Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

good at, even at m ot ocro ss. I'd sit and wait for an opportunity and then I'd go . And as I go t int o motocro ss, as it kep t go in g and go ing and going, I kin d of lost the aggressive ne ss . In the PeeW ee 60s, and righ t when I started ou t in 80s, I ju st knew I w as goi ng o u t th e re and killin g everybod y. But in 1992 you were pretty aggressive. You an d Ken ny Roberts Jr. were ri di n g quite hard. Yeah, bu t even in '92 - I'll be honest wi th yo u - (Jim my) Filice w as o n a Honda an d, if I can put it into ter ms that every bo dy can un ders ta nd, th e Sup erbi ke le vel o f co mpe titio n is 10 tim es what 250 is. I mean, Oli ver is a rea lly goo d ride r and it showed . He we n t ou t there and almost won all 10 races. An d tha t goes to show you rig ht there - I' m not putting an yb od y down - but there's not a wh ole lot of guys ou t there in the 250 class w ho are as competitive as it is here. Was it hard to come to grips wit h that when you mo ved up ? Yeah, I think I wa s kind of th inking a long time tha t I wa s com ing from 250s. I was kind o f - well, I never really got intimidat ed , bu t I th in k in the .back of m y mi nd I knew I wa s ge tting into so meth ing pre tty big. Then, the first race at Phoeni x th at yea r, I led it, and I felt . com fortable leading it but I ju st di d n' t have the pace at th at time. Did you ever doubt you wo ul d win ? No, I kn ew soone r or la ter it w ou ld come. Especially after I listened to th ose tap es. My dad had sai d to me - my dad is one of th e biggest helps in my raci ng and it's kind oflike my fath er's attitude. He sa id, "You don' t seem focu sed th is week end ." And w he n I hear that, I'm lik e, " Piss off. I' m d oin g everything I can ." But now w hen I look ba ck on it, wh en ever he was saying th ose th ings, I wa sn ' t - I w a s n 't foc used, I w a s n ' t aggr essive. And he noti ced the change as soon as I list ened to th ose tap es. I wen t to Mid -Ohio and it w as all busin ess to go out th e re a n d ki ck e ve rybod y's ass an d it worked ou t good . What about Road Atlanta? You had Scott Russell to deal with on a tra ck he's pretty familiar with. Ye ah, I'm n ot b laming an ybo d y but mysel f. I go t ou t there and I felt like, if I could have gotte n ou t there w ith him, I would ha ve been ab le to h old th e p ace and use hi s d raft on th e back straigh tawa y. And I can say that all d ay long, but it d idn 't happen . I th ink I m ade a wrong tir e choice beca use I ch os e th e hard er tire and I th ou gh t th at everybo dy did. But, if you reme mber, race d ay was overcast and th e track w asn ' t near as hot. And I stuc k with the hard tire. Then I found o ut after th e race tha t Ru ssell we n t t o th e medium a n d ju s t ab o ut eve ry bo dy wen t to th e m ed iu m com pou nd . I mea n, I'm still learning . Every time I race I still learn. Were y ou surprised that y ou got the pole that da y over Ru ssell? No. Th en , again, I just told myself tha t you've got to go ou t there and gr ab p ole and tum some heads. Were you involved at all in the championship as far as knowing where you had to fin ish to he lp Jam ie Jam es beat Troy Corser? Tha t w as th e deal. If you noti ced on the tape I was quite a w ays in front of them . It was Russell and me an d then eve rybod y else. And I got to a po int w he re I wa s pushing it pre tty hard. At the time I said to myself, "I d on't know how he' s hold in g thi s pace becau se my tir e's ju st not hoo kin g up ." I was n' t in it for th e championship, and if I cou ld n' t win the thing I'd go ah ea d and help Jam ie ou t, so I dropped back . And it wa s working ou t goo d there for a w hile. Jamie was in seco nd, I was in thi rd, elbows ou t wide ·kin d of slowing everybody up in th e in field, kind of tooli ng and let ting him pull ou t a little bit - and then his EXUP broke, And then it was jus t a d ash to the fin ish , and Pi cotte d ra fted m e o n the back st raightaw ay. And I just we nt wide co ming down the hill . When did you find ou t yo u might be racing World Superb ike in 1995? We ha d everything done for the U.S. .con tract. I don't think we had the actual con tract s ig ne d . We h ad th e lette r o f intent a n d a ll th a t s tu ff . A n d I was happy wit h it. I go t a really go od deal with the Ya m ah a g uys to s t ay h ere ano the r two yea rs. And it was kind of an agr eement to w he re if some thing came up to further my career, some thing really go od af ter n ext year, th ey' d let m e ou t. They w er en 't go ing to be impedimen ts to it. I wa s h appy with it. I h ad my sigh ts on staying here an d do minatin g . A n d th en th ey (Ya ma h a Ja p an ) called and asked if I wa nted to ride the World Superb ik e . Keith Mc Carty and Larry Griffis called and asked if I wanted to rid e the World Superbike. Hell, yea h, I want to rid e Worl d Superbike. That was a month, month and a half ago, tops. It was late. Then for a while we negotiated back and forth. I kn ew I cou ld stay over here an d do good, but I cou ld n' t pass up th e cha n ce o f go ing ove r there . W e decid ed it was better to take the m oney we could get an d go ove r there. We got a goo d d ea l. Everybo dy's ha p py . I' m happy , Yamaha's hap py. When yo u we re negotiatin g, was that for technical support or sal ary or what? Salary, ye ah. It was more that th an worrying about w h a t kind o f eq uipmen t y o u w ere going to ge t or w he th er th is was going to be a factory effo rt? That wa s m ade clea r rig h t off th e ba t, that was in th e contrac t. Did you have any idea why they came to you so late? I think th ey were getting th eir budget to ru n over th ere. I think they were jus t trying to ge t a b udget to d o it. I ass u me, th at's w ha t I heard. And they deci ded they were going to do it and they gave me a call. I was planni ng on staying . We didn' t call around to ask anybody if they wa nted me to ride. I just kind of felt to myself that if I staye d over here another year, I'd still onl y be 21 and I still ha ve so me good ye a rs le ft. If I s ta yed o ve r here and dominated and won a cha m pio ns hip, it 's all th e better. I'd get th at much more experience over he re. What cha nged yo ur m ind? Ju st th e fac t th at it was a fac to ry deal over th ere. It wasn't going to be so me so-ca lle d " h a lf-a s sed " d e al. We got some goo d equip men t. I know it's going to be the best of the bes t. Since you ha ven't b een to most of the tracks, ha ve you w at ched th e vi deos? Yeah, I' ve see n the vid eos . One thin g I not iced abo u t a lo t of th e races is that yo u s ee t he b ike m ov in g a ro u n d so m uch m ore than you d o over here, and I think th at 's becau se the race ove r there is a little mo re up-tem p o. Everybod y's push ing from the ge t-go. An d over here we' re p us h ing - d on' t ge t me w ro ng there are so m e poin ts where yo u m ay just sit back and w ait for a good time, w he n your tires cool off, an d break fo r it. I think a big pa rt of it over here is tha t the we ight over here... O ur bikes are a -little bit hea vier than the irs. Tha t weight just doesn 't want to m ove qu ickly . If it m o v es it wa llo w s. Th e re are n 't a n y a bru p t, qu ick m o vem e n t s lik e o ve r there. Since I' ve been ridin g over here the bike's been allover the p lace, w hich is go od , I'm just getting th e feel. I can ride it like tha t, it's just a matter of riding it like th at every lap . Will you be do ing m ore testi ng before the season starts? We ' ll be te sting be fo re Da y tona and after Dayton a, and maybe be fo re the first race at Daytona. What are y o ur wo r r i es going o ve r there ? No t really any. It' s going to hav e to be ma de pret ty clear righ t off the ba t th at if I wa nt to do so mething to my bike, to improve the h an d ling, it' s go t to be do ne. And there's not going to be somebody over me saying, "No, no, yo u can' t do that." Working here with the [a panese m ech an ics, everybod y always talks like you work w ith th em and the y wa n t to d o th e ir ow n th in g . Bu t it' s be en go ing good . Th ey' ve got a few things they wa nt to do, and, yet ag ain, th ey' re letti ng me d o everythi ng I want to do. Are these the mech anics you ' re go in g to ha ve all ye ar? The re 's going to be two mech ani cs with me , two m echa n ics fo r Nagai. We 're goi ng to h a ve a coo rd in a to r, a te am m a nager, then t w o gu y s d oin g the m oto r w o rk. Th ey're not go ing to be ' Japanese. Actually, they sa id the guy 's going to b e Itali an who 's doing th e mo tors . They said I'm going to ha ve an Austra lia n and a New Zea lander fo r mechanics. I'll be able to talk to them and no t h ave to transl at e w h at I wan t done o n the bike. Will you do any other ra ces in th e U.S. ot her th an Da yto na? No, no t unless Yamaha asks u s. What do you think of this motorcycle? Th is is ju st th is year's tes t b ike th a t Yosh ikawa raced and wo n the champions h ip on in Japan. That' s w hy it's go t the number one on it. This bike's goo d . I like it. We're still looki ng for the starting po int. We 're ju st up an d d own, le ft, ri gh t, with the chassis, tryin g to find someth ing th at' s co mfor tab le fo r m e. Japan ese riders ride it a lo t di fferen tly . When I firs t go t it off th e track it w as "run it in dee p an d get it out slow." How much d ifferent is it from your bike? Is it faster? It's pre tty m uch the same . There's not a w hole lot of di fferen ce. When wi ll you see your World Superb ike? Th e b ike at Day ton a will be a fact ory b ike, bu t I d on't know if it will b e a World Superbike. Do yo u feel any pressure being on a factory team? No, I' m jus t going to go ove r there and gi ve 150 percent. What do yo u expe ct? I expect to go over there and w in a few races and be in it for the championship . That's what I want, th at's wha t I expect. Stay cons istent, but then aga in, you can stay consis tent or you can win races. If it was u p to me I'd rather win races than stay consisten t. . Why is th at? It's a hard deal. In my m ind I'd ra ther be winn ing ra ces and have som e bad luc k o n so me ot hers and n ot d o a nythi ng, than rid e aro und in seco nd and thi rd the w ho le year. An d get a champio nship? Yeah . And maybe wi n one race. If you could w in five races, even if you don' t w in the champion shi p, yo u' ve wo n five races and th ey we re hard-fou ght race s. It all takes in to account in the end of th e year, how smart you play it. I mean, definitely if you're in it toward the end of the yea r you' re going to wa nt to stay on I~ the bi ke. A [8 .~ ~

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