OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
Schramm and everyone around him and they are fully committed now to Superbike ,” said Michael . “ They want to win the world title . That made me believe because there is a lot of power behind the project now . At Yamaha the bike was really good . Still a winning bike and was again last year , but I thought for the future , especially as everyone was bringing new bikes , and developing bikes . At Yamaha it does not seem that there is a new bike coming . So , although it seems weird to jump over from a winning bike to a non-winning bike , I think for the future , with everything they are doing , it will be a winning bike . It is always a gamble , and it was a bit strange for everyone , but the future will tell if it is the right decision . But for me it felt like it was the right choice .” Again , after the initial deflection and jokes (‘ I can ’ t even walk on the street - I am like Lewis Hamilton in London !’), he answered the perfectly straight question about how famous he was in his home country nowadays , saying , “ I think it is also something Dutch . Now I get recognised a bit more but it is also typical Holland . If you don ’ t win , you do not get in the newspapers or anything like that . But we need some results - and then it gets more and more . If you compare it to a couple of years ago , when I won the WorldSSP title , it has changed quite a lot . But no stress for me .” Stress , and the need for fame , is not something that dogs him around , even now . He is not one of those riders who tweets how many zillion reps he has done in the gym either . You have to be super-fit to be a top line bike racer of course , especially if you can win four Suzuka 8 Hours races , but how much is talent and how much is hard work for Michael ? “ Training is for people without talent !” said VDM , possibly only half joking . “ Riding a bike isn ’ t that hard !” he said , before dropping the humour again and saying , “ You should always go to the limit if you want to win , want to be the best . You have no other option to go as far as you can go . I want to win races ; does not matter where it is . I want to fight for podiums and victories .” He got his first BMW podium at Donington Park last time out … so at Assen this weekend ?
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