Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Josh Hayes has been through hell and back since a crash on Daytona International Speedway's east banking in 2000 put his career in serious jeopardy with ner'Ie damage to his arm. Five ~ later, Hayes is headed back to Erion Honda with a twoyear deal after a couple of impressive seasons on the Attack Kawasaki Superbike (his best flflish a third place at the rainy Road America round and a ninth 0IIef'aI1 in this year's championship). We caught up with Hayes at Willow Springs a day prior to his third consecutive Toyota 200 victory. co: What is your deal for next season? joshhayes: I'm going to be going back to Erion Honda, after riding there in 2000. We're going to do Formula Xtreme and Superstoek. so I'll get to ride the new 1000 [CBR IOOORR]. It looks like we'll get a lot of support from Honda because we won't be competing with the factory team. I'm really excited to get out there and fly the flag for them again. co: What are your expectations for next year? joshhayes: Win everything, so that everyone is begging me to ride their factory Superbikes [laughs]. That's the plan. I think 21 race wins, since we don't ride Formula Xtreme at Laguna would be a good start (laughs]. co: Will you miss riding in the superblke class? joshhayes: Absolutely. That was the hardest thing about the deal to me. I feel like I have so much unfinished business in Superbike. I was able to beat those guys on a lot of occasions on a factory-supported team bike. I really wanted some factory equipment. This is racing, this is what I do, and Iwant to show the world what Ican do and that I can race with those Superbike guys. I've raced with every one of them in other classes. That's the premier class. That's where you want to be. If I do my job well here, the goal is to get there. en: Is there anything written into your contract about getting a shot at a superblke again? joshhayes: No, I don't think there is anything written. Not that I know of, anyway. Just knowing Honda, and what a great family they are, they tend to reward the riders who do well for them. Every rider that has done well for them has later got an opportunity. I'm hoping that the same goes my way. co: Were you happy with your results In 2OOS? joshhayes: It was a very, very tough year: We had so many issues early in the year with mechanicals. I can't even say early in the year... up until the last two rounds. We just had issue after issue after issue. It really made it hard. If nothing else, I hope that people saw that I was mentally strong because of all the stuff I had to deal with. I rode as hard as I could everywhere we went. I had one key mistake when I took out Neil [Hodgson] at Laguna. That was 100 percent my fault Other than that, it was just a lot of mechanicals that not only hurt me, but the team. co: Are you disappointed that now that you're leaving Kawasaki, they are going to race Superblke? joshhayes: For sure there is a bit of a sting to that I didn't even get offered an opportunity. I tried really hard for that company for two years. I would have liked to go out and ride their factory Superbike and see what I could do. You know this [Erion Honda] is going to be a good opportunity for me to go out and win a lot of races. That helps me, that helps me financially. I get to put some coin in my pocket if I go out there and win races and championships for these guys. Hopefully this will be a steppingstone into big things. cn: WhErE do you want to be two years from now? joshhayes: I sure wouldn't mind being on a factory Honda Superbike. Hopefully I'll do my job and that's where they'll put me. I like to be on a factory Superbike and going out there and doing that job, just like Miguel [Duhamel] has done. I'd be happy doing six to eight years riding a Superbike, just like he's done. Maybe that'll happen. Who knows? 8/ake Canner Mick Doohan: On Rossi hopeful Casey Stoner would soon get the chance to move up to MotoGP. en: Has the path to the premier class changed from starting out on Superbikes to coming up with the l25s and 2SOs? Mick Doohan wasn't racing in his home Grand Prix, but he had plenty to do. And he was the center of some small amount of attention because Valentino Rossi was inching up on his record of 54 premierclass wins. Only Giacomo Agostini, with 68, has more. Despite no longer working for Honda, Doohan remains intimately involved with the sport and its riders. He was glad to see fellow Aussie Chris Vermeulen get a shot on the Camel Honda and was mickdoohan: In a way, the Superbike championship has stopped that in a way, really. And then everyone was just focused on the 125 and 250 route. And then now, again, because of the sponsors or similar sponsors in 250 and MotoGP, so I think that helps transition with [Dani] Pedrosa and Valentino [Rossi] and Max [Biaggi] and all these sort of things. Years ago, it used to be on your results. Now it's more on what sort of wallet do you have. Taking nothing away from the riders, it's just keeping the money in the paddock, so to speak. cn: Will chasing records keep Valentino Rossi racing? mickdoohan: I don't think so. It's a bit like me when I was racing. It's good to achieve, but what do they mean? At the end of the day, you're winning because you want to win. You're not winning to go, "Geez, how happy am I now? I've got more wins than him now." At the end of the day, it doesn't make you sleep any better. Definitely, if he continues to ride - he's 26 years old - if he doesn't go Formula I, which is a lot of hype I believe, he can race another nine years or so, really, or until he just burns himself out. So he can surpass not only myself, which he more than likely will do this season, then '~go" in a couple of years. en: He's said he needs a target. mickdoohan: Definitely. Especially after a long season, and he's won the title already. But you hop on the motorcycle, you don't want to come in and finish second. It's easier to win than finish second. Mentally, it's easier. To roll off a bit, first of all, you're going to put yourself in a dangerous position, and you're just going to beat yourself up mentally. It's just easier. His motivation. He must be enjoying it, also. Because if he's not enjoying it, he's not going to win. The same thing, sure, I used to find the more you'd win, it was good while you were going and then you'd go away for a break and it was almost harder to get back into it. cn: The title of his autobiography is "What If I Had Never Tried It: referring to the switch from Honda to Yamaha. mlckdoohan: At the end of the day, everyone wanted a Honda, everyone had a Honda. It's not like there was a question mark even. Everyone said we need a Honda to beat Mick. There were times that we almost went there. At that point in time, Honda was still more motivated to race than Yamaha was. At the end of the day, racing is 9O-percent mental and the motorcycles, you sort of move yourself and change how it all works, and I think you put Valentino on a Suzuki and he'd do quite well. It comes down to the rider being able to... when things start to go off or go a bit soft, then they move themselves around like Kevin [Schwantz] used to do. The Suzuki was not always the best bike: He'd never moan about it. He was always on the, podium if not winning.

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