Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I feel good.We' re s ic k, so m y times aren't what I think they should be, bu t we' re still way fast. You had a little tast e of it las t year, but how h ard is it to do two classes in one day? It's no t too bad. They give us the lunch break. On the 600, you go ou t and you rid e re all y aggressive, and everyone 's ridi ng th at bike be yond its cap ab ili ty . When you go to the supe rbike, no one ca n rid e it be yond its ca pa bili ty. Th e bike's bett er than all the rid ers, I think. So you get us ed to ridin g so me th ing tha t's crazy-fast. And th en you have a little lu nch and an hour to think, and you get on your superbike for the superbike race, and yo u're a lready used to rid ing so me thing p retty aggro. So you go out there and you rid e just as hard, and it's not a big dea l. There's a little bit of power di fference, bu t you just kind of switch in your mind: "Okay, I'm on this b ike, and that b ike," a n d yo u kn o w w he re yo u r brakin g mar ke rs are and stuff. I think all of the factory rid ers are good enoug h that they can go, "Okay, I broke at two on this bike, it brakes up a t three." Basically, mentally, you have the whole track mapped out on both bikes, and yo u just throw a switc h - it:s lik e thro wing a light swi tch. Which bike suits your style more? The su pe rbike, eve n th ou gh I'm like a total rookie on it. My rookie year, this year, is going to kick ass . I'm r ea lly ha ppy . The 600 I hap pen to be used to and I'm fast on it, but I think the su perbike's where we're going to shine. Are there an y trac ks which favor your style and this su p erbi ke? I use d to think that, when I started road raci ng a couple o f years ago o n the Har ley . And I wa s like, "You know, I really like th is track; I d on 't lik e that on e." Now I'm finding that each track ha s its good a nd bad points, and the harder th e track. .. Like, I used to hat e Mid-Ohio, but now I'm really fast there. I'm like, "You know what? I ha te th e tra ck b e in g tou gh ." N o w I li k e it because it's a chall enge. I'm kind of an all-around guy. I like every track. Where have you gotten your best res ults? On the more challenging tracks - Mid Ohio, Laguna Seca. I thin k Pomona was one of the most challengin g tracks, and I th ink I could guaran tee vic tory there but it's off the sc hed u le . I like d i t bec ause it w as reall y rou gh, a nd th e way the track was set up for the corn ers, yo u really had to se t up eac h corner, d ialing in five corners fro m where you want to be. I'm kind of bummed they took it off the schedule, but I think the more cha llen ging th e track, th e fast er I'm going to go. How hard is it to set the b ik e up for Daytona? This is d ifferent than every other track. Usually, you want the thing to turn and not chatter, and here all we 're doing is fighti ng for traction. The superbike is, like, the hardest th in g , ob v iou sl y, because th e tir e is so hard on the left side. lf you can get through the chican e fast - that's the only place I really set the chassis u p for. You' ve just got to ge t through th at chicane, be cause th at' s actu ally where it wi nds up the frame . The speed's great there and you have to throw it left to right - left to right twice a nd the bike, if it' s not s tee ri ng goo d throug h there and you're losing 10 mph, yo u' re losing 20 mp h by the tim e yo u ge t to here (the finish line) . So you just keep bumping up your miles an hour by getting your bike set up go od . And if yo u go t that go od, yo u d eal with th e rest of the track - and, obviously, try to get the thin g set up for traction, which is tough , because everyon e' s figh ting for traction here. In the chicane, it's a steering point; everywhere else is a traction point, and it's a balance on the bike. Are y ou sh aring information with M iguel at all? Yeah, I think we d o, bu t I' m no t sure. He rides so mu ch different than I do. I think he rides d iffer ent than everyone . He's really fast, but he just has a differen t s ty le . He's a real po int-and-shoot kind of guy, and th a t mak es it rea lly good for him because he can pass rid ers like I've never seen. He's got the gift of pa ssing a nd it' s bec ause he runs it in low , po ints it, and takes off low again. And, he' s fast in, st ops in th e center, throws you off beca use you 're carrying speed and you' re having to back o ff, a nd then he 's a lread y on th e gas and h e' s lea ving yo u. So sometimes he 's h ard to rid e a rou n d , which is rea ll y (Eric) - I think he impresses me because he didn't fall last year. He crashed once on brand-new tires and I'm like, "You're learning to rid e, you need to crash ." But he beat me at half the races. I think he's going to be fast. Does it bother you th at he bea t you in hal f the races? A little bit, yea h. Aren't you supposed to be the fast one? Yea h, and we' re on eq ua l equipment. It's not like he was on a factory bike and I w as n' t. We were both o n the sa me bike. I just knew he was just riding better than me and I think I lost my drive, and there are a lot of factors in that. But th is yea r I ha ve good equ ip men t, and I'm motivated . I think he's going to have good equ ipmen t, and he' s motiva ted. Obviously, I want to see myself on top . and him right with me, because he' s my broth er. Those are the three rid ers th at way impressed me. good. I wi sh I had a qualit y like that . But th e tw o bik es are co m pa ra b le becau se they're the sam e bikes, so it's a go od judgin g p oint. Like, I go , "Oh, Miguel d id a one -minute la p and I'm doing 1:015. I' m going to cha nge something." As far as the bike setu p, they're wa y differe nt . But at least yo u kn ow yo u' re on th e same bike a n d th e la p times better be about the same tim e. I' m glad I ha ve a cha mpio n in th e p it. If I jus t had somebody who was mor e of a rooki e, then I w ou ld think I'm always going fast. Wh at other riders impressed you last year? A couple o f th em I kn ow a re rea ll y aggro, but th ey' re all right. I'm good friends with th em , but they're hard to ride around because they're just, like how do you put it nicely? Like (Aaro n) Yates and (Jamie) Hacking. Hacking's got like so much corner speed - I can't believe it. I don't know how he carries the corner speed. And Yates, I'v e never seen anybody ride in to a corner as fast as he can. Both of th ose g uys r eall y impressed me. But rid ing with them is hard, because the y' re kin d of ass holes on the track, in a way. Like, man, this guy's not giving me an i!)ch - but the y're su ch good riders . On fhe oth er hand, you just watch Yates in amazement, like, "Ho w' s he pointing that bike and slid ing it in th er e?" And as for Ha ck in g, you're like, "If I carried that mu ch corner sp eed, I think I'd be on the gr ound." Both riders really impressed me. They're both young riders. And my broth er What about on the superbike? On the su pe rbike, I can't s~y that I've been too impressed by anyo ne. No one is just b la zi n gl y fas t. Wh en I wa tch them, I'm like, "That gu y is slow there, but he is really fast there." Each rid er' s go t their specia l turns and they've got their turns that they can ' t d o, and I'm th e sa me way . I haven 't seen a nyone blazing-fast. I wo uld say that everyon e is reall y fast. I was like, "Yo u kn ow wh at ? Everyon e is really fast, and next year it' s go ing to be worse" - wh ich it will. But I hav en't seen anybody just b u st o u t and d o like what an Edd ie Lawson or Kenny Robert s would be able to do ye t. There's no Freddie Sp encer ou t here yet, bu t everyone is really fast. What d o you expect for the season? [ think the competition wil l be tighter in the Superbike class, mo re like the 600cc clas s was this year, which, hopefully will bring spectators and allow our little s por t to grow . If it 's g ood , it m akes . everybody's salaries go up, too. I expect to d o well, obviously. I want to win . If I can ' t win, I don 't want to finish ou t of the top three. I, obvious ly, want to win cha mp ionshi ps. It's good fo r my ego, good for my paycheck, good for m y bonuses. I think there are going to be a lot of guys - I d on't think that just one guy's going to be winning . Like in the p a st , M igu el' s (Du H a m el ) w on , or you've got a guy like (Doug) Chandler, who's Mr. Consistency and never finish es ou t of the top three . I think this year he could finis h sixth just as easy as he cou ld win on e, too. I think that th ere will be seve ral d ifferent winners. Hopefully, I'll just win mo re than the other guys. Whic h class do you th in k is going to be harder? That' s a tou gh qu estion. The Honda 's obvious ly not the newest bike. It's been ar ound for a long tim e. We're waiting on a new bike. It'd be grea t. But th ese gu ys really got their act togeth er, so our bikes are rea ll y competitive. T he Suzu kis are real good. Like I said, Yates - that guy will go 110 percent from lap one to the last lap, so he's going to be really tough. Obviously, Hacking's fast, my brother 's fast, I plan to go fast, (Steve) Crevier will be fast on the Suzu ki. Those classes are going to be equa l, I thi nk. I think wi th the (An thony) Goberts, the (Mike) Ha les, the Migu els, the Chand lers, all these guys, the Superbike class - there's always goi ng to be five guys in each class. You could win one class and think you' re the man, and the next race, an hour after lun ch, you could finish fifth, sixth, and be like, "Damn it, w ha t ha ppe ned?" The next week, yo u coul d flip-flop the classes the same way. What's your contract statu s? .1 had a two-year deal. I signed my contrac t a long time ago, at the end of '95, to rid e on the team this yea r. lt was kind of like - well, it was a weird d eal. But there were no sea ts available. I wa nted to be on th is team, and th ey wanted me on this team, so they sewed me up, basically. My deal ends after this yea r, so it's a good deal for me. As far as moneywise, I thi nk it'll be good. I want to stick with this team; obviously. I think at the end of this year, my paycheck should go up a lot, and all my sponsors - as far as gear sponsors - should have to pay, too . All my contracts ar e up, so it'll be good. It makes the win ter kind of fun . You ge t to play with your manager a little bit, and see wh at you can get, and then start the ye ar even more fi red up just because you figure, like, "A ll right , now, everybody's paid me; now I need to put in the results to pick the right bid ." What's th e ne xt step? I want to do World Superbike. I want to stay in America until I feel that I'm fast e no ug h to lea v e. Beca use you kn ow what? I'm winning here, but I'm not win ning every week - but I'm winning. And then , "Okay, I think I've got a good factory ride over in World Superbike, so let' s jump over there and go for the mon ey." I think I' m going to stick here until I'm the dominant gu y - un til no one can beat me here. Then let's go over there. That's the same way (Scott) Russell did it. I think it' s the wis e thing to do . I think every young person should do that - make sure they're the man over here before goin g over th ere. That w ay, th ey look good over there. And then their stepping stone will increase faster . They'll be fast ther e. And 500s are s till th e pin nacle of our sport - that's where I want to end up. Ho w long do you think it's go ing to take you? I don't know. I think my learningcurve is fast. I'm goin g to try to get over there. I' m no t going to pu sh it to go too fas t, but I d on 't want to wait too lon g , because the years are numbered. I'd like ' to be winning, so I don't want to jump on anything that I can' t win on. I' m hoping to be ove r there in a few. Do you think it will be with Honda? That' s wha t I'm planning for. I would like to be the Honda guy for the rest of my life and retire with them. I like the company. Ever since I was a little kid, my pa ren ts have been Honda de aler s, and they' ve always had a good image and good bikes, so I'm kin d of a Honda 0 guy . A tj a ~ 25

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