Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW By Paul Carruthers Photos by Kinney Jones homas Stevens has been around the racing block 'several times, stopping to sign contracts with some of the best teams in AMA racing along the way. This year is no different. In the 10 years since he first burst on the scene with a dramatic win over Doug Polen in a 600cc Supersport race at Road Atlanta, the 32-year-old has ridden everything from Kenny Robertsbacked 2S0cc GP bikes to four-stroke superbikes for the top teams in the country - Vance & Hines Yamaha, Muzzy Kawasaki and Yoshimura Suzuki. Now he's come full circle, rejoining the team with which he won the Superbike National Championship in 1991 Vance & Hines Racing. To add a little more spice to the tale, Vance & Hines is no longer associated with Yamaha and will instead race bright-red Ducati V-twins this season, leaving only Honda and Harley-Davidson as the superbikes yet to be raced by Stevens. Despite his vast experience in the class, Stevens didn't race in the AMA Superbike Series in 1996. Instead, he was demoted to 600cc Supersport racing and he didn't like it much. Hell-bent on returning to the premier class, Stevens rode hard in 1996. Riding a Kinko's Kawasaki, he ended the season second behind Miguel Duhamel in the 600cc Supersport Series - and, more importantly, he also ended up at the top of Terry Vance's short list when the deal with Ducati was finally inked. . Stevens has always believed in his own ability. And that hasn't changed. He believes he can win again in 1997, something he hasn't done in AMA Superbike racing since his lone win of 1991 at Mid-Ohio. We caught up with Stevens the week after his Ducati debut at Laguna Seca at his golf-course-community home in Woodstock, Georgia. Stevens finished 10th at Laguna, riding an underpowered 916 for the first time. You've raced a lot of different motorcycles, from 250s to big-bore endurance bikes, to Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha superbikes. What were your initial impressions of the Ducati? The bike is definitely different from any- thing I've ever ridden, as far as an in-line four-cylinder. A lot of people compare it to riding a 250 and you can use that as a generalization of riding it because you can use a lot of lean angle and carry a lot of cornering speed with it. But a 250 has 80 or 90 horsepower and our bikes have ISS-plus horsepower. So when you start to pick up the throttle to come off a turn with a 2S0, it's pretty easy to hold a line with it and accelerate off. With the Ducati, it has so much power and so much grip that the key is using throttle control to keep it on line. Based on how little you've ridden it, how long will it take you to get it figured out? At first it was a pretty steep learning curve because I was still trying to ride it like an in-line four - get on the throttle pretty hard to turn it a little bit with the rear wheel. With the Ducati you can't do that. It has so much grip, the thing doesn't want to slide. When you jump on the throttle, all it wants to do is run wide. That was a thing I had to learn and I'm still learning. You can't just jump on the throttle. Once they get the thing to run good enough so I can run with the other guys, the learning part is over for me. I have a pretty good baseline setup and I'm ready to go. Fortunately, I've been around long enough and have ridden enough different stuff that I can adapt pretty quickly. If I need to change my style, then I change my style. If I have to ride it a certain way to go fast on it, then by all means then I'll change. I'm not young enough in my career where I can't just change my riding style to adapt to the bike. Your current deal with Terry Vance is only for this year. If everything goes according to plan, do you see yourself coming back with the team in 1998? Of course. I'm very, very happy with the team and working with Jim Leonard (the team's crew chief/engine builder). When Terry and I talked and he offered me the program, I was in the midst of contract negotiations with Kawasaki to ride a 600 (for Kinko's). That was soine- thing tha t I didn't want to do and probably wouldn't have done if that was all there was to do. I could ride a 600 and make a decent living at it, or I could go and ride for Terry and not make a whole lot of money - but it was a good opportunity. There were no negatives about putting the whole deal together. The way I look at it, I'm on a superbike and I'm with a really good team. Once they give me the bike, I'll do the business. The rest I'm not worried about. I take it one year at a time right now in my career. I feel I'm competitive and I definitely want to win. The only thing left for me to do is win races. God willing, it will work out the way it's supposed to. So if I do the business and keep improving with the bike, then there won't be any problem with having a place to stay. You weren't overly tluilled with just racing 600cc Supersport last year. Is it just not the same when you're not racing a superbike? I feel supersport racing is important and I'm more than willing to ride it, so long as there's a superbike that goes along with it. If there's not, then it's just not worth it for me. We know what I went through to get back to where I am now. I had to take a step back and ride supersport and it was pretty humbling - but I still wanted to rac~ and I felt I still had something to show them to get back on a superbike. After last year, I was trying to put something together with Kawasaki to ride for Rob (Muzzy) and that fell through. I went to Daytona and tested for one day (with Kinko's) while I was still negotiating with Terry (Vance). I found tpat day that just riding the supersport bike, if that was all there was for my career, then it was time for me to walk away. I would have gone into business for myself and started to make some real money. And I've never felt that before. It was pretty weird to be out there riding the bike and not have my heart in it. If my heart's not in it, then there's no reason fo, me to be out there. I just felt that if that was all there was then it was time for me to quit. I wasn't going to go out and ride just to ride, like some of these guys. That's not me. I'm not just a supersport guy, I'm a superbike rider and I'm a guy that can win races. If all I could do was ride supersport, then it was time for me to do something else. Any deal with supersport would have to be in conjunction with a superbike deal. It's just not worth it for me to just ride supersport. The Kinko's guys were pretty good about it when you told them you were taking the deal with Vance... Naturally, they were disappointed and I hated to have to' string them along like I did. I was advised to tell them to send the contract. Those were my only words to them. I just told them to send me the contract 0 1 could have my lawyers look it over. In the process of all this going on, Jim (Leonard) called me back, Terry (Vance) called me back. We were

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