Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

You are in your third year of MotoGP and you're only 21. Does that work in your favor? If you look at it now, they've done great fo r the ~ po rt, but a lot of the MotoGP riders just aren't going to be around much longer. There 's quite a few that can take spots. There are a lot of rider s that are riding really well right now, from all over the world. There's a co uple of 250 riders that are going really we ll that will definitely have a ride. There's more talent that's going to be leaving than there is co ming in rea lly. That's my feeling on it. Right now, a lot of the 250 riders and a lot of the other riders, you don't know if they can ride a MotoGP bike. Some riders go from riding a 250 and just can't ride a Mot oGP bike, and they can be the best 250 ride r there ever was. And that plays a big part. Superbike riders and stuff, they tend to have a bit of a problem, but not as much as adapting from a 2S0 to a Mot oGP bike. There's quite a few out there. I think the age is quite a good thing. I've just been plagued w ith a lo t of bad luck. Everyth ing seems to be turning aroun d now. just my mindset going into the races is a lot more relaxed. It just makes a big difference now. I'm literally actuallygoing out in the races and just com pletely enjoying myself. This last race in Doningto n, I'm definitely fee linga high from that, just because I think it wasn't my best result but it was definitely by far my best perform ance in my eyes. I was purely enjoyingmyself the whole time I was o ut there at Donington. Brno 's a track coming up here soon that I like. A lot of the tracks that are coming up, I really like. Do you think your position may have been hurt because earlier in t he year when th ings weren't going good, you weren't as positive as the team wo uld have liked? A Definitely. I said I was a little more negative than I ~ h o u ld have been. Negativity is just one of the bad th ings. When you're traveling around the world and you' re pretty much liVing with the people you're living with, if you're the rider and you're the one that's out on the track, if you're negative, then you end up getting most of the team negative. That was something that happened . It's alla learning experience and you've got to go through it to understa nd it really. It's not a good thing. Right now, we're a lot more positive than we have bee n. Do you t hink you ha ve a good re lat io nship with Su zuki and the team? A I'm getting along with them quite well. We've had .fo'mino r little things here and there. It all starts basically from gossip stuff and then escalates, which is a lot in MotoGP - the gossip and everything. You've got a small city that lives toget her pretty much every weekend, so there's a lot of gossip, and that's just stuff that happens . Right now, me and Suzuki seem to be getti ng alo ng quite well Q A A I think it plays a difference. That track [Rio], that's I""\just a difficult track. For the tires, it worked really well. I think the Bridgestones worked rea lly we ll, o bvio usly, if they won and got pole position. Rio's a real stra nge track, how some of the corners are. The y' re real long corners, but you end gett ing caught out by being leaned over and they're such long corners that you just want to get the bike stood up. That's somet hing the Honda, just looking at the track, it looks like that's the best bike for doing that is getting the bike from a full lean angle up, vertical, and then just driving the power. That 's what the Honda does really well. That 's w hy it was a pretty good track for it there. Q Ho w q uick is the pace of ti re deve lo pment? A They bring a new generation every time. especially .foo\the last couple of races, because that's all they've all they've had to be doing istheir research and development is going wild right now - it's going nuts. They're bringing tires to every race since what happened at Mugello [where Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano had a rear tire explode at over 180 mph]. We've had to bring a completely safer range of tires into play. We're getting new tires every race, it's just the consistency is a little off because they're lacking experience and track knowledge right now. It seems that when we get to hotter tracks and very warm tracks, it seems to workingout very wellfor us. Did you re-injure your t hum b in prac t ice at Ca talunya ? A Yeah, just because the bo ne hadn't completely ~ealed up. It ended up rese parating in one of the pract ices just because the tires there - that was the fi rst race the we ekend after Mugello so they just came out with super, super strong construction tires . We basically just didn't have any grip really, whatsoever. I was fighting it all weekend and the bike was swapping around a lot. It ended up reseparating. I had time to heal after that. Now you wou ldn't even know anything happened to it. Q 36 SEPTEMBER 1,2004 • CYCLE NEWS Q Did you consider not riding at Catalunya? Q No Bridgesto ne riders were actually even sure that going to They didn't they Athey weredo a couplerace.laps and thenknowin.ifThat were going to of pull was something th at th e japanese bosses. all the Bridgestone and Suzuki and the manufacture r bosses, had to so rt out in japan over the weekend. Q Where do you stand now? I've told quite a peo and especially the A team.new motor andfew just ple,get settledEspecially season has started now. with the starting to in with it my now. Germany was a pretty decent race for us. Right now, these last two races, my races have been going well. My qualifying hasn't been pe rfect. I'm definitely making up positions throughout the field during the race. With the new motor and the way things are handling, with the way things are progressing, our best race is definitely ahead of us What's t he future ? How mu ch do you think about it ? A Ithink about it quite a bit. These last three weeks have #-\been quite good because I'vehad my chance to get my mind completely offof it. I went to Hawaii for quite a few days, so that's a way of gettingout of there. Ijust didn't have any cell phones or whatever and went with Desiree ou [Crossman], and it was just a good time all week . Y just can't let it get to you. Y can't let it bring you down. I've ou already had the bad luck for the fi rst halfof the season all through it. Now things are starting to come around and things are going really well. Next year, as far as the bike, I just want to be on the most competitive machinery I can. I'm not worried about anything else really. You' re co nfide nt you'll be a ble t o find a ride in MotoGP? A Yeah. That's without a doubt. I'm not going to let #-\anything slip away from that and get me away from MotoGP. Q Q 40th Anniversary Q Q How do you get along with Kenny ? I get along with him. We talk. We don't talk off the track . But when we' re at the track, we talk. It's no problem . We work togeth er on improving the bike as much as possible. In the same respect, he's your teammate . He's the other one on equal machinery as you, well, most of the time. That's the first person you really want to go o ut and beat. Do you measure your perfo rmance by beating him ? A I wouldn't say I measure my performance by beat~ ng him because Kenny's off and on. Some weeken ds he can just go out and I can try everything and he's A Q

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