Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

bad . It wa s jus t a fu ll- on anti-d ive. When you had the brake on, the forks we re locked and you weren't getting any transfer. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. You co uld n' t ca rr y your brake into the comer because it kept the front end up high. This new system - I'm not 100% on ho w it works, bu t it doesn't lock the front. I think it just slows everything down to where it's not as quick to jum p up on the front wheel. Say on a normal bike, if you get on the brak es really hard the back end wants to come up; this one seems to want to stay a bit more level. How did it come about? I think the Ohlins guys had a fair amount to do with that and I think Mats (an Ohlins technician) had that system kicking around in his head but he didn't think an yone would tr y it. Our guys came up w it h their own sy stem last year. And then when they got back up with Ohlins, they designed th is n ew one. Is it harder to set up the front suspension wifh the anti-dive? To a certain point it is, because you can get awa y w ith much li g h ter front sp rings; a softer setting on the front. I think the trade-off, as far as being able to use that, is it's good if the tr ack is smooth and high speed - I'd say that would be ideal - but when you come to a track that ha s a lot of heavy G-Ioad, and it 's bump y, then it tends to be maybe not as good because you'v e got such a light front-end setting. Ideally, you always run soft to keep the weight on it through the comer. But since we have this anti-dive, that 's going to help (keep) it from not bottoming out going in. So now you 'v e got something that's riding really plush and moving around a lot through the comer, but you've still got the old stiff spring that you normally use in the back. I guess I was having some trouble here, not so much with the braking comers, but just the really bowltype corners like the last one onto the back straightaway. You bend it off in ' there, and it's 'Okay, okay'until you get into the apex and there's a clip and then everything just kind of gets upset. How long did it take to get comfortable working with your new crew chief Kel Carruthers? I never had any trouble right from the beginning. It was kind of, I think, hard for him becau se it's another new motorcycle and new mechanics to work with, as well . I think that was the toughest bit - him just havin g the time to be around the guys and the bike to get comfortable with (them and ) it. Are his methods different from what you were used to last year? Ther e's not a lot of difference. He seems to be a bit more thorough - wanting to double-check and making sure every thing is going to be the way it should be - which is nic e. That w as o ne of the things that kind of got me gun-shy last year. The throttle stuck on me a couple of times; things that you 'don't want to happen more and more, and (when) they do, you kind of lose faith and hope that they know what they're doing. One of the times your throttle stuck was here in Malaysia. Yeah, that would be the biggest one. After that we had it 'stick in Salzburg, and that was the cable. You ' ve got a push-pull, and you 've got a guid e on the ca rbu retor , itse lf, and th e return cable. I guess if it's loose it can jump , track and get out of that and bind up. I gue ss that's what happened at Salzburg and one other place. We still don't know if that's what happened here, or if I got a rock in the carburetor. How long did it take you to get your confidence .back with the bike? I think I'm still hav in g troubl e w ith that now . I kn ow th ere are a lot of things I want , to do and need to do. I'm comfortable wi th th e b ike . The bike's suited to me where I can do what I want w ith it - it ' s just doing it. I'm having a hard ti me ge tti ng th ere. I wan t to get back into w he re I was, but I'm just kind of tenta tiv e and no t wanting to rush into anything. Where do you notice this? My m ain problem, I' d say, is going into the corners. I don't know if that anti-dive ' s re ally a big improvemen t, but for me it gives goo d p ea ce of mind . It just makes my stuff more controllable and (that), in turn, makes me feel more comfortable. At what point did you start to lose faith last year? Was it after Salzburg? N o, because we kind of did good after Salzburg. We went to Assen and ' ra ced w ith Wayne (Rainey) and I was running good till the last lap, and (Alex) Cr iville got me. I was pretty comfortable wit h tha t. I w as a bit disgusted becau se I kind of th o u g h t we cou ld have ra ced w ith Kevin (Schwantz) and Mick (Doohan ). I was starting to finally get decent grip in my hand again. I think we did Barcelona after that and I wa s really com fortable there. We were going rea lly good but w e got run into and tak en ou t of tha t one. And after Mugell o it was just a big downfall. What happened at Mugello? , I got high-sided and thr own down. And that's when all of th is stuff came up about them putting John (Kocinski) on the bike . I just mentall y got let d own, and I kind of felt steppe d on. I knew we were having some hard times and bad luck, bu t I wa s giving it eve rythi ng I had. And th en to ha ve the m bring in ano ther guy, I kind of th ou gh t, ' Well that's not too good.' After tha t I got really disgusted . Did you think of leaving? Yeah, at times. But, I don 't know , it's ... I think it might give you (more) peace of mind, but I don't think you'd ever conquer it or get over it. Starting this year is not so bad . Going in I knew John was there. At the end of this season it will actually have help ed me, I think. That's a big change from what you said last year. Yeah, well I'm saying it in the terms that he's going go od, th at he's riding th e bikes good. And it should get me going sooner, having him there every day. You did have a teammate last year. Yeah, I thought he (Mat Mla d in) d id okay, respectable for his first seaso n. I don't know what happened after that . But you know, I think at the end of this season Johnny will have helped me out. Do you get along okay with him? Yeah, I get a lo n g wi th p rettymuch everybody. Do you share any information? Not so much (with) each other. I'm sure that he's got Firenzo (Fana1i - Kocinski's crew chief) checking to see what we 're doing and , occasionally, my biggest concern is to the front so I'm always curi ous to see wha t kind of tire he's using. Not so much on his settings, bu t I feel he's pretty good at picking a good front tire. Does he ride the same as you? No, our styles are definitely differen t. That's why I'm not too bothered to be concerned about any of the other things. So would his front tire choice translate to what you do? Ti re- w ise we're always pretty close. You' ve go t so many fro nt ti res to go through - it's just hard . Even with the Suzuki stuff I had a hard time with the fronts. But I thought the Suzukis were so light on the front; it was hard to get a d ece nt one to get the b ike se t up to w h ere it was getting w eight on th e fro n t. I th in k that's w hat Kevin (Schwantz) and Alex (Barros) had tro uble w ith here - not enoug h we ig ht on the front. Were you surprised that Kocinsk(won in Australia? No. I was kind of surprised that he left , those guy s the way he did . I kind of thought that Mick (Doohan) and Luca (Cadalora) were going to be pretty close. I don't know if they got held up beh ind Kevin (Schwantz) and Johnny; got away quick, or what. John just smoked them. What happene d to you there? I kind of mad e a bad tire choice. Fron t or rear? Front. I was thinking that since it was a bit warm Sunday that I'd try a harde r tire, which ha d been fin e on ly days be fore in testing. I thought that in hot conditions , for sure, th e ha rd er tire would be better, but it was n' t good right from the start. I was pushing it from the second lap on. I! seems that a lot of people had troub le with the ir Michelins in Australia. Can you tell if the Michelins and Dunlops are pre tty close? I would say they' re prett y clo se. The Dunlop moves a lot more, but I think it's just the way the tire rides. I' ve never known Luca (Cadalora) to be a slider, but h e's go t th at thing hung out. That's th e way Wayn e , (Rainey) rode it. How many tire choices do you have? It's unbelievable wha t yo u start out with. Yo u start ou t with a list. This moming we had 4-17s, and 2-161/25. In the afternoon I wa s handed two more 17s a n d one 16 1/2 and tomorrow I think we'll have that man y more. Just rears. How many of them d id you ge t through? I did all of them but one or two, and the tire I liked the best was the one I liked here in the test when we came in January. Can you come to a track like this without testing and expect to do well? Early in the season I'd say no, later, in the season I'd say yes. Do you think when you get to a place like Suzuka that it might not favor the bikes the way the y are? I don' t think it'll matter, really. I don't think Suzuka will be any more of a d isad vantage th an w hat Easte rn Creek was . Th e bigges t thing tha t kills the bikes compared to the Honda is the accelerat ion off the tight corner and down the lo n g straigh taway. Anywhere you're carrying speed throug h the comers, you're not going to have as bi g of a disadvan tage. A t Su z u ka yo u 've go t tha t Spoon Curve go ing ont o the back. It's not a real big acceleration ty pe th ing . I think that's where our bikes are all pretty equal on a track like that. Are you going to win a race this year? I hope so. I'm waiting. If you had to pick a track where you could win, which one do you think it would be? I don't know, really. Is it more a matter of getting comfortable with the bike and when that happens you'll be ready? Yeah, that's more or less it. I don 't have a favorite tr ack and there aren' t too many tracks that I dislike. Everybody's going good and I want to get comfortable to wh ere I can just about hit it. And tha t's kind of where I want to be. (N co ~ 21

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