Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

sort of just had fun. We got to go to the beach in the aiternoof! and every now and then slip into the water - the teacher would pretend she didn't see anything. ,we had fun and we managed to bend the rules enough to make it livable. Following the stay in rehab, you raced in Las Vegas. All things consi ered, you had to be happy with your performance there. I was, because I hadn't been on'a bike for so long. It was June since I'd been on a bike; and then in Vegas I ended up missing Thursday and Friday and only"end.ed up doing Saturday and Sunday. Apparently, the other guys had been there testing as well, so they had quite a bit on me. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I just went out there with an open mind. When I first rode the bike on Saturday morning, I couldn't believe how rusty I was. To make it worse, I hadn't even been to Vegas before, so it was a whole new ball game for me. To be honest, I was really, really satisfied with my result. I even feel that we could have won that race if the bike hadn't broke. We were pulling Mat (MIadin) in towards the end and I ~ould have been on him by at least the ~ast lap and maybe the lap before, and whenever it's come to any!hing like that -before, I've generally beaten him. I felt confident of winning there, so I was disappointed not to win there - mainly for Terry Vance and the Vance & Hines Ducati team, because I felt that I let them down quite a bit. People don't understand that no matter how much they're let down, I'm like 20 times worse, but I feel for the guys on the team. And it would have been nice for Ducati because they'd just been taken over by an American company and it would have been nice to win the championship in America for them. I felt that we were well and truly on the way. We' had problems with the bike at three of the events and that put us back in the points a lot. It was hard work to come back and get into a championship-winning position, and we got right up there to two points behind (Doug) Chandler. Then Chandler went on a big no-result sort of binge, so to speak, so I felt that the championship was pretty much ours. It was disappointing, so it was good to come back and show everyone at Vegas that I could have. done it. It's a shame the machine broke on us. A ~ YOu admit to letting yourself down and your team down in 199 . Does that make you more determined to come back in 1999 and make things right? It does. I'm feeling a lot more support from Ducati as well. David Tardozzi is over here and Ducati have said to me that they want me to understand the support that I do have from the factory. They feel that a lot of this is their fault as well because they didn't let me know how much a part of the whole package, the Ducati family, I was. I think they were disappointed as well because they didn't show me that. He is over here to clleck me out as well, and Ducati has already said that if I'd won the championship this year then there was a 99-percent chance that I would have been riding a World Superbike for Ducati. Hopefully, that's what I can do for' '99 - win the American number-one plate and then move on to" the factory team with Tardozzi as the manager. A Did you learn anything from your first full season of AMA Superbike racing that will help you in 1999or is it just a case of staying out of trouble and letting things faIl into place? Q A lnof theto past, I used smoke a bit weed here and there just for relax a tion and to take my mind off of racing, so I don't smoke at all anymore. I don't feel that will be a problem for me anymore. Hopefully, I'm just trying to elimimite all the things tha t can be a hindrance to me. That's why I think I haven't ridden a bike all off-season yet: I've been using other methods· to take my mind off of racing and not be so serious all the time. That seems to be working. When I came back here, I felt really good, really refreshed. Yesterday, straight away on the bike,1 felt pretty good on the bike. I'm a little bit overweight at the moment because I've just been relaxing, really, and I've only done two days of training since Las Vegas. Really, I've just been trying to enjoy myself. From here on, I'm gonna start picking up the training and build back into it. Hopefully, I can carry that right through the season.. Before I've trained in the off-season as well,.and by midseason I'm looking for a bit of a break. I'm trying to have a different strategy this time: Be a bit easy and be peaking by midseason instead of being ready for·a break midseason. The biggest pain with it is that it costs me $500 every time they want to test me - and that comes out of my pocket. That's the main thing. They don't exactly pay you a fortune to win a race, so that's the main thing that's disappointing: the amount of money it's going to cost me. It's not that big of a deal, really. It's good to prove a point because a lot of people think I do drugs all the time, but that's not the case. I am a professional athlete and I do train a lot. Ninety percent of the time, I'm dedicated to racing. The other 10 percent I just try and be a normal 23-year-old. I just want to prove to myself what I can do on the race track and I just hope I get that opportunity. So World Superbike is still a goal for you? A-I want to be World Superbike .L;..Champion really bad. I know that I can beat those guys because I have done a bunch of times in the past. I know that if I'm on the right machine with the right team, and have the right head on my shoulders, then I can be World Champion. There is no doubt at all in my mind .. Because of what I've been through, I'd like to win it as soon as possible and then try and sport the numberone plate. That's my goal. I'd like to try and win two World Superbike Championships if I could - maybe even three, depending on how things turn out - and then still move onto the 500s and hopefully jump on a Honda 500 and really show what I can do. I do have a lot of natural ability and talent, and I try to use that to the best of my ability. I know that if I do that, then I can be a future 500cc World Champion. Hopefully I'm correct in that feeling and hopefully I'll get a chance again to prove it. Coing infb the coming season, is there anyone or two riders who you think will provide you with your biggest challenge? I think Eric Bostrom is the main one who has been improving quite a bit. I spent a bit of time with the Bostroms last year and even now I see them quite a bit, and I really like those guys. I think that both of them (Ben and Eric)' are going to be tough. I think that Ma t (Mladin) will be tough here and there, but he doesn't seem to be consistently a threat. Generally, he (Mladin) doesn't seem fo be able to dO'it in a race; he's good at qualifying, normally, but he doesn't seem to be' able to -be there in the race too often. I'm not too worried about him because I've beaten him quite a bit in the past. (Doug) Chandler as well, if he ends up on the Kawasaki, can be a threat; Yates as well. And DuHamel. I'm kinda forgetting him because he's not on the bike at the moment, but he's always tough and always there. DO you think you currently have any inroads with Honda, or do you think those doors would open up if you won a World Superbike title? I think that it's going to take at least a World Superbike Championship to open the door again. I think that they're always watching me because of what I've done for them in the past. I know they're. always keeping an eye out, but I think that it would take a good year here next year, then a strong finish in World Superbike and then a World Superb ike Championship. It'll take at least a good performance, if not winning the cllampionship, before Honda would be willing to sit me on one of their 500s. You and Miguel had some incredible battles last season, especially at oad Atlanta. Is he the toughest guy you've ever raced against? The toughest guy I've raced against is Aaron Slight. He's a bit of a bulldog. He's tough to beat, but forttinately I've beaten him every time it came to that, so that makes me feel .satisfied. Miguel is pretty tough, but he's not the toughest guy I've come up against. do drug test Q HOWrace?youitview the more prior that you'll be forced to take to every Is nothing than A Q Q A an aggravation? It's a pain for sure, but as they say, if you're going to do the crime, you've got to be willing to do the time. A Q A A g Will having Ben Bostrom as a teammate provide you with extra mo lvation this year? After all, beating your teammate is usually priority number one... To be honest, I'm really confident. If I'm together and I've been training, then I really don't see anybody who can outride me - at least not here, not this year. [ honestly believe that, and I think to succeed you have to believe that - you hav.e to think that you're the best. I've proven it to myself because I've beaten these guys a buncll of times. To be honest, I'm not really worried about anyone - I'm more worried about myself. As long as I can do what I was meant to do, then there shouldn't be a problem. But you really can't count anyone out; there are probably five guys who could win a race next year. I know how much you were looking forward to doing battle with e orld Superbike guys last year at Laguna Seca. With what happened prior to the event and you not getting , to compete, are you looking forward to that race in 1999 more than ever? rm really pumped about Laguna Seca. I had a couple of offers from World Superbike and I wasn't really sure what avenue to take. I could have ridden the new Yamaha in World Superbike, but I didn't really want to do that because I had trouble with the new Kawasaki when it first carne out. It was a real slug that year and I struggled that year, so I didn't want that to happen. I stuck with Ducati to do another year over here in the States and to make amends for what happened last year. I just want to try and build up and peak around June and July, when the World Superbike race comes around. I want to be at my strongest and hopefully go to Laguna, which is one of my favorite tracks in the world apart from Phillip Island, and win both races and even steal the pole if I can. That's my goal. I want to go there and try and really beat all those guys. I have the equipment to do it and I have a team that is more than willing to do what it takes, so we have an awesome' package to get the job done. A were you surprised to get another chance with the Vance & Hines Ducati team for 1999? I'd really like to thank the Vance & Hines team. Terry Vance has been a key factor in my career the last two years. I could have been stuck without a decent bike and without a decent team, but he's had the confidence in me to put me on one of his machines. He runs a real professional outfit, and it's probably the most professional outfit that I've been with. To me, it's a real honor to ride for him, and hopefully we can bring the championship home for him. He's got the number-one plate under his tent, but I know it's not the way that he wanted to do it. Hopefully, we can go out and do the job for myself and also for Terry. He's put a lot of time and effort into me and I don't want to disappoint the guy - I want to make him happy. I can really feel it from him - he wants to see me succeed. I just thank him for the opportunity, and hopefully I won't let him down. CIII Q A ~ ... c ... .., ~ 29

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