Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW e 20 everybody is around . That de al didn't reall y pan out as we ll as I thought it would. I met a lot of people and found ou t th at a lot of people aren't real. I just basically made up my mind to let my trainer Jeff Haney go . He was working with me, but he really wasn't doing that much and I spent a lot of money on him, so I had to let that dea l go . Before I did that, I'd made plans that I wa s coming back home. It was good ; I learned some stuff out there . I probably needed that year and a half, living tha t life in California, just to realize what I was missing. I d id , an d now I'm back a nd this is p r oba bl y w he re I'll be s tayi ng. I ha ven 't bought a house ye t, but I'm hot on that and I' m getting back with my oid girlfrien d. I'm getting some roots going . It'll be go od for me. I've done all the wi d e-op en , single lifestyl e stuff that I need . Ge t m a rried ? Who knows? Sing le life ain' t all that it's cracked up to be. There seems to be a group of people who hook onto eve ry champion that comes along, some who probab ly do n ' t . have your best interests at heart. Has this been your experience? Ther e are always the people w ho are along fo r the ride . And as soon as that rid e is over, they are gone to the next guy. I'm finding th at a bit tr ue but, rea lly, I'm not lettin g peop le get that close to me; on ly the people that ar e there for me, like my family. And Tom, my manager, he's not just a manager, so to speak, he's a friend of the ' family and he has got my best interests at heart. We talk everyday and we have a real good relationship going. He 's not doing this for the money; he makes plenty of money as a Delta pilot. He's an ex-racer and he gets a rea l kick out of this. I like to have people around me that get as much of a kick out of racing as I do. You also received some advice from Eddie Lawson. . Lawson and I talked a little bit abou t what I was doing and where I was going, and on and on. He enlightened me on som e of the stuff that he's been through with various companies and how he went about it. It was good . Eddie's a great guy. For a while we were getting on pretty good. The advice that he gave me, I took it and d id what I d id with it. But, we're in two different boats here. He's done. He's a four-time World Champion and people just die for him to ride for them . I'm not really in that situation. And the way that he talked ... it was good for me to hear tha t, hear what he 's all about. Basically, he didn't help m e as far as th at go es but, I'm jus t happy that I got to meet Eddie Lawso n, and got to race with him, because he has always been one of my he roes, as well as Freddie (Spence r) and Ken n y (Robe rts). It is a real good feeling knowing that I can go out there and put it on the line wi th the best of them. In the eyes of the Japanese, your victory at the Suzuka Eight-Hour was probably much more important than your World Championship. Ho~ do you feel about that? First, a little backgroun d. Going into the rac e I knew we we re going to have a real hard (time) winning it. With Eddie and Mick (Doo ha n) an d those guys, I W Su er orld bikeCham ion Scott Russell knew th a t we were going to have to have so me luck on our side and really ride hard . In every practice session from the first da y, our bike was number one and Doohan's bike was number eleven, and every time it was either number one or n umber eleven o n the bo a rd as fastest. I knew then that we were right in the middle of it, and when I cut that onshi p - they can 't believe it and I can't either. Sitting here, I don't feel any d ifferent but , to be honest, I always felt I could do it. I knew I ha d what it took when I wa s com ing along. Last -year I got a little bit of a taste of it over there, but we had some problems with the bike. The bike wasn't as good as it could have been and at the same time we were 12.5 (two minutes, 12.5 seconds), I'd never been around that track that fast; I knew we had a chance. When the race started, I knew that I was going to lead that thing at least one time, regardless of what I had to do. And I did lead it for quite a while. Our bike was v ery hard to ride after the tires went off. It didn't respond well to used tires. I held them off as long as I could and then set tled into a pace that was good for us. Im portantly, everybody made the mistakes that they had to make and we d idn't. It all tu rn ed out and that was the great est thing ever . When I crossed the line on that one, there hasn't been a feeling like that yet." My heart was just flying. It was the best thing that has ever hap pened to me. It felt better th an winning the cham pi onship, actually. The championship was kind of an ti-climactic with not racing in Mexico and it being over by somebody saying, "Okay, you're the champ." Suzuka, I rea ll y ha d to work fo r. Actually, both of them I had to work for, but Suzuka - when I cross ed the line it was a very special feeling. Yeah! When I was ridin g around on the cool-off lap and Mick Doohan gave me the thumbs up, I knew I d id something. The fans were really into it; we had a good time after the r ace. The sea of people that covered the pi t road was just unbelievabl e. We were up on the podium with ch am p agne going ev erywhere and it was jus t an unreal feeling. Every tim e I' d b r in g my arm up they'd just go crazy. It was unbelievable, like no thing else. How has yo u r fam il y accl ima ted to having a World Champion around? My family has gotten pr etty jacked up abo ut me winning the World Champi- right in the middle of things. I knew that if we ever went back with a good effort we were going to win. I had to take that attitude to it - if I hadn't we wouldn't have won it. It was no cakewalk; it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do . It was very strainin g mentally and physi- . cally. It's gonna take me some time, like until Daytona, to get everything back where it needs to be. Body-wise I'm a little rough right now, but mentally I'm ready. Do you believe anything you hear any more? Rumor-wise? Rumors just go crazy. Europe is just as bad as America and I try not to listen to - them at all, I've kind of...! don't like to talk to the press that much an ymore. I just want to go out and rid e, and at press conferences I d on't ha ve mu ch to say, ha rdly, after the races. I feel like I'm one of the next guy s, a Kenny Roberts, Edd ie Lawson or Rainey, and wheth er it's in superbike or not , it' s a good deal for Am er ica to have so mebody doing tha t - winning a championship. If somebody wants to ta ke a shot at me and knock me, they're knocking the (Ameri can) flag. This sport is too sma ll to try an d tear it down. Coming from the one-race forma t of AMA racing, how do you feel about the two-race arrangement in World Superbike racing? I love the series and the two-race format in World Superbike racing. If you had a bad run in the first race it gives you a chance to come back and red eem yourself, so to speak. It really keep s you on your toes and you have to finish all the races to be there in the end. I love racing in Europe; it's so me thing I've alwa ys wanted to do. I know wha t it's all about now after a full season un der my belt. The onl y thing I'm not happy about in World Superbi ke, and even in AMA racing, is the rules. They're lop sided with th e Ducati. Clearly there is a problem there that is not being addressed. I could be on a Ducati righ t now. Bu t I'm no t and I chose not to be, so I'm no t going to bitch about it. I'm gonna deal wi th it. The Ducati for next year is going to be good; the y've tested it and they say it 's faster on top an d more aerodynamic. But, that's okay. They we re faster all year and I still won it, so I'm no t going to le t tha t bother me. I'm going to go ou t an d ta ke it to them even hard er next year. What's your opinion of the effect that adding weight to the tw ins and taking some away from the four-cylinder bikes will have on the Ducatis? I think the ru le change will ha ve an effect, but th e weigh t limit they tacked on the Duca ti.for Eu ro pe wa s the same weight Giancarlo (Falap pa) ran his bike (with) all year. He wasn 't running it as light as he could have; he d idn't like it th at ligh t. For us, I think it might help a bit bu t we ' ll just ha ve to see. When you were an up-andcoming Yoshimura Superbike rider, you said you r career goal was to ride a 500. Is that still true? Well, that's a good qu estion . There is a possibility that if I got the offer I could go d o that. I'd like to still d o it just to prove to my self tha t I could do it, comp ete and win ra ces. I'll never ever believe any different; I know I can . It's a different world, and (I think) it's not a happy world . In the case of the GP series, I don't think the people get along as well as we do in World Superbike. As for the money, I don't need $10 million in the bank to be happy. I'm really no t that concerned about GP racing that much anymore. I'm perfectly happy being a superbike guy. It's good to know th at we 're closing that gap on GP guys, laptimes-wise. We use the same tires and the same wheels, same brakes, same suspension. We 're.jus t rid ing a fourstroke - that's the only difference. I really respect what those guys do and hopefully they do the same for us. If I end up being a superbike guy for the rest of my career, I'll be happy. There's still no World Superbike round in America, is that distressing to you? Yeah, the fact that there is not a roun d in the States is upsettin g to me. They were ta lk in g abo u t Elkha rt or Atl anta so I thou ght for s ure we 'd g e t one, and when it came out and there was nothing on the schedule I was really disappointed . One day it will be back here in the U.S.. Until then, it mean s I'll just ha ve to come back and run some AMA races. It wou ld be fan tas tic to see World Superbike bikes at Road America - just unbelie vable! Elkha rt would certainly qualify as a World Superbike track. I've run on tracks over there that aren't nearly as nice as Elkhart. Th er e are some parts on Elkhart th at are qu estionably d an gerous, but the re are places at Zelweg in Austria that are every bit as dangero us and that's on the sched ule! It' s political, I think. That's something I really d on 't know any thing abou t. I mean why? We 'll be back in the Sta tes one day. ~

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