INTERVIEW NEIL TUXWORTH
team manager castrol honda superbike racing

by rick williams
 

On the '99 season: It's not been too bad, we've won five races. Winning races is the most important thing to Honda. Winning the championship is like a bonus, icing on the cake. Obviously we're please to have won five races, we'd have liked to won a lot more. It's been a very competitive year, everyone seems to have caught up and got very close. Particularly Ducati, Honda and Suzuki have made big steps this year. The Yamaha seems to be struggling a little bit in my opinion, and Kawasaki seems a little bit behind. It's been a very good Superbike year again, it's been good racing. Generally, we're pretty happy with things.

On the RC51: Well, we have the new bike and obviously we don't know a lot more than you at the moment. It's very important to Honda, it's a big sales bike. It's a mass produced bike, which unlike the RC45 which is sold in very small numbers. And they tend to sell lots of VTR1000s, so obviously success on the racetrack is vitally important to them. I'm pretty confident Honda will make sure the bike is successful.

On the new bike's development: They've been developing the bike for more than a year now, so it's not like they just started. We were testing the bike at the beginning of the year, before the season started, in Phillip Island. It's come a long way since then.

If you can't beat'em, join'em? No, not really. If it's a different type of bike to the Ducati, really. I mean, it's just another niche in the market which Honda wants to build a bike for so it just makes sense to race there. I don't think it's a case of joining them. At the end of the day, I think Honda builds bikes to sell to the public. Ducati tends to build race bikes that then get sold to the public, Honda builds road bikes that we make into race bikes. (dean notes: ah, now they do, anyway).

RC51 characteristics: It's a more user friendly bike than many bikes already available. When they first tested it, Aaron broke the lap record at Phillip Island. At the beginning of the year, the bike handled very well and stopped very well. It was probably a little bit down on performance on the RC-45. That area has improved, but we've not ridden the bike since.

On the RC45: We've been racing it six years. It's had a tremendous amount of success. It's won one world championship. Also endurance championships, numerous national races around the world, it's been an incredibly good bike. At the end of the day, it's just not been a successful bike, it's been an incredibly reliable bike. I think in all that time, we've only failed to finish three races due to mechanical failures. I mean, that's a pretty impressive record.

Future of WSC: Superbike racing, every year the crowds get bigger, the interest gets more, there's more manufacturers that seem to get involved, I think it's on the up and up. With all the environmental issues, four strokes are more important than two strokes these days, and Honda have gradually been phasing out two strokes, so this kind of racing can only get better.

Colin's future: Colin at the moment, he has said he wants to stay with Honda. If Honda wants him to stay in Superbike, he'll stay in Superbike, and if Honda wants him to go to Grand Prix, he'll go to Grand Prix. He's quite happy to do another year in Superbikes next year. After that, it's hard to say.

On John Kocinski, '97 WSB champ for Castrol Honda: John is a different sort of character. I mean, I've never had a problem with John, and I don't think John's ever had a problem with me. You've got to treat John different....every rider is different. I treat Aaron different to Colin, they're all different. John just requires probably help in some areas other riders don't. The secret to having success with John is working with him, as a team. He's very precise about what he wants. People make all kind of crazy stories about John. John is different, but then again Colin is different, Aaron is different, Fogarty was different, every rider is different. Many people criticize John without ever getting to know him or work with him. We had a very good, enjoyable and successful year with him, and I think John says the same, too.

On John's move to MoviStar: Oh, I knew that wouldn't work, just the way the Spanish are. The way the Spanish work, I knew it was just a disaster from day one because of the way John is, you know?