One of the things I do with my time is to ride motorcycles; not only for transportation here in congested Los Angeles, but for fun as well. I’ve spent some time on racetracks (Willow Springs, Sears Point, and Laguna Seca), and consider myself a good street rider (albeit a worse than mediocre racer), and have some appreciation for what it takes to sit on a vehicle moving pretty fast (in my case about 140).
The grown-up racers, the guys racing at the top of the sport, are running well over 210mph these days. Imagine that I’m tucked in going 140, all full of myself and how fast and daring I am … and then one of them goes by me as though I was standing still on the side of the freeway.
The world champion last year (and the year before, and the year before that, and …) is a young Italian named Valentino Rossi. Rossi is famous for three things:* His incredible skill on a motorcycle;
* His outrageous antics – and I do mean antics. He once won a Grand Prix race, then pulled to the side of the track and ran into a portajohn set up for the track workers, and came out dressed as Robin Hood. He doesn’t seem to take it quite as seriously as him competitors do;
* His general joie de vivre – as opposed to the mechanical seriousness from most professional athletes, he comes across as a guy who just can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and go do it some more. The pressure of a $17 million contract must have some effect, but it isn’t an obvious one.
And this year, he’s done the wildest thing of all.
After winning 125cc and 250cc World Championships for Aprilia, he went to the big leagues for Honda in 2000 – at the age of 21. In 2001, he won the World Championship, as he did in 2002 and 2003, all riding Hondas.
And this year, he changed brands and teams, and will be riding a Yamaha. Yamaha’s best finish last year was, I believe, fourth place. Honda motorcycles dominated the series (with Ducati maintaining some presence, while Yamaha, Suzuki, Aprilia, Kawasaki, and Proton lagged behind).
So he left a team that would have essentially guaranteed him another World Championship for one that had not yet had a competitive motorcycle. An Australian journalist writes:
Why would a man who has just won his third world championship leave the team that had brought him such dominance in favour of an inconsistent, underachieving operation that had not produced a world champion in 11 years?
The most recent time a Yamaha rider had dominated the tracks was back in 1992 (Wayne Rainey), and in the ensuing years, a succession of Hondas, ridden first by Mick Doohan and then Alex Criville, and finally Rossi himself, had taken the championship.
The only interruption to the Honda reign was Kevin Schwantz’s 1993 title and Kenny Roberts jnr’s triumph in 2000, both riding a Suzuki. Roberts’ victory came in the year that a then 20-year-old Rossi was making his debut in the 500cc class, then motorcycling’s top category.
Rossi finished second in the title race that year, but never again was Roberts, or anyone else for that matter, to give him much trouble as he became the last 500cc title winner in 2001 and the first man to take out the new four-stroke 1000cc MotoGP category in 2002 and 2003.
At the time of his departure last year, Rossi simply said he was bored with the domination he had achieved on his Honda, and needed a fresh challenge.
Some believed he was chafing at the demands being made on him by Honda. Others — including his former mentor and boss of Honda Racing Corporation, Doohan — suggest the reportedly $17 million a year pay cheque had prompted his desire to switch camps.
Rossi disagrees. In an interview on his personal website, he said: “There was nothing to prove. It was just that the motivation riding for Honda had finished, we won three world championships in a row, we won at favourite tracks, at my least favourite tracks, and in all conditions, so what was left to do?
Hemingway made a simple distinction between sports and games; a sport can kill you. I have a more than healthy respect for the risks racers like Rossi take; but to me the sportsmanship shown in his latest decision – to walk away from a sure thing and give himself a new challenge – is really far more wonderful than the daring he shows on the track.
Now for the Good News. Last weekend, the teams had a final shakedown before the first race of the season. April 17 in South Africa. On the track at Catalunya, Spain, all the leading teams came out to test their machines and setup.
The final results?
1. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 1:44.571
2. Alex BARROS, Honda, 1:44.631
3. Nicky HAYDEN, Honda, 1:44.634
4. Colin EDWARDS, Honda, 1:44.653
5. Sete GIBERNAU, Honda, 1:44.669
Talk about a change of pace 😉
As a former street racer myself (1973-1975) I really appreciate this post.
My fist bike was a new 1973 HD Sportster-kick start. $2250.00 The bike sucked (HD had been bought out in 1972? by AMF, the bowling machine company). It broke on every occasion, leaked oil constantly, etc.
In 1974, I got a 1974 Kawasaki Z-1 (903cc) $2250, and started chasing my good friend (he drove 1972 Kawasaki 750 2 stroke) around the back roads of RI (there may still be some today, but not as many).
We used to race around the Scituate Reservoir, a twisty, bumpy 50-60 mile loop. I was going through tires every 3,000 miles, and was the first person to order brake pads for the front disc (in use since 1971, at that time) from a large dealer in MA, due to heavy use of the brakes.
I think that summer was one of my favorites. 22 years old, full of piss and vinegar, just out of the USMC (1972). We flew around those roads, and seldom came upon other vehicles. What I blast.
My riding career came to a grinding halt in June of 75 when I took a corner to fast (75 in a 30 curve) went down, hit the curb and slid 200 ft total. Needless to say, the bike was totaled and got a ride in an ambulance.
Those were the days. I tried getting back on, and rode a little for another year, then gave up completely. Still miss it though.
In my time, Kenny Roberts and Yvon Duhamel were the hot riders.
Nice post fellow rider. Nice to see little Nicky doing OK too….
Corkscrew!
We’ll be there!
A.L.
(for the uninitiated, the Corkscrew is a spectacular set of steep downhill turns at Laguna Seca. Every year, the World Superbike championship has a race there in July, and about 100,000 fans descend on Monterey. We’ve already got our hotel…)
A.L.
We seem to have more in common than you think.
I am a rider and former amateur road racer (1989-1990, Yamaha FZR 400, WERA and AMA on the East coast). I was a mid-pack racer but I did win $50 in my first (and only) 2 hour endurance race for placing 3rd, my one taste of “glory”. Like Phil contact with pavement one too many times brought this phase of my youth to an early end, although I still rode on the street (with my wife) up until about 5 years ago when we started spawning offspring. I’ve been to a few pro races (none lately, unfortunately) and even once had the opportunity to work as a corner worker at a Pro-AMA event at Mid-Ohio. Actually it was the race Larry Schwartzbach was killed at (don’t know if anyone remembers him, he was a young hot shot Vance & Hines Yamaha rider). I also try to catch 500 and 250 FIM races when I can (need a TiVo) but mainly follow F1 cars nowadays.
Every spring when bikers break out there rides to enjoy the first warm days of the season I perform my annual mental calculus to figure out when I will return to riding. Seems pretty far away at the moment given many other responsibilities that have arisen. But it will happen. Hopefully I will still want a YZF and not a Gold Wing (although I wouldn’t rule out a soft-tail)!
I too suffer the motorcycle illness and keep a few here in Raleigh, NC. The Virginia International Raceway just up the road re-opened two years ago, and AMA Superbike now has it on their ciruit. And Bigmingham, Alabama just opened a track that may be one of the best in the country (including a motorcycle and racecar museum next door that is HUGE), and, again, AMA Superbike is going to run some races there this year.
I am pleased as punch to see Nicky Haydon finally getting his legs after graduating from AMA Superbike. Gonna be a great racing season, eh?
Blogging and motorcycles, like peanut butter and jelly!
VT et al – too damn funny. Actually, I do wonder if there isn’t something in the self-selected populations that matches up.
I raced WSMC and CSS, first on a borrowed GSXR600 and then on a single (more befitting my average skills and lower level of competitiveness than the young bucks banging handlebars in the 600 class). Rcaing has dropped off the radar, because of kid responsibilities and time, but I still manage to get out and ride.
A.L.
Oy, I would love to see motorcycles on Laguna Seca.
My first visit to the course in November involved working at a BMW club driving school. Such fun to go through the curves with an instructor at the wheel and a huge grin on my face.
I can’t wait to take my ’72 2002 through the course. Maybe someday I’ll do it on a sportbike (c: