Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GUEST EDITORIAL B)R M oJa andy am ~ I", I~ he 50Dec Grand Prix season looked I; close until Catalunya, but in the las t I~ two races of the year, Mick Doohan Ip,st blew eve rybody away. It was only Close in the points table and th at w as I beca us e aft er 11 rac es, Mick had gone pointless three times while Ma x Biaggi an d Ale x Criville had scored in every race. :. But, if we were talking about playing 'pool, everybody kind of knew that there were too many balls left in play for any~y to breath easy . With three races left _~our if Brazil hadn't been canceled), Mick just ran the table and slammed the eight ~all in the comer pocket with authority. ~, Rack 'em up for nex t year! Anybody t,~li n' lucky? , . When you look a t th e final poin ts totals (and when you look a t the faces of Mick's rivals), 1998 looks jus t like th e four previous seasons. Ana, to tell the truth, when Mick 'finished races , it was like those last seasons. In Argentina, we saw what we've been seeing all season. Mick was just head and shoulders above .!!'e rest. Because Mick made a couple of mistakes - running off the track in Japan i~d later having his engine break there, and then cras hing on the first lap in the ~:Zech Republic - a nd because he got ~nocked off the track in Jara ma by Max , the points were close. Alex and Max we re finis hing all the races . This wasn't the year that somebodv cou ld have beaten Mick and tak en -his tit le, but it wa s a year when so me bod y cou ld have stolen the 500cc crown. ~ But w hen Mick finish ed races , he wa s -always first or seco nd, and when Alex o~ n d Max bo th drop ped a . r esult in Barcelona, the sit ua tio n in th e poin ts table suddenly reflected the real si tuation tha t we ha d been see ing o n th e track all yea r. Mick was dominant. And o nce h e go t ba ck in front in points, he d ecided to d estroy his rivals, to kill off an y hopes or dreams they had left about beating him . Remember th e wa rmu p in Au stralia; It was chilly, and there sure as hell wasn't as mu ch grip as there had been the day before in qualifydng, but Mick went ou t and jus t bli tzed everybod y. From about the second lap , he was a half-second off his best qualifying time. Th e othe r guys see those times and say, "Give us a break !" Mick doesn't cut any slack for a ny body . He ' s a ra cin g machine. No, that' s not righ t. He's no t a machine . He's jus t all racer. He wants to w in e very ti m e . H e wan ts to b e th e 'fastest in every practice session, in th e war m up a nd in the race. He wan ts to f I---' a start on th e pole, pull aw ay, break all the records and w in. It's a ball-bust er when somebody does that to you. And, remember, this was n' t a great year for Mick. In Arg entina, he got awa y from everybody and got to record times while the other guys were still trying to ease into a race. pace. When Tad ayuki Okada finally got rolling, he actually beat Mick' sbest time , but by then it was ov er. Mick wa s five seconds ahead and cruising. obody pushed him, so you wonder if he could have run down into th e 43s if he had to . I thin k he could have, but nobody ma de him do it. Wayne Rainey won a lot of races and three Worl d titles by cha rging out of the ga te and smoking everybod y on the firs t 10 laps . By the time the guys chasin g go t some fuel burned off and go t into a hot rh ythm, Wayn e was so far up the road tha t it was d emoralizin g. And then, if you did catch him, yo u still had to pass him - and if you passed him , you knew he was goi ng to figh t back and that it was goi ng to be a long afternoon. I could see in Argentina th a t Mick wanted to make sure nobody went home thinking, "Ma n, I can get this guy next year." Now these gu ys go home shaking th eir head s and w ondering if Mick is ever go ing to retire. And, I' ll te ll yo u, Mick is kind of hanging that retirem en t out there an d saying he's going to pack it in af ter 1999, bu t I'm just not so su re. This guy is 33 now , but he's a better racer and he's in better shape and more confid ent now th an when he was 28 o r 29, which is the pri me for most SODec riders. Mick's clock is not like other gu ys' clocks. He ru ns on determination, and as lon g as he feels the w ill win that he is feeli ng now , he ' s going to be jus t abo ut impossible to beat unless so mebo dy co mes a lo ng w ho ha s th e righ t co m b ina tio n of natural abilit y, wo rk ethic, co n d ition ing an d spiri t. If you could see the way this guy tra ins! And he's sma rt - race-tr ack smart. He d oesn 't waste time at th e race track. From the minute he s teps into the paddock, he's wo rking on getting himself and the bik e into the best pos sib le form for 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. ' Ma x Biag gi had a fantastic sea son, b u t he lost more tha n just p oints in Barcelona wh en he w as d isqualified . Aft er Ba rcelona, he knew he 'd lost his cha nce to wi n the champions hip . He was leading in points there an d says he w ould have won . We 'll never know w hat wou ld ha ve hap pen ed there, bu t re mem ber, befor e all th e stop-and -go and black-flag stuff broke up that race, c.: :.~",,,;'i ,:~~I ' :;; .;; +17<':'t;""' " t:,~:;;-,:.:;C .,.-:-' "-:n;" , . -,;;:: ....,:;. ;:; , .. .• , -.;::: •~ • • , ,••,:. • ", '-:- o, "'. c :;;,:",,". Mick had caught Max and Alex Barros and looked like he was getting ready to g o right th rou g h them into the lead. After that, Max and Alex bo th knew it was over. Unless Mick fell off or broke down in Australia , they were going to have to wa it until next year to start all over again with a clean points sheet. Okada, in the postrace press conference said , "Maybe next year." T ha t' s whatCub fans always say , but the next yea r doesn't get any better unless you get better. (N o te for no n- b a s eball fa ns ; Mamola is referring to the Ch icago Cubs, the underperfo rming baseball tea m in the National Leag ue which is myst eriously blessed with' a huge following of loyal fans who have not seen their tea m owi n a title since 1908. Maybe next yea r!) Hey, if Mick wi ns 10 or so ou t of the 16 races in next yea r's schedu le, I think there' s a good cha nce he' ll look at the recor d of 68 wins by Giaco mo Agostini and see he's only abou t four races bac k and he 'll say, "W hat the hell? Let's go for it." If some of these gu ys are waiting for Mick to reti re, they may end up waiting out the best yea rs of their careers and they may even lose their .rid es before Mick d ecides to quit. If these gu ys - Cri ville and Checa and Max and Simon Crafar and the rest - ma ke it easy for him , he cou ld keep win ning fo r tw o or three more years. If they wa nt to retire Mick, they've go t to beat him, and when they can't beat him, they have to at least pu sh him. They have got to be nipping at his heels. And to do that, they have to ge t better an d faster and stronger and more focused . To beat Mick, they either have to speed u p or Mick has to slow down. I' ll tell you , the re was a new Mick Doohanin the seco nd half of the season. In the opening races, Mick was ha ving to ba ttle back from bad starts after gettin g bea t off the line, but by the end of the season he was getting holesh ots and blasting away -'especially these last tw o races. That' s' what Max did in Japan and wh at Crivill e did in Spain. They got the lead a nd then just sm oked everybody lap after lap after lap. But Mick does it on a consistent basis. Ano the r thing ; Wh eth er he lik es a place or not , he ge ts d own to business and he wo rks to get the best bike for the race. Mick go t to Argentina and hat ed th e tra ck co nd itio ns . It w as slic k a nd patched wi th silicon in the cracks. It was rid iculou s, but he said wha t he thoug ht of the track an d then pu t that to the back of this min d and went out an d wo n. There we re tracks I used to jus t hate and I wished we 'd never go there, but when we got there, I knew that I had to concentrate all th e harder and work harder to win there . That's a lesson Alex Criville has to learn - not just Alex, bu t .'everybody, This is the World Ch ampionship, and yo u can ha ve tracks you like and tracks you don't like, but you have go flat out everywhere and for the ent ire race. . I mean, look a t Norifum i Ab e. He doesn't look like he has his head in the race. He qualifies for the fifth row and then, bang, wit h about 10 lap s to go, he wakes up and suddenly does 44s and passes everybody in his group, clearing off from Max and finish ing fourt h. Those last laps (two 44.7s) show he can do it, but he has to d o it all the time . That's w ha t he 's p aid for. He's paid to work hard . If you are u nfocused, focus. If you are scared of the race track, qu it bei ng scared of the track. A racer has to put it on the line every time he goes out there, and once you start giving a little less now and then, you start being less of a racer. Look, let's take Ale x Criville: When he races in Spa in, he's so comfortable in his own country that he really focuses. He doesn't have to force himself to do an ything. He' s in front of the people he cares about and who care abo ut him and he gives everything he's go t and he may be under a lot of press u re, but it's good press ure. A nd he 's just so ha rd to beat a nd pass in Spain, bu t then he goes to Donington Pa rk or Argentina and he' s just not the sa me guy. The Crivilles and the Checas and the Abes ha ve to lea rn from Mick and from Max. Max di d a hell of a job this year. His spirit may have been bro ken a litt le in Bar celon a and he may have lost a little motivati on or conce nt ra tion becau se he was so involved in negotiating for next yea r, but he did a hell of a job racing a bik e twi ce as powerfu l as a ny thing he has ever ridden before and a t a lot of tracks w he re he had no test in g on the 500. Max knew how to use the data that HRC gives out to the Honda riders an d he had the experience of racing up fron t a nd w in nin g for four ye a rs in 250 to make him tough and aggressive. He also had Erv Kan emoto in his corn er. There's nobody better at what he does than Erv. Wh a t Ma x did as a rookie is just a wa rn ing of what is to co me fro m th is guy, a nd if Alex a nd the o the r 500cc guys don' t step up their ga me and ge t tou gher, tra in hard er and focu s more, Ma x is liab le to get away from th em along with Mick next yea r. 1)0 LOOKING~I BACK... 30Y AR E SAGO... DEC EMBER 1 1968 9, 20 YEARSAGO ... DECEMBER 6,19 78 1 0YEAR SAGO•.• N OVEMBE R30,1 8 98 r cover. cap tu red minibike wond er Fred Ch ase as e put on a rid ing exhibi tion at the Clark Me mo rial Scrambles in Nort hern Californ ia. Terry Sage (Tri) pull ed off a n upset in th e 650cc Expert cla ss, while a young Kenny Roberts (Suz) cleaned hou se in the 100cc Amat eur/ Expert race... M. Disharoo n (H-D) was the top dog in Top Fuelunder the lights at Lions Drag Strip in Santa Ana, California. Doug Schwerma (Yam) screamed his 350cc two-st rok e to the win in D/ Ga s, and Mi ke Velasco won the F/ Gas division final... A summary of the Wor ld Trials Champi onsh ip Series told of Mo ntesa's eight victorie s with champ ion Pedro Pi aboard the new Co ra 247 ... A photo o n p age 23 s howed a tire und ergoing a test on a resiliorneter at Goo dyear' s Ne w Bedford, Massachuse tts, tire plant. The machin e, which look ed like a lar ge flywheel, was designed to simulate the va ried su rfaces a nd loads that a motorcycle tire might experience. u r tribute to the joys of rid ing in the d esert was led by a n exc ellen t s tory entitled "A look back through the dust ," writ ten by Su z ie Mann . Th e fea tu re, which utilized so me fant astic ' 60s-era phot ogr aphy, d iscussed the gold en era of desert 'motor cycle racing, which took pl a ce between 1963 a nd 1972 . It also contemplated th e future o f recreati onal use of th e d esert. Other features included a profile on all of the top pla yers in D ist ric t 37 desert racing - both ma le and fema le - a fea ture on the Phantom D uc k of th e Desert' s Barstow -to -Vegas "nonride," A sto ry on Casey Folks and th e M RAN, and a test of a '78 Pr o-Tee Yam aha TI598 " desert sle d "... We also ran ano ther Tra ns-AMA mot ocross bike test. Th is tim e, if w as on the 450cc Ma ico th a t w as ca m pai g ned b y Darrell Shultz... A 250cc Ducati d irt bike wa s listed for sale in the "W ant Ad s" section for $400. red d ie Sp en cer was big news in issu e #47, as the thr ee-time world road racin g champion anno unced that he was coming ou t of ret ir em ent to rid e for Team Mar lboro Agostini Yamaha. According to Spencer, doctors felt that his year off had given his wrist injury a chance to heal properly, and Spencer felt that the Yamaha o p p o rtu nity would be "a lot o f fu n " ... We ran a "naked" photo of the new Buell RR1200 in our "In the Wind " sec tion. The bike wa s based on Buell' s RR1000 mo del bu t u sed a 1200cc Evo lu tion powerpla nt... The Team Green trio of Paul Kra us e, Larry Roesele r and D an ny LaPorte won the Baja 1000 ... Th en Cycle News co ntributor (and now European Editor) Alan Cathc art wrote a piece that put the stunning Yam ah a-to-Honda switch by reigning World SOOcc Champion Eddi e Lawson in to historical perspective. As Cathcart exp lained , it certai nly wasn 't the first time that a number -on e plate had been "bought" by a manufacturer in GP racin g. 1)0 O F fA 8 ~ ~ 00 0\ 0\ ..- ('J' l-< OJ .o E OJ u OJ a 71

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