Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cycle News 2001 07 04

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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upkeep. Making sure that the helmets are always there and the leathers are always clean. A lot of that comes down to my wife. You couldn't pay me enough money in the world to get rid of her. HOW do you relax away from the circuits? Obviously, you like golf, but what else do you do? I've just got into rock climbing. Ben Bostrom is the culprit of that. He's kind of put the bug in everybody's ear. Alyssia and I have done the indoor stuff quite a bit, but we hadn't really done any outdoor stuff. So it was time, time for us to go out and do something different. It's just another way to really explore and see the rest of the world. Go and see some of the mountains and some of the great views you've got around. You know, a lot of time we spend in the motorhome cooped up. You get to go into the cities every now and then, but the cities are not the real country, and we like the country. I know that you have friends all over Europe and so on, but are you happy to be in Europe? Yeah, I am really happy to be in Europe. I have more or less a second family in Biggin Hill, England. They take care of my motorhome and I'm in touch with them all the time. They came to our wedding and the whole nine yards. We've got a really good base with them, and we're great friends as well. In Italy, I've got friends there and pretty much everywhere we've got friends we enjoy hanging out ·with. As far as getting used to it? I think the best advice ever given to me about coming to Europe was given to me by either Schwantz or Rainey - I'm not sure which now - said as long as you accept Europe for what it is, and don't try and bring a little America over there with some of your friends, accept the food for what it is, and just do as the Romans do more or less. And they were right. Do you ever take any notice of Formula One? Q A Q A Q l do. I watch it. I'm not an avid watcher, but when I'm in my motorhome or at home with nothing to do I'll definitely watch it. Sometimes I'll get up early in the morning to watch it - but it's not the cornerstone of my weekend. It's also not something I would see myself doing. Two wheels is me, and when two wheels is over, I'll be done. Car racing for fun even? A Q l'm not tooting my own horn at all, but I drive a car halfway decent, and I've had a little bit of experience with he rally car thing over in the Canary Islands. A little bit of on-track time on pavement, but it's never really excited me like two wheels. 50 you still intend to retire at 32? A Q A Yeah, for sure. Well you just look back at [Carl] Fogarty and you look at [Wayne] Rainey and you look at [Mick] Doohan and you look at the guys in the past... I just feel that at 32 it's not that your reflexes slow down, but maybe it's an age when you maybe get over-confident in your ability. I don't know what it may be, but a few accidents have ended careers around that age. It's not a career that I could see myself going until I was 35, 36, 37. So I've set a limit at 32. I want to have made all my money and won all my World Championships by then. What about GPs, especially now that have gone four-stroke? . I remember the days of Lawson and Rainey and Schwantz and Mamola. I was an avid GP watcher. You couldn't pull me away from the TV. I really enjoyed it. Now? I don't know what it is, but... I know there has been some decent GP racing lately, I just think with the GP rules it's going to turn into a Formula One-type deal. If somebody has got the right package on the weekend then they are gonna split. They will simply be gone. It's going to take a couple of years for everybody to work out what's going on and in that time there will be a lot of blow-out victories. As far as answering your question goes about me moving there? Possibly. I always say that money talks and bullshit walks so it just depends on what's there. HOW does it feel to be more famous in Europe than you have ever been in America? lt is absolutely wonderful. It is the greatest thing, because every time we go away for the winter, I get used to just being with my wife and hanging out, doing what we want to do. Sure enough, the first time we come over to get into the motorhome and stop at a gas station, or Burger King or wherever we stop, someone will recognize me. Because I'm away from it for three or four months in the season it still feels strange. But it's great, really. When I'm here doing my job, I don't mind. I just do the whole thing. When I get home, it's awesome. I go play golf with Q A Q A my buddies, I go do whatever I want to do and nobody wants anything. The paddock in World 5uperbike is very relaxed, compared to even bike GPs, never mind Formula. well, for instance, in the GP or the Fl paddock, you would never have been able to come up to me and say, "Can we do an interview right quick?" You would have to go through my PR guy and he would have to ask me if I was free ... That just gets out of hand. It gets to a point where you have to say, "Hey!" I think that's where Superbike has kept the people's side of it, because you are just normal and everyone is really good at keeping your feet on the ground. Nobody treats us as anything special. We're just normal people. As long as the facilities are right, and as long as we've got good places to put our motorhome, and camp out on the weekend, we'll go and do it. TWO races a day is almost unique in motorsports. Is that tough thing to do? Or just another attraction of 5uperbike racing? I think it's an attraction. Obviously, I came from the states, where it is a one-race format, just go out and win one race. There are guys who like two and guys who like one, but I think that in a sense Kenny Roberts Sr. was the one who said that with a two-race format you can never have a winner; unless the guy does the double, and then you have an outright winner. If I was to win one and [Troy] Corser was to win the other, then who is the winner? Once one race is over, people can change their bikes, change the tire compounds, do whatever, and it is a totally separate race the second one, so if you look at it that way then you start to understand it. I love the two-race deal. It gives you a chance to redeem yourself if something else goes wrong. eN Q A Q A eye I e n e _ 50 • JULv4.2001 21

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