Carlos Checa claims it was ‘obvious’ Honda refused to let him have the same bike as Mick Doohan

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Carlos Checa is certain that Honda did not let him have the same bike as Mick Doohan, as the Japanese giant denied his request to use their iconic 500cc Screamer engine.

Doohan led Honda during one of the most dominant periods in the Tokyo crew’s motorcycle racing history in the 1990s. The Australian overcame two unsuccessful title bids at the start of the decade to end the ‘90s by winning five 500cc titles in a row between 1994 and 1998.

The 1997 season was also Doohan and Honda at their absolute best, as he won 12 of the 15 Grands Prix staged that year and reached the rostrum a total of 14 times. The only time that Doohan did not finish in the top two during a race in 1997 was when he retired in Australia.

Checa was not best pleased with how Honda treated him with their satellite squad, Pons, in 1997, however. The Spaniard finished eighth in the riders’ standings that season with a 221-point deficit to Doohan, who won the title by 143 points over his teammate Tadayuki Okada.

Carlos Checa claims Honda refused to let him use the 500cc Screamer engine like Mick Doohan in 1997

Checa does not doubt that Honda refused to let him have the same specification NSR500 at Pons that Doohan enjoyed in their factory team. He recalls that Honda turned down his plea to use their iconic 500cc Screamer engine that Doohan ran, instead of their Big Bang engine.

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Doohan went against the grain by using a new version of Honda’s 500cc Screamer engine in the 1997 season after the Tokyo crew introduced an updated version of the engine that they debuted at the start of the decade. Checa tested the Screamer engine at Jerez and had liked its snappier power delivery, but Honda refused to let him have the engine in his satellite bike.

Checa told Mundo Deportivo: “I doubt it. I doubt it was the same Honda. The year Doohan wanted the Screamer engine instead of the Big Bang, I asked for it.

“I tried it in Jerez and I liked it a lot, but they didn’t give it to me. I think the factory team always had something different. It’s very difficult to say because I don’t know.

“We had what we had, and Antonio Cobas, may he rest in peace, whom I remember with great affection, was limited. They didn’t let him do everything he wanted. He would have made some changes, but they wouldn’t let him.

“The bike worked very well as a base, and I think it was undoubtedly the best at that time. The factory team always had something more, and that’s obvious – there was something different. But they were details, other things were more important than those small details.”

Mick Doohan saw a ‘mental advantage’ from running Honda’s Screamer engine in 1997

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Honda’s iconic 500cc Screamer engine was a brutal beast, but Doohan liked how it gave him an edge against the other Honda riders – let alone the rest of the grid – in 1997. Few riders could handle the Screamer engine like Doohan, so most stuck with the kinder Big Bang unit.

The efforts that Honda had put into refining the Screamer engine that had initially proven to be a menace also led to more refined electronics that helped Doohan control the wheelspin that others feared. Its power delivery was also less volatile, but Doohan saw a mental edge.

Doohan told Motor Sport Magazine in 2019: “When I went back to the Screamer engine in ‘97, it wasn’t anywhere near as aggressive as the ‘91 Screamer engine. The porting, the electronics and everything else had all changed.

“Riding the Screamer in ‘97 gave me a mental advantage. The performance of the bike was exactly the same as the Big Bang – it was just that when the other guys tried the Screamer, they were getting flicked off and scaring the s— out of themselves.

“They were used to being more aggressive with the throttle with the Big Bang, whereas with the Screamer you still needed to be a little smoother on the throttle. So, all that was a mental boost for me.”