Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128102
Red Bull Yamaha's Garry McCoV B Y MI CHA EL S COTT PH OT OS BY G O LD & G O OSE G a rry McCoy is wor ried . He ca n't seem to stop h is bik e slid ing - into th e comers, in the middle of th em , a nd on the wa y out agai n. O bvio us ly, it is c ost ing h im time but, wh ile he ' s be en abl e to redu ce the angle of the dangle s omewhat, he c a n' t seem to get rid of the s lithe r. He sees th e othe r riders go a ro und c orners on ra ils until the y open the throttle , a nd th en dri ve on ou t, poised o n the edge of the slide rather than hang ing the rear wheel out way over it. And though he doesn't have any trouble keeping up, he wa nts to be able to do that too. "We 've m ana ged to improve it, but not get rid of it: mu s es the Australian , his freckled face looking puz zle d . Then he gives that guffaw that seems to punc tua te every other sentence, and breaks out the fa m ilia r gummy grin . "The lap times don't seem to be too bad, though.' Indeed not. At the preseason tests . where McCoy was prepari ng for his second full season on a V-four 500 , he was reli a bly among the fastest , if not the fastest , one sess ion afte r another, one track after a no ther. McCo y, who turn ed 29 soon after the Japanese GP , came to 500 s in th e middle of 1999 as a rep lacement fo r th e off-form Simon C ra fa r o n the Red Bull Yama ha te am . It was a comeback for him . a fter a d e sp e ra t e a n d ultim a t e ly injurious c lass debut on a n outpaced V-twin in 1998 . Now he was ba ck and , bare ly six m onths lat er , at th e sta rt of the 40 M AY 2 .200 1 • cue I e n e vv s 2000 s eason , he won his first 500c c ra ce - in a yea r where he wa s still s e e ing s om e trac ks for th e firs t tim e on a V-fou r. By the end of last season, he ha d added two mo re victories (Valencia a nd Estor il), and e merged a s one of th e serio us candi da tes fo r th e World Championship in 20 0 1. It is a position he has underlined a t te sts at S e pang , J e rez, Vale ncia, Estor il a nd Barc el on a , a nd again in th e Japanese GP at Suzuka , th e opening ro und of the season. At a fas t, flowing tra c k where his dramatic style is no t ideal, he m a naged a s trong second place to Valentino Rossi. McCoy may not have his wheels pointing in the sa me direction , but he's just as fast as ever. And, to the delight of fans the world over, he 's still sideways. McCoy 's progress from V-four rookie to top bloke has been rapid and rather unexpected . An ex-speedway rider in Australia, he has spoken before about how he came to road racing (at the age of 19) as a second choice - a soft opti on , after seeing his close friend Mat Mladin secure a ride with the Austral ian Kawasaki team. Mladin went on to win the national and then the AMA Superbike title (the la tt e r twice) but at the tim e it was the working conditions and rates of pay that attracted McCoy . "I was getting ready to go and race speedway in the UK at the time , but I could see there was more money in road ra ci ng , and it was a lot easier to do ." S uccess at home and the backing of Austra lian resi de n t Barry Sheene quickly steered McCoy towa rd the to p levels. His size - he weighs ju st 121 pou nds - meant he was idea lly s uited to th e 125cc c la s s , eve n thoug h h is own a im eve n th en wa s 500s , a nd he spent five ye ars in the c lass , scoring two race win s a s he bounced around among a se rie s of dodgy te a m s with a propensity toward running out of mo ney at c ruc ia l mome nts . His big break ca me in 19 9 8 , when he wa s s igned up for th e th en new Shell Advance te a m , to ra c e a V-twin 500cc Honda. But e ven that went wron g - McC oy's struggles with a n un c ompetitive bike e ndi ng early aft er he br o k e h is leg in a practice crash in Czechoslovak ia . Then he fo und h imself with out a jo b ag ai n. as the squad moved down to th e 2 50cc class. He started 1999 with out a ride, filling in time fitting garage doors for his uncle's firm , and contemplating retirement. "It seemed I could never find a team that was serious enough for what I wanted to do ,' he said. "With the injury too , I was starting to think about quitting. " Then. in June, came the 3 'a.m. call from Red Bull Yamaha, to fly straight over to Assen to take over Crafar's factory Yamaha mid-season. McCoy hadn't wanted to do it tha t way . but "my parents urged me to take it,' a nd in the end it was too good to m is s , He re p lied wi thi n two ho urs, an d soon aft erw a rd wa s ba c k in GP ra cin g . McC o y str ug g led a t fir st. His n a tu ral s ty le , lea rned on ova l cin der tra c ks , was to pitch the bik e s ide ways to slow it down , open the thrott le early to get the ba c k s p inning a nd s lid ing, then steer it out on th e th rottl e . From the start, ev e n people in h is team told him to drop th es e ha bits of a lifet ime a nd to a ba ndon a te chniq ue th at had fa lle n out of favor al m ost 10 ye a rs befor e . He tried , reall y hard - but to litt le a vail. T hen , halfwa y through t he ye a r, he de c ided just to go back to his ow n wa y , a nd s e e what happen ed. And what happene d was that suddenly he was a mong th e fa st guys. Afte r tha t firs t win in S o uth Africa in 20 0 0 , he spent th e rest of the year alternately piling on more glory , or running into problems - especially if it rained. And at the same time learning how it felt suddenly to have become not just a hero at home in Australia, but t he o bject of the fans' ado ration everywhere he went. For a friendly and matter-offact kid from Camden, outside Sydney, all that was more than a little overwhelming - and rather spoiled his off-season. "I spent the summer in Australia, but I was a bit too busy for my liking , and I didn 't manage to do as much training as I would like ," he adm its . As well as official receptions and guest appearances for the new post-Doohan Australian hero, "my phone never stopped ringi ng . I'd go jet skiing, and people would be ask ing for my autograph on th e boat ra m p. I'd ha ve to ge t way out on the water before I cou ld sta rt ha ving any fun ." Durin g the season , Mc Coy lives in the little indepe nde nt tax have n of An do rra, in the Pyre nees Mounta ins be tween France and S pain , a nd he wen t ba c k there e a rlier than exp ected.