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/128644
JIItIIA/ChellV fmcks 250cc National MX Champion Ricky Cannichael Ca~tIl.ichael 0 0.. . . far is J erem y , t hat's why he's got all of th em c ham p io nshi ps, I ca n go 12 races in a row in th e outdoors, bu t I have yet to ha ve go ne 16 ra ce s in Supercross, I th ink Vuil lem in is go ing to be reall y , really , reall y stro ng , he's go ing to start out fast. I thi nk Yog i [Lu sk ] is going to be go od , a lot of peo ple aren't co unting on him because he's been o ut for a ye ar , but he wants to show every bo dy th at he's still bett er than he' s ever been , So he's go ing to be out t o pr ov e a po int, so yo u're go ing to have to wat ch him. But I think I'm one of th e ca nd idates for t he Supercross titl e. I kn ow what it tak es; it's just a matter of doing it. •.. his long relatlonsbdp with Kawasaki. I th in k it's im po rt ant to m y spo nso rs and to m yself to be lo yal and to sta y wit h t he people wh o hav e help ed you t o get you to wh ere you are. Th ere com es a point in t im e, however , wh en you hav e to bett er yo urself, or a better deal comes along th at you have to do . But as far as Kaw asaki goes, they 've been taking care of me since I was an amateur rider, so the y 'v e taken good care of m e and I've taken ca re of th em - I' ve wo n a lot of races for th em . I' m happy wit h t hem; hopefully th ey can kee p m e happy and I ca n co ntinue to kee p th em happy . ...o n liis new teamm a te St~hane Roncada. He seems like he's in goo d spi rits and it wi ll be interesting to see how he does. He's al ways happ y and never seem s li k e he's in a bad m oo d. He doesn 't seem like a jealous type, either, I thi nk sometime s in the past I' ve had so m e j ealou s teammat es. Th at's k ind of bad, m ak es it kin d of an uneasy feeling, som ething I don' t li ke . Th e older yo u get, th e j ealousy kind of goes awa y . T he 125 tea ms , the riders are you ng er so th ey're kin d of into that, 'Well he gets m o re treat m ent tha n I do,' and t hat 's something you sho uldn 't ever worry about. But that's part of gro wi ng up . t hing gets settled out. Bec au se a lot of peo ple are go ing every which way those fi rst few laps , thi ngs can go wron g, an d those little things are what ma k e yo u lose ch ampionsh ips . I've learned to wor k ha rd and do wha t ever I do 100 percent. .uon growing up with "mini parents." Th ey [my parents] did n't beat m e o r anything li k e th at ; they were hard, bu t you hav e to be hard on a ki d to get him t o be go od and realiz e what he's got, t o realize tha t he can take th is to a pr ett y h igh level. Wh en I turned Pro , they just k ind of ba cked off and let me do my own thing at the races , an d I th ink th at ' s a b ig plu s. I feel fort unate to have parents like I do ; t hey rea ll y care fo r m e, and th ey j ust wan t to see m e do th e best th at I can do . ... what he doe. for fun when he's not winning championships. I like to do a lotofstuff besid es rid e; I like to deer hunt, li ke Larry War d, Larry and I are hun tin ' freaks . I like to wak eboard ; a ski boat co mpany sponso rs me , so I like to do that in t he sum me rt ime. Oth er th an th at , I lik e to st ay hea lt hy , go rid e th e bicycle, o r go for a ru n , t hese are so me o f th e t hings im portant t o me. ...what it wiU take for him to be truly satisfied w..I rh his career. I'll be sati sfie d with the 2 50 Supercro ss t itl e, Then , I will hav e wo n eve ry ti tl e there is to win. I want to win th at 250 Supercro ss title, and I'm going to do wh atev er it tak es, I k no w I' ve won a lot of 125 Supercross races an d won a lot of out doors, but it's im possible to win that many race s and not be ab le to win the Sup ercr oss title. ... JIis future. I'm only 21. I sta rt ed early , and I've accom p lis hed qu ite a bit, but I can see myself go ing un til I'm not having fun - seven m or e ye ars , eig ht m ore y ears , until I' m co ntent and ha ppy with wh at I' ve do ne . I can tell yo u rig ht now t hat I wo n't qu it until I get a Supercross titl e. If it tak es m e 10 ye ars, I'll still be racing in 10 ye ars , but I don't thi nk it'll ta k e m e 10 yea rs. I' m not th e only guy who wants to win, it's ju st wh o wants it m or e. We'll just see who is t he best gu y . ... s pe n di ng so m u ch of his life on the road. I enj o y traveling , I enj oy han g in g out at t he races with m y frie nds, and that's what keeps me goin g. Ta llahassee has a rea ll y sm all airpo rt , t hey kn ow m e there and they alway s take care of m e, and th at makes it easy. A ll that little st uff adds up . ... s pending so much o f his life o n a bike. It does seem like I've been rac ing a long ti me, when in reali ty I haven't. I've been at all of the rac es, exc ept I m issed a co u ple in '9 9 when I got hurt at San Diego but, eve r since, I've been racin g and I've been to all of the ra ces. It is toug h . I m ean, it's to ugh to race and then it 's to ug h to m ak e it thro ugh th e year without any inj uries. I'll tell ya , this will be my fifth season , but it feels like m y 10th , just because I haven't had mu ch off tim e. I've been fortunat e eno ugh th at I hav en 't been hurt too o fte n, so I'v e hi t ever y single race , and t hat ma k es it a lon g year. I left Carmichae l's place later tha t da y. At tha t time , he was busy with th e THQ v ideo g uys , laying out s o me of the mos t incredibl e , Carmi chael -si gnature "whip- Its ' over one of h is track s ' many jumps for their cameras. No one ca n whip-it o n ...lessons learned on the track , I've learned to be pat ient th e fir st few lap s of a Supercr oss race, to let everyth ing th in out and roll it on th e first co uple of laps un til every - 22 JANUARY 3 , 2001 • c ue I e n e vv s a m otorcycle like Ca rmi cha el can. As I was d riving b a c k do wn Ca rmichael's d irt dr ive wa y for my long trip back to Cal ifornia, I couldn't help but th ink, 'What a coo l place to live and what an awesome house . I could live here.' eN