Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

re a son , th e ha nd li ng of th e Michelin tires with the V-twi n seems to be a littl e bit better . It' s a little smaller-profile tire, so th e bike seems to hold a lin e a lot better with the Michelin . So it's been reall y good , a nd we've bee n w orkin g th em reallv har d and I th ink a lo t of cras hes ha ve been saved because I'm on Dunlops. The rear is a lot more contro llable. I' ve seen a lot of guy s on Mic hel ins - as soo n as it steps out, they're all over the handlebars. So I thin k in another aspect, the Dun lops ha ve sa ved me a few times because it 's so co mforta b le in its line. Bu t m y goal was no t cha nged by that. Obvious ly, it' s not even in sight. It's no t realist ic to ge t top 10. So right now I'm 20th (overall) and I hope by the end of th e yea r I can ge t 18th at least. IS there a battle within a battle among the V-twin riders? Sur e. It can be p retty fierce, but it's been good racin g and very clean racing amon g the V-twin gu ys. If somebod y's comi ng through, the guy in fro nt will always give so me room, so it's been h a rd b u t fa ir. I ha n g out w ith Sco tt Smart a littl e bit after the races. He's a good g uy, just like Jurg en (van den Coorbe rg h) and McCo y a nd Borja . It' s · kinda like a little club. Q A en reflect back on e year, do think Ben and O Whyo uyouhaveabout what thStates? EriC Bostrom done in the W ha t th in g s h ave y o u learne d a nd what ha ve been the mos t im portant? Th e most important thin g is how to kno w when th e bike is 3mm off on a se tting o r in anythin g - yo u ca n just tell. If th e ride height's a littl e high in the rear and if it's makin g ·th e front too h ea v y, you go in to a corner a nd the fro n t tu ck s in o r you ha ve too much compress ion in the rear, or not eno ugh. Things tha t I di dn't ha ve any clue about last yea r; We di dn't change th e jetting fro m the morning until the afternoon on th e 250 la s t yea r . j o w w e cha nge it every time I come in. A. D O you have telemetry on your . Q b ike? Na , I d on 't have a co m . puter . That's one th in g I wis h I had . T hat' s a bi g disad vantage fo r m e . All the se twins have telem etry . A The She ll team does? l' m prettv su re they d o: I do n' t know if all th e bikes d o, b ut at leas t o ne o r tw o have them. Q A An y regret s at all about g oing to . Europe when those guys are going so welI? Th e o nly thing I reg ret is that after the ' 96 s ea s o n , whe n I wo n the Harley Cha mpionship, I had offers fro m a few factory team s in the States to do Superbikes and I chose to go with the (Ho nd a) B p rogram. What I d id, I di d , and I can't go back now. But no, I don' t regre t co mi ng to Eu ro pe, because I' ve learned so much th is year that I ha ve to say that if I did go back an d got a rid e o n Su perb ikes, I'd be o ne s tep a he ad . We'll see what ha p pens, and hopefully I'll ge t tha t ri d e a nd go prove m yself again in the Sta tes. Becau se that's what I really w an t to do. I want to go back and prove tha t I ca n win. went to qualify, th e clouds started coming in and big gusts of wind were coming and I wa s go ing through one of the fastes t left-handers o n the cou rse and I was tak ing... Q The back straight? h , yo u ow th e ac A.dsYeabeforeathe go d get. ntotoothaat blittlektraig ht nd you le ft han er chicane k I bit wide r lin e becau se I wa n ted to square off the comer. Wh en I took that w ider line, w he n I we nt to turn back in, the w ind we nt underneath the bik e and lifted the bik e, so th ere w a s no way I co u ld m ak e t he co r ne r. So I went on to the grass . It wou ld h a v e b een fin e if ther e w as no wa ll , but t here's an A rmco ba rrie r runnin g th ere, a nd I was hea d ing fo r th at and there was no a th e r choice. It ' s lik e fift h gea r, n ot pinned , but pr etty d arn cl o s e . There was A Q You want to do that? A- I w an t to win the AMA Superbike .t-\.Cham pio nship. . S O, yo u're havi ng ta lk s wi th . team s? I' ve called bu t hav en ' t really ta lked with a nybo dy yet. Righ t no w , I d o n't have anything in the works. Q A Wh at abou t World Superbikes or Worl d Supersport? ll ' s li ke CP. Yo u 've g o t to kn o w somebody o r yo u have to pro ve you rself in your own cha mpionship, so I' d have to wi n th e AMA Superbi ke C hamp io ns hip to get no ticed to go to W orld Su perbike - li ke Aus t ralians would have to take th e A us t ralian C ha mpionship . So rig ht now, w hile I'm st ill yo ung, I w ant to ge t back into the Ll.S; I th in k. I've ta ken thi s yea r to go to C P a n d I' ve le arned a lot. Now I want to go back to the U.s. to try and w in that cha m pio ns hi p and th en , hey, we ' ll see wh at happ en s after th a t. Eve ryone kn ows me now a t CP, and so I th i'n k if I went ba ck a n d go t on a Su pe r bike, I have a lo t more opportunities afte r that. It's hard to pro ve yo u rself on a V-twi n. You can co m e here and ga in all th e experien ce , bu t it's .hard to pro ve yourself to ge t a V-four ride. Q A _ O Yo u ' v e sa id s ev er al t i mes that y o u ' v e l ea r n ed a l ot this y e a r . no o t really . I ink A gNoodhim s elfforthbeingBen'spordone a job s m a t, and putting in a g oo d s ition fo r the championship . I'm ha p p y for Ben, and Eri c, too . I mean, he ' s d efi n it el y reall y s moo th a nd consi s tent as w ell. Q Eri C ? Yeah, I think Eric's a littl e smoothe r than Ben , bu t they' re bo th good rid ers . I've raced agains t them all my life. A WiII yo u b e raci ng agai nst them next year? I don't now about next year yet. But . I'd like to go ba ck and p rov e wha t I can d o. Q A D O wan t to go back to Europe eve n tually? O h, y eah . W ell , I'd like to, but I . do n't know how Eu ro pe 's loo kin g, you know. I d on ' t know how long 500s w ill be aro u nd. If I can go back to the Ll.S, and prove what I want to d o, then sure, I'd like to come back to the CPs. I like just to rid e, bu t I like to travel, I like the people, I like the a tmosp here . Q A W h e re have you been based in . Europe? In th e so u t h of Fran ce , n ea r St. Trop e z , i n a li t tle tow n called Hyeres. Q A D id you h ave a motocross bike at your d is posal in Europe? . N a . I wi sh I d id . I love m ot ocross . I mainly ran and rode m y bicycle that's basicall y all I coul d d o, as we ll as swi m m i ng . I s urfed a few t im e s . I kind a wi shed I'd lived in Spai n thi s ye a r, because th en I cou ld've gone and rid d en at Kenny's (Ro berts ) ranch. Il always helps to ride during the we ek. It always helped m e when I wa s in th e Sta tes . You d o th e n ational on th e weekend , then durin g th e week, yo u ride your motocro ss bike or dirt track bike - it tot a lly helps for the next race, b eca use you stay tu n ed a ll w e e k . Ther e 's no off time . T here wa s o ne tim e w he n we had a three-week br eak - that's li ke an eternity w hen you're u sed to racing eve ry week . Th a t .was like su m mer vacation . You can co m e back, and y o u don 't rem em b er anything - w ell , yo u remember, but that's too long. Q A Yeah, it makes it totally q uicker to ge t yo u r bik e's se ttings. Q What abou t tire se lection? fro w kind of tough er A Theheelsnt ile;as ed . Aftergetti ngththtoee . fo r a w h wasn' t rig ht w need I talked I I them for a while, I fina lly go t a w heel. I was running 3.75-inch front wheel. But o n the track, th e V-twin is too hard to tu m o n the 3.75. The 3.5 is a little narrower and allows better cornering. The only difference is , vo u don' t h ave as mu ch rubber on the ground on the fro nt. So if yo u can't find a good se tup for you r bike, the n the 3.75 is a little bit better beca u se it ha s m ore contact patch . But if yo u have a good se tting , you need to ge t through th e co rn ers good, you run the 3.5. I didn't have a 3.5 u ntil after hal f the season, an d once I put th at on, then I d id be tte r. Have you been h urt th is year, with all the cras hes yo u've ha d ? . Actu ally , I'v e only cra sh ed once in a ra ce. . Q A Q A Wha t ab out in p ractice? I.n pra ct ic e , I've cras h ed a few limes . Q There was a big one somewhere ? A Yeah, in Assen . It was windy lik e this. It had been calm and when I o the r a ltern a ti ve b u t to put it down. And when I d id tha t, it tore one of the ligam ents - I don't know if it's a tendon or a ligament; yo u havetwo tha t cross in front of yo u r kn ee - and I ripped on e of those pre tty bad, so basicall y it felt like my knee was just [ell-O . What they said was tha t my knee po pped ou t and back in a nd th a t ripped the tend ons . Anywa y, I still raced an d got 13th. It's just now tha t its starting to feel good. Even yesterd ay , in the first q ua lifying session, I w e n t to p u t pre s s u r e o n it a nd it popped, so it's still not healed up all the way. Q Are yo u ru nning on it ? Yea h, I'm running on it. Th e doctor said no t to run on it for a w hile. He said even tu a lly to s ta rt run n ing o n it because you ne to bu ild it u p. I'd say ed it's a bout 90 percent by no w . I d on't know if it will ever be 100 percen t aga in u nless I get it ope ra ted on . I' m gonna see Dr . (Ar thu r) Ting next wee k beca use m y brothe r' s gotta go there for his surgery . I'll have him check it out a n d get an op inion . But, yeah, that's the only real injury I've had , (Dr. Ting co nseq u en tly advised against an immediate op eration because the to ta l re hab il itatio n wou ld ta k e u p to six A rnonths.) Q H as Ben Bo s tro m's success s urprised yo u? H OW d id yo u cope w ith livi ng in Eu rope ? I love th e foo d in a ny co u n try . I learned a lo t of Fre nc h, but th eir gra m m ar is kind of op posite to English like yo u say "car red " ins tead of "red ca r" - so that wa s kind a d ifficult to d o that. Asking direct ion s and where to go w as n't a problem. Q A Q H ave yo u got a girlfriend? S EI Yeah, sh e's in She A she's an athlete,Fran ce.good'sforgreat - ~ . she's me. I ca n tal k to her a bo ut tra ining, so it' s worked out good. w as motivation a problem given the long breaks between so m e of the race s? Na . Du ring the breaks, I kept moti. va ted , I kept trai ning, and, yea h, I was totally focused all year. Q A And yo u want to go back to AMA racing? I d efinit ely wa n t to do it for m y American friend s an d fans, but also I th ink it m eans something for a rid er to wi n hi s own cham pions h ip a nd th en take o n the world after tha t. I~ Q A ~ 00 0\ 0\ ,- 00 ,I-< ClJ .c E ClJ > o z 27

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