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_ · · · the next race at lmola he we nt back to the o ld chas sis again. Last year we did many th ings like that t ry something , then go back aga in , a nd aga in . Always around the same problem. Last year we had a lo t of compromise at Yamaha , with c hassis and tires. Overall, the Yamaha was not good. "If I am Yamaha , I can understand that they want ed to follow Max Biaggi's direction. But I am Carlos Checa, and so I don't want to understand. I started testing later than Max la s t year, and my physica l condition was not 100 percent. I had changed bikes from the Honda, and gone to a different team with a d ifferent la ng ua ge . Many things were different, and for sure I needed time to adapt. But I knew for sure that what works on the bike for him does not work for me." Checa pauses as he recalls the d ifficu lties . His perspective now is comfortable, of course, s ince he is secure in the te a m, and a ll these tro u ble s are behind him. It's easier to see how much m o re confident he has become, all the more so because of his much -improved En g lish, a fter a ye ar in a team in which E n g lis h is the ma in language and during which he took private language tuiti on whenever he could. "Last year was for s ure the worst of my life ," he said. "Many t imes I was fe e ling bad , but I had to race. I am a professional rid er, no? I would have to start with t h e b ike with someth ing that was not right, and I d idn 't know if I would crash or not. But if l did not crash - maybe that was because I was going too slow . To finish 10 th a lso did not fee l right. Somet imes it is worse than c rashing because I didn 't do my best, I didn't push 10 0 percent. I always tried to do my best - and sometimes to o much. I wa nte d to demonstrate to Yamaha and the te a m that I was a ble to d o these things, but the bike wa s not rig ht." The la ck of confidence led to a downwa rd spiral. "Ridin g bikes is more emotional or mental than p hysical. When you a re feeling we ll wit h the bike , yo u don't get tired . U ke boxing - if you are confi dent, it goes easy. " By the end of the season, Checa was a nything but happy. Then Yam aha inv ited Biaggi to Ja pan to te st th e s ing le -crankshaft bike at S uzuka. Ch eca wa s le ft o ut. He felt at his lowest e bb , a nd offe red to resig n. " I we n t to Yam ah a an d sai d: ' I don't k n ow whe th e r you have o n ly co nfide nce in Max for next yea r, but that way fo r me doesn't work. I prefer to cancel the contract, and I stay home a nd yo u ta ke another ride r. And I will do anoth e r th ing . Because for sure I don't want to continue in th is wa y.' I tol d th em th at we must c ha nge something technically, because otherwise Yamaha is not happy, the sponsor is not happy, a nd I'm not happy . And also is too much ris k. Okay , I kn ow m y results are not so good, but a lso I did not have the opportunity to do like I am th inking I c an do, b eca u s e th e b ik e wa s not rig ht. For me it was like - change o r d ie . An d I did no t want to d ie . "So Yamaha sa id to me, 'Wha t do you want? ' I am no engineer, bu t I te ll them what I want fro m the bike, and with m y experience I had some ide a s to work on." The first attempt was encouraging, that he used at pre-season tests at Jerez. "No t so bad, then I crashed aga in for the same reason - front feeling , and I said - 'O ka y, th is is the lim it . If we want to get better we must change something.' " So they did, and by the time they'd run through two more tests, he was happy. "We. knew we had the right idea , and that Yamaha could make the bike better for me." The changes made were both subtle and c rude. In the former c ategory are c ha nges in frame stiffness ratios. "The front suspens io n is much s tronger, in the clamps a nd so on, and th e chassi s ha s more Rex , especia lly at th e rear," Checa expla ined. Rather, cruder was a simp le revision of weig ht distribution: "All the Yamahas this ye a r a re th e same, but m ine ha s a d iffe rence in th e seating position , wh ich is lower. It makes less push o n the fron t." Now Checa is reaping th e benefits, not only of the b ike , b ut of the loya l a nd s traig h tfo rwa rd way he dealt with the team - entirely in keeping with his friendly a nd open character, and exactly the opposite of his teammate Biaggi, who incurred much displea sure within the p its and at other le vels in Yamaha when he insisted o n his crew being dumped at the end of la st year to be repla c ed with a n Ita lian squad. Typica lly, Checa wo n 't be d rawn into d irect criticism. "I respect e very rider, and I have a good relation ship with my team," he said. "All last year I ne ver said I had a proble m with the b ike o r with the team, even when the bike wa s not right. Yamaha and the team kn ew it was a technical problem, but I d idn't complain, a nd they didn 't blame me. We g rew up together." Pu s h h im further , and h is comments a re s t ill g u arded . "Max wanted to ch ang e hi s tea m - b ut th ere we re people there who d idn 't th ink the team was the problem." Checa is focused on this ye a r, but is professional enough also to be thinking of the next. "I had a two-year contract with Marlboro Yamaha , and this is the second ye a r. I d idn't make a new contract for next season ye t. My id e a is to stay with Yamaha , and I th ink their id e a also. But we d idn't start talking yet. " How about a move to Te lefo nic a Mov iStar Suzu ki? After a ll, the sponsors a re under h eavy pressure to bring a Span ish rider into the team a longside Roberts, and this alone cou ld put Checa in t o a strong negotiation position , and they were team sponsors when he rode a Honda for S ito Pons. At the thought of th is , he smiles. "I have a good relationship with Telefonica, with some people there - really good frie nd s. I a lready rode for MoviStar before - and it would be nice, but the situatio n now is I have spent time with Yamaha and developed a re lationship with the team and with th e bike, and to stop this now is not good. In any case, we must see what will happen - there are still many races to go." One possibility, of course, is the new Yamaha the fabled single-crank version that Biaggi has tested and Checa has not. He is dubious of the supposed benefits - though he doesn't like the implicat ions that h is Ital ian teammate should get preferential treatment. "For me it is not a big problem," Checa said. "I was worried that if they develop the b ike with Max a nd then give it to me and it is no good for me... I don't want that. And also if the b ike is quite good a nd I don't have it. I don't want to be like a second rider. Bu t I told Yamaha I d idn 't want to try the bike. The K6 th a t we are a ll usi ng, the twin -c ra n kshaft bike, is good. For me it is not a good idea to change to a different bike after five o r s ix races ." As an ex-Honda m an, he has the unusual, th o ugh not unique, experience of being able to comp a re s in gle-crank and twin -crank motors directly. It's a m atter, he th inks , o f horses for cou rses , and of not believ ing too much that the grass is greener o n the other side. "Wa yne Ra iney won on two crankshafts, and the S uzu k i last yea r went quite well with two crankshafts, " he said. "Th e n maybe Honda thinks that they want two c rankshafts. And the others say they want -one c ra nksha ft. For m e , they are different - but I do n't think it is such a very big d ifference. Every thi ng is a compro m ise. The Yamaha is very good in the turns, but the Ho nda is very good in accele ra tion . Diffe rent ad va ntages. You must s till ra c e the bikes. " Ch eca 's persona l ci rc um sta nce s ha ve im prov ed handsomely s ince the time he rode fo r Pons, a notoriou s low payer of ride rs. "I kne w the n that other riders were pa id s ix or s e ven times more th an me - but th e money was not m y ma in motivat ion , " he rec a lls . "Still it is not , th o ug h it is more comfortable to be pai d m ore as now." . How ma n y Fe rra ris d o es he have , I a s k? He . la ughs. "I have o nly one new Alfa Romeo. An d that is because the d istributor g a ve it to m e . He wants me to drive it, so he gave me a 156, and after a year he will change it a gai n ." Nor h a s h e gon e mad o n p roperty . "I ha ve a house in Spain , wh er e I live with m y girlfri e nd , a nd I spend time in London. I am looking for a more permanent a p artment there - for fiscal rea s ons , a nd also because livin g in Spain is q uite d ifficu lt. Eve n if I ju st go to the s hops, e veryone spea ks to me. It is good, because of all the televisio n a nd the interest in Spain , but it is more relaxing in Lon do n ." A realis tic soul, Checa admits that h is relationship with fellow Spanish hero Alex Criville is necessarily uneasy . " Ba s ic ally , we ha ve a good relationsh ip - we respect each other, but.. . h mmm. In fa ct we are rivals , and though we are not bad friends when we are not racing , off the track - we are still riva ls. But he is a good guy, and we could have a good relationship if the situation was different. " He smiles, an ho nest man. "The only ride r I have a good relationship with my brother David [he joined the 250cc class this year as a novice). But then we are not fighting with each other - yet." 1:11 cuc . n e _ s • JUNE 14, 2000 27