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/128396
Corser Should you win overall this year, and it looks likely, how much will this go towards healing the memory of Sugo 1998, when you fell in warmup and lost the title? I just had to finish the races to win that year. It would be nice to get back there. It's been such a long time since I won it that it could feel like I haven't won it before. And I think it is as big still as it was back then. It's just different riders, that's all. Different names. The quality of the racing and competitiveness is the same, if not better. Chris Vermeulen did himself a big favor finishing second in the 8-Hour with Katsuaki Fujiwara. Did Suzuki ask you to do it at any stage? Patricia Batta told them that the team didn't want me to do it, because they just wanted to concentrate on World Superbike. That's why Yukio did it. What about Yukio, do you still work well together? He has his little things that I don't know about, and I have mine - for example, his head angle - but that's okay. I have mine, and he has his, and I work with mine. At Monza this year, as an example, before the first race I had not tested the brakes I had used in the first race. I had been using vented discs, which I had been struggling with. Yukio had been using standard discs, and I asked him, ''Are these all right?" And he said, "I think they will be okay." He could have said, "No they are terrible." So it works great. How bad are Petronas this year? I think they are at the same level as last year, but there are five or six other bikes out there that are faster than them in a straight line. They might not have as good riders on them as Petronas have. I think Steve Martin and Garry McCoy are good riders, better than most of the guys finishing in front of them. I understand their position. You ride your arse off against guys who you wouldn't be with if... Gaz [McCoy] wouldn't be getting taken out by Uose-Luis] Cardoso because he wouldn't be anywhere near Cardoso. It's scary for a top-level rider to be that far down - racing against guys that are not that good of riders. What are your plans for the future? Well. I have a two-year deal with Suzuki. I would like to have a go on a MotoGP bike, sure, and it would be nice to have a test, but it just seems like you have to be a young kid to get a ride. Chris [Vermuelen] will be there for sure within a couple of years. They are all breeding their young riders from within. I don't think they look here too much because of the age, but there are only five or six of us over here who are in their late 20s and early 30s. I don't think I'm too old to go there, but I do reckon I'm too old for anyone who might want to employ me. Maybe just for a year. I would want to be on something competitive, and over there you have to be in one of two or three teams. That's it. Valentino's [Rossi] team or one of the top Honda teams. Look at where Ruben [Xaus] or [Troy] Bayliss are racing round in. I'd rather be here racing up front and put in a position where you are going to finish. How far have we come in the nine years since your last championship win, in terms of safety and rider power? We've gone back a bit if anything. You can look around, there are lots of places with no Airfence. Even 44 SEPTEMBER 21, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS in the last three or four rounds [before Brands Hatch] I haven't seen any Airfence, just hay bales with white paint on them. Where is the Airfence? It's a protective fence made for bike racing. It's just expense, or organization, and they should be on top of that. As for riders having a say, it's not possible. It was easier back a few years ago, because the riders were a bit more powerful than the organizers. Now it's swayed around a bit. Now we are doing what they tell us to do. I've been pushing to have a riders' representative for us riders here - for track safety, amenities, whatever. The organizers have said no, they do not want it to happen. Giulio Bardi is the team representative, but he works for FGSport, and he just tells us what they say and takes back our comments to them. He's just a message man, a little bit. How about the status of the series compared to MotoGP? The perception is that MotoGP is now just huge and has left Superbike behind. I think in terms of on-track spectators, there is probably not that much difference now. I think because Valentino has been so dominant and our racing has had lots more different riders and bikes on the podium, our championship is coming back up again. GPs are always going to have the label of the top premier class, and it is - you can't say it is not. I think by next year this will have grown more, the interest is grown, partly because of the input of Francis and Patricia and Corona - marketing it right and doing advertising and publicity, doing all that stuff which you have to do. If you really want to do it, you have to make a little bit less. How Flammini works is to make as much as they can every weekend. I think that's why MotoGP works a little bit better. Dorna and IRTA are both trying to control the market, but they are helping each other to do it. eN What. Troy Think§ of t.he Re§t. Chris Vermeulen - Winston Ten Kate Honda Chris is probably the toughest one out there; he's got more natural talent than any other competitor. Chris for sure is going to give me the hardest time this year. Noriyuki as well - but more those two than Laconi and Toseland. If Chris reminds me of anyone, it's me - although he backs it in a lot more than I do, a little bit too much sometimes. He's got the consistency and ability, he just needs to use it in the right way. He's only young. Noriyuki Haga •Yamaha Motor Italia Yukio Kagayama • Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki James Toseland - Ducati Xerox Obviously, James is a good rider, but he blows hot and cold and some days he just seems to struggle. A bit like [Pier-Francesco] Chili - he can be fast on any day if he's feeling right. James always seems to have troubles in his team, but that shouldn't affect him on the bike. That stuff shouldn't affect your performance on track. And the Other Bikes... I think the handling of the Ducatis is what's letting them down at the moment. The Kawasaki and Yamaha chassis has come a long way - look at Chris Walker up there recently. That's a strong indication of how things have gone. We concentrate on getting the bike set up on old tires, to the point where sometimes we only use one or two tires in a whole practice session. So when I put a new tire on, I know I can go a bit faster but that we can maintain our pace at the end of the race. Our start pace in the race is quicker than everyone else, but we can carry it on to the end. So people like Chris take a while to get going then match our lap times later on. So we don't get slower, he just gets faster.