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/128121
MiDfBiaggi some benefits - a positive feeling. I can be much faster than last year and I think we find out more about the Yamaha this way, which is the best way to be because the Honda and Suzuki have both been down this route and gone quicker. How do you think you have been treated by the press over the years? Well, I think that in any sport there is always the need for a duel between two persons. Now there is the story between myself and Rossi and they always put a lot of effort behind it in both the good way and the bad way. It doesn't matter, but only as long as they stay in the realms of bike racing, whether we ride good or bad. I'm not against this, unless the press go over the sport barrier. When the press go into my private life it makes me angry - 100 percent. I just want to be left to get on with my life outside of racing with my family and friends. I don't want anybody putting their noses inside my life. So what is the most outrageous thing you've ever read about yourself, or heard though the paddock, and was it true? I don't know... absolutely crazy? Ahh, yes! This year somebody has written in the press that I am using traction control on the Yamaha which is unreal - this is just not real. The rider's best benefit for traction control is to use the throttle and the brain, but we as Yamaha have never heard anything about traction control. It is impossible for us. What kind of music do you listen to? It depends on my mood. I like relaxed music which is soft, it can be light or pop. I'm not really into heavy music although some days I like techno music which is the complete opposite of what I am used to listening too. Different mood, different day. I like Queen, Freddie Mercury, Jon Bon Jovi, Oasis - I like Oasis in particular because they are against the flow of everyone else. Everybody goes left and they go right! You've already ridden the GP1 Yamaha machine, which is going to be making its race debut next year. What kind of difference do you think this is going to make to the future of GPs? When I rode the bike, it was quite young in its development. Of course, it had more weight than the sister bike I race, but the biggest difference is in the engine which is not making so much more power than what we have already, but the more critical thing is the engine braking and the way it gets out of the corner. Under power it is a little less smooth than the two-stroke machine, so I would say that they really need to get the thing right because it is not going to be easy to beat the existing two-strokes. As for changing GPs - maybe not next year, but in the future then it will change things across the board for sure. What's the most scared you've ever been? Q I was in a plane with my girlfriend, the flight was going okay and suddenly we lost a lot of height. The plane dropped so fast that my glass .of water ended up hitting the ceiling above me. I was very scared. And what's your biggest regret? It comes from when I became a motorcycle rider, then I moved away from education and schooling. I would like to know more about what there is around the world, you know? It could come by either reading a book or being taught by a teacher. That is something I have missed. Okay, now I go around the world and I can see for myself the most important things of any city, any country, but for me the 52 SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 • cue I _ n base of that fascination was my school and I miss something of that. So what's the happiest moment you've had? I have very few ... being very, very happy is just being a smaller part of some moment for me. Of course, everything is focused on my sport career. When I am having a good result, or a great result, that is the highest moment of my happiness, but also I am happy when things go right for the people that I love, like my family. In 250s you were very good at psyching out the opposition, how much of that goes on in 500 now and do you really think it's worth doing? I don't think it's worth doing so much in 500s. It's different because I was doing that in 250 when it was a more individual championship. Here in 500s, it is more big teams with two riders. The factory teams then share information with all the other teams using the same bike. That takes some of your energy, your strength out of the game. Now it is like everybody knows everything, anything. This is what I don't really love. What kind of qualities do you like in a person? I like it when they are fair to you. I don't like the person who is very stuck-up, my favorite sort of person is the type of person who is very down to earth. I like people who can share their time with you without feeling like they are going to get some benefit from it. Who has that in the GP circus? Alex Barros has those qualities. He has always been that way and sometimes we chill out together. We went on holiday to Japan in '98 together. Shinya Nakano is also a nice guy like this, but I don't know so many people in the paddock - maybe Kenny Roberts Jr. also. If you could banish one thing from motorcycle racing, what would it be? I would take out any bike that is so much better than the others. I would make it equal for everyone who races. What is the most mc;mey you have ever spent on one item? I guess it would be my car. I drive a Mercedes CL500 - that is the most expensive thing I did in my life. At least in one block, you know? Do you still play soccer? Q Q Q I play football [soccer] for charity. I am the president of a charity that works to raise money for the fight against leukemia. Everywhere I go I ask people to give a little money to help against leukemia and in a very pure way the money goes straight to the people who need it, or to help the doctors and the staff who work so hard. I do this because my nephew died when he was 10 years old in August 1997. From that moment I wanted to do something, so I open this foundation with his name and it has been working hard - it gives some benefit to the people who are touched by leukemia. It is for them. Who' do you respect and admire? My family. I respect my uncle because he is a similar character to myself, but still different to my father. He is very devoted to what he does. You've always had some good looking women around you . is there anybody special at the moment? Yeah, I have a girlfriend. She's 24 years old and we have been together for seven months. I don't take her into the motorcycle world because there are so many things I have to keep my concentration on. Q __ s And I know that if she comes here I cannot give an equal amount of attention both to her and the motorcycle world. For the past few years, I have been out with some beautiful women. All I can say is that because I have been a motorcycle champion I am sure it opens many, many doors... Do you have anything lucky, like a number or socks? Yes. I ride with the same back protector. I don't know how many years I have been using it, though. It is very special for me. It's so old it is a completely different color to anything anyone else uses! What would you like to do after your racing career has finished? I never think about that because I want to keep going in motorcycle racing for a long time. This is my big passion and this is what I like the most. Racing motorcycles is not only my job but it is my hobby, my passion, my everything, so I don't want to even think about stopping. Sure, for the future I need to think of doing something, but I would like to be around this kind of business - around motorcycles. Most guys have only seen Naomi Campbell in the magazines - you've been out with her. Is it true that her legs go all the way to her arms? She has the most beautiful legs, as everyone can imagine. She's a beautiful woman and I think she is one of the best women I have ever seen in my life. But I can't say any more than that... I have a girifriend right now so I can't say anymore! Is there anything else you would like to say? Q Just that every fan of motorcycle racing needs to read between the lines. For sure with Rossi, when he came to 500s, he won two GPs like I did, but he was the only one to be with a factory team and then with a best quality team around this kind of motorcycle. He has always had the best kind of equipment. Now, this year, he is winning much more than ever and that sounds so strange for me. Sure, if the technology around his bike is the highest level, higher than anyone else around the paddock, then that's what everybody must understand. I would like to have the same bike or the pair of us to be on the same machinery, equal machine. Then it will be much different to what you see has happened already on track. _ @G!JD@!JJCl[?D[?@ @G!J@~liD@[jiJ~ Mountain or Beach? Doohan or Rainey? Beach Of course, Rainey Blonde or Brunette? ...••••••••.........Brunette Pizza or Pasta? Pasta Privatejet or Economy class? ...If it is possible, private jet Armani or Prada? Ferrari or Porsche? Armani, because I knew Georgie very well Ferrari Love or Lust? Both Wine or Beer? Beer Win or Lose? ...••..••.•••••..............Win Dog or Cat? .....••••.•••••••............. Dog