Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Alex Criville another rider, Luca Cadalora, and was forced to ride with second-level Michelin tires. He crashed a lot (four times at Laguna Seca and was also involved in the four-rider crash at Yugoslavia that ended Reinholt Roth's career) and learned a lot, and left Agostini as soon as he could, rejoining JJ-Cobas to ride a prototype Cobas machine with an underpowered RS250 Honda engine. His best results over those two seasons were a couple of fifth places, but with no offers forthcoming for works machinery in 250cc racing, he suddenly got the biggest break of his career at the end of the 1991 season when two-time 250cc World Champion Sito Pons decided to retire after a crash-prone two years in 500cc racing. Success came quickly for Criville on the new "big bang" version of the Honda NSR. He was third in only his third race (at Malaysia's Shah Alam) and won in his eighth ride. Criville's comments on that win at Assen in 1992 are revealing and give us an insight into the realistic approach that he takes to his racing. "The race I won in Assen was a bit of a mirage," he said. "[Wayne] believes that a series of big pre-season crashes were the result of his lack of concentration. He won at Jerez, but was unable to live with Doohan for the rest of the season. The Australian, now using an up-dated version of the old man-eating "screamer" engine, won the next 10 in a row before being beaten on the last lap in Indonesia by Okada. Criville's season was ruined by a terrible hand injury in qualifying in Assen, but five races and two operations later he was back, ending the season on a strong note with a fourth, two thirds and a win. The win came in the final round at Phillip Island and did a lot to restore confidence in him because he saw Doohan make an unforced error, throwing away a race that he had in the bag when he was leading Criville by seven seconds. Doohan began the 1998 season by crashing out of the Japanese Grand Prix, a race that Max Biaggi won in his debut on the Kanemoto Honda. Criville took his fkst win in round three at Jerez and backed that up two races later with a win at Paul Ricard. With Doohan annoyed by the change to unleaded fuel which made the NSR, he said, "a big 250" suitable for a rookie like Biaggi, Criville was in an ideal position to strike, especially when Biaggi knocked Doohan off the track on the opening lap at the Grand Prix of the Community of Madrid at Jarama. But that day saw Criville make an unforced error of his own, as he ran into the gravel at the end of the straight in an attempt to get past eventual winner Carlos Checa. Criville was the faster rider on the faster bike and should have won that day. He went away realizing he had, as he said, "ridden like a novice." He was still very much in the thick of the three-rider battle for the crown after Doohan crashed out of the GP of the Czech Republic, but Criville's promising season ended on a low note when he crashed out of the final race in Buenos Aires to hand Biaggi the runner-up slot. Coming into the 1999 season, those closest to Criville noticed a change. Crew chief Bigot summed it up this way: "What made me realize that Alex was mentally prepared for 1999 was the way he went about testing in Jerez in November after the '98 season ended. All of a sudden I was seeing a different Alex. From that session on he has kept his focus and his optimism, which he certainly needed down through the final races this year." Kenny Roberts Jr. Rainey had flown home injured, [Wayne] Gardner was out with injury, [Mick] Doohan was badly injured in practice and then [Eddie] Lawson and [Kevin] Schwantz crashed at the start of the race. I won and beat John Kocinski, but with so many top riders out I knew I had been lucky and that it would be a while before I was on top of the podium again. But I also knew in my heart that I would win again and that I would fight for the 500cc title some day." By the end of his second season, however, Criville was convinced that he needed full works support if he was ever to become a title contender. Honda Spain paved the way for his inclusion in the works HRC team, then un-sponsored, and his presence as teammate to Doohan and Shinichi Itoh was the deciding factor in bringing Repsol sponsorship. Doohan did not rate Criville very highly and publicly urged HRC to replace him with Anthony Gobert. ("That's one time I guess I was lucky they paid me no mind," s~id the Australian in an interview this winter. "But I think that got Alex's attention. I was telling him that he needed to step up his game. A teammate who doesn't challenge you doesn't give the team much help improving the bikes. ") By 1996 Criville had learned enough from Doohan to beat him twice at consecutive Grands Prix, in Austria and the Czech Republic. He was so obsessed with getting out of Doohan's shadow that he T -boned Mick on the next-to-last corner of the last lap at the Australian GP at the end of '96, and to this day says it was a calculated risk and one that, under those circumstances, he would repeat. Showing that he is not perhaps so bland as he is made out to be, he once told me with a twinkle in his eye, "besides I beat him at his home track that day to make up for his beating me at mine earlier in the year." (True enough, because Criville got up first and remounted to take sixth, two places ahead of the champion.) The 1997 season was a hard one for Criville. The year started with him rushing home from IRTA tests in Australia just in time to hold his father's hand on his deathbed. The Criville family is very closely knit, and the loss of his father, Josep, was a severe jolt. His crew chief Gilles Bigot cycle n Roberts no time for glory Turning now to Roberts, we see that his run to the top has no championships, no big wins, no moments of glory. And that is because he was always on to the next level as soon as possible. e _ os; • FEBRUARY 23. 2000 29

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