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/128339
just a great rider, excellent. He's rea l inconsistent on when he's good and whe n he's not . I try not to measure myself, but on weekends that he is going rea lly good those are the ones that I really want to get ahead of him. In the las t coup le of races, he seems to hav e foun d the secret of qualifying, A This last couple of races, the Bridgestone qualifier " " 'ight now, I've gotten on with it. It's just the confidence in them. I don't know, there's so much grip there and there's no movement whatsoever. And I like to have a bit of movement in the tire. There's no movement whatsoever. You're always out o n the fi ne line because you never really know when it's going to go, because if it does go, then it's go ing to go big and not just do a little spin. Just getting around that . I'm quite enjoying what I'm doing now because I'm actually tons bett er than what I qualified before. I mean that 's the first time, Suzuki in a race at Donington was the first time actually that a Suzuki made up that many positions in one race . And that's like in years and years . Before that, everyone just went backwards. Everyone goes forwards and we go backwards for a bunch of years . That was the first time Suzuki made tha t many positions forward . You ment ioned Br no as a t rack you like and sho uld wo r k. Are t here a ny others co ming up t ha t the bike a nd t ires sho uld be suit? Wh at a bout the ho t t racks? Brno - it can get real warm out there, especially in the middle of the summer. I think last year it worked all right fo r [Makoto] Tamada there. I think the Bridgestones will work really well at Brno. Portugal is another track where I think the bike, in the past, gave us quite a bit of problems, quite a bit of grief just because of the engine management and it's so tight and thin and narrow. That's one place where our motor is going to playa huge effect, and I think it'll be reallygood there at Portugal. Hopefullywe get some horsepower before we get to the tracks like Phillip Island and Malaysia. Do you know w hat's co ming as far as t he mo torcycle is co nce r ned? A It's just usual development. It definitely played with I-'our heads a lo t last year, they 'd always tell us something was coming and it never came, and it was always a problem. So then you're always getting your hopes up. You get your hopes up once more, and then it goes. And then you get it once more, and the overall outcome of it is just negative. It makes you feel negative. You start to get pretty depressed over the situation. Now they 're quite frank about everything . They te ll us exactly what's going to happen and they're honest, they 're not beating around the bush. The race department has done a big 180, and it's going really well. Q Q A Q Q A Q A Ho w close a re you to 100 percen t ? CHASE'S When I get out on the track , I'm 100 percent. I'm the re . I'm 100 percent now. tie :: Wh o's going to be World Champion? I don't know. I'm pretty positive it's going to be ~alentino [Rossi]. He's done it more than the riders that are out there with him, and when it's all said and done, he's the one out there with the most will to win it, I wou ld say. The re's people that haven't won it, but you can definitely tell when he gets out on the track, he has more will to do it than anyone else. Sete [Gibernau] seems to be flounder ing a bit right now. Max [Biaggi]- he's a strong contender. When you're going for the World Championship, he can't have a race like he did this last one in Donington. You don't see Rossi going back through the field all the way to 13th or 14th and start ing from the front and not actually having a ser ious problem. eN MorOC ROJf , _ 2004 Riders Fall Shaat aut Series "The Series Desi gn ed With The Rider In Mind" Saturday, September 11 th • Round 1 1st Ann ual Chase Livi ngston Memorial Classic Note Spec ial St art Time Round 1 Only - Gates Ope n : 8 :00am Pr act ice: 9 :30am - Race: 12:00pm www.cy clen ews .com Sat urday, October 2nd - Round 4 Sat urday, Nove mber 13th - Round 8 Gat es Open : 9:0 0a m Practice : 10 :30am Race: 1.o o om CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 1,2004 37