Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

John Kocinski hat cannot be denied John Kocins- ki is his talent or resilience. After his most disturbing year in Grand Prix racing, in which he was publicly and acrimoniously fired by the Lucky Strike Suzuki team, Kocinski has bounced back to become the number one rider on the Cagiva 500cc squad and, at this point in the season, he has validated team manager Giacomo Agostini's faith in him . Many are those who expect it won't last, but Kocinski dismisses them outofhand . After winning the U.S. GP in his third ride on the Cagiva last year, Kocinski decided to stay with the team for 1994 and try to give the perennial underachievers their first World Championship. The season began well with an impressive win in the Australian Grand Prix, which he backed up with a second placefinish in the scorching heat of Malaysia. Then he faltered when a bad clutch and lack of testing dragged him to his lowest Cagioa finish ever a ninth , in theJapanese Grand Prixat Suzuka. Now the season moves to what Kocinski calls his backyard, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, a track where the Cilgiva's lack of acceleration will be less noticeable. He knows there are some high-speed tracks, like Hockenheim and Salzburg, where the disadvantage will be magnified, but his goal is the500cc World Championship not winning every race - and he sayshe knows whathehas to do to get there. One of Kocinski's biggest distractions in 1993 was his management. He had a bitter split with his longtime manager, Gary Howard, then retained Dave Stevenson, whose background was mostly in motocross. Later, they, too, would part company, though not in anger. What he decided was that he and his girlfriend, Spaniard Toti Latorre, would take control ofhisfuture. He has said it before and he said it again in Malaysia, "If it wasn't for her (Toti) I'd have quit racing." The pair are inseparable at the track, and away from the track, and appear to have gotten his career back on track. John's faith in her is absolute and she has proven to be a quick study. Though, fittingly, like Kocinski, heraffect all people is polarizing. The first part of this interview was conducted in the press room of the Malaysian Grand Prix following the qualifying press conference. Toti accompanied John to the interview and her opinions on sensitive issues are considerably more forceful than his. The second part was done over the phone after they returned from Japan . Some portions have been editedfrom the transcript. By Henny Ray AbrameIPhotos by Abrams and Gold & Goose Tell us how the year's going. I can't complain too much. We were able to get off to a good, strong start. And we know that there are going to be some places that are going to be good for us and some places that are going to be not so good. The important thing is we know where we have to be for each round and we 've just got to try to achieve the goal. When did you decide to stay with Cagiva? 1993. After you rode it a couple of times at the end of the year? Nineteen ninety-three was a strange year and at the end I was physically and mentally tired . 1 just took two months - I didn't want to talk to nobody - to take a rest. They (Cag iva) respected my wishes and after we had some time off, we went back and talked to them and we worked out a deal for 1994. Did you work the deal out yourself? Yeah, myself and Dave Stevenson. Is it a one-year deal? I can't tell you that. (Because of a privacy clause in the contract.) And some time after that you and Dave parted ways? Dave Stevenson was more of a very good friend than a manager. He helped me out at a very critical time w hen ) needed it, to get me separated from my past situation. Once we got organized and back on our two feet again, Toti and I started doing all of our stuff on our own. I think that my sponsors are more happy than the y' ve eve r been. I work out my contracts with them and I ha ve the best relationship w it h m y sponsors than I've ever had. And this isn't at all a distraction to your racing? It makes me feel goo d bec ause I know what's go ing on with my bu siness. It's no secret to anybod y, normallyAugust is when...I mean things happen before August, but I guess (that's when) people actually ha ve si g ned contracts for the following year. We're going 'to take care of that when it comes. We can handle it. It' s not like it's real hard. Let's talk about the team. You 've said this is the first team that listens to you. 1 feel good to be wi th people who actually care about me and I just feel good with these people. They're very human and we respect each other . We come here we do our business, but when we leave here we go out. We do things, we have a good time. They just listen. If I have trouble somewhere I actually take the guys out and show them on the race track what I need. And they know that if they give me what I need, I'm gonna tear half a second off the clock. They want to win just as bad as I do; they're very enthusiastic. There's a lot of feelings between myself and them. Can you give an example of when you needed something and they changed it for you? Like here in Malaysia - it's real hot and we're getting a lot of heat off the bike and my mechanic, 15 minutes before the session, ripped the fairing off, took it over, cut a bunch of holes in it and it's back on the bike. That's one ex a m ple. Another example: The first time I went testing with them I told them I could go a little bit faster if they'd modify this gas tank. They just took it out in the parking lot and cut it off with a hacksaw, fixed it right up a nd in two hours I had another gas tank. And then they painted it. Has there been anything that you've needed that they haven't been able to come up with? Hey, all I ask people to do is try. We don't have everything we want. The bike's not where we want it to be. But those gu ys are really working and I can really trust that they're working. And I have all the confidence in them. I don't ha ve to worry about anything but riding that motorcycle. . What does the bike need? We 're st ill lacking on acceleration compa red to all of the Japanese bikes. It's not a thing you notice in the first five lap s. But toward the end of the rac e, w he n the tires go off , you can't g ive it as much throttle because you don't h a ve as much sidegrip . And th at's wh er e you need more acceleration to make up for the loss of sidegrip. As the ra ce wears on, the difference gets bigger and bigger and bigger. . How do you compensate? I just rely on my Michelin tires. I have a very good working relationship w ith all of the people from Michelin. They'v e been very responsive. But everyone here is using Michelin tires, except Luca Cadalora and Daryl Beattie. Yours worked pretty good in Australia and a lot of the other guys had trouble with their tires. . Tha t was kind of a strange situation because we went through some tires in Australia and we weren't 100% confident in the combination that we had there, but I think the track conditions changed. For sure, Sunday was d ifferent from Saturday. It seemed like there was a little bit more traction. We were fastest in the morning warm-up and I got right down to the lap times immediately. We just made some very small refinements and went after them. Do you share much information . with Doug Chandler? In the team I think all of the information is accessible. But between he or I, we could help each other out more if Michelin comes wi th extra tires and says, 'Hey, this one's better: But as far as setting the bike up, each guy rides differently and each guy's going to require different things. And in that way he has to figure out what he needs, and I have to figure out what I need. In other ways we can help each other out if we have a lot of stuff to see how good it is. When you came on last year, Chandler wasn't happy about it - he was openly unhappy. But he's said this year that he feels good to have you on the team. I don 't know why Doug kind of turned on us and didn't say very nice things. I never really understood that. It wasn't like I came to steal anything away from him. Cagiva offered me a bike and I took the bike that they gave me. I don't know where they found the 'bikes. I never asked them. I just took thebikes that Cagiva gave me and did the best I could with what I had. Do you get along with him better this year? Now Doug is like his old self and we don't have any problems. I still don't understand the reasons for all that, but it's '94 now and we both have bigger and better things to get on to. What about the other riders? Kevin Schwantz has been critical of you. That's his problem. Do you think he's one of the people you have to battle for the title? Even though his championship was given to him, I guess you kind of have to give him a little bit of credit. Who else? All the guys who are in the top five. Everybody keeps asking me. I've won one race. Well, that's only one race out of 14. It's a long year. We're just going out every week and doing our job. I'm not getting involved in all of the action that happens in the paddock. I don't care. I ~w hat has to be done and I

• Cover