Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

wins, and I always felt that I wo uld be t he best guy. As fa r as your win streak, you have always said that it 's something that you don't really think about and if it happens, it happens, but do you think that you ca n keep it going for the rest for the season? Q I definitely wou ld like to think tha t I can keep it going. There are a lot of things that can get in the way, like Mother Nature. Y have to have a lot of ou luck on your side , but you also make your own luck. I'd like to thi nk I can keep it going. I'm co nfident, I'm happy with my program, and I'm happy with my bike. I think it's just a mistake on my be half that is going to mess it up. So, do I think I can do it? Y but like I es, said, I wa nt to win t he title, and I have won every moto before. So I have done it, so if I do n't, it's not like I haven't do ne it before . The second t ime wou ldn't be as special as the first time . If it happe ns, it happens ; if you worry about it, it will just drive you crazy. A In the pa st , when you were riding a 250cc two-stroke, your style was sort of hold on, pin it a nd hope for the best. Did you have to smooth out your rid ing style in order to ride the 450 ? Q Definite ly, you can't run the four-stroke like that ; you have to mellow it out a little bit. Last year when I was riding the 250, everyone said I had to hang it out. Well, I had to a lot, because Windham was on a four-stroke, so I had to ride the hell out of the thing. But the four-stroke is definitely a lot easier to ride . You can kind of mellow it out and just cruise the thing because it has so much power. A Moving on t o nex t year and your Suzuki deal: With the young kids on t he team, Dav; Millsaps and Broc Hepler, are you looking forward to be ing a m entor to them? Q "Y ouhave to have a lot 01 luck on Jour side, but JOU also make Jour own luck." Ricky Carmichael I think it will be fun. I ho pe they will learn a lot from me. I've learned a lot from guys befor e . Like Larry Ward and Jeff Emig, I think that those guys were some of the best teammates I've ever had, because I learned so much from them, just because they had so much expe rie nce . And that 's what I hope to give to the younger guys. A When are you going t o be released to ride Suz ukis? Will it be in ti me for the U.S . Open ? Q Y OUknow, I'm not sure yet. It's a ways down the road, and it's not really my decision. It' s so rt of for upper management to decide ; I don't have much say so in that . I can on ly say wha t I wa nt to do , but the big guys do all of the decision-making. A With all the talk a bout t he Un ited States not send ing a team this year, how do you feel about that? If the Uni ted States does send a team, are you going to go? Q We ll, eve n befor e I did my Suzuki contract, I said that I was going because I t hink we have to go. But it doe sn't look like we are go ing to go because some of the rider s have other problems . Some riders don't want to go, and some have other problems about why they can't go . I know I'm not going to take the heat for not going, because I said four months ago when I didn't know what the hell I was going to be riding that I was going, just because I enjoy going; and I want to support the country. But we have to have the best team, and if we don't have the best team , i~s a lot of money and effort for everyb ody to spend to go there and not win. We tried hard last yea r, and we had some bad luck. It's frustrating when another country gets to sit up on the box and you have to sit there and look at them. But there's always another year, and maybe next year everyone else [U.S. riders] will want to go. A Back to 2005, you have to be noticing james Stewart. He's a lot like you when you were in the 125cc class • dominating and winn ing every race. Then when you moved to the 250cc class, it took you a little while to get up to s pe e d. Do you think that next year he will be good in the 250 right away, or will it take him a while? Q I think he is going to be super, super fast; everybody knows that . I've neve r raced him, so I'm not going to sit here and lose sleep over him. I'll wait until Anaheim and race him then. It's a long series, and there' s going to be myself, Chad [Reed] and Bubba [Stewart]. For the 16-race series its probably going to be us guys. I don't think it's going to be who's t he fastest guy. It's going to be who t he smart est guy is. He's definitely going to be the next guy whe never his time has risen in the 250s. It's just going to be however long it takes him to adapt to the 250. eN A

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