Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

raced for any kind of a championship. I don't th ink he's ever raced for a Ducados Open Champio nship. Th is is his first time. And racing for a championship down to the wire, normally when you get to MotoGp, you've won two or three championships throughout your career. That is really a differe nce . It gets you wondering abo ut what happened here? How did Sete escape not ever winning a championship and the n racing for the World Championship? It's quite backwards. Q W ha t is it about Rossi that makes him so special? He 's obviously fast all the time, every session, every practice. I th ink when he puts his he lmet on, he's a full-on racer. Wher e he 's differ e nt from past champions is that he 's an entertainer too. He' s bee n able to e nte rtain off th e track and do his antics that create a lot of interest, which has really helped create people who like mot orcycles at a much younger age. Kids now are wa lking around with Rossi's shirts on just because of his antics . The way he talks, the tone of his voice... He looks like he really enjoys his racing. And he enjoys the entertainment. I think if somebody challenged him for a champi onship and beat him more than what is currently be ing done, I think that would change a little bit. You can only come up with that stuff if you 're successful at what you do. And he 's been able to pull all this stuff off. I'm really surprised that some of the se guys didn't get a lot closer. I thought Nicky [Hayde n] and Col in [Edwards] would be much , much close r th is year. Like I said, I'm not there, I'm not close enough to know. What I do know, whatever shortfall a motorcycle has, these guys should have been good enough to get it a lot closer than they were. I th ink from some o f the stuff that I read that even they're con fused why they're not closer. Rossi's just on top of it. When he has actually got his helmet on and racing, he races how you should. He also makes it fun when he's off the bike. I think that's just because of the way he's been able to race and approach it and the success he's having; it' s all working really well for him right now. But I th ink some of that wo uld change if somebody was putting it to him a bit more. DO you think there 's any hope for any of the Q other guys as long as he's a r o u nd? A Doesn't look that way. I know Sete ... just watching this #-\last race at Phillip Island. Sete should have wo n this race. Rossi made a couple of mistakes on the last lap and he still beat Sete. He 's just got Sete beat . And Rossi knows going in that he can just about blow on him and Sete will fold. It just so happens that Sete is the only guy that has the speed to take somewhat of a challenge to him. Mentally , he's much weaker than Rossi is. It's really some thing. A that side what's going on . And you've got to be there for that , and I'm not there and I don't want to be there. W h Ydo you think Rossi was able to turn th ings Q around so quickly? How much do you attr ibute to Jeremy Burgess and how much to Ross i? A Most of it to Rossi. I'd say 9S percent of it to Rossi, Mbecause racing mo to rcycles are 50 muc h d ifferent than racing cars , and we 're talking about motorsports. Knowing what I know abo ut cars, because I do a little bit of it, and know ing what I know about motorcycles, because I did a little bit of that too, I know the rider has so much more of the outcome if the bike is good or bad - what the rider does with that . And Rossi, com ing from a good bike , coming from Honda, it was the best bike out there. When they put him on the Yamaha, I thought he would perform and be dominant with it right away. Because I know what it takes to ride to make up the diffe re nce of shortfall of a motorcycle, I didn't th ink the Yamaha was that far behind . When you've 230 or 240 horsepower, there's not that much difference, because the re's on ly so much a tire can acce pt. I knew he was going to make up any shortfalls that Yamaha brought. Rossi is just way ahead of the cur rent generation that's out there. If you look at what [Sete] Gibe rnau's done in his career, I think this is the first time in his career, that I'm aware of, tha t he's ever in his career Q W ha t about Max Biaggi? A I don't know. He couldn 't beat Sete, and I thought .fIoo'Max would be much closer to at least Sete , if not Valentino, than he was. I th ink Max struggles with setup of the bike. He can't ride aro und some of the problems that kee p you from going fast. That's where Sere's be en the best Honda guy. He 's been able to be the most con sisten t guy with the package tha t Hond a provides . He 's been the most succes sful guy for those guys. www.cyclenews.com I thought for sure Colin would be much, much closer that he was this year. I thought Nickywould and I thought Max would . With Sete be ing the guy at Honda, the most consistent guy, I didn't think that would happen. Ge tting back to Yam aha. why do you think Q they didn't make a move sooner? Why did they stick with the guys they had for so long? A I think management... they always kind of chase the ",""ponsor and let the sponsor dictat e who the riders were. They weren't able to in the past, for whatever reason, obvious ly from uppe r management, they never said, "Go beat Honda." After getting beat by Honda for 12 years , you e ithe r go rac ing to beat them or stay behind. So they looked at the whole prog ra m and they thou ght , "O kay, we're going to have a much diffe rent approac h to how we go MotoGP racing." And I know all the other racing activities they had in Japan were can celed . Whe n they decided to go get Valentino and go beat Honda, they just focused on that , and a lot of othe r programs stopped . And everyone was tuned to focus on making this Moto GP bike the best bike out there. And they knew also they had to get the best ride r. And if Honda's got the best guy, they're not going to bea t him with just a motorcycle. You have to have the best rider too. I th ink Lin Jarvis had a lot of input in that . I think just by years gone by and how they were successful in my era and why they weren't successfu l since I raced and now they are . I th ink if you want to win, you' re going to have to have the best guys on the bike, because you're not always going to have the best bike. I think Y amaha just decided to win. DO you think the balance of power has now s hifted ? Q A If Rossi stays healthy and his mo tivation stays high, """'e 'li be on top - he 'll be very difficult to beat. Motorcycle racing, there's no guarantee in this thing because you just neve r know. You make a little, tiny mistake and yo u break a bone, and tha t could you sit out a race . All you have to do is miss one race , tw o races, and the n you're not World Champion. Moto rcycle racing is always going to be wha t it is - that's why it's always exciting, because who's going to win it until they've actually wo n the championship? Q ROSSi'S never been seriously injured. A He 's been very successful with not many injuries , .Hand he's hit the ground hard. He's gone down hard in his career. You look at [Carlos] Checa - there's not many guys that have fall en more than him. And he's still wa lking around and everything's working . Y just never ou know. It always happens when you least expect it. You just hope and pray that nothing happens to any of the riders. That's just something that no ride r can predict, how you end up after a fall, because none of us ever know. You just hope you always get up and walk around. I can only go by what I did. Most of the time I got up and walked around, but one time I didn't . I just hope that Rossi can stay healthy and when he dec ides he's had e nough that he wa lks away fro m the sport in on e piece , as all riders want to do at the en d of their careers. eN CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 3, 2004 27

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