Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1998 01 14

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/127925

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 82 of 83

r IN THE PADDOCK BYMICHAEL SCOTT he late 500cc season threw new light on an ol d ph en om en on : th e rol e of tea m mates in racing. A ro le, some ma y need rem ind ing , that is th e d ire ct o p p os ite o f the literal meaning of teammates. In Grand Prix racin g, being in the same team d oesn 't m ean p lay in g on the same side, exce p t in the mo st exceptio na l of ci rcu ms ta nces. And mates? Don 't be silly . R ela ti on ship s be twee n teamma te s tend mor e toward smo lder ing rivalr y th an ch u m m in ess - fo r one s i m p le rea son: Your team ma te is alwa ys the first pers on you need to eat , since he is the only th e r rid er out th ere it h th e same chassis, th e same e n g in e, the sam e t ires , th e s a me u spensi on... th e same chances th at yo u have. here are no excuses if e b e at s y o u, and a s ayne Rainey has phioso p hized in th e past: 'I qu ickly realized I had o beat m y tea m mate fore even thinking of he other guys. I'd be wo rk ing on them ven before the season began." There have been so me fine feud s in he past - Phil Read and Bill Ivy; Read nd Giacom o Agostini; Mike Hailwood nd Ag o stin i; Ba rry Sheene a n d Pa t ennen - and onl y a few excep tions, as n th e recent case of Kevin Schwa nt z nd Daryl Beatti e, who we re al mos t n separabl e durin g th e ir s ho rt tim e ogether w it h Lu ck y Str ike Suzu ki h ou gh th at fri end s hip was re lieved r om a long- te rm te st of time b y chwa ntz's pr em ature retir em ent. Th ere were n o such frie ndsh ips in 997 - especia lly not amo ng the Honda id er s wh o domina ted the season in the OO class. The Rep sol team was torn cc ith rivalry. And it came fro m the very op . T • 1 mans You never know who you'lI be teamed with: Mick Doohan and Alex Criville in 1992. . Mick Doohan's nature pe rfectly illustrat es the inc ompatibility of the inner inte ns ity to b e a grea t cha m p ion with th e goo d - na tu re d fell o w ship to be a good teamma te . Dooha n ha s al ways the last person anyone would want to ride alongside, ever since he arrived in GP s in 1989 alo ngside cou n try ma n Wayn e Ga rd ne r. Tho ugh Dooha n was very much th e ju nio r, he wasted little time in gen tly but persistentl y rilin g the ol de r man, 'a lr ea d y u nder p re ssu r e beca use Ed d ie La w s o n had joined Honda unexpected ly. Lawson would go on to wi n the title, while Ga rdner stead ily unrav eled. In cr ea si n gl y a cci dentpro ne , h e was n e v er th e same r ider again. Now a t th e ot he r end of his career, Doohan is still grind ing the hell ou t of been his teamma tes; this w as at least pa rt of the reason for swi tchin g to th e Screamer engine this year - to unsettle the others. He does have a posit ion to defend an d, being Mick, he inevitably chooses attack as the best form of d efense. Firstly, he reserves a special torture for each individual: Al ex Cri vill e he s tre tche d and stre tched to the breaking poin t; Tadayuki Okada he played wit h (at Sen tu l, h e p aid th e p ri ce for no t taking the persist ent Japanese rid er serious ly enoug h); Takuma Aoki he ign ored . So mu ch for th e Reps ol m en . Few oth er s chal len g ed, but when s e m iteammat e Nobu a ts u Aoki d id at Im o la , he p la y ed with him eve n more contemptuousl y before blowing him into the weeds. He also wag ed a collective battle. All ye a r lon g (wit h some justification), he raged agains t the fact tha t the ot her Ho nda rid ers had access to all his bes t settings of the previous year, via the co m mon -access co mputer . d ata. He be-littled them for being mere followers rather th a n d e v el opin g b ik e kn o w le d ge of the ir ow n, and made im proved secrecy a s ticki ng poi n t in his cont rac t negotia tions . Doohan is far fro m alone in this so rt of ve nge fu l b eh a vior. A ll the 500cc tea ms had a similar dynamic, though it seldom ma tte red as much. Suzuki 's was so mew ha t different, d u e to circu mstan ces an d perso na lity . Bea tt ie coul d have been a grea t eld erb ro th er type to his fell ow Au stralia n Antho ny Gobert, w ho' in turn co u ld (had he been willing) have learned a lot a t his teamma te' s kn ee. Th e ac tuali ty ca n hard ly ha ve been mor e d iffer ent. Beattie was deepl y preoccupied wi th his own difficulties, and Gobert was spiraling off on his own, Neither of them saw the season to conclusio n. Mod e nas s howed ano ther as pec t. Jean-Miche l Bayle is a supreme individ- ual anyway, and has no close relationships in the paddock - qu ite apart from the 10-yea r age gap over the boss' s so n, . Kenny Roberts Jr. Their d ispar ity lay in thei r riding styles, leavin g the team wi th two options: Either they could spli t and possibly d ilu te development. or they could concentrate on one rider. For vario us rea so ns (no t least because t h e . machine's character suited his high-corner-speed style better), develop me nt followed Bayle. You can be su re tha t Junior had little love to spare by the year's end. Ov er at Yamaha, things were differen t again. Norifumi Abe and Sete Giber nau were an ill-matched pair to sta rt off ' with, and while each was absorbed in his own problems, so also wa s the factory team - as the race departmen t strove to rega in ground lost to Ho nda. Ther e wa s a stronger d ynamic at the Red Bull tea m . Here th e competition betwee n two riders was n o t onl y for b e tter machinery, but also for financial security as original sponsors Power Horse ran out of money an d the team s taggered, close to collapse. Luca Cadalora had the upper hand in every aspect of the struggle with Troy Cors e r, who m a y have b ee n fres hly crowned World Superbike Cha mpion, bu t who didn't pro du ce anythi ng like th e effort on the race track need ed to riva l the sta tus of the Italian vete ra n. His year also ended early. Th e teamma te ques tio n is o f vital im po rtance also to team managers: Getting the right combination of rivalr y can spur both .riders to extraordi nary feats, thou gh there are not so many exam ples of this in recen t years. Rainey and lawson may ha v e co me to some th in g in 1990, had th e latter not b een inju red early on. The truth of the matt er remains obvious: The greater the champion, the less you'd w ant to have him as yo ur team mate - a fac t well und er s tood by that giant of the 250cc class, Max Biaggi. He has made a creed of consis ten tly refusing even to hatie a teammat e , wh ich fi na lly cos t him h is ca reer with th e Aprilia factory. Then again, given his character, who would wa nt to have Max as a teammate, anyway? 0 LOOKING 811CK... oYEARSAGO... ANUARY 19,196 8 vel Knievel flew on to the cov e r of t h e first iss ue of 1968, as he ade his ill-fated attempt to lear the fou ntains of Caear's Pa lace. Seco nds lat er , e was an or thopedic sureon's nigh tma re . Th e fu ll tor y ran on pages 12-13... eo Roed er ann oun ced is retirem ent from racing, e tou gh Ohioan havi ng e ve r . w on the AM A Gra n d ation al Cha m pionship ... Th e San Jos e Indoor on ecember 29 nea rly explod ed int o a riot after Phil CanilIa an d Dave Bost ro m heeded an errant black flag by fficials after a crash and pulled to the infield , only to the race continue wi tho ut the m ... Southern Califoria desert r ider S t e ve H urd g ot bi g in k i n a orto n/Matchless ad for wi nning the Western desert am pionship on a P-ll and a G-85... Wayne Krog stie n d Lance Brown won th e Sidehack d ivision a t the nnual Bu rro Bash trial. .20 Y AR E SAGO... JANUAR 8, 1978 Y1 r--=-,,=~ ycle News ventured to Japan to ride the all-new Honda CBX... Brian Myers cough (Suz), Gaylon Mo sier (Kaw) and Rex Staten (Yam) won the 125,250 and 500cc classes, respectively, at the op en ing round of the CMC Golden State Series at Sad dleback Park... Fac to ry Su zuki m echa ni c Alan Hahn w as int er view ed . His rid er, Tony DiStefano, ha d won th e 1977 AMA 250cc National Motocross Champi onship ... Ed die Lawson (H- D) scored an impressive ~ v ictory over D y la n Ni e ha r t a n d Wa yn e Ra i ney a t th e C o rona Ra cewa y flat tra ck in C oron a , C ali fornia ... Th in k th e 1998 Yama ha YZ400F is trick? Our '78 issu e s howcased Glen n Vi ncent' s 238-pound Honda XL250-powered woods special. The bike was described as "little, lithe and lively." 10Y EARS AGO... JAN UARY1 1 3, 988 n In tile Wind item rep orted tha t "The la st H usqvarna to be made in Sweden , a 510 Enduro mod el. rolled off th e assembly line a t Husqva rna's Odesh og plan t on Septemb e r 3, 1987" .. . M ike Ki e d r o w s k i (Kaw), J e ff Wa r d (Kaw) and Jeff Leisk (Ho n) we re the w inners at the ope ning round A C ::~nmol"" nOri4. Wu" o< .wAMx s.n" .iclooff '- so;,;;,,"""''''''-_ ~ ",~"~~-~ii--, i·i~·ii'~-~ en the CMC tio nals a Trucks Helen •• _".l·- i"i"i· ::"' of Stat e Na / Dodge t Glen Gold· ........ ! -- _ Racew ay in San Berna rd ino , Cali fo rnia, w hile John M cCabe (Ho n) and Jay Mann (Ka w) took Exper t honors durin g the opening round of the Suzuki / Scott USA Florid a Winter AMA Series at Croom Raceway in Brooksville, Florid a ... eN in tervi ewed AMA su percross p romot er and MTEG presid ent M ick ey Thompson... Gordon Ward rode a PVK Kawasaki to the overall Pro wi n at Perri s Raceway in Perris, Ca lifornia... Jeremy McGrath (Yam) . rode fou r perfect mot os to cap tu re the 125 and 250cc Int ermediate classes at Barona Oa ks Raceway in Perris, Ca liforn ia. fX 83

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's - Cycle News 1998 01 14