VOL. 52 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 18, 2015 P91
RACES
WSBK: BRANDS HATCH, 2000
"The other race that pissed
me off more than anything
was Brands Hatch in 2000.
I'd just won the champion-
ship because (Noriyuki)
Haga had his substance
thing. That's not really how
you want to win it.
"I went out in the first
race and won. But for
race two it was drizzling,
half dry, half wet – shitty
conditions and everybody
on the grid went out on wet
tires. And my crew chief
said, 'You're already world
champ, why don't we put
intermediates on the rear?'
"So we had a rain tire
on the front, intermediate
on the rear. I said, 'f**k,
okay, guess I'm doing
this!' I think in the first lap
I was 15th. I was on pole
and went back to 15th!
But then it started com-
ing dry, coming dry, and I
was four or five seconds
faster than everybody by
the end of the race. I had
two laps to go, came out
of Druids (turn two) at the
top of the hill, and it just bit.
I went into turn three and
it f**king folded. The first
place guy was right there.
I was going four seconds
a lap faster than those
guys, I would have won it
easy. I picked it up and still
finished 7th. But that race
really pissed me off – more
than Assen because it was
just a dumbass mistake."
This was as close
as the Texas
Tornado got to a
win in MotoGP.
Had he won, the
title may not have
gone to Nicky
Hayden (69).
