by Eric Johnson
5 Minutes With... Mike Fisher
Thursday, January 6, 2011 | 10:30 AM
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PrintWednesday afternoon around 5:00 p.m., Mike Fisher and a group of mechanics stand outside the Kawasaki race shop in Irvine, California, and listen in on the #2 bike Ryan Villopoto will ride Saturday night in the opening round of the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series. A mechanic deftly revs the engine and all sounds well. The bike is warmed for a few minutes and then shut off. The bike, the end result of well over 60 solid days of testing has been painstakingly and meticulously attended to. This is the finished product. This IS the bike Ryan Villopoto will attempt to win his first Supercross championship on. He came close last year. After something of a slow start, Villopoto hit his stride, winning at round four at San Francisco. Onward and upward, he would win six of the next ten main events and close in on point leader Ryan Dungey like an angry steamroller. Then, at Round 14 at St. Louis – and while he was about to zap Dungey for the lead – Ryan crashed heavily over a very unforgiving jump and was gravely injured. His season over, he could only look to 2011 and redemption. 2011 is here. On Wednesday afternoon, Team Monster Energy Kawasaki began loading its ordinance for its first attack on the title, set for Saturday night at Angel Stadium in nearby Anaheim, California. Overseeing it all was Mike Fisher. Perhaps more so than any one individual, Fisher has been the man behind the scenes, steadfast in his resolve to help lead Villopoto and Monster Kawasaki the most sought after title in motorcycle racing. With a few minutes on hands (the ones that held stopwatches all winter long), he provided us with the back story of what’s about to go down for the next five months.
Editor's Note: EJ asked Fisher if he could comment on the situation with Pro Circuit and FMF and he declined to discuss the matter at this point. DC
Eric Johnson talks with Mike Fisher at the Kawasaki team shop.
Photo Courtesy of Monster Energy
Racer X: Mike, how did you end up being the Team Manager of the Monster Energy Kawasaki team?
Mike Fisher: In 1987, I raced for Kawasaki and Mike Preston asked me if I was interested in testing. I was. I really liked it. I did that for four years. I tested and raced through 1990. As time went by, I became more of a test guy and less of a racer. I started testing jet skis and all kinds of other products we had and I really enjoyed doing that work. It’s weird because there are no people around who liked doing what I was doing. It’s very boring if you think about it, but I was enjoying the process of improvement. I was happy to do that. So I still raced in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and I started working at Kawasaki – full-time – in ’95. I was working as a test rider for all products – cruisers, Mules and everything. I did that until 2005. At that point there was some talk of a change at some point, but we didn’t know when and really for sure if it would it happen. One day I came to work and Stanly Takagi, a Japanese guy, our boss, said, “Mike, I need to speak with you in my office.” So I went upstairs and Bruce Stjernstrom was in there. So Stanley goes, ”Bruce, you should tell him.” Bruce said: “Well, I guess I’m being switched to marketing and you’re going to be switched to the motocross team.” I was really happy and I said, when are we going to do all this? The end of the year?” and they said, “No, today. Right now. You should probably go into their staff meeting. They just started it.” So I walk down there and nobody knew. I walked down there and walked in and said, “Well, guys. I guess I’m your new team manager.” It was really sudden. That was it.
Who were the riders then?
[James] Stewart and Michael Byrne.
So you were thrown right into the deep end?
Luckily, I had Bruce to talk to because he was still with the company. He loved to still be involved and still really liked it so it wasn’t hard for me to get information. He would tell me the way he liked it or would have done it or do it, but I always looked up to him anyways, so it wasn’t anything like I thought, “Well, that’s stupid.” I always felt it was good to get his input.
Okay, press day is tomorrow and all the beautiful race bikes are down in the shop and ready to go and the 18-wheelers are waxed and loaded and ready to head towards Angel Stadium and the mechanics are all happy and excited. But, how much hard work and sweat and frustration took place during the off-season to get everything prepared and ready to go racing in 2011?
[Laughs] Well, I went to get my heart checked three weeks ago. It was spinning out of control and I had to go to the doctor’s office. No, it’s been a lot of work because we have some really lofty goals. We took every single comment from every round last year and we addressed it. Every one. We tested all of those items that needed fixing and we improved every one of them. A lot of the improvement came from weight. Weight reduction, actually. That is very tough to do. All the guys, in grams, are telling me, “That’s not enough. We need to lose more. Come on! We have to do better than that. Let’s cut it in half. This doesn’t need to be that heavy.” So we really went after the weight thing. In the end the riders did notice and their lap times improved.
Jake Weimer's bike now belongs to another Jake, Moss.
Photo Courtesy Monster Energy
Man, what went into all that? Just constant trial and error, sanding and filing?
Yeah, every little thing. You can imagine. Every little gram everywhere. I mean, we have rules on minimum weight and we also have rules where we have areas we can’t change the weight. Like the frame – which is a big part of our bike – we can’t reduce the weight of. So there’s certain things we just can’t touch and we just need to do the best we can. The percentages that we have to get from are small and then we have to cut those down really hard.
Your “franchise player”, Ryan Villopoto, is coming back from some pretty serious injuries. Is he healthy, healed-up and ready to go?
Yes. Ryan has a new trainer with Aldon Baker. You know that’s changed him. Aldon’s professionalism is really good for Ryan. The regimented type of thing – Ryan needs that. Ryan’s attitude is awesome. It’s changed. Even though Ryan was never a problem, I could say Ryan is not a big issue for me as a Team Manager, I still have to tell him what do and the reasons why. Now, more or less, you let him know and he does it. It’s pretty awesome. He knows he has put the work in for 2011. He knows he did all the testing. He knows he saw the improvement on his lap times, so he is excited.
You, the mechanics, the technicians, the engineers… everything you guys do lives and dies on your results. How do you feel about Ryan right now?
I couldn’t feel better about Ryan. I feel better about him than I’ve ever felt. Last season, going into the season, I was a little worried about him. He surprised our team by his results. He did better than we expected based on his efforts he put in before.
He’s notoriously been known as something of a slow starter, right?
Yeah. Well, and that’s why I’m excited because he’s never been ready for anything in his life, I think. He’s ready. He has had a plan and he has stuck to it. He has given every single thing he has to us. He had never done that. I think we’ve all done that. We give our all. I’m not sure he did. He just went off his skill and his riding style. He’s now really prepared himself for a season.
Can Villopoto overcome his typical slow starts in 2011?
Photo: Simon Cudby
After a somewhat erratic year-long stint, Chad Reed is no longer with your team. How do you feel about him? Do you see him being a part of the mix this season?
I do see Reed being in the mix. I always thought of him as the consistent guy. I’ve changed my thoughts, but I still think he has a lot of speed - at times. I mean, I’ve seen him ride really fast at times. I don’t think he has the program that these guys have to do it every weekend and to do it twenty laps every weekend. I don’t want to take anything from him. Of course he’s an awesome rider. He can win a race at any time. Championship-wise, I don’t think he’s there with Ryan, Stewart and Dungey.
Okay, we have Stewart, Villopoto and Dungey. Between you and the team - and what all of you are sensing - do you have any theories on just how competitive this is all going to be?
We know they can all win. Dungey won six races last year. Ryan won seven. We know how many races James has won. It seems like hundreds. Although James didn’t show what he could do last year, I know he’s fast. I think they’re all going to be awesome. They all ride differently – very differently. They all shine on certain tracks and in certain sections of tracks. And, I think there is a lot of tension between James - and maybe Reed and the two Ryans. I think there is some tension there that can get in the way of actual racing, which might suck. Outside of that, those guys are going to scrap.
Tuesday, December 8, Jake Weimer destroys his arm in a practice crash. What a huge disappointment.
Yeah. Yeah it is. There’s his break. (Note: Fisher turns his computer screen in front of me and all I see is screws and plates). So, yeah, that’s a bummer. What do we do about it? We hope he gets better quickly and properly and gets back to where he was. Before this, we were really amazed with him. Not just because he was just fast, but because to watch him ride, he was really smooth and flowing. I’m kind of surprised he crashed because of the way he was riding. He doesn’t ride over his head, really.
Jake Moss has been selected to replace Weimer aboard the Monster Energy Kawasaki team.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Obviously, there has been a lot of speculation and conjecture as to just who will ride that second bike. Who did you end up with?
We looked at the guys in the States. There are a few guys here that are potentially really good riders. There are two that I know of that I actually talked to, but they’re not ready. You’re talking about another, maybe, six weeks to get them going. What does that do for us? Jake Moss is a kid we’ve used before. He’s done really good for us. He rode in Australia this year and did well at some races. A little bit inconsistent, but he has a lot of speed and I think for us, right now, he might be our best choice who can be ready for Phoenix.
So he’ll ride the bike for how long?
We don’t have the details, but we’ll do probably four rounds or five rounds and see how does. If he’s doing well, maybe we’ll maybe do another four or five rounds with him.
And what happened to Christophe Pourcel?
It’s odd. He’s pretty much one of the most talented riders we’ve had on any of our teams. He rides well and he flows so well and he’s awesome to just watch ride. Basically what it came down to was price. Sometimes you’ll renegotiate with riders and there is a price to pay. Some of the guys feel that they are worth maybe more than they are worth. If the value is there, then we will pay it. But we didn’t think the value was quite up there. When I spoke to him and his agent, they were clear that they were not going to race for a certain amount of money. I did go back and spoke with our partners here at Kawasaki and our sponsors to see if it was even worth it. I don’t think anybody thought it was worth that. It was just too high. And so in the end we didn’t even offer him anything because we couldn’t match what they wanted us to pay him.
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What about the switch to FMF Pipes? Is there tension between Kawasaki and PC? Pourcel is crazy to hold out for more money, especially with his fitness limitations and the amount of talent out there. MC called it.
Could EJ be any more in Monster's pocket? Ask the burning question - what did you do to piss off your main technical partner, the guy who runs your entire 250F effort?
odd way to end an otherwise great interview. my two cents.
I am very bummed to see EJ conduct an interview like this. He turned into a corporate shill. The biggest story is obviously Mitch Payton and the soon to be ex Pro Circuit Kawi team. Its a slap in the face to the guy who has provided all of Kawi's champions for the last 10+ years. And what did Kawi do? They let them all go. They could have been more powerful than Honda in the 80's with Ricky, James, RV, all overlapping their title runs. Poorly managed program. Stupid not to get Pourcel as well. They could have worked it out. They didn't want 2 guys on the team vying for the title. Thats the way they have always done it.
Fish is a smart dude and its obvious he knows what he's doing. To bad about Weimer, Villipoto's needs a good "wingman"!
I thought the interview was pretty good, but I would have liked to hear about the switch to FMF pipes. And he did say what most guys knew, Pourcel thinks he is worth more than he is really worth. Doesnt win a single 250 National title, and thinks he is worth more than thetop riders out there. Now he doesnt have a ride, sad..
Talk about a puppet... you weren't even close in the recolection of the race RV took RD out in the turn before the karma came back & bit him, ending his season! He was on fire and ready to win the ring... but stupid move.
Villo, Stewart, and Dungey battling for the championship. I agree those three guys will be three of the top contenders, but I think you could easily throw Canard into the mix after his performance on the 450s last year.....maybe not, just wouldn't count him out before the season. Go Shorty!!
Hey Watson called out Kawi on PulpMx Monday night, stating H&H dont get crap from Kawi and are lucky to even use there track. Maybe Kawi is going to go the way of Yamaha next year and just farm everything out.
both photos above have PC pipes! good interview
What a crock! Why didn't he ask the one question that we all wanted asking and the one we are reading this article for!? Why switch to FMF and risk having to go back in house for the lite's team after pi**ing mitch off. You can see in the top pic were they are talking it has a FMF pipe on. Ask the god damn question. What a BS interview.
Both pictures are pro circuit pipes ... look closer
Editor's Note: EJ asked Fisher if he could comment on the situation with Pro Circuit and FMF and he declined to discuss the matter at this point. - DC
Fisher was a douche bag when raced, and he's a bigger douche bag as a Manager. Way to suck the industrie Tit Eric......Nice hard hitting interview
If I were RV, I wouldn't like to here Fisher tell everyone I have never been ready for anything in my life or that the team has always given more than I have. Not cool, not professional at all, and pretty unreal comment about a dude who has several national championships, sx lites championships, and ABSOLUTELY laid waste to everyone at MXoN at Budds Creek. Dick, you don't accomplish all of that with talent and riding style alone.
Watch Pourcel and Reed make Fisher look silly. It has been real easy for everyone to use the cop out &amp;amp;quot;Pourcel is holding out for more money&amp;amp;quot; answer because Pourcel hasn't gone to the media and thrown anything out there. That dude is way less of a problem than the media and everyone else has strangely made him out to be this offseason. He isn't the &amp;amp;quot;crafty, arrogant, greedy, selfish Frenchmen&amp;amp;quot; like he is portrayed as and it isn't even close. He is also a lot better of a rider than anyone remembers. He had a rough 2010 outdoors. He thought it would be easier than it was. He had trouble getting excited for it because he felt he should have won it the year before and be out of the class. When he shows up people will remember that he is really good.
Watch Pourcel and Reed make Fisher look silly. It has been real easy for everyone to use the cop out "Pourcel is holding out for more money" answer because Pourcel hasn't gone to the media and thrown anything out there. That dude is way less of a problem than the media and everyone else has strangely made him out to be this offseason. He isn't the "crafty, arrogant, greedy, selfish Frenchmen" like he is portrayed as and it isn't even close. He is also a lot better of a rider than anyone remembers. He had a rough 2010 outdoors. He thought it would be easier than it was. He had trouble getting excited for it because he felt he should have won it the year before and be out of the class. When he shows up people will remember that he is really good.
Im of the opinion Ryans pass on on Dungey was for the SX championship. As I recall that was the first time those two to went bar to bar and it was a racers clean " I got you covered" statement pass at the elite level. He had been chasing Ryan all series long , had a chance to take Dungeys heart there and then and he went for it . How many chances did Ryan have to take out 101 during their epic 250F battles ? Villopoto , Stewart- Canard , Dungey banging bars the whole way. JimM Carlsbad Ca
wow!!! not man Fisher fans!!! cant say i disagree. obviously he is in the business of pissing people off and making bad desisions.
Whilst I admire MFs honesty I think it shows that if you are not willing to hang it out for a guy like Pourcel then you end up with guys like...Moss or Wey! If RV gets hurt then big K wont stand a chance...Moss will be lucky to qualify for main events.
Or Reed, or Millsaps or Brayton , or Short or Grant . Geez ! Momma hide the kids ! JimM CarlsbadCA
If I were CP I would go buy some stock kx450s paint em all black go to the line and smoke everyone!
I wouldn't do that if I were CP because I know in my mind that one mistake and I am in a wheel chair for the rest of my life with no money to survive and no real education to get me a good job. People are obsessed with making Pourcel the French guy in Talladega nights of moto when in reality he is the guy who fought being paralyzed, came to a foreign land and returned to championship level.
Fisher...to say RV never came in ready is ignorant! Or just plain arrogant? RL had that guy on a regimented program that produced some championships...yes? I believe everybody knows RV as a phenominal talent but his work ethic has always needed that push (even back in the lites days). RL did that, then he tried some others only to go back to another guy that does this - AB...
Hey Fisher, way to make yourself look bad. I know your trying pump RV about his readiness this year but you threw him and your motivation and management skills under the bus. Although Ryan is a phenomenal talent and ultimately responsible ,fingers get pointed at the coach when the player comes in unprepared. JimM Carlsbad CA
First off, look at the blue anodizing on the end of the pipe in the first photo, it's an FMF 4.1 RCT...in the video posted a couple days ago you can see the entire system on Villopoto's bike. Second of all, what a crock of shit interview. Why even waste your time with Fisher's dumbass if you're not going to ask him the question about Pro Circuit and FMF...be a man and let it out there you candy ass. Seriously, that's a HUGE topic right now and you're not even gonna push the issue because he "doesn't want to discuss it at this time"......PANZY. RV2 is my favorite rider and I hope he wins it all, I own a a new KX450F and love it...but I'll be the first to say how jacked up of an operation is being ran down there. Kawasaki is going downhill fast.
And one more thing....how can Mike Fisher get away talking shit on Villopoto like that?!! Saying he hasn't been ready for anything in his life? Style doesn't win championships dumbass, whatever program he was on obviously worked for him. Sure, it may be a better one he's on now...but saying he's never been ready for anything is just retarded. Somebody needs to slap the shit out of Fisher. What a garbage ass dude.
Mark my words, RV has signed his last contract with Kawasaki. Ok I'm done now.
Lets just say this and you can connect the dots. The Man was an elite level rider and a elite level team mangager............ Mike Fisher was............ JimM CarlsbadCa
EJ has turned into a sh*tty writer in the past few years. This crap shouldn't be published.
you can see in mike fishers eyes hes off this planet i dont see y kawi keeps him in the top job.. villopoto never been ready ???? talk about sticking his foot in his mouth.... ditching PC ???? talk about shooting yourself in the foot...kawi has had questionable actions since not offering RC a ride when he went to HONDA then a carbon copy scenario with JS..... PC/CP 2 letters that will haunt mike fisher for a few years to come either way u look at them.... is it possible that PC got the chop because they are supplying resources to CR22.... whats with fishers comments on CR22 anyhow ''fast sometimes" WTF ... hes dirty cause monster made him supply resources last year for CR22... it was obvious to me when REEDY got the ride that kawi didnt employ him cause they dont buy #1 plates like some teams do... KAWI gives em away ( RC, JS) lets hope fishers comments dont push RV onto another team next year
THE BIKES IN THE PHOTO'S HAVE PC PIPES!!!!!!!! DRAMA QWEENS!!!!!
This is not a very good article and misses all the hard questions as discussed above and provides no answers. Its a puff piece at it's worst. Racer X can do better.
Wow... Been at this for almost 15 years now. I guess you truly are only as good as the very last thing you have done.
Who cares about pipes and interviews,when the gate drops the bull sh!!t stops! Oh yea I think Mike Fisher was a damn good rider!
Eric, dont let the crybabies get to you, they are spoiled and need something to cry about, on a FREE website.
Eric Johnson knows more about MX/SX and Road Racing than anyone on the planet. He is the Mitch Payton and Rodger Decoster of MX history and journalism. Just maybe he used some judgement on a no-win, boring-ass interview. EJ is one cool dude and he can take you assholes hammering him because it your right to do so. EJ is a legend - we should show him some respect - but again, you don't have to.
Holy Crap! He asked about the pipes (Fish wouldn't talk about it), he asked about Reed, he asked about the Pourcel situation, etc. He presented plenty of opportunities for Fisher to let loose with some good info, but Fisher didn't. Really, what else could he have asked? Should he have asked him of RV wears boxers or briefs?
Right-on, Aaron Hansel. Some people don't read the article real good before hanging it out. EJ founded Racer X along with his pal Davey Coombs. He knows what he is doing - especially when he gets in some sticky situations like this pipe mess. All the ones hating on EJ should go back and check out his body of work over the last 15 years and the will find that our sport is lucky to have such a guy.
I believe this is a good interview. EJ asked the question everyone is hounding him on but he cant beat the guy up if he doesnt give the answer all you puds wanna hear. He cant burn bridges or else he wont get any interviews and all you wanna bes will have nothing to ***** about... Keep up the good work EJ.. RCRX FTW!!!
Everyone bags on EJ until he responds, and then everyone starts sucking his d**k after he does, lol. Kawi definitely has not made the best decisions in the past and cue ball Fisher seems like part of the problem. I think that what he meant by saying RV had never come in ready, was the same as RC pre-2001, where the GOAT was chubby and didnt have the best eating habits, but was winning championships on his riding and aggressiveness. But then in 2001, he came in more ready to race than at any time in his life up to that point. Maybe PC will now become the official KTM 250F team!!!! LOL
It's funny that so many people have opinions about a career motorcyle racer/test/manager and a career motorcycle publisher/author/journalist. Instead of twisting the throttle we're getting arm pump typing comments. I think everyone really just wants the dirt on the Kawasaki/ProCircuit break up. You might not like Mike Fisher or how he says things, but he's logged more laps and groomed a few more champions that almost everyone except DeCoster, Payton, Brooks and ??? Get off the couch, do some sit ups and shut your yaps. Dust off your RM250 and change that air filter you've been thinking about for the two years since you last rode. Couch potatoes! (Myself included...)