Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127717
The time ha d come to redefine himself and it wasn't easy. "I've been wo rking hard at looking at myself. I haven't shown people how nice a person I really am because I let stress get to me . I'm not tha t way. With my break-up , it was like, hey, some thing is wrong w ith me, not as a racer; I got all that. I get ou t on the track and 1 bu m rub ber wit h the best of them, and I don't look at my personal life out there. But it's when I come back and sit down. My racing stuff was good , 1 knew how to ride, bu t my person al life was screwed up," Smith said. And it would stay that way for some time, taking him un til the beginning of this past winter to totally get over it. Had there bee n mo re success on the superbike it might have been easier, but it was a season to forge t - a season filled w ith fru stra tion, fro m th e top of the tea m on d own. Th ere was ve ry little suppo rt fro m th e facto ry an d an edict fro m u p h igh to not fiddle too mu ch wit h the factory goods. There was a similar st ruggle go ing on with the World Superbike Championship team of Doug Polen and Aaron Slight, but the develop ment from the world team never reached the American team and there was mor e than a little bitterness. Plus, Magee, who Smith greatly respected a nd w ho was b ro u g ht in to signal Ho nda 's seriousness about w in ning, was openly and vocally unhappy. The yea r started wit h Smith qu alifying 17th at Daytona, then coming horne sevent h in the race, not bad for a first ou ting, bu t, ul tim ately, misleading. At the following race in Phoenix he qualified ninth an d finished seventh, getting hit at the end of the race by Yoshimura Suzuki's Tom Kipp. The parking lot debacle at Pom ona was next and, with p ractice wiped out due to track problems, Sm ith started the race on a bike built on h ypothese s . "W e missed all those days of practice and 1 was in la-la land out there," Smith said at the time . Still, he finished eighth. By now it was apparent that the bike wasn't competitive an d that he wo ul d be toiling at the bottom end of the top 10. At Laguna Seca he wa s 14th fastest in qualifying, two spots below teammate Mike Hale who was on last year's RC30. In the race he would finish ninth, a position he found himself in at the end of the next race at Elkhart Lake. Loudon wo uld be next and it would be somethin g of a revel ation . A fast lap around the N ew Hampshire circuit requires precision, rh ythm, and not a little bit of disregard for the ubiquitous hazards. Smith qualified ninth, about standa rd, then found himself in a th reerider battle for fourth on a blazingly hot day after cha nging his rid ing style and tactics. "That's the wa y I'v e go t to ride it," he realized. " At Loudon , we didn 't h av e very good lu ck w orki n g on our bike. And Loudon is a track where you can easily get w rapped up in workin g too hard because you have to move a lot. So to be su btle about doing stuff d oesn' t come easy at Loudo n. Slamming it hard, flicking it hard , because it's all real short . We w orked hard all weekend, and in the heat - it gets your mind twisted - but in th at p ain and s truggle and su ffer in g, when 1 finall y turned loose and relaxed, it was great," Smith says. What he discovered was that a judi cious use of the brakes in the comers cou ld correc t flaw s in th e suspens io n and set up a proper exit, some thing he"d never tried before because of the wa y he manhandled the motorcycle. "I tried to change Mike Smi th ins tead of bullying my way everywhere 1 go and be bully- . Los Angeles Superbike Championship Pomona Fairplex~ Pomona, CA The Toyota Challenge of Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, CA April 2 April 30 for tickets, call 800-364-6060 leA only) or 714-632-7070 for tickets, call 800-327-7322 - The Pomona and Laguna Seca Nationals areofficial AMA Pro Club events. (callAMAPro Racing at 614/891-2425 formore information) For all AMA Pro Racing results, call1/900-884-CYCLE NEW FOR 95! 100%cotton AMA Superbike SeriesT-shirts. l arge graphic· front, AMAPro R acing logo on back. $18. includes postageand handling; The AMA Superbike Series is aproperty ofAMA Pro Racing To order with MasterCard, VISA orDiscover call Product Sales at 614/891-2425. PRODRED/VE O AMERICA'S SPORTBIKE