On the level of riders in SBK:
I've got to say I am grateful to the Superbike championship for these seven years... I've got so many good friends here. I'm going to miss them. But what I am most grateful -- what everyone of us who rides a Superbike is grateful for -- is Troy Bayliss going over there to MotoGP at the last race of the year at Valencia when all the attention was on (Valentino) Rossi and (Nicky) Hayden and just going out there and beating them at their own game. That was massive for Superbike, and when I say Superbike I mean not just for the championship but for the riders also.
With Bayliss winning there on the 990 and then my going to Qatar and Australia and beating Bayliss there, then all of a sudden GP teams think, well this guy must be good... because they haven't seen me, haven't seen me racing Rossi and the rest over there, so it is very difficult for them to know where I stand. But when Bayliss does what he does at their final round and then I go out an beat Bayliss in a couple of races they have some kind of comparison, otherwise they just watch the 250 races and take their pick there.
Bayliss did everybody in Superbikes a massive, massive favor, and also (Max) Biaggi, coming here and taking us all on. Yeah, Biaggi has his problems as we all know, or as we have been told -- I've never had any problems personally -- but we've all heard a few stories, but everyone knows how good he is. You look at his CV… it's a lot better than mine: four 250 titles, wins in 500 and in MotoGP. And you don't come over here and finish third and win races in your first year in this championship unless you are bloody good. But that's our way of looking at it because we are here and we know. For the people in the GP paddock, they just know Max is very good and they see that he doesn't have it all his own way here. Biaggi ran with us but he didn't run away from us. It just proves how good the regulars are here.
When you have a series with
the likes of (Nori) Haga, Bayliss, (Troy) Corser, Biaggi and myself, and others like (Ruben) Xaus who won in Valencia on a slower Ducati than the factory ones and Nieto who was third here at the last race of the season on the Kawasaki, it just shows how strong this championship is. You know that Haga, Bayliss, Corser, and Biaggi are going to be fast everyday and for me to win the title and eight races in this championship, it lets me not only go to MotoGP with confidence, knowing I deserve to be there, but it opened the doors to the Yamaha factory team. I feel for Nori because he has never won the championship and I'm sitting here having won it twice. I am a very fortunate young man to have felt this and felt it twice.
On MotGP and control tires:
My understanding is that they are going to a control tire there. If they do, it will make the racing consistently closer. There were times this year when the Bridgestones worked and the Michelins didn't and vice-versa. That means there were days when (Casey) Stoner couldn't race at the front and other days when Rossi and other Michelin riders couldn't. In Superbike we have seen that the control tire system works. But whatever the system in MotoGP, whether it is Bridgestone or Michelin or Dunlop or Pirelli, or if they go back to the open system, I'll just give it 100%.
On going to Tech 3 Yamaha with Colin Edwards:
I wanted to go to MotoGP at 27 and Yamaha was the only factory that offered me a works team. I am glad I am going to be riding for Herve Poncheral because he is a really nice guy, like the people on Ten Kate. There are a lot of… how should I say this? A lot of difficult people in racing and I have been lucky to ride for Ten Kate and to be going to Tech 3. I don't speak French, not yet. I'll probably learn Texan from Colin. I was a teammate of Colin's in 2001 when he rode Superbike for Honda and I rode for the Honda Supersport team. I know Colin and having him as a teammate is going to be a blast!
