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/127870
'INTERVIEW 18 Assen, I came from so far back and then to beat him - I was the first guy to break his win streak there. To come from that position and still win th e race - w ell , psychologically for him, that wa s a hard pill to swallow. And it didn't get any easier for him from that point on. In all your ye ars o f racin g, had you ever come across som eone who you thought was deli berately try ing to take you out? At Hockenheim, he came at me fro m the outsid e . Hey, it 's on e thin g if a gu y comes up the insid e and maybe he's in a bit hot an d runs into you. That' s on e thing, but I've never had anyone come from the ou ts id e and run a cros s m y fron t wheel. That tore the a lu m in u m fairing stays off the mo torcycle, and the fairin g was dra gging on th e gro u nd that's wh y I finished 14th in the second race at Hockenheim. I lost a tremendous amou nt of points. 'And that wa s from Fogarty. I would thin k a race such as tha t w ould g o a lon g way to qu i eti n g a John Kocins ki critic. You could have pulled in instead of ri ding around to get two poi n ts. Do y ou thi n k yo u've s hown those peo ple something, or will th ey alwa ys b e critical of you? One thing is for sure: I'v e had a difficult past. But the nicest thing about my past is. that it' s all behind me now . Anyone in motorcycle racing would give jus t abou t any part of th eir a natomy to be in the shoes thatI'm in now. I'm with Honda and I'm very close with Honda. AlII can d o is try to improve eve ry tim e and ge t bett er. I think a lot of peopl e have see n in 1997 that things have changed for me. I can assure eve ryo ne that it's jus t go ing to keep get ting bett er a nd better. I'm su rroun ded by people who are so profession al and they've reall y hel ped me tremendou sly. Racing is a lot of fun now - like it used to be w he nI was a lot you nger. . Are you proud of what you've been able to accomplish? It wasn't long ago that you sat out a season; now you've rebuilt your career almost all by yourse lf. . It is something th at's quite ni ce a n d something I'm proud of . I do all my own contracts . I or ga nize all my ow n sponsors. When I sayan my own - okay, it' s impossible to do it without all the sponsors and all the people from Honda - bu t as far as the other things tha t other people get help with, well, I've done that pa rt.on my own. With all the ad versity that I've been thro ugh, I've learn ed a lot of that stuff. Basically, I just feel more com fortable doing it on my own. My feeling is that, u nless yo u're trying to ge t a big , outside-the-indus try sponso r, you can do it on your own. I don' t need anyone to find a helmet contract for me. Bu t if I was going to go out an d try to ge t sponsorship from someone lik e AT&T - well, the n I would h ire so me body to go out and ta lk to th ese p eople, because I wo uldn' t step out of m y bou nd aries to attempt somethin g I wasn' t qualified for. Bu t the sponsors insid e the industry know who I am and they know my abilities - it' s just a matter of sitting down and seeing if they have the bu d get to su ppo rt me. Wa s th e r e ever a po i n t where you doubted y ou could come back from being all the way out of the sport? Not hing will ever stop me. I ca n d o wha tever I w an t to do - there's no limit. If I decide to do something, I'm going to d o it. No one is going to stop me. That's just my desire to want to win and to be successfu l - tha t's w hat's hel ped me a lot. That's w hat motivates me. I guess I just never reall y ge t d own. I just kee p World SuperbikeChampio nJoh ocinski nK working away until I get where I want to be. All of those thin gs I'v e been th rough - hey, to be with Honda, I'd do it all again; that's how happy I am to be wh er e I am. If I hav e-a problem , I call the factory and they help me ou t. There are a lot of people who are pinn ing their hopes on you to suddenly make 500cc Grand Prix racing more special. You're the guy who is supposed to beat Mick Doohan and b ring America some glory again in the 500cc class. How d oes that make y ou feel going into next sea son? With those bikes bein g so light and so powe rf ul , the re is a p er iod of tim e where yo u really have to learn how to ge t the bike set up right - just so yo u can ride it at that hig h level an d stay on it every week. You can fall off one of those maybe once or twice, but if you cons istent ly fall off those things, you' ll end up ge tt ing hurt. I've never been actua lly hu rt in my wh ol e career; a nd I d on't wa nt to start next year. In the beginning, I'm ba s icall y go ing to pay m y du e s aga in. I want to build a solid foundation with the bik e befor e I try and put the walls up and the roo f on the hou se. I'd love to just jump back into it and start at the top , but u nfortunately life do esn't work that wa y. I'm really looking forward to the challen ge of getting back in there and learning the essentials - worki ng with the engineers and getting as comfortable as possible on the bike. To say you' re going to go ou t and win the championship that first year is simp ly cra zy . I'rri not even thi nki ng about that. I' m not thinking abo ut finishing in any position, rea lly; I'm ju s t t hin king abou t b u il d ing tha t s trong founda tion. I want to gather as m u ch information as I can a nd learn from everybody, especially Mick (Doohan) and the other riders that are there in the factory team. I· wa nt to tak e advantage of being ab le to listen to everybody and learn ing as much as I can . If you look at an yone who has ever been suc cessful on one (a 500), tha t's what it takes . For sure, it' s a goal of min e to win this thing, and if I hav e to take a year to d o m y homework, th en th at ' s w hat I have to do. I'm only human like everyone else and ther e's only so much I can d o. If I do this the right wa y, I'll take good results this year and I'll le a rn' about the machine. That will put me in a situation where I can not only win races, but to be i n a s i tu a tio n like Mick Doohan. He's defi n itely a formi d ab le presence to have to deal with. Kecins ki had an outing on a Honda NSR500in Japan recently, riding the bike to a fourth-place finish In the Big Road Race at Sugo. In 1998, he'll have the chance to ride one all season as he attacks the 500cc World Championship on a factory NSR. Oh , for sure. I would never dispute that, but eve ryo ne can be beat - everyone has been beat. I d on 't think bea ting Mick Doohan is the hard est part - the hard part is beati ng Mick Dooh an's combination . Tha t's the strength that he has with his team ; he' s been on tha t bike for nine yea rs, so he knows every thi ng about it. If anyo ne thinks they are going to ste p ' in th er e in th ei r firs t yea r a nd go up aga inst a guy wit h nine years of expe rience w it h th a t mach in e - well, tha t's totall y impossible. I'm not going to hurt myself trying to do the im possible. I'm going to get things sorted so I ca n be just under the im possible and ha ve a cha nce to w in. H e (Doo ha n) has a lo t going for him. He's built a lot over time, and he basically has an empire that's not going to be easy to kno ck down. So how h ave you be en spendi ng your off-season? Wil d women, pa rties...? No - it just seems tha t every ·yea r the travel gets more and mor e in tense. I' ve jus t been trying to stay ho me an d do . normal th ings - I guess just s tuff like your neighbor s do. I've been tryingto keep m yself in a p osition wher e I don 't ha ve to travel too m uch. And eve rybody has bee n reall y u n d erstand in g abo u t that. I jus t d id n't want to start off-seaso n tes ting tired . I wa nt to sta rt fres h, and everyone has been really und erstanding abo u t that. You're st ill ba sed in Modesto , California, livin g in a townhouse and driving a p ickup truck. When do you get the mansion and the Ferrari? My theory was always that I wanted to work hard when I was you ng , an d w hen I ge t olde r I just want to play. The nice thing now is that I'm not racing for financial reasons. I race beca use I enjoy it, and it was nice thi s year to bring a W orld Championsh ip back to the United States. Americans have always been really strong in the World Champions h ip, but unfortunately we have a shorta ge of riders there now. It seems that some other countries have kind of taken over now. But I can assu re everyone tha t nex t y ear I w ill be au t there doing my best - and befo re I stop racing, I feel tha t I'm goi ng to win th e 500cc World Cha mpions hip. (~ #lIM SPOR TMOTORC YCL ES