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/128617
Carlos Checa a rac e th is year, Checa 's cons iste ncy and four out of s ix ro strum finish es have h im t ied for firs t in th e cha mpionsh ip with two -t ime ra c e win ner Kenn y Robe rts Jr. after the Italia n GP, where I s poke to h im for th is interv iew. Two weeks later, his ho me race was on th e way , where he m ight reasonably expect a good result · Barcelona is , aft er all, the track where he recorded th e first of his two GP wins. And on to p of all that , Checa has become , by de fau lt, Ya m a ha 's to p ride r. Where last yea r it was Max Biaggi who m ade the runn ing , th is year the Ital ian has managed somehow to pile one misfortune upon an othe r, with a string of non -finishes , including one ig n o mi nio us fa ilur e a fter he crashed o n th e warm -up lap. It is no wonder that Checa is ba sk ing in his newfound status. Part of the luxur y is to find log ical reasons for all the ups and downs . To be fair , this is not so difficult. Ch ec a 's c a re er slump was s urely triggered by tha t catastrophic 1998 pra ctice c ra s h at Don ington • he walked awa y, but late r co lla psed with intern a l injuries a nd was rus hed to ho s pi ta l whe re h is sp leen was removed . Soon aft er th at he suffe red more medica l co m p lica tions with so me sort of a stroke , which left him blind a nd partially paralyzed for a lmost 24 hou rs. His recove ry was remarkabl e eno ugh - he was ba ck on the track be fo re th e e nd of the season , but he was B Y M ICHA EL S COT T P HOT OS BY G O LD [, G OO SE "A n e w ma n? F o r m e , t he only c h ange is the results , the consi stency, and tec hnically the bike . But it is true that many things have changed. I have more confidence, and a better feeling - I am more relaxed and calm. That means I can think differently - more about tactics, and race position, and which tire I can use or not. Before I was just thinking about tech nical problems, more than the rac e, and mentally it was not right. So now I am more relaxed and mo re confident, and in a good po sition in the cha mpionship and in the team. For sure, insid e, I am much better. " That's Carlos Checa s peaking , and with a rela xed a nd co mfo rta b le s mi le . Outside he is much better too. In 1998 , Checa ende d thre e -plus ye a rs on th e Honda after a crash in the Briti s h GP that ca m e c lose to le a ving h im pa ralyzed and blind , or e ve n worse . In 1999 he joined the fact or y Yama ha te am , on ly to spend the ye a r as a crash magnet - at lea st 24 spills in tests , practice and in ra ce s that not on ly ruined a ny ch ampion sh ip pretensions , it also m ade him someth ing of a laughing stock in racing . Now, as the s eason a p p roac he s its m id -p oint , things c ould hardl y be d ifferent. Although yet to win 26 JUNE 1 4 , 2000' cu e • e n e vv s still not on top for m , and it too k a consi de ra ble ac t of faith from Yamaha to s ign h im on , aft e r neg ot iations with fo rm e r facto ry team bo ss Wa yn e Ra ine y that had begun conside ra bly befor e the crash. The pro blems ha d a numbe r of re ason s . On e was that he was suffering from "ra cer' s wrist " - ca rpal tunnel s yndrome - that plagued him all last sea son. "At Assen and Pau l Rica rd last yea r, after morning warm-up , I couldn 't open up my hand ," Checa expla ins . "T he worst was in Germany, at the Sachsenring. If you wa tch the ta pe o f that race , I was flicking my left hand all the wa y down the straight e ve ry lap. During the winter I had su rgery. Now it is perfect · no problem." The n there was a problem with the bike . Th e way th e chass is was set up was completely the opposite of what Checa ne e d ed , and it see med t ha t all the deve lop me nt wo rk was goi ng th e way of the team 's ot her rider. "Ma x [Biagg i] has a ve ry good sty le - he takes a ve ry fast co rnering line, and he is very stro ng whe n he is rid ing alo ne ," Checa said. "But he wa nted the bik e a c ertai n way , and it was no t good or me . The main th ing was the front fee ling . Max to ld Yamaha he wanted a mo re solid front , a nd I to ld them the o pposite , th at I wanted it m or e flexibl e a t the rea r. He tried a c hass is in te s ts tha t he liked , though at