Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW How long is their commitment? Three years. They're actually people who really want to do something. It's really a change from what I've been doing. The racing department at Yamaha is. very eager ane( they want to do that. But the bean.counters that actually run the company just don't let them. So you never really know where you stand from year to year. What does Modenas hope to get out of it? Now, you're finding out what their name is. They bought the narning rights to the motor just like Chevrolet did with TImor. That's basically what they're in this for. They're a very aggressive company, a very big company. I think they have 32,000 employees with this group. They're into everything from airliners to banks to heavy industry. Motorcycles are one division. How did you find them? I'm looking, looking to sell \t. I was looking in Indonesia, I was looking in Malaysia, China even India. Anybody who made a product that could benefit from this project. Because the actual cost of this project and what you'll get out of it is very good. It's not like it's a bad project. It's a very good project, provided that we keep on the leading edge of technology. They have access to that technology. They have access to what I consider, and what many consider, the. best team in the world of motorcycle racing. Espedally since no one has the technical base that we have in the companies that we own and the diversified way that we can get things done. I think, no question, the speed in which we can get things done. With Yamaha you mentioned that there were times you wanted to get some- thing done and it either didn't get done or didn't get done fast enough. That's a problem and if they think that it's not a priority and they just spend money on it, they're not going to do it. To give you an example, there's a hole right in the right-side fairing of the bike in 1991 and it ate the "r" up in "Marlboro." And it was to cool the clutch off. And we asked them to d!Jct it from the front in a little side duct. You :know how many years it took me to get that done? Years, I'm talking about. Why couldn't you do it yourself? Every year they changed the jairing. Their responsibility to Marlboro is to do the bikes. To do a bottom thing like that, to make a mold, is fairly expensive. And all I did was say next time we make fairings, why don't you do that. And they go, yeah, yeah. And they write it down. And it took three years. And finally, in Japan, I just finally grabbed one of them and threatened to kill him if he didn't do it. And it's not the fact that I could've done it. Sure I could've done it, but they should've done it. Or they should have told me, "Kenny we can't do it." I'm not really even complaining. It's frustrating. It just wears you down after a while. Last year you seemed to take matlers into your own hands. Last year we knew we were building something else. We didn't do much last year to our motorcycles. Last year we had our hands full running three riders with the same crew that we ran two with and we were building our own motorcycle on the side and putting all this together. Does it ever get overwhelming? It does get overwhelming. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time. The The ear ahead A s enthusiastic as Kenny Roberts is about his project, he's also a realist. He's entering the race season on an untested machine with two largely inexperienced riders. em you win the 1997 500cc World Championship? All in all, I would say no. The odds are against us, largely. We are actually racing Mick Doohan, who's a very established hard-core guy right now. He's at his peak, he's not going to get any better. He may even get worse, but he's not going to get any better. But he's very, very able of winning every race. And that's a very hard combination, even if our motorcycle is better, because we still have relatively no experience. These guys have no experience compared to Micl,. None, zero. just those two things alone, right there, is a tall order to ask (Kenny Roberts) junior or jean-Michel (Bayle). Our onLy hope next year is to engineer a better motorcycle. If we .can engineer a better combination, I think that we can win races. But to win the World Championship, J don't see a realistic shot at that. But if you said, "Well, you have Yamahas for next year and you have junior and Bayle" and you asked if we realistically have a shot at winning the championship, my answer would be no. We do not. The total combination would still be weighed toward Honda and Doohan. I . think that they'll give Mick some fits, but heavily weighed toward Mick. For us to beat Mick Doohan right now we have to build a better motorcycle, have a beller team and much beller backup for our riders. And I think our riders can win the World Championship. But that's a tall order for the team to take in one year, considering that we probably won't even run our race engines until the first race. After Doohan who do you see? Our two guys. I think our two guys are two young guys who are going to last a while. Then I see other young guys coming up. (Anthony) Gobert, (Troy) Corser. (Alex) Criville is just improving, improving, improving. And if Mick quit, Criville would step right into Mick's place, and he's plenty capable of beating him right now. He's training hard and I think he's going to give Mid some more thriJIs this year. I'm really impressed with what he's done. (Norifume) Abe will be better. Abe's got a funny style, but when he figures it out he's going to be a good racer. J think he's a good racer right now, he's just got some experience to learn. He just needs more experience, and it's going to take him a little while. With that style it's going to take him a little longer. It's a very aggressive style and he uses a lot of front end, .but he has a feel for the rear and that's a tough combination to beat. If he ever learns how to go through an ess-curve as well as he can get around a single corner he's going to be good. Gobert, I mentioned. and Daryl's (Beattie) proven that he can run consistently, but I don't see Daryl beating Mick right now. I don't know how good the Suzuki's going to be. That's a wild card. I think if the Suzuki's going to be better and Daryl's 100 percent, I think Daryl's capable of beating Mick as well. I'm not sure for the whole World Championship, but he's proven he can beat him. And if the Suzuki is a better motorcycle than the Honda, which is a big if, I think they can. From what I understand, they went very well in testing. Even Gobert's surprised a few people, so it really depends on how good the bike is. (Luca) Cadalora's a fast motorcycle racer. I don't think he has the consistency lap after lap after lap that Mid has, even if the bike's not working. But he certainly can ride a motorcycle. He's got probably the most feel of anyone I've ever worked with. Corser, I don't think he's going to set the world on fire this year. But he's got a lot of experience, probably more than our guys. I think the combination of the Yamaha and Luca's going to be dangerous at times, and I don't think Corser's going to let Luca out of his sights for too long. I don't see them beating Mick for the chalXlpionship. But I think Luca's capable of winning races. The KR3 500cc V-three Is a small package, resembling a 250cc GP bike more than a SOO. The small frontal area Is made possible by moving the radIator under the seat. The Marlboro-backed bike will be ridden In 1997 by Kenny Roberts Jr. and Jean-Michel Bayle. most frustrating part is not actually keeping on a time schedule. Engineering runs into these hiccups and this won't be a problem next year, but it's a problem right now. Our new bike for the '97 season isn't done yet. But our '98 model could come the middle of '97 or the end of '97. Our '99 could come in '97. That's what I see as the benefit. It's not really a problem that Yamaha waits a year to build a new bike as long as they update through the season with what you need to win. I don't see us having huge advantages. I think we can do it quid

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