Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

of feel last year. I just kind of go into the comers crossing my fingers. And I've always felt that I was a good rain rider and always knew that I could hang with the guys in the rain. This year, there's no reas~>n why I shouldn't win every rain race, I feel, because we got (Pier-Francesco) Chili off a Ducati, first of all. And, other than that, we've got the bike working. it HOW much of tires Q last year? reallywas you.ofgetting used to theWhen A-That wasn't much it, I wouldn't say. 1""\.1 rode the Yamaha, the Dunlops were kind of Jello-y, they just kind of wallow around, where the MicheIins don't do that. But at least the Dunlops had a lot of feel. You could lose the front on the Dunlops on the Yamaha and get it back. You just dig the knee in and it would come back, where on this thing, 1 had never done that. Couldn't do it. As soon as it would go, it went. It extended itself and, basically, once you lose the front and it extend itself, you've got to recompress it, and it wouldn't do it. So I crashed. So now we got it to where it doesn't extend itself. It just stays right there; you can pop it right back up. And I'd never done that on the Honda until the Suzuka test right after the Sugo race. We've learned a lot about the bike, I learned a lot about myself and riding style and everything in the process. did over Q HOW muchmethe you alter your riding_style say I the course of year? A-If you ask that now, I'd say I didn't. I'd 1""\.tried, but realistically, I don't think I really did. I tried at one point to ride the machine with my chest on the gas tank, keeping it loaded, but that just wa n't me. I didn't feel comfortable, I didn't have the feel that I needed. And my riding style is my riding style. Everybody's got their own and whatever you're comfortable with. But you did have to make changes because of the bike and the tires. You couldn't ride it like you ro e the Yamaha. Yeah, you couldn't. The Yamaha was just a slidefest. You went out there and just rip~ it up and had it sideways and backing it in and sliding it out. That's the way you rode the thing. And this thing - if you were going sideways, you were losing time. That's where the Miche1ins are a lot different. If you can keep them in line, you're going faster; you don't want to slide them that much. As soon as you slide, you go backwards. A YOU had to ride the Yamaha perfectly in every comer to be competitive. A-The Yamaha was definitely down on power, and 1""\.that was - I felt I was able to override the Yamaha for longer periods of time, maybe because of the Dunlops. I was able to override it and stuff it in and lose the frout, lose the back, back and forth. Whereas the Honda, like in qualifying, I could do that one-off lap to get us up there in the Superpole and override it for that one lap. But as soon as it came down to Superpole, having to go out and do that one lap right then and there, it was tough, because I had to work up to that point. The bike wasn't comfortable. Now we got the bike comfortable, we can go out there, bam, do our lap, and we're happy with it. It's not a point of overriding it now. We've got it dialed in. Q you surprised at how Noriyuki Haga Q were onreally. The Yamaha iswellgood bike and it went that Yamaha? Anot a 0, 1""\.works. We've known for years that Phillip Island and Donington are Dunlop tracks. We've known that. It's no surprise he goes and wins both races at Donington. It was a surprise that he came from the third row, but that's Haga for you. Australia, and also Laguna Laguna's been a Dunlop track forever. The places that he won, it wasn't a surprise that he won there. It was just a matter of him going and doing it, riding his ass off. The kid's got loads of talent. There's no question about that. Even he admitted that he couldn't ride it that hard week in and week out. And you can't. That's the difference. Whenever we did our contract with Yamaha, it was always, "Do you guys realize how much we're. having to risk by just going out and racing the thing, because it is underpowered and we had to squeeze whatever we can out of the thing?" They also said, "Okay," and they compensate a little bit in payment here and there. They kind of understood and we kind of understood. And we did all we could do. Whereas (with) Honda, it's not like that. You got all the power you need. It's up to you to get the bike Q A set up and go out there and kick some ass. That's basically it. Q You said Haga was a surprise at Donington. What other surprises were there last year? Even aga wasn't a surprise -like I said, a surprise coming from the third row. I won the 8 Hours with him and I knew how fast he was. So there was no question of if he was going to win races or not; we all knew he would. And any other surprises? I wouldn't really say there was anything that struck me, apart from doing the double at Monza myself. I was happy .with that, considering that the year before I almost ended my career at the same race track. It was one of those years, and we had good times and bad times, and we've just got to cut out the bad times. If you had been asked at the start of the year to predict the champion, would you have predicted ear Fogarty? No, probably not, but you can't count Carl out. You can never count him out. He's got so much determination. I wouldn't really say his off-track antics add up to how he really is on the track, because once you get him on the track· and you get him behind his faceshield and under his helmet, he's just one of those guys. He's always there and always going to be a threat and it doesn't matter - tires, bike, setup, anything - he's always going to be there. I think a lot of that comes with experience and just the determination he's got. Might partly be English, too. A QIS he the only guy like that? A-In our series, I think he is. There are a couple of 1""\.guys around the world that've got what he's got. Jeremy McGrath is one of them. I saw a display at the Houston Astrodome that was phenomenal. Jeremy is just so impressive to watch: same rut, same jump, same line, same everything, for however many laps they went around and they just never made a mistake. To do that on a road race bike is impressive. But to do it on a Supercross track, when the track's changing every lap, that is really something. And Mick (Doohan) is another one. He's always going to be there, no matter what even if his tires go off or if his bike's not set up right. There are a few select guys out there that you can never ever count out, and they are three of them: Carl, Jeremy and Mick. Q Tell me about riding the 500. Everybody looked at Mick's time, and Phillip Island. And did a 33.5. So A 32.0, 32.1 at"Well, that's a second Iand aMick didToa everyone said, half." me, a second a'half, that's a lot of time, but when you look at the fact that (Alex) Criville was there for three days and only did a 32.9, then it looks a little more impressive, after I only had one day on the thing. And we just got to a point where Showa really didn't want to change much, because I only had one day and I had a problem with the front and we just got to where I said, "Screw it, I'll just go do circles and lap." And it got down to a point where the front end was chattering, and to go any further, I would've had to risk crashing the thing. We'll just test some tires for them if they want and do some circles. Q Was it what you expected? A-Ever since I've gotten on a four-stroke, I've felt 1""\.that I'm still getting used to it. For some reason I've been on the things since '93 - but I still feel like I'm still learning, still getting used to the powerband, everything. And I think the reason is that I've ridden two-strokesJrom age 3 1/2 through 250s in 1992, road race bikes. It's just that two-stroke feel, power, noise everything about it has been ingrained in my brain and my feel. As soon as I jumped on the 500, 1 felt (it was) a piece of cake. The things are unbelievable, I want to say fir t of all. I jump on that thing and I said, "Damn!" Even though they claim our bike puts out the same horsepower, they're 60 pounds lighter than we are, and that makes a huge difference - just the way the power comes on. It's not smooth like this thing, like the 45. It's abrupt and you've got to be mentally switched on. Physically, I think the RC45 is heavier and is a little more draining, I feel, personally. Mentally, though, you've got to be tuned in on that 500 or you'll be facing that tire wall in no time. The whole time, there's no time for any relaxing, even (on) the straightaway. I only had one day on the thing. I imagine (that with) more time, I'd probably calm down and relax a little more, but that's the way I felt in my first impression. . QDid you ever get comfortable? A-The whole day, I didn't really slide it, didn't lose 1""\.the front, just was doing comfortable laps. And that's what I wanted to do. I didn't want to throw the thing away. I wanted to do comfortable laps and show them that I could ride the thing and it wasn't a go-outand-bust-my-butt-to-do-a-33.5. It was put a tire on 33.8, 33.6, 33.5, 33.5, 33.6, 33.7. It was consistently there and it was no problem. To go faster, like I say, we would've had to work with the bike a little bit more and get a little more feel out of it. It was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. QSo when do you want to race one? . There've been hints here and there about maybe ext year. None of the Japanese or any of them have said, "Hey, we want you to ride 500 next year." But as far as the feeling in the air, I think that might be a po sibility. But I take it with a grain of salt. I've been in this position before with Yamaha, with Wayne (Rainey), Kenny (Roberts). You can't afford to get worked up over it. You've just got to go out and give 110 percent at every race before the time comes. If it comes, it comes; if it doesn't, ney, I'm in a good position. I feel I'm in the second-best team in the world. I feel the only two places I could be is here or on the Honda team there. I feel those are the two best teams in the world. And I'm happy where I'm at. Let me change that: I'm happy where I'm at, but yeah, I would love to go ride 500s don't get me wrong. fA "_ II .. :! ~ :: • • W!>Uld you don't Q Thls year, it'ssay again this year that if you- that's !win, then your fault? 10 races and the the goal. be a disappointment. A have 26 Anything less wouldchampionship 10 of We races. No reason why I can't win .. them. If you win 10 races, chances are you can win the championship. ,. •• 7

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