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/128620
run . If it were me, person all y, if I was 34 o r wha te ver he is, I'd be don e . I m ean , I will not th row a leg ov er a motorcycl e at the a ge of 34 . I hav e said from th e beg inning tha t I want to be out by th e age of 32-33. That's pe rfect for me. Maybe I think differ ently from he does. It's th e same situa tion with Aaron [Slight] , with th e brain surgery and a ll tha t. I would ha ve said , 'S c re w it.' I've got insurance to take care of me, a nd that wou ld have been it. Aaron 's a perfe ct example of it. I woul d have been wo rried about getti ng my health right instead of getting ba ck on a bike. DO you think Fog a rty ' s abse nc e has giv en everyone a bit of a vacuum t o ope ra t e in? Is t ha t some of the rea s on for t h e thin gs that ha ppene d at Doningt o n and Monza no red bike in front to overhaul? The bike in fro nt ha s been m e . I wa s pla nn ing on bein g in front of him thi s year a ny wa y . As it wo rk e d out in the firs t ra ce , we we re. He d id the double in S outh Afric a la st yea r. Th is yea r we we re faster tha n he wa s a nd beat him both races. I ha d m y ow n pla ns thi s yea r a nd tho se were to get out front and go , and I d idn't ca re if there wa s a Duca ti th er e or not. Wha t of the future? Are GPs a realistic option , especially if you win the championship? My goal from whe n I was young wa s to win th e pinna cl e o f th e spo rt. Get to 5 00 GPs a nd win . I sit th e re a nd look at it now a nd wo nder if kids are st ill sayi ng tha t. Or if th e y watch our ra c es a nd sa y 'Ma n , I want to go to World S upe rb ike.' Know wh a t I'm sa yi ng ? We ' ve gotten so mu ch bigger a nd th e m one y, well th er e a in't a wh o le lot of difference . It 's just a m atte r o f wh a t you 're h ap p y with . And I'm ha p py with Wo rld Superbike and be ing in th is p add o ck , bu t if Hond a has d iffe rent plans for m e the n fine . I'll look a t th e o pt ions . But I'm not going to s lit m y wrists ju st to get to go GP ra c in g a ny more . Li k e I would ha ve two or thr ee ye a rs a go . If it happ en s it happ e n s , if n ot - I' m content . T he b ike lo oks t o h ave b e e n .' aw esome t his year. How good is it t o you? Ye a h , it' s been great. As we all know , the bike existe d for a ye a r, and HRC had it h a lfwa y dialed in, be fore they gave it to us . That ha s pa id off. S ince we d id get it a ll we 've don e is go in c ircles at all th ese t racks around here and le a rn how to ride it. I thin k th at it's really critical on set up . O ne m illim e ter in ride he ight fee ls like four on the RC45. It's a night and day d ifference. But, the on e good th ing is that once yo u do ge t it t he re , the s e tup is pretty much s imilar fo r e a c h t rac k . We d o n ' t have t o ch ange it tha t much. IS it hard bein g an American in thi s serie s , be ing a way from home for s o long , unli ke the European guys? O h ' without a doubt. I hav en't be en ho me since Phillip Island , in lat e Apri l. We live in th e mo t o rh o me, wh er ev er the ro a d tak es u s . Afte r Monza we d idn 't even mov e out of the paddoc k . We stayed on a nd hung out with a friend we have there . Well , it se ems lik e we ju s t han g o ut , bu t we 're always do ing someth ing . I dr ive the bu s m ys elf and I really enjoy it. It's just me a nd Aly s s ia crursmq a ro und like tra iler tra sh! Not see ing the fa mily and tha t is not s o bad. I do m iss the m a nd a ll, but at the s a m e tim e even whe n we 're home we re a lly don 't see th em that mu ch bec ause we kinda do our own thing . The b iggest th ing we miss is ou r dogs . Our dogs are like our kids, so when we ' re away they go and ha ve a littl e summer camp at Alyssia 's p a rents' house. That's the tough est th ing fo r us. Q A Q A Q A Q A TheY've m ade a big step. I do n't know whe ther it has be e n Franki e ' s inp ut, or T roy's or Ha ga 's , to g et so m e be tt e r t ire s m ad e , but it 's d e fin it e ly made a differ en ce . Du nlop s we re a lwa ys rea lly good fo r a few laps and then th e y we nt away , but they seem now al most like the y a re th e same as ou rs - or at lea st they go away at the s ame tim e as ours. Wha t about Haga and ephedrine and t he rest of it? What is your viewpoint of it? lt' s proba bly better fo r me not to c om m e nt on it - but I can't resist because ther e is so much B.S . abou t it. I know Hag a a nd I'm good frie nd s with Hag a , but it doesn 't matte r what I say, h is PR office is going to read this , an d th ink that I'm badm outhing h im . Rules ar e rules . It doe sn 't ma tter wha t drug it is bec a us e it says rig ht th e re in bla c k a nd wh ite - yo u ca n' t ta ke these drug s . As a pr o fe s s ion al a t h le t e , I hav e to know what I put in m y bod y. Doesn 't m a tte r wha t it is , a he adach e p ill, o r a s leeping pill, or cold m ed ic ine , I have to know wh a t it is. Even if I do take something , a nd I'm not quite s ure wha t's in it , I give o ne t o the doctor , and say , ' He y , I ha d a cold a nd I took on e of these .' Th at wa y he knows I took it on this da te and so o n, a n d th at it wa sn 't a p e rf o rm an c e e n ha nc e r. Eph e d r in e is a p e rfo r man ce enh an c e r, b u t I kn ow No r i wouldn 't have ta ken it for that, he wa s taking it to los e weight. He needs to kno w wh at he 's putting in h is bod y . As fa r as the p unis hm ent of taking his p o in ts a w a y o r banni n g h im for a month , we ll I'm not in a pos ition to m a ke any de cision like that. Th e FIM has got to do wha t they' ve got to do . It's their own decision , but they 'v e go t to do someth ing . Th is is th e pr oble m . If the y say, 'Well, he didn't mea n to , we know he d id n 't take it to do some th ing b ad , so we 're not go ing t o do a ny th ing .' We ll, th at o pen s a lot of door s for a lot of people. Th ey have to do something . They ca n' t let it go es pecially as it's got so big a nd b lown out of proportio n. Wha t a bout La guna it s e lf, now y ou have the RCSI . A re y ou confident? l' ve neve r really gone wo rth a damn at Laguna. Hopefully , th is is the bike to br ing me two victo ries there. We strugg led th e re in the past, and Dun lop se e m ed to have an advantage arou nd that track in ,pa rtic ula r. But I' m goi ng the re to win two ra c es . If it wo rks ou t - fine - if it doesn 't, I'll be pissed off. ION A Q A Q Q Conve rs e lY, do th ese sacrifices make it e asier to g e t m otivate d to win th a n some of t he other guys? Of a ll people, I once h a d Terry Vance call me, in a bout 19 93 -94 when I was on the te am. You know the scen e , I was young and dum b and ju s t wanted to ra c e motorcycles. He s aid to m e , 'Yo u know if yo u wanna get ahead in this bus iness, you 're gonna ha ve to make some s a c rifices.' I didn 't know what he was ta lk ing a bout at th e tim e . Bu t no w I know exactly what he me ant. Those sacrifice s be ing not sta ying out and partying all nig ht, which I never did that m uch of a nyway . But I don 't lo ok a t it a s motiva ting m e more , bec aus e whe ne ver I get on two wheels I want to win. No m att er whe ther I' m in m y ba ckyard o n a n XR 10 0 o r o n t h e VTR in World Superbike - I st ill wanna win. HOW muc h do you th ink the improvement in the Dunlop tires , other than the high- pr ofile failures we have seen , has bee n of a help t o Ha ga, Chili a nd [Troy) Corser? A Q A Coming home is supposed to be a good thing. Not so for Colin Edwards. At least when coming hom e means racing in a World Superbike round at Laguna Seca. Californ ia isn' t Texas , but it's close r to the Lone Star State than Europe, Australia or South America. You'd think Edwards would thrive here , but that simply isn't the case . Here is Edwards' rather dismal record in the U.S. round of the series, 01995 01996 01997 ° 1998 0 1999 cue I e - Eighth and ninth in the two legs Fourth and a crash in the two legs Did not race due to wrist injury 11th and 1Oth in the two iegs Fourth and fifth in the two legs n e _ S • JULY 5 . 2000 51