Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Team owner Sito Pons is flanked by his two riders , John Kocinski (left) and Carlos Checa (right). By Dennis Noyes Photos by Gold & Goose n a log ical p lanet , reigning Worl d Superbike Champio n John Kocin ski, w ho has clearly been America's most successful motorcycle road racer since Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz retired, would be riding for an American team. There are four 500cc tea ms ow ned bv Ameri cans Team Roberts, Team Ra iney Yamaha, Team · Ka nemoto Honda and Bob Mclean's Team Red Bull Yamaha - bu t, ironically, the team owner who was willing to bet on the American is a Spaniard - former two-time 250cc World Champion Sito Pons. The Team Movistar Honda Po ns team owner is a man to who m Am erican ro ad r acin g fans should be gra teful in 1998. Pons, w ho is also vice presi d en t of IRTA (In ternational Racing Teams Associa tion) and cha irman of the power fu l stIRTA committee, is one of Spain's be kno wn and m ost-r espected spo r ting celebrities. As a racer, he was the firs t Spania rd to wi n a 250cc World Ch ampions hip, and as a team owner he is cred ited wi th developing Alex Criville, Alberto Puig and Carlos Checa into winners in the 500cc class. His own am bition to be a 500cc World Champion was frustrated by a la te a rrival to th e class at a time wh en the pre-Big Ban g 500s were at their high-sid ing na stiest. Pon s had a cou ple of top-five 500cc finishes, bu t also a couple of serious crashes before retiring at the end of the 1991 season . O ver h is ve r y s u cc es s fu l r a cin g career, Pons put together a tightly kn it team , ow ned ou trig ht by Pon s himself, managed by Bar celon a attorney Manolo Burillo, an d under the technical d irection of the gifted en gin eer An tonio Cobas, wh o is generally credited with d esignin g the twin-spar racing frame which is now universally used in Grand Prix racing. Upon reti remen t, Pons moved from the dual role of rider-owner to the fulltime job of team ow ner and immed iately h ir ed former 125cc World Ch ampion Alex Criville. Pons was criticized b y many for rushing th e yo ung Sp an iard (22 a t th e time) on to th e man-eat in g Honda NSR. Pon s responded by say ing that the historic error of Span ish rid er s had always been to d ally too long in the s maller cl a ss es, a nd th a t the soon er young riders go t into 500cc racing, the soo ner Spai n would win a 500cc title. Criville scored Spain 's first-ever 500cc wi n at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1992, and eve n tu ally was signe d by th e facto ry H RC team as a tea m m ate to Mick Doohan and Shinichi Itoh at the star t of th e 1994 sea so n . Po ns' first choi ce to re pl ace Cri vil le, a s he tells u s in th is inte rvi ew , was Ame rican John Kocinski, but when that proved to be impossible he turned to Albert o Puig, a hard-rid ing 250cc m id packer - a rid er few Grand Prix observers considered up to the task. But Pons ha s proved to be good a t choosing an d d evelop ing 500cc rid ers . In the six ye ars since Po ns retired as a n active racer, his riders - Alex Criville ('92-93), Alberto Puig ('94-97) and Ca rlos Ch eca ('95-97) - have won fo u r 500cc GP s for Tea m Pon s, th ree of th em on home gro u nd. Winnin g GP s in Sp ai n with Spa nis h rid ers has kept Pons' stock high in Spain , but his ambition is to win the 500cc World Championship. The 1997 season wa s a frus tra ting one for the team, wh ich has a full-time staff of 35. With new sponsors to please, the pressure was on , but both Checa and Pu ig crashed ou t of the Spanish GP - in spite of th e fact th a t th ey'd record ed very competitive lap times in practice. To make matt ers wo rse, Checa was sitting right on eventual wi nner Crivi lle's rear wh eel wh en he went d own . Hav ing both rid ers crash ou t in front of 150,000 fans at tracksid e while another 3 million Spaniar d s wa tched on nat ion al TV put Po ns' team on the hot sea t. Aft er th at r ac e, Checa wen t throu gh a s pa t o f crashes, though he d id manage a stro ng second p la ce behind Do o han at t he G rand Pr ix in Catal u nya . Pu ig, w h o never completely recovered from hi s 18D-mph crash in qu alifying for the 1995 French Grand Prix, seemed demoralized af ter Jerez and began to ta lk of retirement. It wa s clear that Pon s needed to find a replacemen t, and halfway thr ough the 1997 season the rumors started that Pons was planni ng to sign a foreign er to his all-Spa nish team. Previ ous sponso rs Campsa (Spa nish oil an d gasoline) and For tuna (Spa nish tobacco) had always insisted on Spa nish rid ers, but Pons' curren t sponsor Mevistar (a hu ge Spani sh-based cellular-phone service wi th growing in terests in other Eur opean countries) gave Pons the gree n light to look bot h inside and beyond Spa in' s borders for a new rider. This tim e Pons saw no up-and -coming you ng Spa nish rider waiting in the 250cc win gs, so atte n tio n was cen tered on th ree riders: Repsol Hond a HRC rider Ta da y u ki Okad a , th e wi n ner of th e Ind onesia n GP, h ad severa l m eeting s wit h Pon s durin g the latter part of the season; fou r-time 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi, carrying stro ng Marlb oro ba ck in g, ap proached Pon s; bu t th e choice wa s Kocinski, rider whose abili- a ty Pons has always ad mir ed. (Pons' decision to leave his 250cc title undefended when he moved up to 500s in 1990 averted what would have been a straight-up duel betwee n the tw o, because it was in 1990 w hen Kocinski, rid in g for Team Roberts, won the 250cc title. Spaniards s till specu la te as to w ho wou ld ha ve won tha t battle.) Th e d ecisio n to includ e a foreign rid er was critici zed by so me fans, jour n ali sts and TV ra ci n g analysts , b u t, although Criville and Checa will continue to be Spa in' s GP idol s in 1998, there is no foreig n rider in Spai n more pop ular th an Kocin ski. The re is some irony in this, becau se it wa s Kocinski w ho beat Spain's Carl os Cardus in the battle for the 250cc title in 1990. But even thou gh Sp anish fa ns a re extr emely pa tr io tic, they a re d isa rm ing ly fair and are very good at recognizin g and praising great riders . In ad d ition, Spa nis h fans w ere among the first in Eu rope to get a good look at th e yo u ng Kocinski when he came to Spain in 1989 and wo n tw o of the three heats of the Solo Moto Superprestigio race a t th e twi sty Calafat circuit. After a DNF in the first heat on his Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha, he won the second and third heats and was chee red lap after lap by 40,000 fans, who, .in sp ite of th at Ame rica n eagle on his helmet, we re won over by his hard riding. From then on, Kocinski has enjoyed a stro ng following in Spain, a co u ntry w he re G ra nd Pri x moto rcycle racin g ranks second only to professional soccer in popularity. We re a ch ed Po n s a t h is h om e in Barcelon a the day after his retu rn from successful preseason tests in Australia. How d id the signing of John Kocinski come about? When A lberto Pu ig decided to re tire, I realized that we need ed a rider capable of winning races and competing for the cha mpions hip . That was Albe rto's ro le last yea r. It was not fair or realistic to put Ca rlos Checa into that position. He is a young rider who we are develop ing for t he future . W hen A lberto r e tire d , I looked at th e Spanish riders available, bu t both Juan Borja and Sete Gibernau are yo ung and need time to develop . We ne eded a rider w ho could w in n ow . I co ns idered three rid e rs : Tad a yu ki Okada, Max Biaggi and John Kocinski. My clear preference from the beginning was John, bu t we are a Ho nda team and - needed Hon d a's app roval. Rememb er, th is is not the firs t time I tr ied to sig n John . He was my cho ice in 1994 when Alex Criville left us and joined the HRC team, but tha t tim e Honda wou ld not a p prove m y choice. Th ere have been cha nges in Hond a since then. They have a ve ry h igh opin io n of John now tha t they kn ow him. The y ga ve u s full su pport in our negotiation s. John is the only rid er ever to have won a wo rld title in bo th Grand Prix and Supe rbike Championships and the only one to have won races a t 500, 250 and World Su perbike lev el. An yon e w ho underrat es John is making a big mistake. I raced with him in 250 and I know how talented he is. After the opening tests, what do you think your chances are of winning the 500cc world title with Kocinski? What is your plan for the next few years? I believe we have a chance a t wi nni ng the 500 world title in th e next tw o or three years, and my plan is that eventually Ch eca will beco me capable of taking over and winning after that. For now we go for the titl e w ith John while we are building Checa and , meanwhile, we look for new Spanish rider to develop for the future. On e other thing: I chose John because I think he was the best rid er available, but I also thought of w hat the cha m pio ns hip need s. When I looked at Ok ada, .Biaggi and Kocinski, I realized we have lots of Japanese rid ers and lots of Ita lian riders - bu t I think everyone m iss es the d a ys w hen th ere w ere so many good Am erican 500 rid ers. Th e United States is an impo rtant mark et for the championship, and havin g John in 500 is good for both the cham pio ns hip and the Am erican market. It is a shame that su ch an im portan t country as th e Un ited Stat es d oes not have a G ra nd Pri x, but I beli eve our decision to p ut John on a competitive 500 ma y help get . the United Slates fans excited about 500 racing aga in. It is generally understood that the HRC Repsolteam is the "nu mb er one" Honda team, but Kocinski has explained that he has been guaranteed full support b y HRC How doe s that work? John has tw o contracts, one WI th HRC and one with m y team . His HRC co ntr act co ve rs his work d evelopin g the NSR 500 for the futu re and also his participation in the Eight Hours of Suzuka . Th is is good fo r m y team becaus e it bri ngs us in to even close r contact with HRC. Honda is giving us eve ry thing we need to give John the bik es and support he need s to win the title. Have you added any new personnel to tend to Kocinski's needs? Who will be his crew chief? John's crew chief will be Ramon For ca- a

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