Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

500cc World Champion Michael Doohan By Mi el Scott Photos by ichael Doohan dominated the 500cc class of 1995 in nail-biting rather than classic style. Although clearly and consistently the fastest man out there, the title chase ran to the penultimate race, and he won by the relatively narrow margin of 33 points. This after claiming seven more race wins to bring his grand total to 26, fourth overall behind G ~ Agostini (68), Mike Hailwood (37) and Eddie Lawson (31). . Doohan was dominant early in the season too, but proved prone to inconsistency, crashing out of two. consecutive races to lose the title lead to rival Daryl Beattie. He got it back again when Beattie had a hiccup, and until the 10th GP in the Czech Republic, he was not once beaten in a straight fight. He failed to win two out of the next three races too, bu t by now he had a title lead to consider. Now 30, former Australian Gold Coast swimming-pool builder Doohan is now a millionaire tax exile living in Monaco, with a Ferrari in the garage, and a vast off-shore speed boat awaiting his pleasure in Australia. In between came a meteoric rise through Australian Production and Superbike racing to hit the GP stage in 1989. He was special from the start. Even as a GP novice, he renegotiated his HRC contract with a bigger bonus for winning, and less for other rostrum positions. "I'm not interested in coming second or third:' he told them. Three years later, his new "Big Bang" Honda apparently almost invincible, he was sailing to his first world title when he suffered near-crippling leg injuries at Assen. . His fight back to world dominance and the championship this year and last has been an inspiring tale of determination and innovation, adapting the works Honda (with a thumb-operated rear brake) to compensate for a useless right ankle, and perfecting an approach where he never seemed happy unless right at the limit. In that time, Doohan has proven in many ways that his image of being "a laid-back Aussie" was a shallow publicity myth. Instead, like all the great cham- . pions before and after, he has a frightening streak of determination and sheer courage that the ordinary man can only wonder at. The struggle showed also as he developed an increasingly spiky persona. His mother Colleen says there are days when they dare not go near him; crew-cltief Jerry Burgess says that "Mick can get pretty edgy. The way I treat him is that he's always right, even when he's wrong." But those who work with him are also inspired by both his polished riding talent and his raw competitive drive. Many people found the rough edge of his tongue during 1995, and new blonde girlfriend Selina Sines found herself the frequent buffer in some fierce encounters - and her sunny smile was usually a big help. Nor does Mick have much of a reputation as a great talker. One frustrated Australian sports writer described him as "about as interesting to interview as a paper cup." For these and other reasons I approached this interview with a certain trepidation. I fo~d a changed man. His second title won, his 1996 plans "99-percent settled," he was in a casual, friendly and even expansive mood, and talked with striking clarity and frankness on M E , l-< ClJ ClJ > o z 20 far-ranging issues. I felt ashamed of every negative thing I'd written about his moodiness through the year. Here's how the conversation went. Was the second title harder than the first? Definitely. Especially a third of the way through the season. I put a lot of pressure on myself to win. A lot, and that made it harder probably just dealing with that. It was more precious to me - I didn't just want to win one title and that'd be it. . Kevin Schwantz always said there was more motivation in winning races than titles. You've also always said you're a race-by-race man. Yeah - it's pretty hard at the beginning of the year to say okay, 1'm going to win the championship. It's a lot easier to say than for it to happen. Whereas you can say you're going to win a race, and you know that there's a good chance you're going to. A championship comes - obviously by being consistent. But generally it's the guy who wins the most races. So what Kevin's saying... it's also my approach. Take each race as it comes, and if you've got enough at the end of the year to be the champion, well and good, but it's a bonus. At the end of last year you were very matter of fact: The championship was just a Number One that you stick on the bike, and you can't even see it when you're riding. That's pretty much what it is. It's what you're there for, for the team and everyone and for yourself. But you're no different froin everyone else out there. You still have to compete against everybody, and they all want what you have. So you're a target as well. At the end of the day everyone's the same really. It's just whoever kinda lucks in. What about the off-track pressures on the World Champion? You seem to find that irksome. You said to me in Brazil that you "didn't go racing to be an ambassador." I don't think anybody does (laughs). I don't mind that side of it, but I don't like people who want to perceive that it's the main aim of being'a World Champion. That your main job is to be curator of s.ome new empire. It's just not. You're here to do the same job as last year, before you were World Champion. The way everyone goes into motorcycle racing - they don't want to be World Champion so they can become an ambassador for the sport, and -go on to bigger and better things later on. First and foremost, I'm a motorcycle racer. J don't pretend to be anything but a motorcycle racer, and I try and just do that as best I can, rather than do everything half all right. This year things got pretty rocky with the specialist racing press. I think the biggest thing that upset me, which is fair, was when I did crash .in Spain and then in Germany... everyone likes a bit of controversy and it opened up the championship. But I didn't

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