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Erv Kanemoto returns to Honda this season as technical director of the factory Repsol team – with his sole objective to help Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden return the premier-class riders' title to Honda after it was taken from them by Valentino Rossi and Yamaha last season.
Kanemoto's former riders, Biaggi included, have won a total of 64 grands prix and seven world championships and he spent the 2004 season as a technical advisor at Team Suzuki before getting what he describes as a surprise call from Honda.
Here, speaking after the recent Phillip Island test, the American talks about the challenges ahead, how he's settling in to his new role, his assessment of Biaggi and Hayden, how modern MotoGP compares with the golden era of 500cc and much more...
Q:
You were in the factory Honda team with riders such as Wayne Gardner and Freddie Spencer more than ten-years ago and now you're back in a team that experienced one of its worst seasons ever in 2004 – when it didn't win a single race after taking the last three world titles. You'll must be facing a big challenge?
Erv Kanemoto:
Yes, I know that I have a big challenge to face. Look, I'm 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 I'm in a learning phase; I'm 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. I'm also getting to know the bike's 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.
Q:
The team has undergone major changes at all levels: mechanics, technicians, management - do you think that will be a problem?
Erv Kanemoto:
New teams usually need a period of adaptation; when you put together people who haven't worked together as a team, you need some time to let them know each other and get used to it. But fortunately, we'll 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.
Q:
Is it possible to develop the 2005 RC211V more is it already close to its limit?
Erv Kanemoto:
I don't 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 we're going to have this 2005 season will keep on evolving during the preseason and even in certain moments during the season as such.
Q:
What do you think of the current MotoGP class compared to the golden era you were also involved in with Gardner, Spencer, Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz and the like?
Erv Kanemoto:
I think that the MotoGP class is a great period. It's good for the 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 shouldn't forget that MotoGP is a recent creation, so it's moving forward and growing year after year, giving new factories the opportunity to enter the highest world competition for 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.
It's 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.
Q:
You were away from GP racing for a couple of years, then came back last year with the Team Suzuki, and this season you're back in the official Honda team. How did the Repsol deal come together?
Erv Kanemoto:
I was contacted by people from Honda, they asked me whether I was available to join the Repsol Honda Team in 2005. The truth is 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, HRC's history in this last decade and a half has been filled with great success and achievements, so I'm 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 wouldn't 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 that's exactly what the rest of the teams are thinking too, so it won't be easy.
Q:
Let's talk about the Repsol Honda riders. You know Max very well; you achieved a world title and a runner-up position with him. How do you think Max has evolved as a rider since you last worked together in 1998?
Erv Kanemoto:
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 haven't been following him much on the track during these years because I've 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 he's got the bike and the team he needs, Max is will be very competitive, with no doubt one of the best and I'm sure that he'll be fighting for the title.
Q:
With such quality and speed, why do you think Max hasn't managed to become MotoGP World Champion yet?
Erv Kanemoto:
Difficult to say... Maybe due to a series of circumstances that allow you to get a title and didn't gather at the same time: bike, team, luck, important differences between rider's riding style and bike's behaviour... I don't know, I wasn't 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.
Q:
Is it true that Max is one of the best test and development riders around?
Erv Kanemoto:
I don't 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. He's analysing and thinking with no rest, he's always very persistent in his work.
Q:
And is Max facing his best chance of a premier-class title?
Erv Kanemoto:
Yes. It's possible and I hope that this time it's 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. I'm sure that if we manage to do so, Max will have his chance to get the world championship.
Q:
In addition to working with Biaggi, who you already know, you'll also be working with a fellow-countryman of yours, Nicky Hayden, this year. How is your work with Hayden and his team developing?
Erv Kanemoto:
It's true that I've spent a lot of time with Max and little with Nicky so far. But is has a reason. I'm 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 we've chosen the right direction, I'll start working with both of them, although each one of them has his own riding style. I'm obviously here to work with both, with the whole team, but right now I needed to understand the bike, and quickly, and that's why I've been so close to Max.
Q:
Do you think Hayden can be fight for race victories and even the title this season?
Erv Kanemoto:
Well, it's not easy for any rider to be fighting for 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.
Q:
Let's talk about the competition. The rider and the bike to beat are Rossi and Yamaha. Have you watched them much during testing?
Erv Kanemoto:
The truth is that I haven't seen much, because we've been very busy trying to understand what we have, so I haven't had much time to watch our rivals. We know general things about our rivals, but nothing specific, only that they're 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 Valentino's potential.
Q:
Who do you think will be fighting for the title this year?
Erv Kanemoto:
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.
Q:
And who do you think will cause a surprise in 2005?
Erv Kanemoto:
Tamada. I think that if he and his team are capable of adapting to the new tyres they're 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.
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