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/128386
right, but in some cases it isn't. It then means additional development of the AMA project, which takes time, which takes resources. Like you said, there is a pecking order. I knew that anyway. And I'm not complaining - I did know that. It just takes a bit longer than you'd hoped. You hope that you could turn something around in a month, but it takes three. That's just the way it is. Acceleration seems to be the biggest problem. Out of the slower corners, when you come out of a first-gear corner and you accelerate hard, up first to fourth gear, we're definitely losing out on the Suzukis and the Hondas. Then once we get into fourth, fifth and sixth, the bike's as fast as anything, and actual speed trap figures look pretty impressive. We're not lacking too much in that area. That's the main thing, just that little bit of acceleration, that little bit of power out of the slower turns - which unfortunately, is quite a lot, because the way the American tracks are they're slightly different to the European ones. It is more catered to the tight, twisty circuits. What do you think of the tracks so far? Mixed feelings, good and bad, some that I really liked and really taken to straight away and some that I've not really liked too much. Most of the tracks that I've been on, even Barber, when I first went there I didn't really gel with the place and I didn't really like the place too much, but when I went to the race, I enjoyed it. Certainly next year, some of the tracks I weren't too keen on I'll probably relax a bit haVing already raced a season on them. And you learn from your mistakes, so hopefully haVing learned from my mistakes this year, I'll enjoy the circuits a little bit more. At the moment, it's a bit of a 50-50 split: Some I've really enjoyed, and some I've not been too keen on. Which ones have you enjoyed? Well, I enjoyed Barber. I really enjoyed Sears Point. I loved Road America. Loved VIR, where we've just been. I quite like Mid-Ohio, even though it took me a bit to get used to that place. The ones I've not liked so much are Daytona, Fontana and Pikes Peak - the three sort of speedways I've not really got on with. It's really alien to what I'm used to. I'm not looking for excuses and not looking for someone to say, "Poor Neil." It's just different to what I've been used to. I've been racing for nearly 15 years, and it's like a new discipline almost. One of your comments you made at Fontana was the difference to World Superbike was that you don't have red flags and don't race through traffic cones. I wasn't haVing a go, I was just trying to paint a picture of "this is the difference." It's quite a big difference. When you came over, you came over to win the championship. At what point did you think, or have you thought, that's going to be more difficult than originally thought? I originally thought it was going to be difficult. If I'd have come with a different attitude, I'd have been doing Ducati and myself an injustice. So I did come with the attitude that I'm going to throw everything I can at it. I'm here to win. Probably after the second round, after Barber, I sort of realized then that it was going to be a tall order, let's say. It was going to be difficult. I never lost hope. I'm still pushing hard. In a bizarre sort of way, I've still not given up hope. Because I'm fourth in the championship, I feel if 40 JULY 13, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS I can just get a run on and Mat [Mladin] could have some bad luck, stranger things have happened. I still have not given up. As you can see, it's not easy. If the AMA put you in charge for a day, what would you change? I'd make sure all the manufacturers were at least racing in the same series - I'd get that sorted out straight away - and all the top-named riders were racing against each other. I'd seriously look at advertising and promotion at each of the events. I think the promotion's not so good. I don't see much promotion going on, hence the crowds seem pretty poor. It's the chicken and the egg: People say that motorcycling's not that popular, it's never going to happen, is it? It's not going to happen by luck. People aren't going to just stumble across it. I think the promotion could be a little bit better. Safety of the tracks has sort of surprised me. I really did come into the series thinking, "It's going to be tough this year because you're going to race on really dangerous circuits and you're going to have to just get on with it, Neil." I've been surprised. It's definitely, definitely safer than the UK. Definitely. If you take Daytona out of the reckoning, everywhere else has been a pleasant surprise. There're not many corners where you have to hold your breath. You haven't been to Road Atlanta yet. Is that quite a dodgy one? I'm sort of waiting for these dodgy tracks to appear - like I said, I just came back from VIR. That's not dangerous. Those are the two things I'd definitely change off the top of my head. And I'd definitely try and up the qualification as well, just to maybe lose five or six riders. No disrespect to them, but they're at the wrong event. They should be at a lower event. It doesn't make the series any stronger, and it doesn't make the race any more attractive haVing someone ride around 10 seconds off the pace. And I'm not having a go at the backmarkers, but they're literally on standard bikes and standard tires and standard fuel. You're not really expecting them to do much more, but they shouldn't be in the number-one USA event, the AMA Superbike Series, as strong a class as that - they shouldn't be getting on the same track as that at the same time. You've said that you think laguna Seca will be about the time you'll know what you're doing next year. I'll definitely know more that weekend. I'm in negotiations with Ducati. I'll be haVing some meetings at Laguna Seca, and then the weeks running after that, hopefully, decisions will be made. Not only my decision, but other people's decisions will be made, so I'll know exactly what's happening. But I'm 90-percent su re I want to stay because I want to get the most of what I've learned this year. I've enjoyed being in America. I've found the racing frustrating because I want to do better. The only way I can put that right is by staying next year and getting my head down and really make something happen. To me, it feels really similar to when I went back to the British Championship in '99. Coming off a pretty bad season, sort of struggled a little bit and got plenty of podiums, but never looked like a title contender, really. And then a year after haVing sort of relearned the English tracks, really stepped up my game and managed to win the championship. That's sort of how I'm feeling about next year already. I'm feeling like I'm obViously going to be coming so much more prepared and really, really looking forward to trying to win the championship. Are you worried that the Ducati is going to be that much farther behind? Yeah. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worrying about that. But you can only put faith in what people are telling you. If people are saying we are going to improve things, things will get better, then I believe them. You seem to have taken to laguna Beach. It's hard not to. It is hard not to. You know, I've really missed friends and family from home. That has, in fact, been a little bit harder on me than I thought it was going to me. But living here, you do feel like, it is something of a cliche living in paradise, but it's really, really beautiful. It is really, really nice. And my wife's really settled down and, obViously, I've got a family with my daughter. So everybody's settled down. Now I go back to England at the end of July, and I'm sort of now looking forward to going back to England to sort a lot of things out. But the prospect of coming back here next year is brilliant. There were so many unknowns last year, because we didn't know what Laguna Beach was going to be like. We didn't know what the racing was going to be like. To come back next year, I'll definitely be so much better prepared, even just coming and renting a place here and it being so easy. It's going to be an exciting winter. I'm looking forward to it. 01