Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

much as the title which has eluded him all these years. It isn't that he hasn't had the equipment. Russell won the title in 1993, but it was nothing short of a miracle given that it was the team's first crack at the crown and that they did it on a shoestring budget. The following year he moved to Castrol Honda, teaming with Doug Polen on the team that would reintroduce the Honda factory to World Superbike racing, but which would also mean considerable development work on a machine which, five years)ater, still has its flaws. Even so, the Honda RC45 was good enough for John Kocinski to win tl,e title on, beating Fogarty, wi th Slight third. Slight knows that he's had his chances and doesn't feel that this year is better than any other. In fact, after getting soundly pilloried by the Ducatis in the first two races, his chances look a little worse. . . "[ want to win the championship, and that's the whole thing," Slight said. "And I can jump up and down and tell you that I'm going to win 20 races and win it, but I'm just going to see what happens. Who cares? I want to win races and ride tl,e motorbike. [ don't want to sit here and talk about it." Coming to America last year for the Laguna Seca round of the championship, Slight was in a good spot. When he left, after missing the first World Superbike round of his career, he struggled. "I felt last year that we could have been on the podium in both races if things would've gone better with the brakes," Slight said. The problem in the first race was that the brakes were sticking, a problem which put his teammate Colin Edwards II on his head during a March test at Laguna Seca. In the second race, Slight was involved in a gruesome start-line pileup that took hin1, and a few others, out of the race. "I had a problem in my leg for about a month," Slight said. "It affected me badly. But my results actually got better and better. Had a double at Austria, so I had as good a results as any. It just put a damper on things, not 0 much as in tl,e races to come I had a bit of a sore knee, but to miss a race. I've never, ever missed a race in my life. Actually sitting out of a race and seeing all of tho e points going by was really hard. I've never, ever done that before. I've always managed to be on the bike, no matter what. 'But there was no way I could get on the bike. And that was probably what disappointed me most." By the time the series got to the final race at Sugo, Slight was back in the title hunt. He got a boost when Ducati's Troy Corser took himself out with a practice crash. It came down to Fogarty and Slight. Fogarty prevailed. U At Sugo we just didn't . have the tire, it's as plain as that," he says matter-of-factly. "We went back there three weeks later, had a better rear tire, and went 10 seconds faster race distance. Once again, it's not Michelin's fault. And Carl could get away with it where I couldn't. Once again, I'm always complaining about the tires, and they're winning on them, because it's a different machine. So tha t was a bit disappointing. Even the Michelins, they'd struggled. The top 12, there was only Carl and a few others on Michelins. The rest were Dunlops. So they were struggling, but Carl was able to use the tire better on his bike." The Ducatis are not only easier on the tires, they're easier to set up. Slight, as do others, believes that if the Ducatis get clo e to their average setting, they're very hard to beat. After taking the top two spots wi th resounding wins at Phillip Island, plus COIser's double at the opening round in Kyalami, it's a hard point to argue against. "They're going to have a good average setup everywhere and they're going to be on the podium everywhere and if one of them just falls over the right setting, they're going to win races," Slight said. "So that's their strong point and it's not too hard to get it right. They go good everywhere." The Ducatis work everywhere, but tl1e Honda works very well at a number of places. Slight did the double at Austria and Misano last year, alld Edwards did the same at Monza. Between them they won eight races. "If you can get the bike set up perfect, you can win races everywhere," Slight believes. "It's just that some weekends you just miss that setting and you're off the back. Like Misano - three years ago I was 13th and 15th. This year I had a double victory. The bike works everywhere. It's just that you've got to get it spot on. Where I think that the competition, the Ducati, their bike is never spot on, it's just always average and average is good enough. And if they get it spot on, you don't see them. You get a miracle la p frO(J1 Corser at Donington two years ago, because it was perfect. But they never get them perfect. They just have them okay everywhere. Where we've got to have it perfect. If it's not perfect, you're up the ass. That's the thing: You don't see any other fourcylinders up there, either. It's us and them. That's the bigge t thing - ome weekends, you just can't get it right. "The places we won, like I won ilie double at Misano, the bike was perfect. I won one race at Nurburgring in the rain; I would've won them both if it was dry, because 1 was a second a lap faster than anybody. 1 won the double at A-I Ring. At Brands Hatch the bike was really good. For the' first time ever [ had a second and a fifth. That was pretty good. We struggled there and the bike was pretty good there, bu t we just couldn't match the speed of the Ducati. The first race, we walked away with it. We had the perfect setting. We won first and second. The next race they found the perfect setting, they walked away with it. That's probably a perfect example of getting it right. Here (Laguna Seca), the bike was working really well. I thought the podium was in the grasp, but just the brakes stuck on. Phillip Island, the bike was working really well, got knocked off Qy a backmarker. Monza was working well, got a second to Colin and then 'it blew up. So, we didn't actually get too many wrong." But Slight admits tha t, because of the original design of the chassis, which can't be changed, it's always been hard to steer. "There's no denying that since '94 we've always have found it hard to turn the machine," Slight said. "But I have never found a miracle cure that makes it good and bad, it's just always been the same. You put up with it and you get the best results you can with it." Since Slight rides over the front end of ilie bike, and since he's been in on the development of the bike since it began racing, bu t not in preproduction, there is an erroneous belief that tl,e machine is built around his style. "That's what everybody says, but every teammate I've had has always complained about this and that. There is a problem, you get on and get the best resul ts you can," he said. After an extensive off-season testing program on four continents, the machine is better, but still not great. Mostly it's in the details. "There's not a big improvement in any area, because the bike is very good," Slight said. "Some of the thing feel really good but don't actually make any difference in lap time, but do make it easier to ride. If you go over everything, the front forks are better, the rear-su pension unit you could go over, the different swingarm. It's just everything. It's easier to work on, it's easier to corne in the pit and change things. "It improves a little bit, but the times don't, actually. You just feel more comfortable. You know that next weekend you're going to pull it out on Friday morning and you're going to be on the pace, because you feel just so comfortable. And that's probably all you do. You don't actually increase the speed of tl1e bike, you feel better doing it." Earlier in the year, Slight's teammate Colin Edwards said that he could win 10 races and the championship. "If he can win 10, I'll win the other 16. Let's just win them all. The bike is good enough to win everywhere," Slight says before turning serious. "I wouldn't put a number on race wins. I just want to win the championship. Like I said before: just get the best out of the bike on the weekend and if second's all I can do, it's all I can do. I'd like to win 10 races. I'd rather win ilie championship than win 10 races. I won more races this year, the most this year, and didn't win the championship. I'd rather win the championship than races. But I'm not going to settle for point. You've got to win races to win championships. As long as you win more than everybody else." Despite all the off-se"ason work, Slight won't commit to the possibility of this being his best chance. ."I wouldn't say best chance, because I think every year is a good chance. Last year was very good, and it just went sour. This year's as good as every other year. The results are from the track, and that's always been the way with me with the Honda, that's why I'm still here. 0 good forecasting. They always get that wrong." _ 41

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