Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.. front. It handles good. ow we can just start tweaking it and getting it better. I think thi thing is really going to work good at Mid-Dhio. Let's go back to that contract of yours. What about the rumors of you getting a Harley-Davidson dealership as part of the deal? That's bullshit. I don't want a dealership. I don't have time for that - I can't even balance my checkbook. I've got people paying my bills and everything - I can't go getting into anything like that. It sounds good and everybody was like, 'Oh, you've got to get a dealership.' I'm like, 'You get a dealership.' They aren't giving these dealerships away. Ju t because I ride for 'em, it doesn't make me special. Are you disappointed in how your World Superbike career ended? Totally. l'm over it, but I was disappointed about it. . Q A What went wrong? Was it a tire issue? A~I can't say anything bad about any .l"\..of the e people. We just had some things backfire in our face. To add fuel to the fire, we had our teammate winning races on Dunlops. Basically, I felt like I really screwed up. I was pissed off. I wasn't happy. I was happy with the team, but the po ition I put myself in wasn't good. There were times when I just wanted to go home. That's really what I wanted to do. I was within inches of quitting this racing stuff last year. I'd just had enough. I didn't need it. I was tired of traveling 12 hours to get my ass kicked. That's the way I felt at every track. It just never wen t good all year. That's what happened to me and that' what happened to my head. I lost the drive last year, the hunger to want to be there. Q was it the worst season of your career? Oh, yeah, that was it. There were many time when I just wanted to jump in the motorhome, crank it up and drive off - on Friday. It's kind of sad to have to say that stuff, but it happened. Shit, I'm allowed to finish 10th, or eventh, but anything out of the top three doesn't make me too happy. Q A So glad to be Q rm you're obviouslycan imagine home. happier A goinghome. Ithan you this yeartrip to be know the longest I'm to have to take is four hours. That means a lot t:p me. If I was on that Yamaha again, I'd be down there (at Phillip Island), getting smoked by two seconds again. lt was time for me to leave. I was trying to get some stuff, going in Europe and if the right opportunity had arisen, I would have stayed. All in all, after five years of that stuff I was ready to get tl}e hell out of there. But I'm going to miss the hell out of everybody over there, all the riders, all the people that I met. I think about it every day, how I'm going to miss it. I miss it already in a way, but I'm riding for an American company in America and I'm American - that's the way it's supposed to be. And I'm getting paid damn near the same thing. There ain't nothing wrong with that. What keeps you motivated? Does the Harley deal actually help in tha regard? rm the underdog, and I've really always been that. When we went to Europe, we weren't supposed to win that thing (the World Superbike title) with Kawasaki that year. I like being the guy who's not supposed to win all the time. Tltis Harley deal is just perfect A for me. I'm 34, but I feel like I'm born again after that Laguna test. I'm pumped. I can see that there's a chance that we can win some races now. After those first tests, I probably wasn't as optimistic as I am right now. This is the perfect place for me to be: with a Harley that's never won a race, Mr. Daytona, who always gets it done down there. If I come out of here. winning a race for the e guys in the two years tha t I race for 'em, I'll be a hero, because they never won one . That'd be a great way to end my career - come here and do well for Harley, and put them on the map again as far as road racing goes. That would make me happy. I've already had a great career. I could quit right now and look back and it's been great. I look forward to trying to do more for these guys and helping them out. When you look back at your career, is there one year that really stands out? Probably 1993. And even the earlier days were good too, riding here in the States. I think for us to go there in '93 (the World Superbike Championship), first attempt, and win the World Championship - how could there be a better year? That one stands out. The first year in Europe was also the hardest, but the racing was great. Q A Did you ever really get used to being in Europe? I never did. Some of the other guys don't have much of a problem with it, but I always needed to get back home. It was okay and it was a great experience, seeing the rest of the world and getting paid to do it. It was all cool, but there's no place like home, is there? Q A HOW does the AMA Superbike field stack up against their World Superbike counterparts? I think it (World Superbike) is probably the most competitive in the world right now. The GPs have come good with Max (BiaggiJ and all them in it now, but I think with the amount of good riders, the World Superbike Series is probably ti,e toughest right now. The AMA is probably third on the list. It's great and there's a lot of good riders over here, and there's some depth in this field. It wouldn't be hard to be outside the top five on a weekend. But I'm sure I can beat these guys over here. I've done it before and I can do it again. There ain't no doubt about tllat. I ain't lost a damn thing in these last shitty two years with Yamalla, as far as my riding ability goes. I'm pumped. I'm ready to go. Let's do it. . Q A A lot of people think your Grand Prix results with Suzuki were gooa enough and that you should still be a GP racer. What are your thoughts on that? lt's a mixture of that and my attitude. My attitude wasn't good. I've never kissed anybody's ass and I'm not going to. In the GPs, you get some shit Q A on your nose every now and then, you know. But I'm not going to do it, especially with Garry Taylor (the Suzuki team manager). He's all right, but that wasn't the right place for me to be. They wanted to try and control me after a while. They saw I was a little bit crazy. They wanted to put me where they could keep an eye on me, so to speak. They wanted me to work out with these people, and have this guy manage my money. It was like, 'You guys are messin' up.' At the end of tile year, they wanted to hire the fastest new kid in the world and they did and it screwed 'em up. Hell, I rode that bike pretty good a couple of times and, in my opinion, it was the bigge t piece of shit I've ever ridden. I didn't like it and it hurt me more than I've gotten hurt in 13 years or racing. I hurt myself more on tha t in a year and a half... they wanted me gone and I wanted to be gone, so it worked out the way it should. I went to Yamaha and started making more money riding superbikes. (Anthony) Gobert was supposed to be the man and he couldn't do anything on that thing ~ except get hurt. He never had a good run on that thing, did he? I think we did okay and that Suzuki was definitely the slowest 500 on the race track - of the factory bikes. lt was definitely down on power. I felt like I rode it good and I gave them loa-percent effort. Back to AMA racing: Who do you as the Q look atone? main man here now - or there l don't look at them right are a bunch A now. Therequick,any of of fast guys. (Mat) M1adin's Gobert fast, the 1S is Bostroms are coming up, Chandler is Chandler and DuHamel is DuHamel. You can't pick 'em anymore. I don't worry about 'em. I know I want them behind me. I want to put the Harley in front of 'em and really open some eyes this year - that's what I'm aiming to do. They'll know I'm still here. Do you think you'll be treated differently at Daytona this year now tha you're riding a Harley? Well, everybody is like, 'Man, they need to promote you and Harley, they need to do this.' I don't think there'll be any more people there than there were last year. If they want to fill the stands, it's not going to be Scott Russell on a Harley that's gomg to do it. It'll ha ve to be something else. I guess it can't hurt. The best thing we can do is go down there and start the week A strong, put it near the front, and then your picture's on the front page every day. That might help get some people out. Otherwise, we could go down there and win it and half the people wouldn't know until they saw it in the paper on Monday morning. So to go down Q Of you're going loveget-go. there and be fast from the course, I'd A wouldthat's get peopletotobe. That help the race track, but not what I'm there to do. I don't care if there are two people in the stands - I just want to win the race. I feel like 90 percent of the people in the stands are behind me. It really feels that way, whether it is or not. I 1ake it that way and I u e it to my advantage. I bring all my family and my'friends. That' what I missed about going to Europe. Hell, it'd be me and Chris (Russell's cousin) by ourselves. I'd win a race and come in the motorhome and I'd look at him and we'd wonder what the hell we were going to do now. When I won here, it was exciting, it was good. I always felt that if I could win, then I made all these people happy. That's the way I still feel' at Daytona. It's motivating and it makes me reach deep for that little bit more and that's not to say that I don't try at other places. It just works for me down there (in Daytona). Last year, I was laying in bed two days before we were supposed to go down there and I was thinking, '1 don't want to go.' I didn't think I could win it. I just didn't feel like we were ready. We went down there and unloaded the bike and within six laps we were already going faster than anybody else had gone. We ended up topping the chart all week; it was too easy. This time I'm going down there and I don't know. I think if they do the things they said they can do, I can hustle it around there pretty quick. to take to Q Okaythe- what's going Russell on win Daytona again? A-It's going to take Scott it 200 .l"\..the fastest bike with the best pit stops. well, you've got one out of three covered. A-It's going to take a lot of hard work .l"\..from my team, good preparation from me and good preparation from them. I'm ready. I'm ready right now. It's going to come down to the bike being good and the team being good. L~s~. - Q 21

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