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
goes to show yo u that superbikes - well, they basically only lose out to a SOD on accele ra tio n, and tha t' s on ly becau se they ' re 35 kilo s (a lm os t 80 p oun d s ) ligh ter. On top speed, ther e's probably only 3 or 4 k' s (2.5 m p h) in it. I d on't thin k people realize the level that superbike ra cin g ha s go tten to. You can ask some of th e guys w ho returned fro m Gra nds Prix to World Superb ike last year; I think they found it qu ite a bit d ifferen t than they ever hav e. I kn ow that this yea r was a full-on race. Every time you got on the bike, you were definitely out on the limit. How much did the RC45 change fro m th e first time yo u rode it to how yo u finish ed th e season 011 it? Basically, I can honestly say that through all the winter testing and probably the first four races - actu ally, it was Donington Park. In the first race there I finished 10th, and in the seco nd race I fini sh ed fifth - that was probably the bigge st high light of the w ho le se ason. We fou nd a ba seline se tt ing wher e we cou ld go to every race track and sta rt off in a very good position . Up until that poi nt, we were still try ing -to ge t a feel and understand the machin e. There were defi nitel y so me th in gs that I had to modify in a small way to ride it. Overall, it wa s really so methi ng and I was happy to be there and be involved with it. It was nice to be with people who would work night and da y and had the sa me desi re as me to try and achieve a World Championship. So with the bike not b ein g the wa y you wanted it early on , d id it h elp you that some of those earl y rounds were held in wet conditions? (Abo ve) In 1997, John Kocin ski wa s ab le to pose as a winner nine times - one sho rt of his goal . Still, he ended th e year as the World Sup erb lke Champ ion. (left) Kocinski at play o n a Penny Farthing. I thin k not kno wing any thi ng about the mot or cycle and rid ing it in the wet is not an " easy thi ng to d o. How can an yone say that it was easy for me, or that I was lu cky? Wh en you d on' t know the motorcycle, ridi ng it in the we t isn't any easier. To ride it in the we t, just like the dry, the bike has to be set u p very well because you can't be on the ragged edge and make it around the track 25 or 30 times. I had a very good team and I had a lot of confidence in them. And they knew ~hat I could do. We were together as a team, and the combination was just much too strong for anybody out there. If Coli n Edwards ends up takin g over you r Cas trol Honda ride, w hat ad vice cou ld 'you give h im go ing into th e season? If tha t w o rk s o ut fo r Colin, the n I' m very happy for him . It's very nice to see ano t he r A merica n rid er get o n t he ma chin e becau se , afte r all, we' re a ll Am ericans and it's nice to see Americans win World Ch ampionships - in any class. With the work that's been don e to this poin t, he sho uld be able to get on it and - th e hard est part for him is tha t he's been on the Yamaha for so long, it' ll be int eresting to see how he adj us ts to . th e Honda . Th e tw o, chassiswise, a re quite a bit di fferent. Per son ally, I hope he gets on the bik e and goes very we ll and can win the cha mpio ns hip. I'd be ver y happy to see that. Your season ended with some con troversy. A lot of people came dow n on you for not he l p ing your teamm at e Aaron Slight finish secon d i n th e championship. And then there was the inciden t with Si mon Crafar in In donesia. What's your side of the story? A lot of people mi sread a lot of thi ngs and basically they didn' t have the facts on the situation. First of all , before the la st t w o r a ce s in Ind o n es ia , I w a s ad vised by the highest chief - the pr oject leader for the RVF7SO - to go ou t and w in both races. Basicall y, w ha t Aaron Slight had to do was bea t Carl Fogarty in both rac es . That' s the only thi ng he had to do. When I fin ished in fro nt of Aaron, it had no thi ng to do wit h Aaron not fin ishing s eco n d in th e cha m pio ns h ip - be cause Aa ron d id not beat Carl in the second race. That's all he had to do and he cou ldn't get the job done. As far as me passin g him - well , I was instru cted to go out and win both races. That's what I was definitely ou t to d o. Ju st beca us e I was World Cha m p io n, that d idn't mean I was su pposed to pull over and let everybody else wi n. In Sugo, Honda told me, "You take it easy a n d get th e cha m pio ns hi p, a nd then yo u go to Indonesia and you wi n t h e ra ce s ." H o n d a h a s a ve ry , ve ry stro ng desire to win races. That company is very performance-orie nted. If you d o yo u r job and yo u perform, they' ll take care of yo u. The other pa rt is wit h Simon Crafar . To be hon est wit h you, Simon is a really nice guy and I've always go tten alo ng very well wi th him . When the two of us go t toge the r a nd I kn ew I was go ing down, I rem ember looking up and seeing Simo n ride off. I was happy that he d id n' t fa ll d own with me and tha t he cou ld continue on. It was only later that I realized tha t when he was trying to ge t back on the track - I guess he still wanted to win - as he was tryin g to ge t back on the track, he spu n ou t on the grass. T ha t's why h e wen t d own. Hey , I' m very sorry that it happened . I don ' t have a rep u tation for runn ing into peo ple. I gu ess you can just say tha t's part of racing, butI d on' t feel very good about it. The first time I see Simon , I' ll d efinit ely a pologize to him. It doesn't mat ter if it was or wasn' t my fault, it was still a situat ion where we tou ched , a nd I wa nt the guy to know that I wou ld never do any thing int entionally to hu rt so meo ne. Was th ere a certain point in th e seas on th at yo u kn ew yo u had Ca rl Fogarty right where you wanted hi m? Early on, I told the team membe rs and the HRC staff that I thought I was riding too m uch on the limit. And even then, we weren't able to keep consistent pressure on him. I knew we had to do something so tha t I wouldn't have to stick my neck out so far; I felt that with so many races, at so me point I was go ing to go down . Those guys just wen t to work and they go t me mor e comfo rta ble on the bike. Basically, I think it was all over fro m there . It got to the p oint w he re, wh en we w ent o ut fo r p ractice, he ' d (Foga rty) come in and look up on that TV monitor and h e w as always behind us. I think tha t was very hard on him - especially a t Assen . There it' s an un fortunate thing to qu alify on pole position because you' re u p against the guard rail. In bot h starts, Foga rty tr ie d t o r un m e in to th e guard rail to the poin t wh ere I'd have to s h u t o ff. And if yo u got a b ad s ta r t, yo u ' d ge t ca u g h t up in the pack. We filed a com plaint abo u t it wi th the FIM beca u se h e wa s trying to d o that at every race. Basicall y, he'd cu t over on me and try to ru n me off the track. The y went over and warned him abou t it an d he even tually stopped doing that. But a t 17