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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127926
Mike'H ale By Henny Ray Abrams 00 0\ 0\ ,..... 22 Z a lfway in to th is in d rview, w hich w as do ne in the lobb y of the Ham p to n Inn durin g \ . . - - J \ _-' th e M ich elin ti re te s ts in December, Mike Hale was greeted by a frie nd and the tape recor der was tu rned off. When it was tim e to contin ue , Hale had a request. "1 d on' t w a nt thi s to s o u nd negative. Tha t' s not w ha t I' m abou t," he said. It wa s a telling ad missio n from a rider who made a bad de cis io n tw o yea rs ago a n d is 'o n ly n o w r eco v erin g . His focus n ow is on the future and, th is tim e, he a p pears to have mad e the right choice. M ike Hale left the U.S. ro ad racing scene wi th a flourish, winning the final race of the ~ 995 season on th e Smo kin' Joe's Honda . It w as his second wi n of th e yea r, and he finished the 1995 Superbike cam pa ig n second overa ll to team mate Mi guel DuHamel. Hi s results in the 600cc Su pe rsport class we re sim ilar: tw o wins and a second to DuHamel in th e series. Hale's rise had been both steady and spectacular, and the d em and for his services after th e 1995 seaso n was at an alltim e hi gh. He had a w orld of o p tio ns. Th e cho ice he made, to race for Austrian busin essma n Alfred In zin ger as Tro y Corser ' s tea mmat e o n th e Promo tor Power H orse Ducati team, sti ll haunts him. The team was underfund ed , an d Hale never go t th e su p port that he wa s pro m ised . H e was clearly th e seco nd rider to Corser. He ha sn 't been fu ll y compensated, tho ugh he hasn' t given u p th e figh t. Hi s o n ly AMA a p pear a nce in the past two years, at the 1996 Dayt ona 200, st arted well, bu t q uickly ended ba dly. He led the race, on ly to cras h on oil on the fifth la p. Th is year sho uld be diff erent. He joins the Fas t by Ferr acci Du cati team wjth th e full backing of the Ducati fac to ry. H e a nd teamma te To m Kipp w ill be th e on ly fron t-li ne su perbi ke team o n Mich elin tires, w hich - along with Ferracci - has com mi tted itself to a more rigo rous testing program than last year. Let's start with two ye ars ago. Do you think it wa s a mistake for you to leav e, to go to Ducati after yo ur fi rst re ally good year on the Smokin' Jo e' s Honda? Do you th ink you left too soon? Loo king back now, I kno w th at I we nt with the wrong team . Whet her or not I w ent too soon, I don' t think so . But on the o the r hand , I d o n' t th in k it would have h urt m e to s tay w ith H onda for that next year. What do you think you missed out on? I th ink I learned more doing w ha t I di d not ju st ab out how to rid e better, bu t both mechani cally an d p olitically, so mu ch p o litic al bulls h it, th at I jus t learned a lot in that year. What wa s wrong with that ye ar? I d on't 'w ant to go bashing everythi ng, but I just say the main thi ng is the way it was structure d . And then I think th er e w as a lot of corruption . Are you owed any money from them? Yes. What Alfred Inzinger (the Promotor team owner) has sa id is tha t h e s till owes you you r fee for th e whole year, Yeah, he s till o wes m e qui te a bit of money - a large su m of money. And it's being litigated? Basically, yes. I have every in tention of it bein g settled. When did it start to go wrong? Basically, .I think it st arted go ing wro ng the first tim e we rod e the new bikes in pr actice here for the 200. In all the pr eseason pr actic e, I wa s right on par with everyo ne else or wi th Troy (Co rse r). We go t the new bikes here at Dayt ona and, okay, Tro y and I qualified one- two, but I kn ew that we need ed to get these bikes . handlin g ri gh t. They we re just so fas t. They w ere damn fast in a straight line; th at' s what m ad e up for th e in fie ld. Wh en we go t to the norm al racecou rses in Eu ro p e, it was like the bike w asn ' t turning. I guess wi th Troy's style of rid in g, it su it ed m o re hi s s tyle or (Pie rFra nces co) Ch ili 's styl e, co rni ng fro m 25Os. But it wa s really a step backw ar ds in the wron g di rection for me. After that first race in Europe, when I fin ished , I thin k, m a yb e, e ig h t h, m o s t of t heir attenti on went to Troy for his hopes in th e cham pionship, and I was put on the ba ck burner . Th at' s how it went. And there wa s nothing yo u could do to make it an y better? Basica lly, Jon Cornw ell was work ing w ith O hlins and he was working with me and, th roughou t the year, because th ey h ad fina n ci a l di ffic ulties, m y mec hanics w ere leaving. I finished th e yea r with m y fou rth m ech anic . It w as just a bad d eal. I learn ed a lot fro m it. Ho w did you stay moti vated ? I guess the fact that - it w as almost like I w as carrying the load on my own sho u lders and I wanted to prove to everyone else - I d idn' t w ant anyone to say that I cou ld n' t do it. And I did everyth ing that per sonall y I co uld . You've got to tak e int o account th at I had one yea r' s superbike expe rie nce be fore I went into this , and yo u go into the wo rld level and you feel like yo u ' re in yo ur sid e of the pit an d yo u ' re the only drive to get things d one. It was like I was up against everythi ng on my own. I mea n, sure, Miche lin was giving me tires - not as many of the top tires. I d idn't have as man y as, say, (Ca rl) Fo ga r ty o r th e to p g u ys. But m ayb e, co m e race d ay, I'd ge t o ne or two of the good tir es . Cornwell w it h O hlin s - they w er e d o in g every th ing that they cou ld d o, and we cou ld n' t ge t it don e. I signed up on the deal ex pe cting to have a tuner beca use you cou ld n' t wi n the U.S. cha m p io nshi p withou t a g oo d m echan ic, an eng in eer, a nd a goo d te a m . I fu ll- o n m e an su ppo rt and all the elemen ts it take s t o w in. You' re lu cky to bust the top 10 in the World Cha in pions hip witho ut it. As the year went on, when did you start exp lori ng other options? H alfw ay through th e season, I w asn 't ge tting paid and things w ere n' t looking good. I was really pissed off at th e wa y it was going. All th e o ther offers th at had been on th e tabl e th at I'd passed up to tak e this be cause it w as such a sw eet deal an d it w as all in th e co ntract - I passed u p some really good offers, and left Hond a - basicall y, yo u name it, here in the Sta tes and a co u p le o f p eopl e overseas that I wa s talking to. So, that' s the deal. Halfway through the season, you start ed looking to move on? Ha lfway th rough the season, m y o ne trac k m ind was to get to the fro nt, to finish up on the po d ium . I w ent from - the firs t of the yea r, my goal w as to fin is h top three in the cha mpio ns hip, and wi nning some rac es, to lat er in the yea r, just gettin g on the box in a ra ce. We alm ost did it in the last race in Aus tra lia. That was way too late in the ga me. I was ful fill ing m y end of th e co n trac t ju st fo r legali ty pu rposes - like I sa id, the one tr ack mind to d o everythi ng tha t was within my capa bilities of d oing th e bes t I could. I'd get up and go ru nn ing every day ju st to blow off stea m a nd try to relax . I was that wound u p abou t it. H ow did the Su zuki deal come together? I think tha t th ey had a lot of mon ey in hopes of retainin g Scott Russell and that kind of d ragged on . I had a cou ple o f options here in the Sta tes for '97 . I think Russell op ted for the Yamaha deal. and it left Suz u ki wi th a fat wa llet an d no t m an y rid er s ava ilable. We got hooked u p and that's how the deal carne d own. It was pretty la te in the seas on . I guess I ca n sa y it now : I was re al close with H onda aga in a n d I re all y think w e both really wa nted to hook up an d pick back up where we had left off, and I was reall y hoping th at we could get that together . And then Suzuki carne to the tabl e with so much money that I called up Martin Adams and I told him exactl y what the deal was - no bullshit, this is how it is. And he told me th at if he w as my bus iness manager, he'd tell me to sig n the deal. too. And that's exactly the d eal. You're still on good enough terms that you could go back? You didn't leave Honda on bad terms? I d on' t th ink s o . It w a s o ne of th ose th ings w here w ha t I w as offered at the worl d level, here in the States they just co u ld n ' t co m pete w it h th ose kind of terms. The base sa lary wa s a multi-year d eal. But the base sa lary w as so big and i t h a d p romis es o f 500cc GP with Inzi nger . All of th ose incentives and th e m oney, it wa s one of th ose things wher e it was a lmost lik e it was hard fo r the Ll.S. to d ea l on that level. Bu t now it's chan ging . The Ll.S, m arket is able to bea r it, and a lo t of the teams are stepp ing up here. Do you th ink you' ve ever pri ced yourself out of a ride by asking too much? The only tim e that I th ink I m ight have aske d too much was - th e on ly tim e I w ou ld 've aske d for w ha t so mebo dy would have thou ght w as too much - is if I had been offered tha t by so meo ne else tha t w as a capa ble rid er. I've never jus t said, " I' rn offe re d th is, let' s dou bl e it and add 10 p er cent ." I' ve never d one tha t, a nd in a ll m y n ego tiations I' ve always b een s t ra ig h t fo r wa r d, a nd I do n' t want somebody to come ba ck and say, " O h , he' s a li ar o r a ch ea t." I' ve never dealt wi th anyone tha t w ay. Because there h ave been rumors that you asked for a whole lot of money from Honda. I read that , too, and it just p issed me off