World famous mechanic and Valentino Rossi’s crew chief has left a long interview with SuperBikePlanet in which he reveals many aspects of his long and rich career with riders like Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Freddie Spencer.
Jeremy Burgess discusses some fascinating moments of MotoGP history and the riders themselves.
Some quotes from the interview, on being chief mechanic at Honda for Wayne Gardner:“Honda, as a company, if they saw that you could offer more to them, or you had the potential to do more, if you didn’t do that, you weren’t doing the best for Honda.
So it basically came down, when he explained it to me, “you don’t have a choice.
You’re either going to be the chief mechanic for Wayne Gardner, or you’re shirking your issues.
”On the difference between Gardner and Doohan, Burgess says:“To draw the parallel of him [Gardner] and Mick (Doohan), Wayne you would have to go and tell him that “you can beat those guys.
You beat them last week.
You can do it.
You can do it.
You can do it.
” If you said anything like that to Mick Doohan, he’d look at you, and he’d look down at you, and he’d say, “What, don’t you think I can do it?”And on how to balance life with work and personal family commitments:Ah, well, it always works out on my personal side, because I’m right and everybody else is wrong.
It’s a long interview, but one definitely worth reading for the history of the MotoGP and a few pearls of wisdom left in the midst of the reminiscing.
There’s plenty on the Valentino Rossi era as well, for those of you who want the juicy bits on the current MotoGP world champion and Burgess’ and Rossi’s work.
Check it all out on SuperBikePlanet.
com.