went from the noisiest thing on the track to the quietest, so the stewards, who are as strict at Assen as they are anywhere, knew something was up. When they found the washer and started bollocking us, I went mad. ‘What do you want us to do? We’re just starting out and can’t afford all the stuff we’d need to meet your standards.’ They eventually let us off with a warning.
Gary must have had a thing about the stewards at Assen. Nearly 10 years later, when he was working for Sean Emmett, there was a big argument on the grid. Neil Hodgson’s bike had got some air in the clutch and the officials allowed him a minute to bleed it. Gary’s team thought he was getting special treatment, so they decided that when the time came to leave the grid, they would leave it as late as possible. When they tried it on, one of the stewards, a massive bloke, picked up Emmett’s front stand and hurled it over the barrier. The red mist came down over Gary and he smashed the bloke with his torque wrench. The following year Emmett was not allowed to race until he paid a £600 fine for what Gary had done the previous year!
Here’s a description of my flying lap around Assen. I would go through start–finish in second gear and move up to fifth through Timmer Bocht at the end of the pit-lane, where you run across a white line and a hump that can sometimes upset the bike, and straight-line it through the kink. Then I drop down two gears for the proper turn one. I enjoy this third-gear corner. You go in quite hard and then just let go of the brakes while the camber of the track holds you tight into the corner and helps you turn in. The other riders seem to keep braking all the way round. As soon as possible, just after going into the corner, I’m onto the gas and using all the room on the exit before going up through the gears to fourth and moving side to side through a couple of slight kinks left and right. This section is called Witterdiep, but they cannot really be called corners.
The next turn, Madjik, is possibly my favourite corner in racing. I go down two gears to this straightforward right-hand corner, with plenty of room going in and plenty coming out. As soon as I exit, I’m straight on the gas and can feel the bike sliding at the rear, which is a really good feeling. Then it’s up through the gears and through another dog-leg kink before getting hard on the brakes for the tight, well-banked, second-gear Osserbroeken. I exit that in second gear, climbing over the bike as I change up into third and go through another kink and under a bridge before shutting off the throttle and keeping it in third around the right-hander. More often than not I will try to run the bike in second gear through the De Strubben horseshoe, but I used to go down to first for the slowest corner on the track. That was a bit too low and upset the bike too much on the exit.
Then you are onto the back straight, the fastest part of the circuit, although it’s not technically a straight as you’re switching from one side to the other while veering slightly left all the way along. That’s characteristic of the Assen circuit. I short-shift through the gears before the first kink and get on the limiter – I never used sixth gear at Assen – before getting hard on the brakes into Stekkenwal. You have to be leaning slightly over to the left while braking, which has never been my favourite thing to do. As soon as you lift the bike up for the tight right-hander you go down into second, throw it in and exit in the same gear. I’m quickly up to third before another straightforward kink and into the banked, tight, second-gear De Bult left-hander. This is another nice, smooth corner. A few people are caught out going too fast through here and lose their front end but I have never had a problem with it. In fact, I have never ever crashed here, which is another very unusual fact.
I can then just get away with leaving the bike in second before the Mandeveen turn. Occasionally I went up into third, depending on the state of the race and whether I was trying to save the engine a little bit. I stay in second for that double right-hander. The first part is pretty straightforward before I lift the bike up a little bit, move it up to third and push it back in again into Duikersloot. It’s a bit tall, but by the time I come out into the long run towards start–finish, third gear is fine. I will leave it in fourth through the Meeuwenimeer, a very fast right-hand dog-leg. You cannot get through there flat out, you have to shut off the throttle and then move up into fifth gear through the Hoge Heide dog-leg.
The last section is all left-handers, and I move down to third through Ramshoek, although it’s hard to move quickly down through the gears here because you’re always going from one side of the track to the other. I pick up speed mid-corner through this long left-hander before the final GT Bocht chicane. This was possibly my fastest part of the circuit, a good place on the track for it. If you can get through this section quickly then you’re in a good position to get up someone, like Chili, through the chicane. Most people will run through this in first gear, I use second really well. I passed Troy Corser while in second gear in 1999 and I could tell he was still in first. However, if I have to protect my line by braking a bit later, I use first gear at this point. On the exit of the chicane I am back all over the front of the bike trying to keep the front wheel down and running across the kerb on the inside to straight-line it through start–finish.
Worst Crash: Never had one Best Moment: The double wins of 1999, my last proper racing weekend, or the double of 1995 that clinched the would championship. Closest Finish: Kocinski came past me going into the last corner, ran wide and allowed my Honda back underneath. Kocinski also allowed Corser into second. Best Other Rider: Frankie Chili. He has come from 250cc GP’s and so has a similar style to mine. Worst Moment: Being splattered by a bluebottle and losing to John Kocinski in 1997.
Danielle gets to grips with a Foggy replica scooter.
As a general rule, girls and bikes don’t mix. I’d be far happier if my two daughters, Danielle and Claudia – and Michaela, who has just passed her test – did not become involved. There are women who give it a go and do okay, though. The German racer Katja Poensgen has just become the first woman to compete in a 250cc Grand Prix and she seems to be beating a few of the men, which is some going.
I think it’s great that women get involved. For a start, Katja’s an attractive girl. That’s probably one of the reasons why she has got to where she is, because sponsors know they will get a lot of exposure for their team. If she was a pig in a wig, things might have been different! But there’s no question she can ride a bike, and I have seen her go very fast at times. I remember once winding up Karl Harris about her when he was riding Superstock in 1999. I asked him at a meeting how he was doing.
‘I’m doing pretty good, up there in fourth,’ he replied, forgetting to mention that Katja was second quickest.
‘What are you talking about?’ I came back. ‘You’re letting a bird beat you, you silly sod!’
I laughed, and Karl went out for the next session and went quickest! But I hope Katja does well because she has been around the World Superbike paddock for the last five years and gets on well with everyone.
There are quite a few women who also race at club level, although I’m not sure exactly how many because I don’t follow club racing. My old mechanic Anthony ‘Slick’ Bass’s new girlfriend, Juliet Manning, is part of a four-woman team racing at that level. There they are not so much at a disadvantage because on a 125cc or 250cc strength does not play a big part. There used to be a Finnish female rider, Taru Rinne, who was very fast in the 125cc GPs and probably finished in the top 10 on a few occasions in the late eighties. I think she even qualified in pole position once. It’s a different matter on a superbike or GP 500cc bike, though. There will
