English
Italiano
At the rope old age of 70 and a few days, Marco Lucchinelli's home continues to be the pit box of a racetrack. His overalls with the ever-present star on his back hang behind him, his cigarette is between his lips waiting to get back in the saddle. The white hair has brought as a dowry perhaps a little more peace of mind to the Crazy Horse of motorcycle racing. "When I was racing I didn't use my brain so much and it stayed fresh," he retorts with his usual irony.
There are riders who have won more than him, but Lucky is still in the hearts of fans. Sitting in the shade to escape the Misano heat, many stop by him for a photo or autograph. "I only won one World Championship - and that was many years ago, too - and I always wonder how young people know me. Maybe their parents will have told them: don't be like Lucchinelli, that's why they know who I am," he laughs.
Only one title, in 1981 with the Suzuki of the Gallina team, but in times when motorcycle racing was a very dangerous sport.
"To pretend that motorcycling is completely safe is absurd," Marco makes it clear, "Because now they are making motorcycles that go too fast, and not only for me, who is 70 years old. When you get to 360 mph in a straight line, you need flaps, like airplanes, to stop. The spectacle was also there 10 years ago, when the bikes were slower and came out of corners sideways, in the days of Stoner and Valentino. I would like to see those races there, not that speed you only see on the stopwatch. "
In fact, the 500 2-strokes are seen as relics by the fans, they have a mythical aura surrounding them. Like John Kocinski's 1993 Cagiva, which Lorenzo rode just before. Lucchinelli followed him on a (modern) Paton.
"Jorge respected that bike he didn't know. He didn't get on the saddle as a show-off, as he might have done on a modern bike. He rode with confidence, because that's what you do with old bikes: you have to show them, go slow, otherwise they become dangerous," Marco clarifies.
Seeing the C593 up close makes you realize how much our sport has changed. The 1970s and 1980s seem like a pioneering era. "It was another world, but also the highest level there was at that time," Lucchinelli asserts, "The tracks were dangerous, we knew that, we weren't dumb, but if Agostini and Read raced there, we raced too."
Speaking of tracks, they were traps. "I was always very polite to the old Spa-Francorchamps track, it was terrifying. Then Salzburg, which I always try to get out of my head because it ruined my career. If I had won that race, I would have won the World Championship as well. I was going fast, but I realized it late. I think about it now and then, but maybe even if I could go back in time I would make the same mistake again."
You came to Honda, abandoning Suzuki.
"After winning the World Championship I overdid it, because I immediately broke my arms and legs at Donington, at the last race of the year, the Winter Cup. Despite everything, I was going strong in Honda even in those conditions," he says, "Why did I choose it? I asked everyone what they would have done, even in the family, and then I did the opposite. Because I wanted a two-year contract, I went to Honda. I had not made a mistake, Salzburg could have made me say anything I wanted."
In recent months there has been a lot of talk about Bagnaia and Marquez on the team together, but Marco also had uncomfortable box mates named Spencer and Katayama.
"Spencer was not a human being, he was a Martian, and I mean in life: he left his girlfriend to go sleep alone in the hotel and drank gallons and gallons of Dr Pepper, he had a truckload of it - was his portrait of the American rider - But one thing I never understood: when we finished the race, he didn't even have a gnat on his suit and helmet, I was full of every bug."
And the Japanese? "Takazumi was a very abnormal looking guy. Honda was spending millions to lighten the bike, and he was sticking golden rods on it. I had some people on the team who were a little peculiar."
Not only are the bikes different today, so are the riders.
"I like Marquez like I like the others, if he fucks up I criticize him. But I think winning a World Championship by being ahead of him is much more important than succeeding by beating your average Joe," he says.
Now everyone is on vacation, but in a couple of weeks they will all be back on track at Silverstone. Lucchinelli will be in front of the TV, but in his own world. "I tend to just listen to the noise of the bikes, without commentary" was his little secret. Because Crazy Horse can't watch MotoGP like everyone else does, and we like him (also) for that reason.
