Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Interview FIM 500cc M to o crossWorld Champion Andrea Bartolini By Alex Hodgkinson ta lv has been the dominan t force in 125cc intematioiJ.al motocross for 20 years, and a major challenger in the 250cc division for nearl y as lon g, but it was as recently as 1992 that Franco Rossi became the .first Italian to win a 500cc CP . Seven years later, And rea Bartolini, at 30 years of age an d in his third season inthe bigbore class, has become the 500cc World Cha mpion and has given Yamaha and Japan their fir s t four-stroke World MX champ. . I '. Was th e sta rt of th is season d iff icult for you, ha ving to return to racing from th e fracture o f th e t ig you suffered in Namur last August? Yes. I was unable to ride for five mont hs . I was not able to do anything to ma intain my fitness until the end of December. I first rod e a bik e again in earl y January, and it was very d ifficult at first . I was workin g every sing le day, and I was not in good ph ysical sha pe for the first race a t Beau cair e in the second half of Febru ary. I felt I was going to be happy if I could finish in the first five or six this seaso n, but I already mad e that in the third moto at Beaucaire. In th e au tu m n, many d octors had told me it w as p ossible I w ould nev er be ab le to race agai n, but I was determined not to be for ced to s to p, and their words mad e me eve n mor e d eter mined to recover. It was a bad break , a nd after three mon ths the bone wa s . s till not growing toget her, bu t Dr. Costa of Cli nica Mobile has bee n ve ry good to me and has saved my ca reer. He called me to sa y he wanted to h elp me , an d in November he made a furth er opera tion. It was a comple te suc cess, a nd just one month lat er I was walking without assistance, and every day ther e was improvement. A Q HOW long did you feel pa in from your leg? A- Eve n n ow. Not w hils t I'm racing , but in th e .L-\evening after a race, I feel it. There is a long pin in ther e. We mu st take tha t ou t after this season is completed, but it was not possibl e befor e. Q DOyou h ave full movement in the knee? A- I tor e the ligaments, too , in Namur, but I wear a .L-\CTi kn ee .brace and have full mo vement. HOW Q year? surprised were yo u with your results this Why is this man smiling? Perha ps beca use he - An drea Bartoli ni - is th e first Itali an SOOcc MX World Champ, and th e firstever Yamaha VZ40Q-mou nted World Champ io n. were better expec ted in the early races, A.TheyIpressuregood than aI ndin Ithe Rinaldi team . There but have a feeling was on on me, know I ca n trust m y '" '" '" ..c o U o 44 Eng lan d w hen you crashed. Until Luxemb ou rg you had wo n only thre e mo to s, but yo u le d b y many po ints already. o r ha ve p rob lems with the bike a t some stage of the yea r, so I wo uld not believe it wo u ld be okay to the end until it was over. Even wh en I was ge tting close to the title, I was taking each race as it came and not thinking that I could ge t closer to the title if I took an extra place on th_e last lap . I always wanted to be con sistent, but I think I was always tempted to go for the win if it was possible, a nd some times I p ush ed too hard . The only race (in whi ch ) I won both mot os this yea r was Luxe mbourg, and on Saturday I felt very confident, particularly as the races after that wou ld be more difficult for me. But on Sunday in the first race I saw that it was not possible to catch Smets. But then he had problems, and I

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