Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Alex Criville Now illooks like your chief rivals for the title are Max Biaggi and Kenny Roberts. Let's talk about em. When Roberts crashed in Paul Ricard, it already looked like you had him beaten, but he wasn't giving up. Do you think he should have backed off that day to take second? Yes. I was surprised when I saw videos of the race that Kenny was pushing so hard, because it seemed to me that I had the better package that day. When I got into second, I was four seconds behind and yet I was able to run him down and pass him. I was catching him very easily and I w.as still comfortable on the bike. The first time I passed him I ran a little wide and he came back, but I made sure the second pass stuck. From my point of view, it seemed to me that I had him covered, but he must have felt that he could beat me. It was the first time we have run together at the front and I guess Kenny wanted to see what would happen if he pushed me. A Did you think Roberts would be a contender this year? Yes. Roberts didn't just suddenly get good. He was good in 1996 on the Yamaha 500 and then he had two years on the Modenas, a bike that wasn't competitive, but he was always fast. When I first saw him on the Suzuki, I knew he would be capable of winning races this year. Q A Q What about Biaggi? A-He rode very well today (at Mugello) and in Jerez. fiAt other places he's had troubles and he's crashed a lot getting used to a new bike. He went so well on the Honda last year and this year the Yamaha is very fast. Max has a different style from mine. Kenny has been more consistent, at least until Mugello, but at tracks where Max and Carlos (Checa) get the Yamahas to work, they will be running at the front. YOU came up from the smaller classes and when you came to 500, you also rode like a 250cc rider. How did you Il).ake the change? Part of it is what the bike teaches you. You learn what you can do with the power of a 500, but also I worked to change my style. I learned from Mick and I learned to feel comfortable sliding the bike at the Kenny Roberts Training Ranch. Q A Tell us about the ranch and what it's like to train there. When I'm racing with Kenny and with Sete, it's like racing with friends. There's no pressure there and we're just friends having a good time on bikes together, and I learned a new way to ride. I had never done dirt track and I could see right away when I watched big Kenny and Junior and Jimmy Filice that they were doing some things that I hadn't done before. There's no question about it. Dirt track skills help a 500cc rider and riding at the ranch has helped me. A few times I have gone there to ride the Rotax 600s and you never know just how much something really helps you, but after working with those bikes, I felt more comfortable and more aggressive on the 500 Honda. Q A I ; ~ o • I - I think American fans have a hard time understanding just what it means to be a Spaniard lea ing the 500cc championship. No American motorcycle racer has ever had the fame or the pressure in his homeland that you enjoy and suffer in Spain. A In Spain we have a Grand Prix tradition. Spanish ~ders have won over 200 races (202 prior to the GP of Catalunya) and we have seen our riders win titles in all classes except the big one. Now that I am leading, 1 feel a responsibility to the fans and my country. This is not just about me winning, it is about changing the way Spain and Spanish riders have been thought of in GP racing. When I was a little boy, I read about the English and the Italian 500cc champions, and when I was starting to race, it was the Americans and the Australians. I learned to race on small bikes and when I got on a 500 I had to start over again and unlearn everything about racing. On a small bike, you carry as much speed as you can in the comers, but on a 500, you need to use the exit of the corner to get the best possible drive to make the best speed on the straight. Before, no Spanish rider ever had an offer of a works 500, and no Spanish rider ever had the training that it takes to ride a 500. I got my 500 ride from Sito Pons and then two years later Honda HRC offered me a place in the works team with Doohan. My first win in 500 was luck, and I didn't let it fill my head with dreams. I knew I won in Assen in 1992 because (Wayne) Rainey and (Wayne) Gardner weren't there, and because Doohan crashed in practice and because (Eddie) Lawson and (Kevin) Schwantz crashed together at the beginning of th.e race. But I was proud because I beat (John) Kocinski, (Alex) Barros and (Juan) Garriga that day. Eight years later I have learned to ride a 500. I'm still learning. You never stop learning on one of these bikes. But I learned the things that Spanish riders never knew before. I have done lots of dirt track riding on the little XR100s and even on the 600 Rotax bikes at the Roberts 'Ranch, and I have spent more time silting on Mick Doohan's rear wheel than anyone. I train very hard off the bike as well. The faCt that it helps so much to be from a dirt track background like the Americans and the Australians hasn't really changed, but now we Spanish riders train on dirt too, we po not have that big disadvantage anymore. Sure, there is a lot of pressure, but that pressure can help if you can keep yourself under control. I have a reputation of being "frio" (cold), and I am, but when I have over 100,000 people in the stands cheering for me, waving the flags of Spain and Catalunya, and holding up signs to encourage me, I feel it and it gives me energy and stimulates me. There is a lot of constant pressure for me because everybody knows me and recognizes me on the street and sometimes the fans and the media pressure overwhelm me, but these people and my country are giving me energy and I use that energy, I hope, to ride my best. was Q YOU are 29 now, the same age that Doohanbeen when he won his first 500 title. What h'!ve your biggest disappointments and biggest satisfactions so far in your career? I was disappointed last year in Barcelona when I was taken out on the first corner and, of course, in Assen in 1997 when I injured my hand. But maybe the biggest disappointment was in Jerez in 1996 when we had the track invasion during the race and I came into the Nieto comer on the last lap to find the crowd on the track. The race should have been red-flagged instantly. I almost hit a man and had to dodge between fans and I lost my concentration... and Mick is "gato viejo" ("an old cat" - meaning "wise") and he beat me up the inside and I panicked and high-sided on the final comer. My biggest satisfaction 'really hasn't happened yet. When I won the 125cc title, I was just a teenager and didn't really realize what it all meant yet. Now I am feeling the satisfaction of winning races and leading the championship and, more than anything else, of having the upper hand over my rivals and controlling the pace. A When Doohan comes back, do you believe that he will ride to any kind of team orders to help you win the title? We've never had tei,lm orders in this team (he glances at the ceiling and smiles) and Mick is a rider who races to win. I know when Mick Doohan comes. back, he'll be out to try and win and to show that he is the best rider, but I'm not going to make it easy for him. He wouldn't want me to. CII Q A He could be the first in 18 }fears o European has won a 500cc World Championship since Franco Undni on his Gallina Suzuki beat New Zealander Graham Crosby and Americans Freddie Spencer and Kenny Roberts in 1982 Prior to Uncini's title, the last European to win the SOOcc crown was Britain's Barry Sheene on his Suzuki in 1977. That means that 20 of the last 21 titles in the 500cc class have been won by either Americans (13) or Australians (6). N P .!II••.... CiPe• • !In ... • the first European rider to win three 500cc races in a row since Italy's Marco LucchineUi in 1981. • the first rider othel- than Mick Doohan to score three wins in a season since 1993, when Wayne Rainey won five and Kevin Schwantz four. • the first European to win three races in a single season since Franco Uncini in 1982. _CaP . . . . . . . . . uP • lie !III ••••• • the only rider other than Mick Doohan in 500 to have won four races in a row since Eddie Lawson in. 1986. • the first European to win four in a row since Giac0mo Agostini in 1m. • only the ninth rider ever to win four 500cc races in a row, joiniIlg Agostini, HaiIwood, Surtees, Doohan, Duke, Hoclcing Lawson and Spencer.

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