Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

these guys - maybe not Russell so mu ch , bu t Gobert especially," Rainey sai d . "He came in a nd ju s t s tarte d wi n ni ng th e World Superbike, and World Superbike raci ng is in front of th e w orld . I tend to think you ge t a litt le bit of success a nd yo u thin k yo u' ve got it made, and reall y irs ne ver good en ou gh. But I think they think it is." Capirossi was to be the grand expe riment, th e firs t ri der Rainey truly too k und er his wi ng , brin ging him ou t to Ca lifornia to learn the metho d . When the seas on s ta rted, the tea m floated o n a clou d of optimism and camaraderie. By th e tim e it ended , it had devolved into recrimination and finger-pointing. " I just th ink it w as fru stra tio n o n his of qu alifyin g for the British G rand Prix, he leaned over to a friend a nd said, 'T h is is the part I still mi ss." Wh at he misses is gett ing the ve r y most o ut of the bike, tr yin g to be the best o n th a t day , a t that track . There w ere times, w hen he first retu rn ed to the track, tha t he would watch the rid ers d oing what he u sed to d o, o n ly not as well , and break down in tears. " I think I'v e a lways th o ug ht o f myself as more of a rid er than as a team manager ," Rain ey sa id . "As far as w or kin g with m y g uys a n d w o rk in g w it h Yamaha, that was a lw ays pretty easy . And working wit h spons ors and stuff. I still had that inn er stru gg le abo ut what I thoug ht was right to run th e bikes. So, after the in jury, I had my riders and I w as trying to help show them how I did it, and the re were a lot of wa lls being put u p. And for me, th at w as somethi ng new tha t I'd nev er ex pe rie nce d before. I just thou g ht it w ould be prett y ea sy to pass on my knowledge. As I found out , irs just abo ut impossibl e." Rain ey feltthe riders understood, bu t th e w ay that th ey' d come into racing was qu ite a b it different than ho w he' had come. Rainey had come up through the d irt tra cks , picked up road racing, w on a n AMA Superbike title o n th e Mu zzy Kaw asak i in 1983, then had the team fall ou t from under him . The next year he was in Europe racin g for Kenny Ro berts on a Yam aha 250 a n d st rug gling. It wa s a val ua ble lesson, and he too k it back to the Uni ted Sta tes, w here he won another AMA Super bike title in 1987 before h ead in g ba ck to Eu rope. Even then, he d idn' t win th e firs t of hi s three consecutive 500cc titles until 1990. "1 wasn't a World Cha m pion until I wa s 30," Rainey sa id. "A nd now yo u've got guy s 18, 19 years old tha t the world wa tc hes every m ove they make . So I think they get a littl e d isillusion ed abo ut w hat th ey thin k is putting in a good effort co m pared to wha t I thi n k . My way, to me, as I realized later, was a lot of work . A nd never being happy w it h even a little bit of success just was never eno ug h . And I'm not s u re a ll th es e yo u ng guys coming into th e sport have had the o p port u nity b ef ore th ey go t her e just to figu re out what it takes to be good . Becau se w hen yo u ge t here, and you've got new tires o n your bike and new parts and you've got trainers, and yo u 've got pr ess people and hosp itali ty and people are givi ng yo u stuff. 1 th ink yo u're 19, 20, 21 yea rs o ld, yo u thi n k, 'Oh, this isn't so bad : I th in k tha t' s wha w rong with the spo rt. It's not just Gr and s Prix. I think irs superbikes and it ' s m ot ocross . It' s just tha t th e w orld has ' opened up. I th ink, o ve ra ll, Grand Pr ix ra ci ng is h ug e thro ugho ut t h e wor ld . A nd , no w , e ven in A merica n Superb ike there are a lot of rid es av ail- Retiring, but not slowing down: Wayne Rainey may be han ging up his duties as team owne r, but he definitely won 't be idle in his retirement. The threetime SOOcc World Champion is qu ickly gett ing up to speed in a go-kart , and he may end up rac ing cars in the near future. able - but th ere 's no t a lot of rid ers . A lot of th e gu ys who ge t put on there d on 't ha ve mu ch ex pe rie nce , and th ey 're you ng . I th ink th ey lose sig h t of what th e rea l pro gram is . It ' s goi ng to be interesting to see wha t these you ng guys d o w hen they're 28, 29. Th ey might even be burned ou t by then." Th e o ne rid er Ra iney ho ld s in hig h es teem is Mi ck Dooh a n, thou g h he' s so m ew h a t ambi val ent. H e d oe sn ' t be lieve th at Do ohan's reign ha s neces sa ril y been good for the sport a nd he w a s e spe c iall y s t u n g b y cri ti ci sm Ooohan mad e of bo th Rainey and Kevin Schwantz - a bout how tough they'd find it these days. "I th in k th e o ne good th in g a bo u t hav ing Mi ck around is, I can still see one guy tha t' s d oing a lot similar to what I d id ," Ra in ey sa id . " And he' s th e only guy I see in any clas s anyw he re. He goes out an d he tr ies hard a nd he 's riding a bike tha t I und erstand very well - and he 's never happy w ith the result. I was talking to him yesterday and I asked, 'Why were yo u doing 2:04s at Assen?' He sai d, 'You know, Wayne , these guys only go as fast as I want: 1 can't imagine. In the old d ays with Schwantz and (Ed d ie) Lawso n and (Wavn e) Ga rd ne r he would 've been passed. Wha t Mick is having to d o no w, he never would 've d one th at with us. And no w I feel this frus tra tio n with M ick b ecause thes e guys are no t racing him, they're jus t following him arou nd ." . To be at Doohan. yo u to have to beat him at his own game, a nd no o ne ha s figured tha t ou t - w ith the exce p tio n of Team Kanemoto Hond a's Max Biaggi at th e s ea s o n- o pe n ing ra ce a t Su zuka. Biaggi w e nt o u t a n d ke p t on goi ng . Lo ng befo re Ooohan had any problems, Biaggi's plan was to ge t away and make Ooohan race him. It has been the m ost d om in ant pe rf orma nce of the y e a r, rivaled onl y by Red Bull Yamaha WCM Simo n C rafa r's win at Ooningt on Park. "Yo u look a t M ick his rookie yea r, and then you loo k at some of these guys their roo kie yea rs, like Biaggi," Rainey said. " I mea n this guy (BiaggD ha s six o r seven races and he's right o n Mick. But these guys aren' t takin g the race to him . Th ese guys - Mick 's got them ps yc hed o ut. H e' s ou t there every tim e, eve ry qua lifying session, ev ery test session, every warmup, every race - he is goi ng maximum. An d there are a lot of times when he'll have a second and a half o n th ese g u ys. I'm s u re he ' s ju st go in g, 'Wha t are these guys d oin g?'" It wa s hi s ina b ili ty to in sti ll th at m ind se t into his riders tha t so fru strated Rain ey. " I th in k w hat th ey think is, 'We' re no t W a y n e Ra iney , w e 're n ot Mi ck Ooohan,' '' Ra in e y sa id . " A n d Lu ca (Cad alora) sai d it b e fore, 'I' m no t Wayne Rainey, so d o n't ex pect Wayn e Rainey-type things: You look at when Mick and I and Kev in were rooki es, we we re not always up there. And it see ms th a t now th e ro ok ie s are real close because th ere's on ly one guy . And in the old days the re were four o r five." Quick su ccess is what spo iled man y of toda y's riders, Rainey belie ves. He's had a number of yo ung rid ers - Loris Ca pi rossi, Norick Ab e, Tet su ya H ar ada and now Jea n-M ichel Bayle - and none ha ve been as co ns iste nt as they should be. "Yo u look at (A ntho ny) Gobert and (Scott) Ru ssell and Ca pirossi, a lot of sid e, fru stration o n m y side," Ra in ey admits. " I probab ly ov erdid it a bit by really wanting him to do well. I thought th at w e cou ld d o this. And I though t th a t he wa nted it , and I though t h e understood . In the end he didn' t really want to do it that way - livin g in Ca lifo rnia and traini ng in Californ ia. Just getting away from family and friends and just conce nt ra ting on raci ng was asking too much. Wh en I go to Italy, and yo u see th e popularity tha t he has, it's like, 'How much m o re d o yo u ne ed w he n you' ve alre ady got th at and you ' re not that su ccessfu l?' You look at th ese Italians and Spaniards and the re's 10 or 15 guys, a nd th ey get qu esti on ed e very tim e they get off the bike - so you've got to say so me th ing . Inst ead of blamin g yourself, it' s like, 'I don't hav e that bik e, I d on't hav e those tires.' I just think it's d ifficu lt right now ." Rainey knows it a nd Dooh an kno ws it , a nd Ra ine y tried signin g Ooohan eac h of the past tw o years. Thi s pa st offse ason he felt particu la rly used when Oooh an signed again wi th H onda, and protract ed pos iti ve negotiatio ns with Yamaha. Th ey woul d have made a formidable tea m ; especia lly consid e rin g how refined the Ya maha YZR 500 has be com e . A s it is , h e has to a d mi re Ooo ha n from a far, ad mire how he u ses the mental aspect of racing to stay at the top . " He's come u p wit h his scenario that he feels he needs to tell these gu ys that you' re no t ready ye t," Rain ey explained. "There's nothing wron g with that. Ju st like him sa yin g tha t Biaggi got in there a little hot (in th e firs t turn at the French G ra nd Prix), a nd (Simon) Crafa r took ou t Mick. I' m a ra cer , I saw w ha t hap-

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