Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

cross a little bit early. I wanted to go to America and try and win the Supercross Series, and stuff like that. I felt really confident of having a good chance of doing that kind of deal. I think that my problem's always been that I'm probably a bit too impatient. But my biggest problem is trying to get people to believe that I can do it straight away. They look at others and think - it took ]:Urn three months so it's got to take you at least that. But then I got out and can do it in one mon1h and pr ve them wrong. That's been my ",hole life, always having to prove people wrong. And that's the way it's going to be until I become.5OC\cX World Champion. What was your firsUmpression of the Muzzy team when you got there? I didn't really know what to think then because I'd never seen a World Superbike team. I'd seen the way the 500 guys did it at the Australian GP, but I didn't really know anything about World Superbikes. Even when I raced at Sugo in '94, I only looked at that as a one-off ride to try and get me on a SOD. So I still didn't really take a lot of noticed at Sugo - because I didn't really want to be there. All I studied last year was 500 circuits and 500 riders, everything was just about 500s. When I didn't get the 500 ride, I was a little bit torn up inside. I felt that I'd missed out on something that I truly believed I was ready for. I wanted to go into 500s the way Mat Mladin did, and succeed. I wanted to prove people wrong because after Mat they said it couldn't be done. It's what I said about proving people wrong all my life - I wanted to prove people wrong again there. So when I didn't get the opportunity I felt really lost because I've always looked at 500s as the number one. Superbikes was where you went to retire, when you got old. So for me being here now, I just feel there's a big part of me missing. I need to get on a 500 and show that I can do it. When do you think of the Muzzy team now, after a year with them? r think this team's got a lot to learn. It's definitely a very small team for World Superbike racing. I feel that our results are really quite surprising considering the size of the team. We don't do any testing. We're just basically a lot smaller than anyone else. We don't have a hospitality. We only have a couple of guys on the team. A lot of teams probably have too many people hanging around, but at least then you know that things will get done. That's something we need to work on. I think we need more pe0ple. We definitely need a hospitality for the mechanics because right now it's up • to them to organize their own food, and they can't be doing that when they're trying to work on a bike. I feel sorry for them in a lot of ways because they miss - out on dinner quite a lot because of that. So I feel disappointed for our mechanics. I feel disappointed for ourselves and for Kawasaki because our team looks like a private effort out there. It's not good for a factory Kawasaki team to look like a private effort. I think Rob Muzzy has a lot to give to the sport. He seems to have a lot of knowledge in different areas of the sport, and he's been around for a lot of years. So I feel he has a lot to give, but I suppose it's hard to give it when we race over here and he's in America. That part is hard for me to deal with as well because J felt like I signed to Rob Muzzy, and now I'm with Steve Johnson, even though he's only the team manager. I don't fully know how the system works because it's only my first year, but J was under the assumption If you were to stay in World Superbike racing, would you want to stay with Kawasaki? . I'm not sure. I'm not real keen at this stage unless I can have a ride on the new machine. Last year, Honda told us that their RC45 was going to be unbeatable. We got it tate in Australia, for the third round of our championship, and we had problems with it. It was slower than they expected. So I feel that I was a major part of the success of the Honda in Australia, but I was having to really override it to beat the Kawasaki and the Ducati. Knowing how hard I had to ride that Honda, how much harder I had to ride than the other guys to beat them, I'd like to try the new Kawasaki before committing myself. Will you test it? I don't think so. I spoke to Rob about it in Japan - at the eight hour. I told him then that I wouldn't be keen on signing up with Kawasaki unless I had a ride on the bike because of what happened with the Honda. He said in December. which, of course, is too late for me. You recently tested Loris Capirossi's Honda NSRSOO. What was it like being on a 500 for the first time? I had a really good time on it. I feel it really suited my style. It was a good size for me. I'm happy because up until you ride one, you don't know what to expect of it. There's quite a lot there you have to team. I'm happy because I seemed to accomplish the first step quite successfully. So I ieel that I would have a good chance of becoming World Champion on a 500. I didn't get a great deal of time on it. I only rode it for 26 or 28 laps, but I did enough to know where I was at. Do you think it would be a probLem for you to go back to Honda? that Rob would be around a lot more to give me advice. That part for me is very hard. So do you think it was all down to Scott Russell's talent getting the 1993 title? . Yes. What do you think of Russell as a rider? I think he's a good rider. He's shown that in GPs. But I do think he was the major thing keeping the Muzzy team going along. The team is actually lucky that I was able to learn quick enough to be able to win a race for them this year. I do feel that I've saved Muzzy and his team to some extent. There's also been a lot of races where I shouldn't have been on the start line because of crashes. But i felt obliged to ride because I was the only rider. If I was a team owner, then I would expect my riders to put in. And if one of them leaves, you obviously would like the other one to be on the track all the time. At places like Monza and Albacete and a couple of others, I shouldn't have been racing. I still managed to get some good results, but that's only through determination - mit:te's a lot stronger than some of the other riders. But things did start improving once Russell left... Yes. We only had two guys on each bike and if you crashed one, it didn't really leave much time for them to fix you another one and get you going again. J don't know if it's the American way, but they seem to make it like it's two teams in one. To me, it felt like it was Scott, Danny and Gary (Russell's mechanics) against myself, Tony and Masanori (Gobert's mechanics). It wasn't like a team., it was like they were here to beat us. I hated that situation at the start and it only got better because Scott left and there was more people to give me the attention and time I needed. It's my first year and I need to know a lot of information and there's not many people out there who can give me that information. That's what I meant about Rob being here. I feel he would be able to give me some good information. He has done that at different times when he's been here. I would like to see him at more races, but I suppose he's caught)lp with the Scott Russell thing. But that really hurt me. No, I don't think it should be because I feel that there was a big communication breakdown there. Because the Japanese were going through Australian Honda instead of talking to me directly so that things might have been changed around, or reworded. So it's a matter of who makes the best offer, is it? I want to be sitting on the right bike. I'm not one of those riders who choose his bike according to the salary. For me, it's got a lot more to do with your heart. I've been doing a Lot of thinking and haven't come up with a sol.ution yet. But I would like to go to 500s in the very near future. Like very soon.. fN

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