Newsgroup: it.sport.motociclismo
Titolo: intervista Mick Doohan

MICK DOOHAN¹S INTERVIEW
Following is an edited transcript of an interview with Australia's five-time
500cc motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan at the launch in Melbourne on
July 20 of the 1999 Qantas Australian Motorcycle Grand
Prix, to be held at Victoria's Phillip Island circuit on October 1-3.
Question - You've recently had a very major change in your life Š your
partner Selina's given birth and delivered you with a daughter, Allexis. How
is she? Or how are both of them?
Answer - She (Allexis) is doing really well. She's still in the hospital
unfortunately, but I'd say another two or three weeks and she'll be home and
living life as every other new-born baby does.  But she's in the hospital,
just a little bit too premature. She seems strong and she's doing fine.
She's just hanging in the bassinette and being fed by the people down there
(in Nice, France, near Doohan's Monaco home).
Q - Your own condition? How are you recovering (from the crash at the
Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez in early May)?
A - Well, everything is coming along really well. And it's only just been
two months really since the surgery. But, of course, it's never quick
enough. But where I am from where I was two months ago Š there's a big
change in my life and I'm walking pretty good compared to the way I was two
months ago. Hopefully in another two weeks I can actually throw away the
crutches completely.
Q - We've just launched this morning the 1999 Qantas Australian Motorcycle
Grand Prix. Obviously we'd love to have you competing in our event down at
Phillip Island, but we would trade that off very quickly and very easily to
make sure you don't rush back just for our sakes. Don't feel that there is
any pressure being imposed on you.  Do you feel that there is any pressure
to get back on the bike too quickly?
A - No, because I think that when I crashed it was, like, early in the
season Š and the championship is out of reach this year. While I'm walking
and looking at getting back for the Czech Republic Grand Prix (on August
22), Australia's still quite a fair way down the track (October 1-3). So I
can't foresee any problems that are going to prevent me from competing in
the Qantas Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.  Really, it will be 10 days
before I know the conditions regarding the Czech Republic Grand Prix, but
I'm not under any pressure. Really, I think that the biggest pressure that
I'm under is from myself. I just want to get strong again and get back out
there. If I'm strong then I feel that I can be competitive Š if I'm not
strong, we're not out there to collect the milk, so there is no point
hopping on.
Q - You are looking very healthy. You better make the most of it because
when you get back home with Allexis you won't look so good when you get
woken up at 3am Š
A - I think it's the most rest I'm going to have in a long time. Forced
rest. But, no, I can't wait to get back out there (racing). Definitely I'm
being treated well out here (in San Francisco) by the team of doctors and
the physiotherapists. Everyone is trying to get me back on track. I feel
good. I just wish I was just a little bit better.
Q - Your injuries Š you broke your right leg, a shoulder and your left
wrist. Is it right that you had some nerve problems somewhere?
A - Yeah, well, I broke the right shoulder and that's 100 per cent fine. I
broke my left arm and I know that in the impact of it my arm was, like, dead
for about 10 days. We were a little bit concerned. I could move my fingers,
but we didn't know how quick movement in the arm would come back. But it did
come back. I've got full movement in the arm now, but it's trying to get the
strength back that's really what we are working on at the moment. The leg is
a little "green" but it's coming along quite good. If I would have said or
would have put out that I had a paralysed left arm, you can imagine what it
would have ended up like after certain parts of the media had got a hold of
it!
Q - We expect you would like your Honda teammate Alex Crivillé to win the
championship if you can't. When you come back do you think that you'll be in
a position to help him?
A - Well, he doesn't really need a lot of help at the moment. He's almost
got two races up his sleeve (Criville leads the championship with 174 points
to the 127 of Suzuki's American rider Kenny Roberts Junior). But,
definitely, if it comes to that situation where someone has caught him up. I
think he is a deserving champion. I think that if he was in a situation and
we were both running in the same team and it was going to be a
championship-deciding race, then definitely I'd help him out and I wouldn't
finish in front of him. But at this point in time he's just got to take
control of the championship and the races themselves. He really can't be too
conservative at the moment because we've still got a long way to go in the
championship, and nothing is over until it is over - we all know that.
Q - You have had a long absence, you're a five-time world champion, and
often in the hurly-burly world of racing you don't get a chance to reflect
on how good that achievement is. Has your absence given you a chance to look
back and has it renewed any hunger in you to continue, because a lot of us
may have thought that you might have packed it in?
A - Yeah, perhaps if it was later in the season and it was a rush to get
back for one or two races I may have packed it in, but I'm under no pressure
from the team or any of the sponsors to get back out there and compete. I
will be fit enough at this point in time anyway to get back on the
motorcycle, so I'll get back out there and have a ride of the bike. I've
realised every year that I've won the championship that it was fantastic to
win the championship, but what I do is race motorcycles, I love it, and if
I'm capable of getting back out there Š. This was a bit of a freak accident.
Another accident is always possible, but I guess it was just one of those
things that happened!  If we were always worried about that type of thing
then we wouldn't leave the chair we are sitting in. So I look at it from a
realistic point of view, and hopefully we can haveSome good results and
enjoy riding the motorcycle again, because I really do miss riding the
motorcycle. Saying that though, unless I can be competitive - and that means
being strong - I'm not really interested in hopping on the bike. So I can't
see that being a problem at the moment.
Q - If you were a betting man, would you bet that you might make your return
at Phillip Island - hold off on the Czech Republic Grand Prix and have a bit
of an impact, if you were feeling OK?
A - Well, I think that if I didn't make the Czech Republic Grand Prix I'd
make the following one (the San Marino Grand Prix on September 5). There are
three races before the Qantas Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. I don't
think that I'd like to make the return back in Australia. It would be good
as a sentimental side of things, but the pressure there from everyone and
probably from myself to actually go out there and have a good result, and so
on and so forth ...  I'd at least like to have some testing under my belt
and see how I fared on the bike. Even before I get back on the bike, I will
do some testing before we go racing, just to see how it feels.
Q - Did the German Grand Prix results last weekend actually give you a true
indicator of the real level of competitiveness of the Suzuki and the Yamaha
bikes against the Honda?
A - I think so. I think the Suzuki has kind of fallen over itself a little
bit. Apparently Kenny Roberts Junior kind of knocked his confidence a little
bit and he realises that - a few races ago. He was finding it difficult to
keep that momentum going.  Alex Criville, my teammate, and the rest of the
Honda guys have got a good basis to keep working on. And you see at a place
like that (Sachsenring circuit) Š Suzuki was complaining about acceleration
and so forth. At that place it's only first to fourth gear and it's all
about acceleration and turning. They're right in the picture. I'd be
surprised if the complaints still keep coming in after a place like that.
The first two races they were quite quick (Roberts won both, in Malaysia and
Japan), but there (Sachsenring) is a really tight circuit, so you'd have to
say that that bike isn't that bad. And the Yamahas weren't that far out of
the picture. I think that Max (Biaggi) is obviously their number one hope,
and hopefully he'll get back on track and produce what he's capable of
producing, but I've been away so long I can't comment. I don't want to fire
up anything, but I think that the (Yamaha) bike's not a bad thing and he
just needs to focus on what he actually is and that is a motorcycle racer.
Q ­ Is it possible that that just might be a stepping stone to a 500cc team
in the near future?
A - Well, anything is possible, but at this point in time, really, what we
are working on is getting my own career on track rather than helping out
some other guys. But anything is possible. I'm not closing the doors to any
opportunities that might exist out there. We'll just have to wait and see as
to what evolves out of the next few months. But at this point in time I
haven't had much to do with any discussions along those lines. And, really,
I've read more than I've ever spoken to anyone about.
Q - Having a couple of races under your belt before you come to Australia Š
is that going to be important for a good result down here? Is it good sort
of training?
A - I think just generally hopping on the motorcycle is good training. As
I've said a few times previously, if I'm strong I feel I can be competitive.
I don't think that the time off the bike is really going to slow me down too
much. It will take a day probably to get the eye back in and (re-adjust) to
how quick the corners accelerate up to you, but the rest of it is all pretty
much second nature. I feel mentally strong, so really I've just got to get
on the bike and feel how much mobility I have on the bike, how strong I am
on the bike. If I'm strong I know I can be competitive. Whether or not that
means winning is another thing, but unless I think I can win I won't hop on.
Q - And what about testing before the Czech Republic Grand Prix? Where would
you do that and how soon?
A - Obviously it won't be that soon. The Czech Republic Grand Prix is still
a month away. Obviously we will try to leave it as late as possible for
that. We can test at various places Š there's a lot of circuits. We've got
plenty of racetracks in Europe we can test on. We will make a plan around
that further down the track. I know we've got some testing planned in
Valencia (in Spain) a week before the Czech Republic Grand Prix, but we
could be in Italy, we could be in Austria Š we could be anywhere.
Q - You've always taken your career from year-to-year, particularly this
year. There was some talk at the German race of Phillip Island being made,
next year, the last race in the calendar. Given that everyone is getting
older, would that be a good way to go out?
A - It would be, but at this stage another year away is a long way. Like I
said before, I've really got to hop back on the motorcycle and see how I
feel before I make any further decisions - whether I stop, whether I
continue going next year. I haven't really spoken to the Japanese (Honda)
about what our plan is for next year. They've been asking me what my plan
is, and I've given them the same answer I just gave you. It's hard to
highlight the highest point of my career, but last year went fairly close to
being like the pinnacle of it - winning in Australia, winning the world
championship there (Phillip Island). So it would be good to finish my career
in Australia, but a Grand Prix Š it doesn't really matter where I finish, as
long as I am having fun.
Q - What keeps you motivated? Is there still a feeling that there are things
that you would like to achieve?
A - Well, not so much. I think it's that I enjoy racing. I enjoy riding a
motorcycle. I guess it's the adrenalin of riding a motorcycle. It's also
really hard to just want to stop. I realise that I'm in a position at
The moment that I am having success and I'm enjoying what I do. At no other
point in my life, I guess, am I going to be in this situation, from what I
can see, doing something that I enjoy and getting a great buzz out of . I
don't want to retire just because I've reached the top of what I do. A lot
of people do that and retire for a year or two and want to come back. I've
sort of had the mentality that while I'm enjoying it I'll keep going, and
when I've had enough I've had enough. And then I'll move on to another part
of my life and see if I can make the best of that.
Q - What are you doing with your time at the moment? Some weeks ago you were
pretty much confined to quarters, but can you give us an idea of what sort
of physiotherapy you're doing to try to get back on track.
A - I'm actually doing quite a bit of intensive physiotherapy work and I'm
working with a trainer to get everything working a little bit quicker than
perhaps it would normally. It's associated with the office of Dr Ting (noted
American orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting) and we're working mainly on
the arm at the moment. The leg is still a little bit "green" to be pushing
it too hard and in another 10 days we'll see how that's progressing and see
if we can't try to work that a little bit harder. What I'm really working on
at the moment is upper body strength and trying to get that sort of strength
back, so that when I'm back on the bike, or just back to living, I'll have
no problems with my upper body.
Q - Have you had much communication with the team while you have been on the
sidelines injured?
A - Yes, I have. I was in Holland (for the Dutch Grand Prix on June 26) and
I was in the UK (for the British Grand Prix on July 4) and I was speaking
with the team over the last weekend. Every day I was speaking with someone
involved with the team. It's pretty hard to get away from it. Generally
pretty much every day I'm involved with different people associated with
racing who have got something to do with this fantastic sport.
Q - In your spare time, any that there is, are you reading any flying
manuals by chance?
A - I think that that is the furthest thing from my mind. When I do get some
spare time I will fulfil my pilot's licence, or the second part of it. But
at the moment, no, I've just been doing rehab and getting back together
and letting the other guys fly around.
Q - Your recent fatherhood Š a lot of drivers and riders say that it affects
them and takes off maybe that 1 per cent edge that they may have had. Do you
see it affecting you mentally at this stage?
A - At this stage no. I think it depends how strong those drivers and riders
were to begin with. You know, we've seen, people have been having children
for centuries now. I think the best of people can still concentrate on what
they're doing and stay focussed - and that's the safest you can be. If you
start to worry about things then it is time to get out. If you start to slow
down there is more of a chance that you will crash. So I think that there
are plenty of world champions that are out there who have children and have
a family life and it doesn't seem to upset them too much. I think it is
perhaps people who are still trying to get there who take a little bit of a
back seat and think it's all too difficult. For me that would be a sign to
perhaps stop completely and perhaps look for other avenues.

 MICK DOOHAN¹S INTERVIEW
Il dottor Costa ci ha detto durante il GP di Germania che Mick gli ha confermato
che da fine luglio sara' a casa sua per iniziare la rieducazione, facendogli
saltare la ferie anche quest'anno... :-))
A suo dire le condizioni del pilota australiano non rendono possibile un rientro
per il GP di Brno, ed anche la partecipazione al GP di Imola per adesso e'
ritenuta solo "possibile ma tutt'altro che certa".
Ciao, Marco
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