page 12 The best Steve Saunders Interview ever 2013
Did you have problems with your clutch on the Honda?
The standard clutch on the 85 bikes are complete junk. They were the only down side of the bike. In 86 we had completely different clutches on the bikes. They were fine.
How many 86 bikes did you have?
2
Did Honda sort the Ellgren gear out?
That was sorted out between Eddy and I. We were dictated to for places for sponsor names.
The standard clutch on the 85 bikes are complete junk. They were the only down side of the bike. In 86 we had completely different clutches on the bikes. They were fine.
How many 86 bikes did you have?
2
Did Honda sort the Ellgren gear out?
That was sorted out between Eddy and I. We were dictated to for places for sponsor names.
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Was the van at the time yours , or was in owned by Honda ?
It was Hondas van
It was Hondas van
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What were the highs and lows of the bike?
I think the only negative I really pick up was that it was temperamental to altitude , very temperamental to altitude. It would cough and lose all of its power at altitude , a serious amount of power. Getting around this was bloody difficult
Do you consider this year to be the highlight of your career?
Hmmmmm Yes ,really. There are a lot of things , with hindsight , id like to go back to 1986 and do things differently.
What would you have done differently?
Well , just all the things I made mistakes on ha ha
What happened in Italy in 1986
Altitude , we could not get the bike running right. Eddy did. He got his bike running right and it ws possible to do it , but Derrick and I could not get the bike to run right
I think the only negative I really pick up was that it was temperamental to altitude , very temperamental to altitude. It would cough and lose all of its power at altitude , a serious amount of power. Getting around this was bloody difficult
Do you consider this year to be the highlight of your career?
Hmmmmm Yes ,really. There are a lot of things , with hindsight , id like to go back to 1986 and do things differently.
What would you have done differently?
Well , just all the things I made mistakes on ha ha
What happened in Italy in 1986
Altitude , we could not get the bike running right. Eddy did. He got his bike running right and it ws possible to do it , but Derrick and I could not get the bike to run right
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Could you not get assistance from Eddys mechanic?
He did have an inroad and had been there several times before on his 360 . We had the Japanese guys there and I don’t know. Maybe Eddys style and my style of riding and the different engines . my style of riding emphasized it more as well.
Back in that round would you have spoken to Eddys mechanic about the issues you were having ?
I wouldn’t have , but I would have thought my English mechanic would have spoken with the Japanese mechanic and he would have been the central point for all of us. He would have had all of the information . We did try a whole heap of things.
He did have an inroad and had been there several times before on his 360 . We had the Japanese guys there and I don’t know. Maybe Eddys style and my style of riding and the different engines . my style of riding emphasized it more as well.
Back in that round would you have spoken to Eddys mechanic about the issues you were having ?
I wouldn’t have , but I would have thought my English mechanic would have spoken with the Japanese mechanic and he would have been the central point for all of us. He would have had all of the information . We did try a whole heap of things.
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How did Derrick come into the picture and introduced into this deal?
He was riding for Honda Britain’s British Championship Enduro rider. Honda Japan were looking for a mechanic and I guess Honda Britain knew he was quite good and they said go off and do that. That’s sad when you are British Enduro Champion and you are taken off riding your sport and go off to mechanic for some spotty teenager on a trials bike.
But Honda didn’t stop Derrick riding?
Well if you think about it Honda didn’t offer him a continuation of the contract !!
So Derrick started working as your mechanic at the end of his Enduro career
Yes I think it ended it. I think he could probably have won again in 86 but because Honda wanted him to work for me.
Would Derrick be allowed to strip down engines or not that involved?
Yes, anything he wanted
He was riding for Honda Britain’s British Championship Enduro rider. Honda Japan were looking for a mechanic and I guess Honda Britain knew he was quite good and they said go off and do that. That’s sad when you are British Enduro Champion and you are taken off riding your sport and go off to mechanic for some spotty teenager on a trials bike.
But Honda didn’t stop Derrick riding?
Well if you think about it Honda didn’t offer him a continuation of the contract !!
So Derrick started working as your mechanic at the end of his Enduro career
Yes I think it ended it. I think he could probably have won again in 86 but because Honda wanted him to work for me.
Would Derrick be allowed to strip down engines or not that involved?
Yes, anything he wanted
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Where would he keep the bike?
There would be 2 and we would rotate the bikes. He would take one bike with him and I would have one. One weekend I would have one bike and at the end of that event the bike would go back with him to be fettled and I would get the other bike.
What happened in Germany in 86 with Michaud?
Ha ha. Sarah’s eyes rolled as she knows the pain this still causes Steve . I said “do you know about this ?” Steve said “Only In as much as I moan about this all of the time as it cost me the world championship”.
There would be 2 and we would rotate the bikes. He would take one bike with him and I would have one. One weekend I would have one bike and at the end of that event the bike would go back with him to be fettled and I would get the other bike.
What happened in Germany in 86 with Michaud?
Ha ha. Sarah’s eyes rolled as she knows the pain this still causes Steve . I said “do you know about this ?” Steve said “Only In as much as I moan about this all of the time as it cost me the world championship”.
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Not a lot of people know about this very important story so please tell us about this? What happened? Michaud disagreed with an observers decision to give him a five What was he given a five for ? In all honesty I couldn’t tell you what he was given the 5 for, but he was given a five on the section for whatever reason. The observer decided that it was a five. He then proceeded with his brother to rip all the tapes up on the boundary of the section, so they pulled all the tapes up. The observer got a bit cheesed off about it so the observer then got a nice little punch. He spent the next 2 and a half minutes unconscious. |
Did Michaud get excluded ?
At the event they excluded him. It then went to an FIM tribunal and how on earth anyone in a powerful position could re-instate somebody. A committee of a number of people. He got reinstated to the position that he would have been in at that trial, but he never got his five cleared. This put him into whatever position it was. He got reinstated and he got his world championship points back. We’ve all done things when we’ve been given a 5 that were really not proud of, I’ve done it on numerous occasions and I’m not proud of it but I had not ever come close to touching an observer. For anyone to get away with, I’m not saying swearing at an observer is acceptable, cos it’s not, but punching an observer is most definitely. For him to be reinstated was a real shame on the FIM’s behalf. Yes you could say I’ve got an axe to grind because it did cost me DEARLY but I think I think it’s reasonable and fair to say that.
Was this that last round?
No, we had several more rounds to go. They reinstated the points, came only a few days before the last round of the world championship. It almost appeared that a decision was made. I think the decision was made previous, but they decided to make the announcement a couple of days before the last round of the world championship
At the event they excluded him. It then went to an FIM tribunal and how on earth anyone in a powerful position could re-instate somebody. A committee of a number of people. He got reinstated to the position that he would have been in at that trial, but he never got his five cleared. This put him into whatever position it was. He got reinstated and he got his world championship points back. We’ve all done things when we’ve been given a 5 that were really not proud of, I’ve done it on numerous occasions and I’m not proud of it but I had not ever come close to touching an observer. For anyone to get away with, I’m not saying swearing at an observer is acceptable, cos it’s not, but punching an observer is most definitely. For him to be reinstated was a real shame on the FIM’s behalf. Yes you could say I’ve got an axe to grind because it did cost me DEARLY but I think I think it’s reasonable and fair to say that.
Was this that last round?
No, we had several more rounds to go. They reinstated the points, came only a few days before the last round of the world championship. It almost appeared that a decision was made. I think the decision was made previous, but they decided to make the announcement a couple of days before the last round of the world championship
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Why?
In order to create possible hype possibly. That absolutely destroyed Eddy. That decision destroyed Eddy. The 3 of us were going into the last round. Michaud was out of the frame without his points. Eddy and I were 1 or 2 points apart, there want much. We were really glued together. The decision to reinstate Michaud ABSOLUTELY destroyed Eddy pshycologically. It absolutely killed him. I don’t know I’d slept better or not but Eddy recconned that people were phoning him up at night, all through the night his hotel phone was ringing, before the trial the next day, to make sure he couldn’t sleep. |
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That’s a horrible but effective trick
He was absolutely destroyed. From being a rider who was potentially going to be world champion tomorrow to being a rider who couldn’t have ridden over that pallet in the back garden
What Eddy?
Yes. He went from being one of the Worlds best riders to being a real average clubman. It was absolutely unbelievable. This was the last round of 86 in Finland
Was it nerves, was he stressed?
He was nervous and stressed so much that it completely and utterly blew his mind apart
Did you get any weird phone calls in the middle of the night?
No
He was absolutely destroyed. From being a rider who was potentially going to be world champion tomorrow to being a rider who couldn’t have ridden over that pallet in the back garden
What Eddy?
Yes. He went from being one of the Worlds best riders to being a real average clubman. It was absolutely unbelievable. This was the last round of 86 in Finland
Was it nerves, was he stressed?
He was nervous and stressed so much that it completely and utterly blew his mind apart
Did you get any weird phone calls in the middle of the night?
No
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