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/128639
b ut mo re likely I believe, I d id n 't wa nt to re m ai n with th e m a nymore. Le t ' s t alk abo ut GPs . Afte r a t hi rd ti tl e, a rider m ig ht like t o c h a ng e cl ass o r to c h a llenge hi mself in a differe nt wa y. Do you find the pur suit of a fou rth 12 5cc title m otivating en ough? w e ll, winning the fourth t itle , a lo ng with winning in Supercross , c ould be rea lly motivati ng . But it's not o nly about winn ing another tit le in th e same class, be c a us e the bike will be new, the tea m will be new, a nd the champions hip will be new - as well as the GP format , wh ich is totally cha nged for '0 1. Ther efor e , after all, it' s not like getting a nother championship on a Husqvarna with a tw o -mote format. With a new team, new bikes a nd a new race for mat, you don' t ha ve [a ] mot ivatio n p roblem. Wha t is you r co nd it io n righ t now ? Is it s t ill go ing t o t a ke a whil e to get bac k to 10 0 perc en t? Your recovery has taken quite a lo ng t ime . What happened? Whe n I c rashed, I suffered a broken lower vertebra a nd right wrist. At th e beginn ing , th e doc tors we re m or e wo rried about my spine , and did not re a lly re a lize what the real da mage to m y wris t was . So while m y ba c k rec ove re d 100-percent fine , m y wrist rema ined ve ry painful , a nd when I started pr a c ticing again , they said it was just m at ter of time. But, unfortunat e ly, it rea lly wasn't like that. In fa ct, for a mon th before Glen Helen , I tra ined a nd practice d in America with constant pain , a nd I was co nfide nt it wo u ld s to p hu rt in g after so me p ra c tice, a s I was told . But it a ll was just lost time, because the pr ob lem with my wrist wasn't res olve d as we be lieved. You know, rig ht afte r Glen He le n. I came back h om e a nd lost a nother mo nth u ndergoi ng every poss ible k in d of check to find the right solutio n, which fina lly was an opera tion , a nd afterwards I lost a no th e r m o nth a nd a ha lf befo re jumpi ng on the bike again . Had the job been don e properly right at the begi nnin g , I would have be en in a great shape right now. I think I'm now at 6 0 percent of my to p cond itio n after riding for about tw o m onths. Mor e over, I ha d to take care of my wrist during the last races because I did n ot wa nt to lose more time healing again . So now I c a n say I feel okay an d rea lly confident. Yo u ' ve a lre ady men t ioned th a t you r inj ury pre ve n t e d y ou f ro m re ally t ry in g at Gle n He len , bu t d id y ou g a in a n impre s s ion o f t h e Am e rican riders ' level ? I couldn't really collec t a ny infor mation , at lea st the way I would ha ve liked , whic h is by ra c ing a ga inst th em at m y be st c ond ition . You know, I got th ere aft er m a ybe jus t 20 to 30 da ys of riding , a nd from riding by m yself. I fe lt fa st , but it's not e a sy to be fa st just afte r a s ho rt tim e like th at, especia lly if yo u ar en 't totall y recovered. At th e first nation a l, I was not 100- percent ok ay , but they definitely rode re a lly fast. Anyw ay, I think I will ha ve th e ch a nce to do well; I don 't ha ve m an y doubts a bou t it. Did you follow the American races from Italy? Of course , especia lly th e Su percr os s seri es. I saw it o n TV, a nd th e Nationals more through the Internet. In th e 125 cc cl ass , Pastrana was ju st s uppo sed to grow up , a nd he grew up re a lly fa st. I saw him at th e last Super cross in La s Ve ga s , a nd he wa s really fast in Supercross. Ma yb e th e next wee k end in San Berna rdino he had some p rob lems find ing th e same spe ed , but it was cle ar he had the ta le nt. Ret urn ing to Europe, what do you think about the big changes in the World Championship? I don't like the m , be cause these changes don 't reward riders like m ys elf - really we ll-prepared riders - for a long fight. The two traditional motos of A Q A Q A Q Q A Q A. Q A Q A the ne w bike ve ry different from the on e you ra ced in ' 9 7 a nd before ? To be honest, I don 't rea lly remember that bike very wel l. I re me m be r that when I left Yamaha to ride Husky , when I first rode th e Husky I was corne ring rea lly fast. Now , leaving Husky, I'm corne ring even faster on th is Yamaha , so it means some imp ro vemen ts must have been pr oduced , like the fram e geomet ry, which is different and much improved . I ha ven 't ridden the new bike too much , bu t th e first im pre ss io n is reall y good. Ha ve you consider e d mo ving up to th e 250 o r 5 00cc class? Whe n I decided to s tay in Europe for the next se ason , I wanted to race 250. No matter what bike I wou ld have ridden , 250 was my first choice. s o me say shorter riders a re not fa s t on 250 or 500c c b ike s , t h o u g h Ric ky Ca r mi c ha e l may have disproved tha t theory. Ye s , that's true , look at Gas ton Rahier; he wo n a lot and won on thos e big BMWs in th e ea rly yea rs of the Paris- Dakar Rall y . And loo k at E ric Ge bo e rs ; he won a tit le in every c la s s , incl ud ing 500cc , on those scarey Ho nd a s 500s of th e '8 0s . We' ll see wha t ha p pens ; maybe next year I cou ld ra ce the 250 c c class sometimes at some internat iona l ra ces . Like Ame rica n ra ces? A Ch iodi's U.S. campaign was a disaster, but he did meet w ith some end-of-season success at t he close of the 2000 GP World Series. 4 0 mi nutes are a better solution for me, one that I defi nite ly prefer. You know, I've a lways be e n in pretty good sha pe, a nd I've often won GPs in the second moto bec a us e I p repared b etter t han m a n y o f the other riders ; that's why I've be en so s uccessful. So it' s o bvious I don't like the si ngle moto because the tra in ing is redu ce d by ha lf of the time I nor m a lly us e to spend , a nd the physica l de m a nd of the GP will be half of what we us ed to fa ce before . There won't be time to cons ider anymore ; there will be only one moto , and we 'll ha ve to push at 200 percent every lap. Q 1La ughs ] I wou ldn' t refuse a nice , fa cto ry 2 50cc Yama ha in America , even if th ey didn 't a dapt its size to m y size. But like I told yo u before, the best offe rs came from the 125cc cla ss , a nd I decid ed for the 125cc class again. But I think thi s will be my la st year on a 125. eN A You knollfl, to reappear in America lIfIould make me happier than lIfIinning the lIfIorld title in Europe again. BIRTH DATE: March 17, 1973 Sa16 (Brescia ), Italy BIRTH PLACE: Monteca rlo, Monaco RESIDENCE: .5'4 " HEIGHT: WEIGHT: 154 pounds Snowboardinq. surfing HOBBIES: TEAM: Free Time Yamaha MOTORCYCLE CLUB: GalaeJlo CAR: GMC truck FAVORITE FOOD: Pasta FIRST RACE : 1979 Minicycle race WORST MEMORY: . .Injury-inducing crash at the 1999 Bologna, Italy, MotorShow BESTMEMORY: . . .. .First world title won with Yamaha in 1997 FUTURE AMBmON: ..To win a fourth World title and to race Supercross and National Motocross in America FAVORITE RIDER: Jeremy McGrath Q IS there anyth ing y ou w o ul d li ke to see br ou ght t o Euro pe from America n S uper c ros s or mot oc ross? The prepa ra tion of the tra cks. In America , they work on the c ircu its just p erfectly; th e tra cks a re re a lly good - much better than in Eu ro pe . In America, rare ly do yo u find dust, and the course is re ally wide . Yes , good tra c k condition is the bes t th ing o f th e Am eric an s , a nd in E urope we ha ve tra c ks that are too du sty a nd tight sometimes. And no t o n ly th e t rac k condition, b ut also th e whole o rga nization of the tra ck. I think we ha ve m uc h to lea rn from the Am e ric ans a bo ut trac ks. Have you tested your ne w bike , t he Yamaha YZ125? Ye s , I've te s ted it - not much , really , but th e first lo ok I had s ho wed m e we' re a lrea dy sta rting fro m a re all y good b a s e . Actuall y, I felt re a lly good and co m fo rta b le ; the fra me for instan c e, is really g ood a nd helps to turn pe rfe ctly s o easi ly. I've just q uickly teste d two s us pension s ett ings , a nd I c a n tell yo u th e b ike is cl o s e to be ing ready to ra ce. The e ng ine is not like th e Husky 's bec aus e th e Yamaha has different power c urve s , and I fe lt oka y because they are more us e a ble at the bottom. You turn less aggressivel y, though yo u can still c orr ect any error you might ma ke . YOU returned to Yamaha after three years with Husqvarna and two more world title s . Is A CAREER AT A GLANCE: 1987 6th in Italian I 25cc Cadet Championship (KTM) 2nd in Regional I25cc Cadet Champ ionship (KTM) 1988 1st in Italian 125cc Cadet Championship (KTM) 1st in Regional I 25cc Champ ionship (KTM) Italian I25cc Champion (KTM) 1989 Italian 125cc Champion (KTM) 1990 European I25cc Champion (KTM) 1991 11th in World I25cc Championship (KTM) 1992 8th in World 125cc Champ ionship (Honda) 1993 2nd in World I25cc Championship (Honda) 1994 Italian I25cc Champ ion (Honda) Italian Overall Champion (Honda) 2nd in World 125cc Championship (Yamaha) 1995 2nd in Italian Overall Champ ionship (Yamaha) 16th in World 250cc Championship (Yamaha ) 1996 Italian 125cc Champion (Yamaha) World I25cc Champion (Yamaha) 1997 2nd in Italian 125cc Champ ionship (Yamaha) World 125cc Champion (Husqvama) 1998 Italian I25cc Champion (Husqvama) World 125cc Champion (Husqvama) 1999 Member of winning MX des Nations team (with Andrea Bartolini and Claudio Federici) 2000 In juried, then raced final three 125cc GPs, finishing 33rd in the World 125cc Championship (Husqvama) Factory Yamaha Free Time rider in 2001 World 125cc Championship Q A Q cue I e n e _ S • NOVEMBER 15, 2000 25