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/127722
si nce I've been ri di ng for th is tea m becau se I've had to make up for a lot of what the bike lacks. So as far as my riding goes, it has nothing to do with Fred. Did it come as a surp rise to you when Suz uk i signed Merkel? I can' t rea lly say it was su rprising, but it w as defini tely an interesti ng devel opment with the way it came about. He al so received a two-year contract from them, something that you wanted but didn't get. It ' s so mething th at 1 ta lk ed to th em abo u t. An d the sa me for rid in g Su persport. 1 b e g ged them to let m e r id e Su pers p ort. I wa n te d to d o b a sically what Tom Kipp did - and th at' s go out the re a n d b e at tho s e g uys in to t he grou nd . Tha t's a class that I could for sure - well, 1 d on ' t want to say tha t I coul d for su re win, but I can say for sure th at I'd be at th e fro nt and giving them everything th ey cou ld handle. They told me th at th ey did not want m e to use m y talent in tha t class . They w an ted me to stay focused in Sup erbike on ly and not ge t caught u p in riding Supersport. My response was, "fi ne ." They just d idn't want me to lose any o f my foc us o n Superbike by going ou t there and riding Supersport. At first w hen Fred got the two-year contract it was a little d ishearteni ng - when you've been asking for a twoyea r deal and some guy who hasn't even been in the team, or put any development into the bike, comes along and gets a two-year deal. All yo u can do is use that as mo tivation. I wouldn' t be telling the truth if I said it didn't upset me. Sure it did. I've put a lot of work into making this th in g come arou nd, and fo r them to sign Merkel to a twoyear deal... But on the other hand, things hap pen for a rea. son and I'm sure there's a rea son for th is. What it is I don't know, but if I go out and do the business this yea r, then na turally it w ill be just tha t much better for me next year. Is there a number-one rider on the Yoshimura Suzuki team? I wou ld let the results speak for t hemselves, but I feel there is no t a numbe r-o n e rider because we both get t!Je same equipment. It all comes down to your results. Fred's a great rider and he'll get the hang of it, and that's fine . As h e gets better, I get better. I'm not slowing down o r backing up - I' m going forward. Really, I don't really concern myself with that. As lo ng as I k now I' m ge tting equal equ ipme nt than I can d o my job . If I d o my job, th en things w ill work out. Are you co n f i d e n t th a t S u z u k i will want to keep yo u around to ride th e new bike in 1996? I've always been confid ent in my abilities and I've ne ver h ad a tw o-year deal. My fee ling is sim p le - if I do my job then I have no p roblem about whether I'm goi ng to ha ve a job th e n e xt yea r, w hether it' s with Suzuki or another co m pany . Pe rsona lly, I wa n t to stay b e cau s e w hen it co mes aro u nd, it's g o in g to com e arou n d really b ig fo r Suzuki. With the h igh speed s o f D a ytona behind you, do you expect even better results at the remaining rounds? I can only see my results getting better. Time will tell . Thomas Stevens is ready to win. Whether it comes this year o r nex t year, I d o n' t know. It's really so ea rly . Until you get to some of the other tracks, it 's reall y hard to te ll. Once we ge t to a road course like Laguna th en that w ill tell the tale as to whether or not the bike is competitive enough to win o n. Lookin g back on y our car eer, a re there tim es when you re g ret leaving the Vance & H ines Yamaha t e am aft er winning th e ch a m p io n s h ip in 1991? As far as what's ha ppened - I do n' t look b a ck o n the past because th e past does n' t equal th e fu tu re . I just look to th e future. The things I d id back th en I had to do . If Yamaha weren't prepared to p ay fo r th e numbe r-o ne p late and Ka w asaki was, th en I h ad to d o w hat was best for Thomas Stevens. It' s all just made me a better rider. I still have a lot of fu tu re ahead of me. com es out in '96. Are you hoping to b e a pa rt of that? Of course. I would be very interested in it. My feeling is that I have a job to do in th e U.S. and that's to w in the championship. Na turally, I'd li ke to wi n the U.S. Championship before I m ove on to Wo rld Superbike. Bu t I will end u p in World Superbike. World Superbike is the next level, competition-wise. When I go to World Superbike I'm going there to win . I'm not going there to get an education on how to go fast - I k now how to go fast. Ar e the reports of you turning in le ngthy, detailed technical report s to th e Suzuki enginee rs after every race true? Yes. That's something that Suz uki asked me to do in 1993. I have a stack of repo rts of things that n e ed e d to be improve d th a t we' re fin a lly ge t ting incor po rated into the m achine in ' 95. Rea lly it just comes down to tes ting new pa rts a n d my fee li ngs o n those n e w I wou ld have to say i t was having Wayne Rai ney call me . I've know n Wayne for a long time, ever since I was training with him when I worked with Ken ny Roberts. I'd be ri ding w ith him and I cou ld n't even ha ng on to the di rt bike any mo re and he'd be still ripping around and ready to go. He'd te ll m e, "You've jus t got to keep riding." When I was working with Kenny (Robe rts) and those guys, they gave me the table but they di dn't give me th e legs . It's taken a little bit longer to find the legs to su pport the table. It w as just a joy to talk to Wayne. I'd called hi m a few months back when I was out there testing a nd he d idn't get b ack to m e. When he called, he gave me so me really nice comments about my finish an d how I' m riding now. What can I say, when yo u get a compliment fro m a three-tim e World Champion that you look like yo u ' re ac tua lly ge tti ng th e job done th at h as to be th e bes t thing coming ou t of Daytona. So what's your goa l this year? Is it to win a race, or is it to win a champi onship? My fee lin g to w a rd s th e A me rica n Championship is tha t I' ve d one that. Th e Thomas Steven s yo u see ou t th er e now is going to wi n races . I can' t tel l you wher e or which ones, but I will win ra ces. If you win races, yo u'll w in champ io nshi ps . The o ld Thom as St evens w anted to w in a championship becau se it w ou ld help his career. The n e w Th om as Stevens wants to win races an d the championships w ill come with those wins. Suzuki is rumored to b e rea dy fo r a serio us assault on the World Superbike Championsh ip when their n ew b ik e parts. That's ta pere d off a lot th is year be cau se I' m s pea ki ng directly to m y guys an d the engineers and the communication is a lot clea rer. All I ca n d o is w o rk o n Thom as Stevens as fa r a s b e comin g a b ette r rider, I can' t tell an engineer how to pr od uce a part. I can tell 'em what I w ant and I can tell 'e m how it feels, bu t I can' t make th e p arts . Th at' s why I alwa ys em p hasize the team be cause withou t them I can' t get it don e. You received a phone call from threetime World Champion Wayne Rainey after he watched the Daytona 200 on TV... . If you were to say what's my best accomplishment com ing out of Daytona , Thomas Stevens (11) batt led with Doug Polen (23) In the Daytona 200 before ultimate ly holding off Colin Edwards II in their fight over third place. Are there any ra ces on the schedule that you look forward to more than the others? I tak e 'em all as eq ual. I d on 't hold one track u p a ga inst the o the rs . To m e , Pomona is th e same as Mid -Ohio. Su re the faci lity is no t anything like it, but I hold them all the same. They pay me to go out th ere an d w in, no t to like or d islike a track. I'm all for safety, but w hen we fina lly line ' em u p it's time to race and tha t's w ha t I get pai d for. ( :N