Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

complete day at the track. My father was there and immediately I was very good, very quick - but I knew nothing about the sport side of bike riding. I was just fast on the track. So you were quick from the start, obviously a natural talent. What point in your career did you think you could become World Champion? Well. .. the hope was always there, but nobody knows for sure if they can do it, you know? When I won the European 250cc Championship in 1992, two races before the end of the season, then went on to join the World Championship for just the last few races, I found I was always fighting for anything from fifth to ninth place. That was against the factory bikes from Aprilia, Suzuki, some Hondas, too. At that time my bike was only a standard machine, which at that time was quite a big point for me, quite important. I was always there and I could see that my bike was not as good as the others around me, so in my mind it was mentally like: "Okay, this is good but I know that if I am going to have one of these bikes then for sure I can win." And sure enough in year 1993, with a factory team, I won my first GP race. With your success, have you found it more difficult to trust people, the more popular and successful you have become? Hmmm, I think so ... Not because I don't trust people, no. I love to be in the middle of what's going on or with people I know, but when you become quite important for your sport or famous, or whatever you call it, it's always qujte a dangerous time because many people want to become close to you just to be in the position of being able to take something away from you. They want to know you, but only because you are famous that's a bad way to be, that's living like a snake. That's what I really don't like. I don't like people trying to take something away from me. I don't mind helping people or doing some other kind of thing like charity or that kind of stuff, but to be in the middle, to be with people, has always been my way and now of course to trust them, all of them, is going to be very difficult. out of all the races you have had so far in your career, which one would you say has been the most memorable? I think it was in 1998 and the first-ever 500 GP race of my life where I won at Suzuka in Japan by over five seconds. It was especially important to me because at the time Mick Doohan was the champion and the man to beat. That is a very, very important race to me and it will stay with me for all time. YOU have moved to Monaco, wouldn't you have rather preferred to live in Italy? No. I live in Monaco and the idea came about because I thought it was the best thing to do because in the past all the Fl drivers, the people that are in sport moved here. I love the people who are involved in any sport and I was thinking that it was the right thing to do because they are here and they are my kind of people. Anyway, I am close to Italy, so if I get homesick it is not so badl So is it difficult to be Max Biaggi in Italy? Italy, but there are extra benefits from fame too, so it is not all bad. When you first came to the World Championship, you were fast and aggressive and went on to win four straight 2S0cc world titles, more than any rider. Then you moved to the SOOcc class. Did you really expect to set pole position in, and then go on to win, your first ever SOOcc GP? First of all I want to say that I was in 250 for a long time, not just because I was winning but because, more importantly, the amount of time there was purely to be the best. To be the best you need to win many races, many titles and I think I am one of the best, if not the best. Of the new era of riders, I think I am the best. I only stayed in 250 - when I won my fourth title - only because I wanted to prove to anyone and everyone who may have had any doubt that I can win with a different bike [Biaggi switched from Aprilia, which he won the '94, '95 and '96 titles on to Honda, which was supposed to be the lesser of the two bikes, only to win the '97 crown on that too] which nobody has done before. So that was the only reason why I was in 250 for long, if not I was ready to go to 500 earlier. It wasn't so much that I expected to score pole position and win because over the winter before I only tested avery, very few times. In fact, I only made three tests during the winter, the last one Q Q Q Q Q Well, of course. In Italy it's a different story because I am very well known - very, very. Sure, it is tough when I go out with my girlfriend and all I want to do is the normal boy and girl evening. It is tough because I try to do whatever we want to do, but people end up looking at me like I am much different from everyone else. That makes me uncomfortable, but it is nobody's fault. I guess that there is both good and bad about being a famous person. Always I am living with this problem in tion which as far as I am concerned means that the decision was not right - but I pajd for that. I was second that year in a satellite team ran by the genius Erv Kanemoto, but sure Doohan was the strongest at that time but in many races I was giving him a very hard time. We didn't shake the ... well, nobody knows the potential of Doohan's bike and now we know and always have that with the Honda the new staff and the new engine are available to one rider a year before anyone. Like Rossi has now. It's been more of a struggle since you've moved from the Honda to the Yamaha to get the bike to suit your riding style and be competitive week in, week out - how much have you changed as a person since winning has become more difficult? Yeah, don't forget that when I moved from Honda to Yamaha I knew that the Yamaha was not as good as the Honda. When I took on the Yamaha it was finishing fifth or sixth, all the top-five positions were taken by Honda, so I knew I was going to have a hard time, but I tried to find my way and I think that the Yamaha became much better with all my suggestions to the technicians. Now the Yamaha is more rideable, but the main thing is that more than one rider can go quick with a Yamaha when they get on it. Before it was only myself who could go quick on the Yamaha in 1999, but I would say that now the bike has grown up. I helped them a lot and now we are making something much better than we had in '99, but it is very difficult to reduce the gap between the Yamaha and the Honda because the other factory is working very hard. As you see, Honda is the only factory that doesn't ever sleep, never losing time. That is why it is always Honda, Yamaha, Yamaha, Honda. NOW that you're back to winning races and fighting for a World Championship, you actually seem more relaxed than ever. Is this because of your experience or have you actually changed as a person? I would say it is because I can be more accurate in what I am doing. By concentrating myself, especially when I am riding the bike in practice, qualifying or the races, I can make things much clearer. Before the sessions now there is no meaning to get stressed. Now experience tells me that it is much better to feel that sort of stress only in that moment. Stress before or after that moment makes no difference - you cannot get any better because of it. I used to be much more impatient waiting for the big day, that has now been modified a little bit by experience. So what goes through your mind before the start of a SOOcc GP? It is always a big question mark about set-up, always thinking about whether I've made the right choice of tires, how I can make the last five laps fast laps when the tires will already be finished. This is the big question mark that is with me at the start of a race. But now I think I get over it quite well once we start the race. Now I am even more confident over what I am doing. WhY are you the only rider since Wayne Rainey to get the full potential out of the Yamaha? Rainey was riding the Yamaha his way and nobody, not even Luca Cadalora, was able to go as fast as Rainey, but since then I think I introduced to Yamaha a different way to work. All the time through '99 they were coming back to Rajney geometry or set-up and it could not work because the tires and suspension have changed a lot since 1992 or 1991, but they were always thinking about this old set-up because he was going this way or that way - but this doesn't mean anything now, so since 2000 my crew chief and I went in another direction. I think it brings being at the IRTA test in Japan two weeks before the first race with everybody else there. I was the fastest in the final test, which was good. I didn't expect the win that much, but, yes, a little bit yes, because I could see I was quick. The 1998 season was an awesome battle between you and Doohan and you finished second that year. How did it actually feel to lose the championship fight for the first time in ages? Well, I finished second, but then there is the story with the black flag at Catalunya [Biaggi was ultimately disqualified for passing Alex Barros under waved yellow flags - the decision to penalize both Biaggi and Barros with a 10-second stop/go penalty regarded as overzealous by many. Biaggi refused to pit for his penalty and ignored the black flag of disqualification, finishing the race and celebrating as if he'd won) and the race director disqualifies me for a strange reason - by the way, the year after they just went and changed the regula- Q cue Q I _ n _ _ S • SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 51

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