Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W ayne Rainey By HENNY RAy PHOTO BY GOLD ABRAMS GOOSE & le nt ino Rossi ended Yamaha's 12-year drought by winning the 2004 MotoGP World Championship at Phillip Island on Sunday. For Yamaha, it was a quick reversal of fortune after years of frustration. When the 25-year-old Italian crossed the finish line a whisker in front of rival Sete Gibernau, Yamaha had finally recovered from the career-ending injuries that stopped both them and three-time 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey late in the summer of 1993. Rainey not only remains an avid fan, faithfullywatching the races every Sunday, but he also keeps in touch w ith the race team . Part of it isn't entirely altruistic: He needs someone to supply go-fast parts for his and teammate Eddie lawson's Yamaha-powered shifter karts. (It's almost certain that they 'll race their karts in a support event at the 2005 USGP at Mazda Raceway laguna Seca.) This year's Catalunya GP at Barce lona ma rked Rainey's first taste of the four-stroke Moto GP machines that replaced the violent Yamaha YZR-500 tha t he wrestled to the 500cc World Cha mpionship from 1990 through 1992. His initial remark was that they were more docile than the two -strokes. He also saw only a very few riding them properly, chief among them Valentino Rossi. Rainey had predicted a Rossi World Championship before the season began. During a chat in the Yamaha V 26 NOVEMBER 3, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS skybox on the Friday night of the Daytona Supercross, he said that Rossi was still the man to beat. His view wasn't shared by all, not with the resources Honda was throwing around and not with the results that Y amaha had grown wearily accustomed to . Y O U sai d b efor e the season started t hat Rossi was t he guy to beat? I th ink his talent, wha t he's do ne in the past.. . going to Yamaha and knowing what I know about Yamaha and thei r commitment to the program, with Yamaha bringing him onboard, they had to commit to winning. I think they had an opportunity with him and not winning the championship for, what's it been, 12 years? And spending a lot of money, but not spending the money to be the best... In the past they had come close but never really beaten Ho nda. This time they dec ided to beat them. T his time they spent the money; they did whatever it took to do it. And I knew that's what they were doing when they were approaching Rossi. For Rossi, coming onboard with Yamaha, he had a fresh whole sheet of paper. And I think he wa nted to show everybody it was n't just Honda. And that's been the pr oblem always when you ride for Honda. Everybody always knows that if you won on a Honda, the Honda was a big reason for it. I think he wanted to escape that also. Q A 40th Anniversary HOW clos e are yo u to t he factory? Were you aware t he new e ngine was coming ? I knew what they were doing, what the plan was . ~ far as when they were actually going to put it on the racetrack and have him ride it, that's a decision that gets made as circumstances unfold. I just knew what they were doing, what they were designing and when they decided to change. I knew all that from what was going on . As far as when they were going to test it with Rossi, I didn't know when that was going to happen. I'm not close enough to the team to know what they do daily. I know the big plan and how they come to the big plan and how they execute the plan. I get brought in, and I just know some of the key stuff, and it gets run by me, and I keep it to myself and it gets done. Like th is thing with [Colin] Edwards, I didn't know too much about it. What was going on there? I do know what riders they were looking at . T he y were lo oking at Nicky Hayden , weren't t hey? I know for a fact they were. I'm not in daily co ntact with the m enough, and I'm not asked wha t exactly I think about some of the riders that are already there. We can see by turning the TV on what the riders do . But I'm not at the racetrack, so I don't know how they prepare , and the re's so much that you need to know on Q A Q A

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