Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

he was going to be a lot bigger help for me than he was. Your team's going to be different next year. Maybe, we might bring in a new data-acquisition guy. Right now, we really don't have one guy that's part of the team who does data. It's all from the HRC side. So they might bring in a guy. I definitely feel like me and the team came a long way. I think he's only going to get better, my crew chief Pete [Benson]. The dude's not scared to do some work. He's done an awesome job, but I think as the year goes on, he's getting better and better and definitely understanding me and his whole position. That's a big role, now, that he's stepped into. And I think that's one of the areas where I've gotten better this year... just getting the bike more set up for me. Last year, I just didn't click with the team. We made some changes and just wasn't my kind of guys in there. Trevor [MorriS] was an awesome guy. but they were just really laid back. And when we had a bad race they were more, "Yeah, brush it off, we'll go down to the pub, have a few drinks." And I'm, like, wanting to break something, go to the gym, do some intervals. It's just not my style. Awesome guys, good guys, but this year they definitely believe in me getting behind me. You've got to believe your guys would be ready to step out in front of a bus for you, if that's what it took. Were you reluctant to speak up in 2004? A little bit. Everything was new. I didn't maybe stand up enough and make things happen. I fell into the routine. That's all behind me now. That's old news. Rossi has said that you're comfortable throwing the bike around, but that it doesn't work everywhere. These bikes, 250 horsepower and whatever they weigh, you're not going to muscle them around. You've got to finesse these things. There might be situations where you throw the bike around a bit, but for the most part, you're better off being smooth and going in that direction. What about late in the race? That's my fault. When I crashed out of Jerez [the second round] late in the race, Igot a lot of heat for it. I hadn't really lost touch, but then a couple of times this year at the end, like Turkey, I was kind of on the edge and thought better safe to bring it home. Earlier in the year, I had a big problem as the race went on - I was getting a lot of chatter. And we changed some stuff in the forks that we think was causing the front tire to go off a lot worse and causing a lot of the chatter and now it's a lot better. Do you rely too much on the rear brake? Honestly, now, I know it looks like it, but I don't use the rear brake that much. On the data even - especially in the race - when I get in the race, I don't hardly use it at all. I got a big brake on there and everybody thinks it's so big to slow me down. But it works less than a small brake. It's just big, so it doesn't get hot. It's not that strong. The reason we got it on there is so that I can push a lot. When I did push a lot, like sometimes in qualifying with my qualifier, I use it a lot and it don't get hot. Some people stand on the fence and think they look in and know everything, but some of them ain't got a clue. You're not backing it in much. For sure. I try not to back it in at all. I don't do that on purpose. I know it ain't the fast way. Sometimes you get in the spot, maybe making a pass. It may look cool sometimes, but I know it ain't the way to win races. When did you realize that? I've always known that. One of the problems in the race is, I get sucked in to try to make up too much time on the brakes. Looks like the ~ way in to hard braking, so I just leave it on a little longer and just back it in and it works sometimes, but over a whole race distance it won't get it. In Australia, you mentioned Rossi had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve. Just the way he tried to slow the pace down to change it up to get away. I mean, I think he wasn't going to be able to drop me by putting down faster laps there. He would've had to go a lot faster to get rid of me. He knew what he was dOing, get Marco [Melandri] and [Carlos] Checa, and they are two guys who are going to race you, and that's all he needed. He seems to get on the center of the tire quite early. The way he finishes the corner is where it comes from. He really gets it to steer around the corner and try to lift it up. I think it really starts with corner entry. They get into the corner really smooth, and get a lot of their turning done early so that it's easy to finish the corner and get it picked up. The way these bikes are, you've got to get it turned and get it picked up, even if you give up something in the middle - especially on the Honda. You said tires made a huge difference. Just going around the corners, you can adjust the suspension a little bit, and it sure helps to get around the corner, but you can only go around the comers as fast as you have grip for. You get a little bit of grip on a 17-eorner track and you'll go around the corners faster and more consistent. That's where a lot of time comes from. eN CYCLE NEWS • JANUARY 4,2006 S7

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