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/128161
What Lies Ahead For Nicky Hayden got onto fire- breathing 50Os while still climbing the learning curve. (Wayne Gardner made his name in Europe riding four-stroke machines in the old TT -1 class, a forerunner of Superbikes.) Scott Russell, a Superbike World Champion, was stolen away from Muzzy Kawasaki in the AMA series after Kevin Schwantz retired early in the '95 season. The Georgian showed great promise in his scant season and three/quarters on the factory Suzuki GP team. Why he was replaced just when he had started to master the Vfour Suzuki is something I have never understood. The only rider ever to win world titles at both the Superbike and Grand Prix level is John Kocinski, who was 250cc World Champion in 1990 for Yamaha and later won the World Superbike title in 1997 on the Honda RC45. But when Kocinski returned to the GPs, it was on an NSR500 riding for satellite teams Sito Pons in 1998 and Erv Kanemoto in 1999. He was unsuccessful in his GP return. The next Superbike star to come over to the Grand Prix paddock was Noriyuki Haga (under the cloud of a substance-abuse rap that resulted from his ill-advisedly taking a commonly prescribed drug to keep the fat off). Haga started like gangbusters at round one, effervescent and cheerful, until three huge crashes, two in qualifying and one in the race, detuned him in the season-opening Japanese Grand Prix of 2001. After that, he was cautious, gun-shy and grumpy, managing only one aggressive ride all season. That came at the British Grand Prix, where he was perhaps reminded of his past glory in World Superbike and stepped up with a promising run to fourth that was promptly followed by a return to anonymity and sub-top-10 performances that would only be broken by a hard ride to eighth (only 2.5 seconds back of the winner) at Phillip Island, Australia, another World Superbike circuit that, perhaps, brought back pleasant memories. Perhaps the outgoing and fun-loving Haga was, as he has indicated, depressed by the subdued atmosphere of the Grand Prix paddock, where riders seem to spend their time hiding out in their motorhomes or in the back rooms of corporate hospitality structures, and where press conferences are as exciting as watching paint dry. Or perhaps, as the general opinion is in the GP media center, he was just unable to adjust to the exigencies of riding a Grand Prix 500cc two-stroke, with its lightswitch powerband (compared with the more forgiving 750cc Yamaha four-stroke that Haga was used to). 24 JULv3, 2002' cue •• For whatever reasons, the great divide between the two- and fourstroke parallel universes of MotoGP and World Superbike is about to be bridged by the arrival of the new 990cc four-stroke machines, and team managers and factory competition directors are now casting aside old prejudices and looking beyond the narrow confines of the GP paddock and beyond the current 250cc stars toward the Superbike riders. HAYDEN AND TAMADA Suddenly, the likes of Colin Edwards, Troy Bayliss, Ben and Eric Bostrom and Ruben Xaus are starting to get some respect, and so are top riders from the AMA and All-Japan Championships like Nicky Hayden and Makuto Tamada, clearly two of the fastest prospects in the world. But both Hayden and Tamada are under contract to HRC. Tamada has already proven his worth as a World Superbike wild card. Hayden, however, has not been seen in competition outside the United States, and to see him you have leave the pampered comfort of the World Championship media centers. (He first impressed me when he was a 15-year-old coming through from a penalty-stripe start in the last -chance qualifier for the quarter mile race the AMA Dirt Track Grand Championship at Indianapolis. He battled through to win but was disqualified for bumping the leader off the track coming down the back straight on the last lap. Later that week, he won the Pro-Am Mile.) Tamada will undoubtedly stay in Honda colors, taking on whatever role is asked by the factory, whether it be the Japanese Championship, World Superbike or MotoGP. Hayden, however, is not a Japanese company man and, although no rider leaves HRC lightly, the 20-yearold kid is, the last time I checked, free at the end of the season. Yamaha has already called the 502 area code and is either putting together an offer or has already made one to Hayden, and others are also making their moves. HRC, with its new V-five and their Italian superstar, seem to be set for the future, but they are very worried about the prospect of losing Hayden. For some reason, HRC seems to have decided not to move Edwards to Grand Prix in spite of the fact that he was immediately quicker than Rossi on the V-five and was the man to put up the fastest lap when he and Rossi teamed up to win the latest edition of the Suzuka Eight Hours. Over the off-season, relations between HRC and Rossi deteriorated to the point that the Italian at one point said he would sit out the season and amuse himself driving rally cars rather than sign for Honda. Even n e _ s !Jj[}D 7Jfl[flJiJ@ @@)@)@:g ~[jiJ@W f1Ii}@(S@@@» f!lltjfJDfB @;;z fJ!}&J('ij@[jiJ Wins 1. United States 2. Italy 3. Great Britain 4. Australia 5. Spain 6. Rhodesia 7. Japan 8. Holland 9. Ireland 10. Brazil 150 140 135 84 19 12 10 8 7 4 Most recent win Roberts Jr. Motegi, Japan 2000 Catalunya, Spain 2002 Sheene, Anderstorp, Sweden, 1981 McCoy, Valencia, Spain, 2000 Gibemau,Valencia, Spain, 2001 Redman, Holland, 1966 Ukawa, Welkom, South Africa, 2002 Middleburg, Silverstone, GB, 1981 Herron, Isle of Man, 1975 Barros, Mugello, Italy, 2001 American 500 W"umers 1. Eddie Lawson 2. Kevin Schwantz 3. Wayne Rainey 4. Kenny Roberts 5. Freddie Spencer 6. Randy Mamola 7. Kenny Roberts Jr. 8. John Kocinski 9. Pat Hennen W"ms 31 25 24 Titles 4 22 1 3 3 20 13 o 8 4 3 2* 1 0"" o *plus one 250cc title and the distinction of being the only rider to win both the 250 and 500cc titles in the same season (1985). ""Kocinski won the 250cc GP title in 1990 and the World Superbike title in 1997 and has the distinction of being the only rider to win world titles at both the GP and World Superbike level. now, relations are not good between Rossi and Honda, and HRC has reason to worry that the 23-year-old Italian may be on a Ducati or an Aprilia in 2004. He recently gave an interview to Italian journalist Stefano Saragoni that compared Honda very unfavorably with Aprilia. Next year, Rossi, however, is again contracted to HRC and will probably team with either Tohru Ukawa, or perhaps a Spanish rider imposed by Repsol (possibly Fonsi Nieto. Fonsi who? to you.). Repsol says they won't re-up for 2003 without a Spanish rider, but this year they got in for a bargain price of $3.5 million after Rossi's threat to wear an anti-tobacco slogan on his leathers if either Camel or Mild Seven came on as the team sponsor. That threat, far from empty, was reportedly enough to scare off all perspective tobacco companies from the main team, but Honda, whose investment is far more than any title sponsor is prepared to pay, may decide to let Repsol go rather than let the sponsor choose a rider. They may also simply bring the Fortuna (that's a Spanish tobacco company) Gresini Honda team, with Honda's favorite Daijiro Kato on-board, up to the same level as the works HRC team currently running in Repsol livery. HRC really has only three options regarding Hayden: 1. Put him on a works RC211 V next year either alongside Rossi, or on the Gresini team along with Kato; 2. Assign him to World Superbike either as teammate to Colin Edwards or as a replacement for Edwards if the Texan is called up to MotoGP by Honda or accepts the call to join another factory in MotoGP; 3. The final option is to "red shirt" him for one more year in the AMA Superbike Championship. If they attempt to opt for the third choice, they may have a bad surprise coming because he may still be "Nicky who?" in the media center, but not in pit lane or the competition offices of the six members of the MSMA (Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association). A few key people in the GP paddock have been placing calls to 502 lately. Getting to the 500cc (now MotoGP) class early enough is vital. Kocinski spent too many years racing in the AMA 250cc Championship before finally winning the world 250cc title in his first season. Biaggi, Cadalora and Pons, all brilliant 250cc riders, spent too many years and formed too many bad 250cc habits before finally getting on a 500. One of the arguments that Peter Clifford, race director of the Red Bull Yamaha team, used to explain of bringing John Hopkins to the team at just eighteen was, "we wanted to get him on a proper race bike before he got into too many bad Superbike habits." That may just be Grand Prix prejudice talking, especially since the step from a Superbike to a MotoGP fourstroke, though a big one, is nothing like the move to a 500cc two-stroke. Whether Hayden goes World Superbike or MotoGP racing in 2003, it seems to me that he needs to move onward and upward, and that it is up to HRC Japan to plot a logical course for this extraordinary young rider, otherwise someone else may just make an offer that he can't refuse. If Honda loses Hayden, it may regret it for as long as Boston will regret losing Babe Ruth. That would be... well, like forever. eN