A great maestro arrives at the Repsol Honda Team
Experimented and renowned Erv Kanemoto has joined the team with the only aim of getting the world title home
He has worked with many great riders of the 1980s and 90s, clinched one 250cc title and one 500cc runner-up with Max Biaggi, and hes one of the few gaijin foreigner in Japanese- who enjoys full confidence of the top HRC officials. Back in the place where he had been working in the early 1980, the guru has returned ready to assume the pressure and the objectives of a team with such an impressive record as the Repsol Honda Team. You were in the official Honda team with riders such as Gardner and Spencer more than ten years ago. Now youre back in a team that last year experienced one of the worst seasons of its particular history, because they didnt take a single victory after taking the last three world titles. Youll be facing a big challenge… Yes, I know that I have a big challenge to face. Look, Im really passionate about racing, as most of us here and we all know that Honda has enough potential to create a winning bike and a winning team. Working with them, riders and team, will be with no doubt a very interesting experience for me. Right now Im in a learning phase; Im getting to know the team, where almost everything is new to me, although I already worked some time ago with Pete Benson and Hideki Iwano, both chiefs of mechanics. Im also getting to know the bikes behaviour, which is completely new to me. We started with the two test sessions planned in Malaysia and then three days in Australia with the 2005 bikes. Now my main objective is getting to know the new bike, understand it and help them with the evolution. The team has undergone important changes on all levels: mechanics, technicians, management… Do you think that it may affect the work and the agility of the whole? New teams usually need a period of adaptation; when you put together people who havent worked together as a team, you need some time to let them know each other and get used to it. But fortunately, well have enough test sessions before the first round of the World Championship to let this team, the Repsol Honda Team, become a compact and close team. The bike you have in your hands, the 2005 version; is it possible to evolve it much more or is it already close to its limit? I dont know the bike 100% yet, as I said, but what I can tell you is that the factories competing in the World Championship, fighting for the title, work very hard, constantly developing and evolving new components, so the bike were going to have this 2005 season will keep on evolving during the preseason and even in certain moments during the season as such. Do you think that the current class is at a high level, compared to the golden ages you experienced with Gardner, Spencer, Lawson, Rayney, Schwantz…? I think that especially the MotoGP class is experiencing a great moment. Its good for this sport and for the class in particular, to see how the factories are getting more and more involved, contributing to their projects with engineers, new ideas and advanced technologies. We shouldnt forget that MotoGP is a recent creation, so its moving forward and growing year after year, giving new factories the opportunity to enter the highest world competition of motorbikes. As regards the riders, I think that nothing has changed if you want to become a champion: quality, effort and consistency were and are still necessary to be the best. Its difficult to define any changes in these aspects right now, because the quality of a winner is still the same. But the bikes have changed and that has raised the level of the class. However, I think the riders keep the same, very high level. You were away from races for a couple of years, then came back to action last year with the team Suzuki, and this season youre back in the official Honda team. What happened to let us see Erv Kanemoto finally in the Repsol Honda Team? I was contacted by people from Honda, they ask me whether I was available to join the Repsol Honda Team in 2005. The truth is that I was very surprised when they asked me. I started working with HRC, at that time called Honda Racing, in 1982, and my last year with them was 1988. From that moment on I began working with my own company; in 1989 I worked with Eddie Lawson and we took the 500cc World Championship. Since then, HRCs history in this last decade and a half has been filled with great success and achievements, so Im really surprised that they remembered me. So when they asked me, the first thing I thought was that this could be a great chance to work in the best team, with the best bike and with top level riders. When I accepted the challenge I obviously knew as well that it wouldnt be easy and that achieving the set objectives is going to be a very big challenge. If everything works out well, we should be fighting for the title, but thats exactly what the rest of the teams are thinking too, so it wont be easy. Lets talk about the riders of the Repsol Honda Team. You know Max very well; you achieved a title and a runner-up with him. How do you think Max has evolved as a rider since you took different paths at the end of 1998? Yes, I know Max very well; 1993 was the first year we worked together, in 1997 we took the 250cc title with Honda and the following year, in 1998 we were runner-ups in the 500cc, with Honda as well. I havent been following him much on the track during these years because Ive been quite away from races. But from what I know, Max is a rider who focuses and concentrates completely on racing, as any other rider who wants to fight for the title. If hes got the bike and the team he needs, Max is will be very competitive, with no doubt one of the best and Im sure that hell be fighting for the title. With his quality and his speed, why do you think Max hasnt managed to become MotoGP World Champion yet? Difficult to say… Maybe due to a series of circumstances that allow you to get a title and didnt gather at the same time: bike, team, luck, important differences between riders riding style and bikes behaviour… I dont know, I wasnt with him in the past, so I can only talk about the present, and I hope to be able to give him everything necessary to let him clinch the title, to give him a bike that will allow him to exploit his potential. Is it really true what they say about Max being one of the best riders testing and developing a bike? I dont know other riders, but I can tell you that Max is very good evolving a bike, with no doubt one of the best. And mainly due to his experience and sensibility on the bike. He notices in an instant any single change made on the bike. Hes analysing and thinking with no rest, hes always very persistent in his work. Is Max possibly facing his best chance to get the title?Yes. Its possible and I hope that this time its going to work out. The coming weeks before the start of the World Championship are going to be critical, very important for us, because we have to give Max the bike he needs to fight for the title. Im sure that if we manage to do so, Max will have his chance to get the World Championship. In addition to working with somebody you already know, youll also be working this year with a fellow-countryman of yours and one of the young protected promises of Honda. How is your work with Hayden and his team developing? Its true that Ive spent a lot of time with Max and little with Nicky so far. But is has a reason. Im trying to get to know the bike and what way to follow to evolve it correctly, I mean, we have to choose the right path to follow for its development. And I think that Max is well prepared to help me with this, due to his experience. Once I have all the information I need and once weve chosen the right direction, Ill start working with both of them, although each one of them has his own riding style. Im obviously here to work with both, with the whole team, but right now I needed to understand the bike, and quickly, and thats why Ive been so close to Max. At which level of maturity do you think is Hayden? Do you think that your fellow-countryman can be fighting for the victory and even for the title this season? Well, its not easy for any rider to be fighting for the victory, especially because all of them want the same thing and there are many of them, very good ones. The fight for the title is obviously much more complicated, but what I can tell you is that there are many factors playing a role in this sport, many of them determining ones, that will allow or hinder a rider from being a winner, and I think that Nicky has the potential to win, if not right now, soon. Lets talk about the competition. The rider and the bike to be beaten are Rossi and his Yamaha. How have you seen them during the preseason? The truth is that I havent seen much, because weve been very busy trying to understand what we have, so I havent had much time to watch our rivals. We know general things about our rivals, but nothing specific, only that theyre going to be very competitive. We know that Valentino and his bike make up a great tandem and that his team is strong; they know how to give their rider what he needs. Everybody knows Valentinos potential. Who else do you think will be fighting for the tile this year? Valentino Rossi is obviously the favourite and I think that Gibernau, Capirossi, Barros and obviously Max and Nicky can be fighting for the title as well. These are more or less the riders who will be fighting weekend after weekend for the victory. And who do you thing will give a surprise? Tamada. I think that if he and his team are capable of adapting to the new tyres theyre going to use this season, they can do a really good job and who knows, maybe give us a surprise… Another rider who, I guess, may give us a surprise this year is Hopkins. Suzuki has made a big step forward and if his team does a good job, Hopkins and his bike will be competitive.
