Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I don't think he 's [Colin Edwards] the fastest guy, but he's the smartest." - Wayne Rainey bike that is capable of winning no matter what level of rider is on it. Look at Yamaha now. They 've sto pped everythi ng exce pt MotoGP. The y're not even racing [Superbikes) in America. I th ink just 600s [and Supers toc k). They have not hing in 250. But that's the mentality. Until this year. I've never see n such a comm itment from Yamaha. Far, far fro m it. This is the commitment we used to race against! Rossi couldn't have come at a better time. Yamaha has made some apparently fundamental change to the engine••, It sure does soun d different. [Carlos) Checa came here after Australia for about a week, and he bro ught me some video stuff, so I got to hear it . He wasn't yet o n that motor, but I th ink it has helped him now, with its dif- Is it that much different? It's unbelievable, the att itude at the factory for this project. It's never been th is good at Yamaha. I know this from the inside, tho ugh I'm just on the fringe. I could be in there quite deep if I wa nted, but I choose not to because I have a different life now. But I do know exactly what is going on, and I know the co mmitment is amazing. A lot of people are involved - a lot of money is being spent. This is the only class they 're in now. They've spent the money and got the rider. They want to win. Rossi probab lywon't notice a great difference with the management than w hen he was at Honda . Except a bit friendlier... ferent character. Did Yamaha make that change because of Rossi? Oh , no. They we re going to make that new motor anyway. They had to make a change. This was com ing at the start of last year, befo re they approached Rossi. I do know that . Is Rossi the only rider who can turn things around for Yamaha? At this stage, yeah, because Y amaha need s to be happy. They need so me success for the effort they've put o ut . They haven't had that since I raced . They've had to change their philosophy and their app roach. When I raced , they had Kenny [Roberts), Mike Sinclair - the best crew chief in the business - and they had good riders. They had a team of engineers and mechanics that was in those times good enough to beat Honda. They relied on that approach for many years , but that proba bly now is not good enough. Yamaha just put their toe in the wa ter, instead of their foot . And now they 've put thei r whole leg in. And now they have Rossi. I think he is probably the onlyguy at this stage who could do it, because it's a new philosophy of racing. Yamaha has to win now. They cannot let Hond a get the top six. Another thing I think is that if you're a Honda rider now, if you do n't win, it is because of the rider; if you do win, it's because of the bike. Every rider wants to win, but everyone can win on a Hond a. I think Rossi is doing the right thing. Winning the championsh ip on someth ing else wo uld be much more satisfying. Was that why you never went to Honda? It was fun walking by Oguma [the HRC boss for many years) with all his engineers , seeing the way Honda went racing and how upset they we re that we could beat them w ith the way Y amaha went racing. They just didn't think it was possible. I knew if I we nt to Honda, it' d be a heck of a lot different . It just was n't the way I wa nted to go racing, let's put it tha t way. I wanted to beat them mo re tha n I wanted to race with them. Y amaha was the key, and the way Kenny [Roberts) set the tea m up made that possible for me. It wasn't just me, it was everybody involved . And with Honda, it's like, if you're not fast enough , we 'll just get the next rider. Because we know our bike is the best . That's the way that they win. It was fun beat ing Honda. It's great. I loved it, and I think Rossi will www.cycienEWs.com feel the same way. Because you're not just beating the riders, you're beating a co rporation that thinks it is the best, and they definitely put the effort out there to show everybody that the y are the best . Where will Rossi find the extra he needs to make the bike competitive? He's already beaten these guys, so mentally he's still got them beat. They know they're not bett er than Rossi. They know that Rossi is faster. And that 's someth ing they're never going to forget when they 're racing against him. That's a huge advantage , no matter what bike you're on, when you can do that to your competition - when they know that, no matter where you are on the grid, you're going to be the re for the race . Honda's got the next-best guys, but there's a gap between Rossi and them . Which of the Honda riders do you think will be hardest to beat? That's a good question. I don't really know. I think Nicky Hayden has some really raw speed - that's going to be good. He's going to be a fighter. I don't know if this year is going to be his year... just a lack of expe rience . Just not be ing there eno ugh and doing it enough . Colin Edwards is probably the guy, if you look at his age and what he has done. He doesn't have the speed of Rossi or Nicky, but he's got the experience , and he's really smart , and that's wha t's going to make up fo r his speed , in being there in the end of the overall champ ionship. He should make the least amount of mistakes out of the Honda camp . I don't think he' s the fastest guy, but he's the smartest. Max Biaggi is beat before he starts. He thinks that he's not getting the best stuff. The way I think- then I find out it doesn't really work for anybody else most of the time - is that if you're eight horsepower down, that's okay. You have to make it up with the th rottle and the way you ride. So five or 10 horsepower down is not going to kee p you from winning the race . As soon as Max realizes that , I think he can win some races , but I th ink his style hurts him from being competitive at all the eN races . He rode that 250 too long. C YC LE N EWS • APRil 21 , 2004 21

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