Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

else. Because wha t else is there for me to do? The other classes thatl've been in, I've won there' already. So, you win, you move on. You go to something you haven't won at. And this is what I haven't won at yet. You haven't won an AMA Superb ike title, ei er. like I say, going back to . the States, where I wouldn't have to travel. You stay in the same time zone, give or take three hours from the East· to West Coast. That's notl1ing. So, I still enjoy racing and I know J can be very competitive. Now I'm 31 years old and I still have a lot of good years left. For the World Championship side of things, I don't know when the traveling is going to get to a point where I don't want to do it anymore. A may have something with think? O That winning, don't youcare oftoa do I\'Winning, for sure, takes lot Wljat didn't the bike do that it will do now that Erv Kanemoto's wor ' ing on it? That's the good thing, and that's why I've done as well as I have so iar this year. Erv is able to use his expe':hence and he understands a rider very well. He can help me improve it that extra inargin, where generally I would just have to do without. But still, you're 'j;ever going to go far without the factor),. You need the factory there behind ~ou, someone there with their pen and :wper that's writing down all these ,!'Jhings'to go back and report all this information so that maybe by the next race or two races you're testing new items to try to fix your problem to get more comfortable on the bike. A IS the bike that you're riding now better than the one you rode last year? . It's the same bike: Erv's gotten it to work better for me. I've learned a .lot from him, and the reasons why lhings should be a certain way. And, for sure, I've been able to lap better than I did last year, so there is some improvement, but we still need more. Q A What does the bike do better this year than last year? ,,A Let's just say if there's 20 things, '1;'\.Erv will get 18 or 19 of ·those things ~ight. The biggest thing is the carburet'ion. Erv is always very good about making the carburetion right, and that makes a big difference on this bike. Q I I Because of the way the power comes in? AYeah. Q . Take me through a corner: Wltat does the bike do if it isn't right? As an example, if the carburetion is wrong, it'll make the bike run mOre wide than it already does out of the corner. Because when the power comes in, it's quite strong, and that's why it's just important to have the carburetion very >smooth so tha t you can control the bike 15etter. Q A What were your other options for :; this year? 11A-I had other options, but I tell you, fiwhen we came testing, 'we even had people ask us, "What are you doing here? This has no meaning." But we 'rere determined. And the thing is, we're here. At the moment we.don't l>now for how long, but we're here. If vye went home tomorrow, we accomplished our goal. We came here, we Q were here. We did more than what most people give us credit for. IS it hard to mentally prepare for. the races, given your limited resources? . No, because I have so much confidence in the team that, as I've always said, I'd rather do three or four races at a high level than 15 races at a low level. And I've learned'more a t this stage than I learned all of last year. Even if things had to stop tomorrow, it's been good for me. Q A Ten me about the first two races. In Malaysia, you were on the pole; in e race... . yeah, I fe:li down. I fell down the . first couple of races. In the first race, we qualified on the pole position and I actually was leading the race when I almost was taken out by Max (Biaggi). And then in the process of trying to catch back up to where I was, I made a mistake and just got in too fast and wasn't able to stop and unfortunately I took Abraham (Norick Abe) with me. .A'" QHOW did the team react? A-I'm Sure at that moment Erv was fialready thinking about Japan. He's not one to really sit and reflect on what just happened, because he just gets on with it. In Japan, I can honestly say that I had health problems there and I probably shouldn't have started the race, but I did, because, as I say, these guys put so much effort into it. It was a situation where you just try to put everything out of your mind. It caused me a lot of problems with the problems I was having and eventual-' ly I went down and I felt bad for everybody. I crashed. I can't really get into it. I can say it wasn't a good deal and, ag~, it was problems of my own. And I was very disappointed. I wanted to do well in Malaysia, I wanted to do welI in Japan. I want to do well everywhere. I think it's just a situation where... when you wanted something for so long and you've had to wait so long to get it, sometimes you finally get it, you're so wound up that you don't make the best of it. So I think it's a situation where I just have to stay focused and keep everything in perspective and everything will go well. Have you thought about what happens if you can't continue? What you will do? Whatever Erv will do. Q A Q If> he doesn't have money to race, then you're on your own. I think, honestly, with all due respect to wha the's done - I can't say this for sure unless he said it was . okay - my feeling is, with due respect to him, I wouldn't do anything else, just because of what he's done for me. This shows loyalty that he deserves and the team and the mechanics and everybody. If Erv told me, "Hey, look, you should go and do this if you have the chance," I might consider it. For sure, I wouldn't do anything withoufhis approval. A QAre you being paid? A WOUld you race if you weren't Q being paid? A I can:t race for free. . What about Mick Doohan? Now that he's out of the championship, assuming that you can continue on, does that give you added hope? With one of the top guys out, it's one less guy to have to worry about. But, at this level, it's always difficult with or without him. Without him, there'll be somebody else that'll be there.-So it's never going to be easy and you're always going to have to have the • right combination to win at this level. Q A If you can produce as the best Honda rider, do you think that can he p the team? Honda's a company, and if you do . well, theyre going to help you. For sure, being the best Honda rider, we're goi,ng to get help. Q A . Not really, but, for sure, I want to A be the best Honda rider, because we need help with everything. Q A. Q With all of that said, why did you take that ride last year? . rt was a situation where Honda helped me win a championship, so I felt they did me a favor and they asked me if I would do that and the last thing I wanted to do was to let them down.. But racing is not about the fastest rider, get a good bike, go out there and win. It's so political now that it's almost unfair, but that's how it is, so you just deal with it. Look at Erv's situation: He's won more World Championships than anybody in this paddock. I don't know of anybody that has a better record, and he doesn't have a sponsor. Now, if you can make sense out of that, I'll be impressed. Q .ASure I'm being paid. QIS that extra pressure? fiof problems. This year the traveling doesn't bother me so much because I'm looking forward to getting here and seeing the team I'm in and the people and I feel good, and I don't feel like a foreigner here. Last year, Audrey (Kocinski's motorhome driver) and myself, we talked to each other, but we could never understand anybody else around, and it was hard on him. So, here you're around other American people, so you don't feel so far away from home. WOUld you consider racing in the United States again? I would consider racing in America. At least I could race at Laguna Seca. YOU could do that if you ran World superbike? I will not travel anymore for anyA thing other than 500cc Grands Prix. This is m'y lath year in the Wodd Championship and, for sure, you start to feel the effects of 10 years' worth of traveling and testing. That's why I say when I'm out of this deal, the World Championship is over for me. It's not that I'm burned out on racing, I'm burned out on traveling, but I will do it for 500, but I will not do it for anything You have to give the sponsor something. You have to promise t em something. The problem is that there's no money in America. All the money's over here, which is why all the Europeans are sponsored, so that's what makes it harder. It all comes down to how our sport is run and the peopte who run it. It's not organized properly. And I don't mean that in a way to say anytl1ing negative about anyone, bu.t, I mean, come on, look at it - it's not organized properly. There's too many people here struggling to find money. This is a World Championship. Ws amazing how the United States (is) the richest country in the world, and you come here to Spain and there's 150,000 people here and you can't even get in the place. And you go to America and nobody even knows anything about it. You look at Formula One, you look at what kind of job Bernie (Ecclestone) has done. I don't care what people say about him or he's making too much money, he's also made the whole . series wealthy. And there've been teams in Formula One that couldn't find sponsorship and he found it for them. I don't feel this ehampionship is being looked after. It's not run properly. How CaR we have so many teams without money? Erv should have the most money in the paddock. We don't even have a round of the championship in the United States. _. A 27

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