Sepang Seething
by Mick DoohanI reckon we need to do better than that, but fourth was all I could do on Sunday.
We were struggling big time at Sepang - the bike wouldn't steer and I wasn't getting any feel. I found the limit pretty quickly and fell on Friday morning - I was on maximum lean and the thing just fell over. After that we just worked at getting back some feel and managed to get it working a bit better, but we should've been working to make the bike handle during the off-season; all we did was burn fuel until we got the new chassis at Motegi a few weeks back.
The '99 chassis isn't what we asked for. What did we ask for? Not what they gave us!
It's basically the same as the '98 chassis, except made in a different way, so it's got the same characteristics. We may try it again at Motegi next week because they've made some modifications since the tests, but from what I've heard, it still doesn't sound like what we're after.
The problems we had at Sepang were the same as we've always had with the bike, and that's why I was saying last season that we need to make the bike handle better. The only reason it wasn't a real problem before this year was because all the good guys were on Hondas - I always knew that once the other factories got good riders on their bikes, they'd tear the insides out of us.
I got away okay in the race but then Aoki turned left in front of me and parked it - it was a close one and lost me a lot of places. The bike got better as the fuel load went down but we were still struggling - I couldn't steer it at all. The bike had no power either and it felt like it might stop - I was using first in some places where I usually use second and it was still, like bwoooaar, out of the turns. It sounded really flat and sick.
Who knows what'll happen at Motegi? I was trying out the '99 chassis there during the IRTA tests, but Tady was running the '98 chassis and still complaining a lot about the front. Motegi is more grippy than Sepang and that might help, but I guess all the other bikes will be better there too.
The off-season was pretty busy as usual, with testing and appearances and so on. I got a bit of a chance to relax, heading out on the boat and fishing around the Great Barrier Reef. After the Motegi tests we spent some time around Darwin in northern Australia, just fishing and relaxing.
Selina's fine but she's staying in Australia for the first two races, then she's coming over to Europe.
###Five time world champion Mick Doohan writes an exclusive internet column for amasuperbike.com which is funded in part by the parts and accesories department at american honda.
