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At recent testing in Malaysia, Regis Laconi fell and broke his leg. The following interview was done by motograndprix website.
INJURY UPDATE
RÉGIS LACONI INTERVIEW: A BAD START
Feature // 07.FEB.00 // 1 of 1 // by Stéphane Van Gelder -- special to Quokka Sports
-- The Frenchman is physically
mending but mentally ready.
After three months away from his works Yamaha 500, Régis Laconi was
eager to get on with some winter testing. But a crash on the very first day of
the season's first test has put him in the hospital. Laconi crashed on
Tuesday, February 1, at Malaysia's Sepang circuit, while attending the first
combined test for all of Yamaha's 500 riders.
The 1999 Valencia winner was immediately flown back to Paris where
doctors diagnosed a fractured right tibia bone and a slight dislocation of
the right shoulder. Laconi underwent surgery on Wednesday, February 2.
Doctors screwed together his tibia and took advantage of the opportunity to
clean up some damage left over from his last bad crash, during practice for
the first GP of 1998 at Suzuka (Japan), where Laconi had also injured his
right ankle.
Although this is clearly a big setback for Laconi's Y2K GP challenge, the
French rider is already thinking hard about healing and getting back
onboard his Yamaha. In the meantime, he talked to MotoGP directly from
his hospital bed.
MotoGP: How did this crash happen?
Régis Laconi: It happened in the afternoon. In the morning, I'd worked
on getting back into the swing of things and I was already feeling good on
the bike. We started with the bike as it was last year and worked from there,
switching over to the year 2000 configuration step by step. There's been
quite a lot of development, with the forks for example. For the afternoon, we
fitted the 2000 engine. I ran it in, then started to ride it. It felt harsher than
usual on the upshift. I rode a little harder and suddenly, when I shifted from
second to third, the rear of the bike stepped right out. There was nothing I
could do.
MotoGP: Was the crash due to a mechanical problem?
RL: No, we had no problems. The engine was brand new. It really was on
the upshift, the bike had never done that to me before. When I put it in third
gear, instead of gripping normally it just went sideways.
MotoGP: What's new on the 2000 engine you were using?
RL: I don't really know and I didn't get much time with it. It feels more
powerful at low revs and a little easier to ride. But I needed a lot more time
on it. We were still far off the optimum carburetion settings. We always start
things off a little rich and work from there.
MotoGP: This engine isn't the single crank unit Biaggi is known to have
tested. Did you get a chance to see if Biaggi was using the single-crank
engine again?
RL: No. At the moment, I don't think that many people outside of the
Yamaha factory know what parts everyone is using. I do know that there
was a single crank bike there because one of the bikes sounded different. I
know that Namba (Yamaha's official test rider) rode it. But I don't know what
Biaggi was using. I was concentrating on my stuff. We have enough to do
by ourselves without worrying about what the others are up to.
MotoGP: Do you resent the fact that Yamaha seems to be pursuing two
different development alleys?
RL: No. I'm quite satisfied with the stuff we've got right now. The bike has
been developed well. It was already pretty good last year. I believe that my
main problem was with the suspension. Now that Christophe
(Bourguignon, Olivier Jacque's ex-suspension engineer) has joined the
team, that problem is solved. I didn't even have a full day of work with him
but that was enough for me to tell that things are going to be very different.
He clearly knows what he is doing.
MotoGP: Does this mean your team has been reorganized?
RL: No, the team hasn't changed. Christophe has merely been added to
it. He's been made very welcome by everyone and they let him do what he
wants. That's important because I think he's the kind of guy who needs to
feel comfortable to do his best.
MotoGP: We know that your team manager Peter Clifford was injured
during the winter. Was he at the tests?
RL: Peter did some racing in New Zealand and got injured but he's much
better now and he was there in Sepang. The whole team was there.
MotoGP: It's no secret that you were less than happy with the team
organization at the end of last season. Have you sorted the situation out
with Peter Clifford?
RL: I asked for some changes to be made and they haven't been. But
Christophe's arrival has made a big difference for me. I now have
someone who speaks fluent French at my side. He clearly wants to work
with me and the feeling is very mutual. I feel confident that we will be able
to cure those little problems we had last year. I'm very happy with the way
the team is at the moment. We'll have to see how things go throughout the
season, but we're starting off on the right foot.
MotoGP: You certainly seem a lot more optimistic than you were at the
end of last year…
RL: Sure. I needed a change, something different in the team. I needed
someone with experience and that has been brought by Christophe. He
knows what he's doing and he has many ideas. He's constantly looking for
ways to improve things. I think every team needs a suspension engineer.
It's not the chief mechanic's job to know all about suspension. He has to
have a broader view, on the whole of the bike, and he has to manage h
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