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/127790
250cc World Champion Max Biaggi By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose hich way did Max Biaggi go? This is the question on the lips of all of his 250cc-c1ass competitors. In the space of a year or two, the once desperately close and competitive 250cc Grand Prix class has become instead a distant and more or less dispiriting pursuit of the flying Italian with the infuriating habit of qualifying on pole posi tion and streaking off into a lead of 10 seconds or more by half distance. Max's complex personality is by now well-known, combining exuberance with reclusiveness; outgoing star quality interrupted by introspective solitude. So is his racing ability. Fast from the beginning, he has year by year added maturity and consistency to his by now devastating speed. With a style that is both accurate and aggressive, he and the black-and-yellow factory Chesterfield Aprilia ~e one of the great spectacles of modern racing. What lies behind the success of this extraordinary rider, who has singlehandedly risen as a colossus of the 250cc class, and now stands poised on the brink of a 500cc career? I sought the views of two men well qualified to see beyond the obvious facts: Aprilia's racing boss and his team's overall manager Carlo Pernat; and Wayne Rainey, not only one of racing's most observant experts, but also the man heading the team of his so-far thoroughly vanquished major rival Tetsuya Harada. Their answers were very revealing. Pernat, whose full title is Team Manager and Public ReIati.ons for the Aprilia Racing Team, knows Max better than anybody, both as it rider, and off the track. This is not to say the two are friends. As Pernat observes. "Max does not want any friends - not inside racing." The relationship between this rider and his team boss is complicated because of their continuously difficult business arrangements. Max is his own manager, and he drives a very, very hard bargain, while Pernat is a key adversary. Max is currently looking around in the 500cc class, with approaches from HRC and probably just about everyone else, as well as an ardent invitation from Aprilia to stay with them to race their 400 - and a 250 as well, if he likes. But Pernat is worried that Max will price himself out of the market, and in the long term this will be a mistake. "I believe a rider should concentrate on riding, and that he should employ a professional manager to take care of his business. Riders and businessmen talk different languages, and have different reasons for decisions. In my opinion, being his own manager is not very positive for him. I have seen the same when Reggiani moved to Honda, and had a