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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128075
did wi n. The last few races I had to be very careful. I have never been in this position of lead ing the champion ship, and I saw tha t man y riders want to pu sh me out a nd beat me. But I gu ess that is no rmal. Yes, I think so. It is strange to think back to the beginning, in 199i. When Yamaha first asked me to go to four-stroke at the end of the 1996 season, I did not wa n t to race on e. I di dn't even see a p hoto of the bike whe n they asked me to cha nge . Bu t after I had flo wn to Japan for testing, it was like a beautiful gi rl. I was immedia te ly in lo ve . Even befo re I rod e the bike, just to see it was enoug h to change my men tality. A YOU had many pole positions this year. Yes, more than w ins . I had the speed fo r o ne fa s t lap o n Sat u rd ay, but because of my injuries I wa s never co nfiden t that I cou ld maintain that speed for 45 minutes, a nd did not try to do so. . Q A you you Q Ha vel couldhad to change ch - rattraining syste ma much? not run so mu most one d ay A~ Yes. .l"'\. week for 20 mi nutes, but also only easy joggi ng. I ave used a bicycle every day. In England I had big problem s. I normally go every month to have my blood tested ; I had the probl em with too little iro n in my blood man y years ago, too. I think I was train in g too mu ch in sand in Belgium before Hawk stone Par k. That was the first sa na race of the year, and I was worried because sa nd was al ways my weakest point. Perhaps that was wh y I cras hed in the first race. In the seco nd mota I was completely d rai ned , physica lly. I flew back to Italy after the race and Dr. Cos ta put me on a special treatment to bu ild back the iro n in m y blood. I had an injection every day, and it was amazing tha t I could score 30 points one week later in Slovakia. Since then I ha ve checked my iron count every week. Perhaps I was tr yi ng to co mpensa te for not bei ng ab le to go ru nni ng by training too mu ch in ot her ways, and that had made me tired . Since Hawkstone Dr. Costa told me it would perhaps be bell er if I d idn' t train so much. Since the n I on ly rid e a bike one day a week. What is the reaction to four-strokes in Ita ly? A- There is much int erest now, and particu larl y for the .l"'\. Yamaha. I saw a race for four-strokes this sum mer, and 38 of 40 starters used Yamaha. Q DO yo think you Q for th eurest of yourwill now be a four-stroke rider career? DO you feel proud to be such an important part of the four-stroke revolution? Q like child to me. A Yes,hthe YZ400 isAnd aI born, been partstarted work wit it w hen it was a nd h a v e see n it improve every year. have of it. will I I I always be the guy who was the first to win a GP race wi th it, and I wi f! always be the first to wi n a World Cha m pions hip on the YZ400. For th at I can be very proud . eN Did the problems which effected so many of your _ rivals help to take the pressure from you an d let you find consistency? Maybe. KTM had so me problem s in the early races; that is normal wi th a new bike. And wh a t ha ppened to Srnets this yea r is incredi ble. Before the sea son sta rted, I was ai ming for top five, but never dreamed I could be cha m pion. That mad e it easier for me to aim for that so rt of result in the m otos, but still I wa s mov ing fu rth er away in the points because every week one of the other top rid ers had problems . Q A IS a change to work with the Q in isit likebigsteadand being basedperhapsRinaldi team Ital y in of in Belgium? cha lk cheese, or uld say A sandh aand Parmesa no . Team Rinald i is oneshoandfami-e big ve one s ma ll p roble m , Mich ele th ly . lt I If I mechanics are working to so lve it im me diately. Next day, or tw o days later, we have the solution. Wh en 1 told of p roblem s before, no thing happened . I have a lon g experie nce of th e Rin a ld i tea m from whe n I wo rked with them before, and the suppor t which the team gives is a great boost in confidence. We all have a close relationship and understand each other. For su re it makes a difference to be able to speak about everything in Italian, but it is also the cha racter, the mentality. Italians are d iffer ent to peopl e from Northern Europe. We ar e more one big famil y. Q HOW mu ch better is yo ur bike this year? Very is per fect. better than A before,good, butis italso notuch easierMu chme totoride. I an d it m for have an identical bike for training. Before, I had practice at home with a p rod uction bike, and the factory bike was very differen t. The bike is very good, but we need a bigger motor. In many races it is very difficult at the start because we only have 427cc. It would be much better for us in the ra ce tea m if we ha d about 480cc. The opposition is stronger eve ry year. Th eir mo tor is 520cc and is very strong. Righ t now, I think they have the best combina tion . But Yamaha have a different mentalit y, and want us to ride a bike which is very m uch like their production bike. HOW different is your from product ion Q The fram e is standard, butbike have a ad ifferen t link YZ400? . we A age, wh ich gives hard er sus pens io n a t the beg inning, and a 20m m- Ionger swing ing arm. Every th ing else is standa rd. The factory bike which we had for tw o years han dl ed perhaps a little bett er still, but that wa s becau se it was lighter wei ght, probably tw o-to-three kilograms (about six pounds). The whole bike was more complicated with SO man y cables. OJ OJ OJ cD ~ 0> After struggting for several seasons with incons istency, Bartolini put it all together in '99. While the competition was nagged by strange problems race In and race out, the little Italian kept plugging steadily away all-season long, eventually gaining his first crown. .c o <> o 45