Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

it was amazing . If it's similar to tha t, I shouldn't be going backwards. Does your contract allow you to ride in the Daytona 200? No. We're d iscus sing that right now. I would like to race Daytona, so they are trying to work it ou t, logistically. They would like to race it as well, but obv iously if it can't be worked out on the logistics side... If I go, it will be a big effort because HRC from Japan will be corning. It'll be more than just an American effort. That means a lo t of people from Japan have to come. They won't just send two or three guys over - they'll send an a rmy. Tha t' s not go ing to be cheap, so they are tryin g to work out the logistics on that. Rig ht now, th ey're telling me it's not looking good, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Your teammate on the HRC squad will b e New Zealander Aa ron Slight. Do you know him very well? Yeah . He and I have been frien ds for a co up le of yea rs . We've known each other and I know his fiancee . She and Dianne (Polen's wife) get along real well. In fact, they were already on the phone talking about it. They are reall y looking forward to it. Is the contract for one year? No it's a two-year, but basically it's a look and see how everything is going at the end of the first yea r. Tha t way I'm not bo und to it, like I was in my Ducati contract. If it goes two yea rs, will that be e nough fo r Doug Po le n? Wi ll you retire at the end of this de al? May be not. It all depends . If things go real well; if thin gs between myself and the com pany (HRC) go real well, I may con tinue on . In what class? That may remain to be seen. Who's to say that during private testing I may end up riding a 500 or so mething? Tha t way I cou ld see what I think (about rid ing a 500); wha t I like abo ut it, wi thout an ybody really knowing abo ut it. If all of a sudden the y said, 'Now we're going to move Polen to 500s.' Then it wouldn't be a surprise, it would be something tha t I wanted to d o. It wo uld be something I'd found ou t during testing tha t I know I could do. There's a lot of ad vantages to this situation that I'm going into right now. With as secretive as they can be, I could do something like test a 500 without anybody knowing about it. Are you looking forward to going back to Europe? Actually, yes and no . Yes, because the race tracks are a little safer to ride on and are of a little better quality. Overall, with the travel and all that, probably not as much. I liked traveling around Amer ica. It's like traveling around in your own backyard. There it's a little d ifferent, it takes some figuring ou t. What pre-season test sessions do they have planned for you? Officially, we're doing Aus tralia at the end of January, the firs t of February. We'll be going to Phillip Island and Eastern Creek - for sure. Will that be your firs t ti m e on the bike? I doubt it. We' ll probably do some test- ing somewhere, but I don't know where yet. They're going through some things now. We'll have a testing schedule and an idea on Da ytona when that gets done. . Was Eraldo Ferracci disappointed with the way things turned out? I'm sure he was. It' s just one of those things. In order to do what I wanted to do, somebody had to end up suffering. He was the one. I hated for him to be the one who ' had to ta ke the brunt of the deal, but business is business. He understan ds that and that's good. It made title because you were on a Ducati. Did that play into your decision? Did you want to show them that you could win on somethi ng els e? No, not really. When you think abo ut it, though, it sounds pretty good. But that never really factored into the deal How will the team b e structured? Is th ere more than one team? I really don't know yet how it' s going to be structured. I understand that there will also be a Honda UK team as well as the HRC factory team - both based in England. Ours is the n umber one team. We are the only two gu ys in the wo rld with wo rks bikes - I mean works bikes. I'm sure the re's different levels of stuff that people will get, but nobody (else) will ever get what we get. Looking at next year's competition, do you think the Ducatis will give you the most competition? Will Scott Russell still be a factor? I don't know. In Mexico, Scott was leading on that Kawasaki; they won't have anything a whole lot different than what they had this year. That might put them a little bit behin d . If it pans out that way, they may not be as much a factor. He (Russell) still will be because he goes bike racing? Not only on the race track, but off? I think it helped. There's definitely more interest in AMA racing now. You've got guys like (Kevin) Magee and the guy who's replacing me, Troy Corser. That's two g u ys coming from Australia . You've got guys corning in from overseas that are seeing more of a definitive racing series over here than before. It's something th at's trying to go somewhere, a lthough the re are' a lo t of changes and things that still need to be done. We'll see whether some of those things get done or not. There's no doubt that the series has gotten better. There are peo ple out there, like Martin Adams (Camel Co mmonwe alth tea m owner), w ho say that they ha te to see me go . Mine was a name that people recognized, competing in the series . They pay attention to that. When (the riders) come and go, it's kind of hard to get consistency going. When some other things are done in the series, it'll get to the point where people won't have to go and race in other series. When that is, I don't know. I think I helped some what in getting everyone to at least realize that something definitely needs to be things a lot easier to deal with. But still, he' s disappointed and I' d think there was something wrong if he wasn't. I was disappointed to have to do it that wa y, but the way it is, is the way it is. When we roll into the first race next year, all this will be history. Everybody will be do ing their own thing - they' ll be at the races again and racing. That's the one thing that will always be - no matter who goes where and who does what when all the dust clear s they' ll be racing. Will you be able to continue your long relationship with Dunlop? Yes. The whole team will use Dunlop . That's a new deal fo r them (H onda) because they've always been a Michelin company. As far as rules go, are we going to hear Doug Polen complaining about Ducati having an advantage? No. Not at all Many people thought you won you r World Championships and your AMA rea l fast . We' ll find ou t. The first race will tell the tale. I kno w enough about the new Ducatis to know that they will be righ t there. They will definitely be better than what they rode this year. If the y can keep a handle on it, and keep them upright, they should do okay. As fa r as I know, they a re only going to give out two or three 9165- works bikes. If we don't see you at Daytona, we may not see you at all in AMA racing this year. Correct? I wo uldn't say that for sure. There is a deal in my contract that I can run other races, but ther e's five races that conflict with AMA. There's not a lot of races for me to pick and choose from. Everytime I go somewhere, you' re talking about [apan, It's a big deal and it's not cheap every time I go. We' ll be do ing the Suzuka 8-H ou r w ith Aa ron Sligh t that's as go od a team as you can get, really. Are you happy with what you accomplished in your return to AMA Super- done towards getting it marketed, and done correctly so it ca n grow and expand. Looking back at this past season, is there a particular race that stands out in your mind as being exceptionally good? Probably the bes t race I had this yea r was at Laguna Seca. The problems I had wi th the motorcycle during the race and the hiccup with Miguel (DuHamel) in tum five... Every time something came up it would push me back and I'd have to catch back up again. In the end, we just squeaked it out. It was a good battle between three people for the whole race. How about the worst race? Loudon. No doubt. The Ducati just doesn't d o well at Loud on even in the dry. When it was wet, it just got worse. It made it absolu tely terrible, but that's the way it goes. It wasn't the trac k. I could probably go back there now on the Honda and ge t around there lik e 0'1 there 's no tomorrow. 23

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