Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Basic all y , I knew I didn't have a ch oice . I j ust had to do somethi ng different. Just th e wa y I went about it, spending a little more time at the end of qualifying to only fo cus on qualifying instead of wa iting and just hurry up and try to go for o ne la p. And ju st pract ic ing at it. I went to Japan [for th e Su zuka 8 -Ho url . Even though I didn 't do too good o n my Supe rpol e lap, that experience, k ind of mentally pr eparing to go do on e lap, k ind of helped m e. Also , it m ay sound crazy, but when I we nt home for t h e summer b reak - I have a la p ti me r at hom e wh en I motocross and fla t track - I practic ed at it instead of just do ing mot os an d stuff .- I wou ld go ou t a nd treat it li k e qualifyi ng, just reall y worke d on m entall y tryin g to pu t o ne g ood lap together. It's definitel y hel ped , a nd I think made the b ig turn around for my seaso n. It se ems like you rid e be tter w hen yo u're in wit h people? I thin k just at new tracks . Wh en I' ve been t o tracks li k e Philip Island, no probl em . But for su re n ew trac k s, it's al wa ys a littl e b it eas ier wh en you see a good lin e or wh en yo u c an pick little things up from people . don' t think I ho nestly am gettin g 100 perc ent out of the f ro nt ti re . Ju st unb e liev ab l e so meti m es h o w mu ch yo u ca n trail b rake , how good they ar e. But abo ve every th ing el se, I j ust had to find some sp eed . Th e really g reat rid er s and so m an y fas t guys just p ush ing eac h other. After rac ing [W orld Superb ike at ] Laguna last year, I got a li tt le bit of glimpse of how h ard th o se gu y s wen t , not so mu ch for o ne q uick lap, bu t how fa st they went for all 28 lap s o r whatever it w as. That's wh at p retty much impressed me, and then from there t o here it's been an oth er step up. Can you go to your limit fo r an entire race , or do you have to worry about tires? For m e, I ca n' t worry about tires be cause I'm just try ing t o ho ld o n . E sp ec iall y lik e Philli p Island o r pl ac es wh en I' ve been up fron t. Yea h, it 'd be n ice to th ink about savin g tires, but honestl y , I ca n ' t save a ny t h in g. I've got t o wo rr y ab out that later. Rossi has sai d you can 't ride that bik e at 100 per cent with th ose tires for the who le rac e. Sometimes I' ll be thin k in g this is going t o hurt later, but like th e th ird la p I'll be spinning up. But it' s eithe r drop off o r wor ry abo ut it la te r. . '\ Wer e yo u su rpri sed y o u had tire left in Aus ~ t ra li a and were able to pass [S ete ] Gibernau? I d idn't hon estly know th ere. Th e tire I ra ced was a li ttle bit o f a gam ble because Sunday morning was pou ri ng do wn rai n. Th e tire I was wanting to ra ce I was going to have to tr y again Sunday m orning and ge t a few m o re laps on it and get a feel. But actua ll y th e ti res, th ey last. A lo t o f times this ye ar I've done m y b e st la p o n al mos t m y last lap; M otegi w a s almost the la st lap. Portugal I know wa s the last lap. Pretty impr essiv e, really, how lon g they las t. What about crashing? You haven't. Why not? I had two crashes , Jerez and Suzu ka , but those weren 't m y fau lt. And had two th e same da y at Earlier in the season you said Max Bia ggi would buzz past you at the start of qualifying. Are you still getting blitzed by ' B iaggi? In Philli p Island, just being Max, the last lap he j ust totally pulled in front of me and Col in [Edwards] bec ause I guess th at 's how Max does it. I do n't know , I kind of enjoy it , actually. A lot of head games everybody tries to play. I th ink it' s part of raci ng and kind of makes it fun . I guess growing up dirt tra cking against Springer and [Sc ott] Parker and those gu ys ... Biagg i, that's a grade sch ool m o ve co m pared to what th ose gu y s would do at a li ttl e -b itty sh o rt t ra ck . I'v e seen worse. What 's t he bigg est thing you 've h ad to adjust to thi s yea r? Is t he bike so much different ? Is it the li f est yle? It's ha rd to say . O ne thing , sure th e bike has b een di fferen t. Al so t he li fe st yl e and the tra cks. The Michelin tires haven 't been too big of an issue, but learning the lim it on th e tires. I still cue I e n e "" S • NOVEMBER 26 , 2003 15

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