Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ INTERVIEW Road racer Scott Russell ~ "I want that title" Ru ssell was' having trouble hook in g up ou t of the fast sweeping tu rns , the n a t H ockenheim in Germa ny the Vtwins were ga ini ng on the br akes for the tight chica nes which brea k u p th e Rob Phill is a nd Aaron Sl ight. " Yeah, I' ve got a sma ll advantage on top end," Russell said. "But their bi kes ar e direct from Japan , you know. We've tried a few things to get o ur bi kes a litt le better - for m y style. T hey ar e set u p for the way I'm used to riding a nd wo rk better, but they (P hill is a nd Slig ht) always seem to com e up with the better resu lts." Ru ssell ra n up front in bo th races in the season opener a t Alba cete, but only went ho me with a seventh place to show for his efforts, tha nk s to a cras h in the first race a nd several mi stakes in the second. en dless lo ng straights. He hi t sim ila r brak e problem s at Spa in Belgium. " I figure I've go t a slig ht ad vantage in a stra igh t line on top speed," Russell said, " bu t I don 't th in k it 's enough to mak e it overcome the weight difference in the two bikes - nor does it matc h th e accelerati on of the Duca tis. "To me, when it co mes to o ne lap, the Ducati is easier to rid e. It 's easy for those guys to put it where they wa nt it. In fast corn ers they (the Du catis) don't push o u t so much - there' s not the weight." Russell, however, is not bitching. Just sett ing out th e facts. " Righ t now the Ducatis have an adva ntage but that's life. My bike has mor e weig h t. I think that the four cylinders are a mor e revvier type of engine. When you want to a pp ly the power a nd you a re leaned over , they want to spin the tir e more. Whereas a Ducati . . . they have such a wide powerband. " . But th e Muzzy bike is faster than the offi cial T eam Moving Kawasakis of " Albacete wasn 't really my kind of race trac k bu t I figu red I ada p ted prett y well ," Ru ssell sai d. " I qualifi ed seco nd and in the mo rn ing session before the race, I was q u ickest. The crash was just a bad tire choice. We didn 't get that mu ch time to tire test because of the bad weather a nd wh at we chose wasn 't q uite wh at we needed. " In the second leg, I go t started well but it was a dry/wet race track a nd I was having trouble in one co rne r o ut back a ll weekend. Wh en I was leading, I kept go ing in too hard and kept . drifting o u t in to the wet a nd ended up havin g to stay off the throttle too lo ng. I j ust co nt in ued to make that mi stake and mistakes in a race that close cost you. . T he second race co nd itio ns favor ed the Mich elin runners so th at even wh en Dunlop runners Russell and Pol en came back to the lead ing bunch , they weren 't able to make an y dramatic im pression on the lead ers. " I don 't want to blam e it o n any- O"l O"l By Gary Pinchin Photos by Renny Ray Abrams and Paul Carruthers he trouble with stat istics is that th ey don't always reveal the fu ll story . If you look a t Sco tt Ru ssell's 1992 World Superbike Ch ampionship results from the first four ro unds, th ey are no t overly impressive. Sure, he's been o n the podium th ree tim es, but he hasn 't quite p ulled off a n overd ue race win that many expected fro m h im. And tha t' s th e rub. That race win has been there for the tak in g a nd Ru ssell has more than proved he ca n run with the' fast guys. Wh a t's more, he can run with the Ducati s, but every time the race . has slipped from his gr asp. And no o ne is more fru strated' than Ru ssell. " Racing is tou gh over here," he ad mi tted betw een qualifying sessio ns a t Spa in Belgium. "But it 's been good for me. I've been able to run right th er e with th ose g uys. But I just haven 't pu t a good race toge ther. The level of competitio n is so mu ch hi gh er here. There's qu ite a few more people up to speed, wh ereas in the States there are maybe fou r or five guys. For sure, th ou gh , it's improved my level of pe rforma nce. The guys here push hard rig h t off the bat. I kinda lik e to sett le in a nd get things right before I let it hang out. That's my style - I feel sa fer th a t way . H ere, you 've go t to pu sh . You get one untirned sessio n and th en things get serious. You go ua be read y to go when you get o ut there." T he Geo rg ia rider wh o now lives in Monterey, Cali forn ia, ra tes the European raci ng circu its he's seen so fa r hi ghl y. "Everyone I've been to has been a rea lly good race track - I've tho ught," Ru ssell said. " T hey ar e a lot faster tha n a nyt hing we have in the Sta tes, excep t maybe Day tona. Most tra cks seem prett y safe, so yo u ca n let it ha ng the whole way o ut. Mayb e in the Sta tes you hav e to hold back a littl e. But in the States you do n't have to p ush so har d to win anyway ." Ru ssell , 27, has fallen in love wit h the Europea n scene , especia lly th e' professio na lism sh

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