Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

It' s rea l sim p le. The y a re gr e at people . Good pe op le to kno w, and I'm happy fo r th at. " So, Mr. Russe ll, wha t would yo u recommend they do with the VR to m a ke it com pe titive? "I th ink the y need to re des ign ," Russell said . "I thi nk that's a '9 3 design that they are using still, a nd it's har d to compete in 2000 wit h a '9 3 bike. It' d b e like m e trying to t a k e t h e b ike [a 1993 Kawasa ki S uperbike J that I h a ve in th e basem ent out t h ere and try ing to race wi th it. T h e th ing [VR1000J ju st d idn 't get a ny bette r in the two ye a rs tha t I rod e it. I n eve r we nt a n y fa ste r anywh e re I went in two ye a rs . It was just th e same th ing . It's unfortuna te for those gu ys . I think [Ste ve J Schei be's [th e former team manage r] head is on th e c ho pp ing block , and he' s a go od guy . He m e a ns well , a nd he 's tryin g . He' s frustra te d a bit, too. He wa nts it to go better , but his hands a re tied with the way th at th ing s progress a ro u nd th ere. It wa s h ard to put tho s e le a th e rs o n every da y , but aga in good company , gr eat people . I wish th e m a lot of luck." Russell knew that he wouldn 't be ba ck on th e Harley ne xt year. In fact, he thought his racing days m ight be over. He tal ked to Yamaha about riding the R7 in next yea r's s e rie s, but it didn't go fa r. The y' ve s ince s ign ed Anthony Gobert to head the Yam a ha e ffort in 2001. On ce th e Yamaha de a l fe ll thro ug h , Russell started to im ag ine life without ra cing. "I thoug ht m y ca reer was over," Russe ll admi ts . "A week la te r a nd the Duc ati th ing wa s in m y hand ." B eing pas s e d up b y Ya m a ha was a bles s ing in d is gu is e , Russell says. "It doesn 't s urprise me that there wa sn 't m ore inte re s t t he re , " Rus s el l sai d of h is d ea lings with Yama ha . "Ya m a ha , a nd the way it looks like they run the ir prog ra m over here , it doesn't look like they are tha t serious about it an ywa y . It did n't su rp rise m e one bit. They had their eyes set on some body e lse , a nd it lo o ks like they nailed th at g uy [Anthony Gobert], a nd th at' s good . If the y're ha ppy , I'm happy . I got the de a l tha t I would rather have. Yamaha is a gre at com pany to work for, a nd I had some great succes s th ere , but I do n't th ink now is the tim e . If I'd wen t ba c k th e re and d id that, I wo uldn't have be en ha pp y with it. I kno w th eir bike is a little shy on power too, an d they 're a little bit behind the eight ba ll, too - I wou ld hav e been right back whe re I was at . Th at wouldn't have been a ny fun for m e . This is go ing to be fun . It' s go ing to be great - to pull th e trigger on th a t Ducat i on the stra igh t and pass som ebod y. I'm excit ed a bo ut th at a lone . It's be en a long time. I forge t wha t th at was like to pass peop le, but it' ll com e ba c k to me q uic k ." Russe ll kno ws the HMC team is a n upstart. He a lso kn ows that the team own e r, Mitch Hansen , is enthusias tic a nd willing to put the work in to mak e the te am successful. Thr ow in the fact that Russe ll may end up with forme r Car l Foga rty c rew chief Slic k Bass , and you can see th e sm ile light up his face . "O ne th ing I just found o ut a bo ut is that we ' re ve ry clos e to signing Slic k , Fogarty 's old me ch an ic , to work with m e ," Rus s e ll s a id la st week . "T ha t' s awesome . I'm pumpe d o n that. I'll let him m ove in he re , wha tever it ta ke s . Da vid Roy fro m Ducati went to Italy ov er the weekend and s poke to Slick on the ph on e . He's defin itely inte rested . It's just a matter of putting the dea l together. Bring ing somebody in with th at kind of knowledge, a guy that has do ne so mu ch with Ducat i andFoqa rty - I th ink th at's a plus ." As for th e bik e s th ems el ves , Rus s ell kno ws what they're c apabl e of . "The bikes look e d like th e y ra n okay at th e la st ro und at Willow - Bostrom wa s running away fro m th ose guys . I th ink it' s posit ive ," Rus sell s a id . When you talk with Russell , it's im pos s ible not to talk about the Da ytona 200 . It was h is rac e a record five times, and he still believ e s it's his ra c e . He's not c on cerned tha t h e' ll g o th e re in March o n a brand of m otor c ycl e that's ne ver ha d muc h good fortune in Florida . "My record at Da yto na is aw es om e ," he said . "If that's all I've go t for Da yton a , th en I'm ha ppy with that. If I c an go do wn th ere a nd p ut another one in the books at Da yt ona for Du c a ti - the ir first, m y s ixth - tha t would be an unbe lie va ble way to start th e season , wi t h t h a t ki nd o f m ome nt u m. We couldn' t be stopped a fte r th at . "Of cou rs e , I like the numbe r o ne - it' s a good number ," Russell a dd s wh en t a lk in g ab out th e c ha m p ions hip . "I like my number fo ur too , but I'd Russell has won the Daytona 200 fiv e ti m es In his career, inc luding his victory in 19 9 5 when he beat Carl Fogarty (right) and Thomas Stevens (le ft ). definitely cha nge it for the one at th e end of the ye ar if that is po ss ible . And I think it is . We 'll set goa ls for each ra c e , of course, bu t th e end result is tha t you want to win th e c h a mp io nshi p fo r the team yo u' re rid ing for - a nd for yo urself. It's th e wa y to go. Hope fu lly, the s upport le vel fro m Du c ati - it loo ks like th ey've withd ra wn somewhat - but ho pefully , we can turn it arou nd at Da yton a and get some mor e s upport ba c k . From what I've he ard , they' re fai rly excite d to have S cott Rus s e ll o n t heir bik e , a n d I feel ex actly the s a me wa y. Hopefully. we can p ull e ver yth ing to ge th er - e verythi ng I kno w and everyth ing th e y'v e got - and go out a nd win tha t c ha m pio ns hip . It'd be nice to win it aga in. Both [Doug] Cha nd ler and [Migu e l] Du Hame l went o n to win cham p io ns hi p s a fte r Ha rley, so why not me ? " By th e t ime th e ink ha s dr ied o n th is s to ry, Russe ll will be 36 years old. You 'd think he 'd be ready to stop , rest on h is laurels and c a ll it a day . Iro n ica lly , the last two ye a rs with Ha rle y -Da vids o n cha nge d a ll th at . Now he ca n' t q uit . He wo n't a llow himself to sto p at a time wh en he could be re membered more for the bad than th e g ood. He wan ts to get ba c k to the ba s ic s . He wa nts to ha ve so me fun . With the fun will co me re sults , he says . "It's a m ust fo r m e ," Rus s e ll adm its . "I have to ha ve fun to do good a t th is, but I'm going to make it fun . I'm a lready having fun just th inking a bo ut it. It's going to be good. Th e b ike s (Ducatis] have pro ven t he m s e lve s s in c e ' 9 4 . I' ve c hased t hem aro u nd s ince the n , a nd I've alwa ys wonder ed what it wou ld be like to si t on o ne . No w I have my chance. It brings a big s mile to m y face . Like yo u said , the past two years I didn 't co m e o ut of my mo torho me . I d idn 't wan t to talk to anybody. It was no t fun . It wa s probably th e most tortuous thing I had to do as a rac er , to be honest with yo u , To de a l wit h not being ab le to co m p e te - with gu ys I kn ow I ca n beat. That's no fun . You hit the nail right o n t he head , when I have fun , things happen. That's whe re I'm he ad ed th is yea r." He know s t he ro a d to th e c h a m pi o nshi p ru ns straig ht th rough Mladin a nd his Yos h im ura Suzuki team . He may have been hiding out for the past two years, but he didn 't have his head buried in the s and. "[Ma t] Mlad in ha s a big hea d of ste a m wo rking over in o ur country and we need to stop that guy it's re al si m p le ," Russell sa id. "Th e y have a good b ike comi ng next year. Suzuki is an aw e s o m e te am and they ' re very focused on winning . They're go ing to be tough to stop. Honda - what can you say abou t thos e guys? We know th ey're good . It's a go od bike , and Nick y [Hayde nJ is riding it good. But it' s nothing that can 't be done. Th ey don't s care me at all. I'm ready . I'm ready to s ta rt swing ing with ' e m. I'm going to bring some spic e bac k to th is se ries over he re . I th ink Kurt is [Robe rts J is like m e . He reminds m e of me wh en I started . It'll be fun racing with h im , Nic ky a nd a ll those guys . Hopefull y, Du c ati will g ive us th e s up po rt we ne ed to do that." So m etim es Rus se ll does n 't co me across as a pu re moto rc ycl e -rac ing fan . Garbage , he sa ys . It' s how he s pends his we e kend s at home . "Tha t 's all I do - I watch 'e m in those rac es lik e a hawk ," Ru s s e ll said o f th e World S uperbike an d Grand Prix ra c es th a t he wa tc hes on te lev isio n. "It' s awesome to see the American flags fly ing over there . It's unbel ieva ble , m a n. Kenny [Robert s Jr.] ca me out of no whe re o n ev e rybody. It was a total s urprise fo r me and the rest of the world . He just ca me out and did th e bus iness. La st wee ke nd [at the Moteg i round ] he just sta m ped his a uthority on 'em . It was great to see. Co lin [Edwa rds ], too - to bring it ba ck a nd finish o n the top at th e e nd of th e year. Th e y won th e c ha m pio ns hips the wa y they a re su pposed to be wo n. I th ink it's awesome ." Russell talks the ta lk a nd - at le a st in th e past he 's be en a ble to walk the walk . He goes into the 2 00 1 season as a t rue wild ca rd . He cou ld be a thre at , o r he cou ld be a bu st. Don 't bet o n the bust. He sounds re a dy , m o re like a 22 -year-o ld than a 36-ye a r-o ld, whe n he tal ks a bout off-sea son trai n ing, ne xt yea r's sc he d ule, e tc . "I've al re a d y s t a rte d [t ra in in g J," Russ ell sa id . "The la st two ye a rs ha ve taken a lot of wind o ut of m y sails. It wa s like start ing with o ne arm . After fou r bad ye ars , I th ought maybe it wa s time to get hom e. I wasn' t s itt ing on anythin g I could do anyth ing with . It was ha rd to go to the ra cetra c k. It's n o t abo u t m o ne y - it ' s abo ut prid e . I' m exc ite d aga in, re ady to go . "T hey will ha ve to b e at Sc ott Ru sse ll a g ain . I ai n't going to move o ut of th e ir wa y th is tim e whe n they com e a ro und . I'm not go ing to ge t out of th eir way a nd let the m pass easy like I did this ye a r - it a in't go n na happen . T h is is m y shot. Rid ing the Harl e y for th e past tw o ye ars an d go in g th ro u gh wha t I've gone throu g h , it' s built a fire und er my ass ." eN cue I e neON S • N , 2000 15

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