“Because, without Suzuki, when I raced I had Yoshimura Suzuki contract in 85, then I had a Suzuki America contract for 86 & 87, halfway through 87, we’re doing pretty good in races and I’m thinking “hey, where’s my contract? Cause if not, I’m gonna start talking to some other teams.” And they said, “what do you mean? We’ve been told end of last year that your contract is with Japan next year.” – “Really? Japanese championship?” Y’know, I knew that little about it, so without factory involvement and them seeing you do something somewhere and making them realise ‘that’s the person we want to take onto the World Championship’, and try and conquer the world – without Suzuki doing that, there’s no way my family and I could have accomplished that on our own.”

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here