonwealth Racing (Honda) and I also spo ke to Eraldo Ferra cci (Ducati). As far as the Ducati goes, 1 still think that when th e Japanese manufactu rers are ready to step up there's little do ub t they'll bu ild a bike tha t can beat the Ducati. In addition, I felt tha t Eraldo already had his lead guy in Doug Polen, and I didn 't want to be in the shadow position. Many feel you may be in the " shadow position" on your new team. After all, you're the new guy in an established team th at Scott Russell has been a part of for two years. I don't feel I'll be in th e shadow with Rob 's team. We go into the season as a team. We'll have equal equipment and equal treatment. Scott's a good rider, bu t I hav e no fear of standing in the shadow of Scott Russell. I'm confi dent of my ability and I'm going to have the number one plate on my motorcycle. I'm looking forw ard to a good season. Your only win of the year came at Mid.Oh io, Would you classify that as the high point of your season? No, I'd say the high point of my season was crossing the finish line in Miami and seein g the 'PI' on my board and knowing I'd won the championship. Mid-Ohio was my high point as far as race wins , but you can 't compare win n ing a race to winning a championship. . And your low poin t? That was definitely at Topeka when I got sick before the race. I know that if I wasn 't sick I could have fin ished second. I couldn't run Scott's (Russell) pace because hi s bike was working rea lly well , but I would have finished second. But I was really fatigued from ' my cold and I ran off the track and had to battle. just to finish fourth it was th e only time I can ever remember getting sick at a race as a professionaL . By season's end, the Kawasaki was the envy of the paddock. You had the chance to race with Russell and see what the Kawasaki coul d do. Did that influence your decision to make the mo ve? I saw what Scott could do with his bike, and I think if you ask anybody they'd have to say it was the strongest bike at the majority of the race tracks. The Kawasaki did have some advantages over the Yamaha. I don't think I'll have