Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126630
16 top of th e motorcycle wh en you get into the ch ica ne a nd turn o ne. You have to get on the brakes so hard a t 'those two pl aces it reall y wants to sen d you for ward o n th e motorcycle . Sometimes temperatur e is a big factor. When it 's hot it's a lo t harder, especially for me since I' m a diabetic. I sweat q uit e a bit whe n it 's hot and th a t dra ins me p retty good. The fairings o n the Fo rm u la O ne bikes hold th e engine hea t in , a nd it comes up on the rider. In m y lea thers I have special slits cu t in the ches t and in the back, wh ich allows the air to flow through a nd helps me out quite a bit. As far as th e temperature thing goes, every body is different. Some people are affected a lot. Other people don 't have a problem . I thi n k th e effect th at temperature ha s o n you has a direct relationship with you r physical exertion a t the end. In other words, th e people who ar e not affected by th e temperature will be going faster to ward the last half or last co up le of laps than th e people wh o do get affected by high temperatures. _ ,Now we ca n talk about two things - tha t depend on your viewpoint. T he first one is traffic, which at Dayton a is a pr etty big proble,m. There's usu ally as much as 30 seco nds diff eren ce between firs t a nd last place q ua lifying posit ion , a nd th at mea ns you see the m abo u t every five laps. Especially at hi gh speeds . Hkewhen you get into the ch ica ne or tu rn one , a nd yo u 're run ning a real quick time, you come up on somebody who's a slower rid er. and obvious lv it's much easi er to cha n ge a line w hen you're going slower. So that 's a big problem for so me body wh o 's trying to push it right to the edge every time, wh en you 'r e commi tted to a line and so mebod y yo u' re la pp in g just moves over , cha nges his line and get s in th e way. Bu t I do n ' t want to limit th e riders, because th e more people ar e out there, the beue r it looks for the spectators. I guess I'd lik e to see everybody going a little faster. Because slower riders are th e most dangerous pa rt of the track. T here's th e hu man factor where you don' t kn ow what they're going to do . Wh ereas an oil spot, for in stance, is a lways in th e same p lace, and you kn ow wh ere it is, same with a bum p or a slick spo t. Bu t a slowe r rider can chan ge h is direction, or brak e a lillie bi t ear lier than you antici pa ted , or do a lo t of different th in gs. Tha t's from my viewpoi n t, the viewpoint of a g uy wh o has been on th e front ro w for the 200 an d who has a factor y ride. I g uess a lot of th e privateers in th e seco nd wave might see it diffe rent ly. Priva teers co me to Dayto na wi th one big disadvantage right away. I th ink one of the most important thi ngs you ca n' dois ge l pre-race testing . In the amou nt o f time the AMA has for practice it is very difficult to get in a lot of suspe nsion and carburetion tuning. If yo u have a day or two days ahead of regul ar practice , where you rent th e track and have it to yourse lf. it' s a big adv antage. Factor y teams a ll rent a ll th e tracks th e week befor e th e rac es. You don ' t ha ve to wait for a practice sche du le, you ca n make a n adjustme n t a nd go righ t o u t aga in. It 's essent ial, very essential. It 's very difficult for the privateers to get to th e tra ck a nd have mayb e three or four 15-minute sessions o f, practi ce and then expect to run a heat race or something. It's terr ibl e. H aving pre-race testing means I can get the suspens ion wor ked O U I and the carbu retio n worked O U I and mo st o f the bugs worked o ut . T he n wh en it comes to Friday and Sa turday and even Sunday morn in g of Cycle Week, I can goou t an d go fast right away . I on ly h ave to conce n tra te o n th e race tra ck, because m y bike is very much di aled. Pri vate ers have. to do bo th those things, di al in th e bike and th e rac etrack , in th e allo tted time, whi ch is usually not enou gh time. Worki ng on your ow n bike is har d, too , because it d istra cts yo u from yo ur job, which is concentrating o n the race track a nd th e race . I think that ta kes a wa y from the efforts o f th e privateers who ha ve to do that, like ,say Miles Ba ldw in and Ha rry Klinzmann and people like that. Rob Muzzy and the Kawasaki crew a re preparing m y bike and Wayn e Ra in ey's for th e 200. It 's a 1000cc four-strok e. The engi ne is basically th e same as th e one th at Mr . Lawson ran for Kawasaki last yea r, an aircoo led 1025cc. But Kawasaki has built a special fram e, it's aluminum with Uni-Trak. We're using a lfi-in ch front wheel with mech anical anti-d ive, and th ey've go lien the weight down pretty good. I'm looking forw ard to riding. I don't know if my Kaw asaki will be Number o ne in a series of p ap ers derelop ed I~J ' Bet-Ray to belp you analyzeyour hike:~ preparation and intproreyo urperfonnance. The mechanics at Team Honda have made a science out ofsetting up a bike. Their collective efforts generated 6 championships and countless race wins In 1982. Here's a few oftheir tech tips. LFORKS "Perfect adju stmen t is readied uben tbeforles delirer maximum trarel and bottom j ust a bair a ll tbe bardest d rop (dJ. To acbiere ibis, start u -itb the manufacturer's recommended quantityand riscosity of o il, tben adjust to m atch the rid ing co n d itions. . . . the fast est , but I definitel y guarantee that it will be th ere a t th e en d of the 200th mile, a fter th e 52n d lap. If we ca n do 2:06 laps co nsis tent ly, we' re going to be right in th ere a t th e end. Yamaha h as Roberts a nd Eddie La wso n, and a ny ti me Ken n y Roberts gets on a race track, he's proba bly your best shot to win . He's a n excellen t rider and can wi n at any time. Yamaha h a sn ' t finished a 200 yet wi th th eir sq uare fou r, which is wh a t Kenny an d Eddie will be runn ing, a nd n o ma tter how much testi ng you ' do over th e win ter, raci ng is different than testing. They'll be fast, no doubt a bo u t th at. Yam aha ha s always had fast motorcycles, an d I think you 'll see both of th ose gentlem en qualifying pretty close to th e front row if not o n th e front row. We ha ve to wa it a nd see wh at happens. Kenny's been a t Daytona man y times, a n d he 's been the fast est almost every time, yet he's on ly won it o nce. Visco~'iO ' call be adjusted 0 ' blending 10 acbiere the desired weight , Fluid quantity co n trols trarel-« decrease the quantityfor more trarel, ilia-ease 10 reduce . botto ming. The u -ei b: of tbefluid g adjusts damping, tbe bigber tbe weight, the grea ter the damping and tbe slo trer tbef orks will trarel." Steve Carter -: Danny (,lIcGoo) Chandler 's m ecbanic1982 lKorld Tropbee and ,itotccross de Nations & Sup erbileers Oximpion. t • • • - • Eddi e is definitely a Class A rider and last year the Kawasaki guys told me there was no wa y th e KR500 would be u p fro nt, yet Eddie h ad it in the lead for 12 laps. You 'll see h im righ t u p th ere in th e front th is lime, too . I thi nk Ken ny will sta rt ou t go ing as fast as ever. He's always just gone out a nd gone as fast as he ca n. Tha t's Kenn y's style . Kenny will be right up th ere in the front, immediatel y. As far as Eddie's stra tegy, I migh t step o ut o f lin e here, but I th in k he's going to be on my type of strategy . I th ink he's go in g to run a cons istent race. As far as being th e leader, I don 't know how important that is. I don 't think that would be very importan t to h im a t th e beginn in g of th e race. I think he'll want to keep everybody in sight, and I wouldn't mind running with Eddie for the whole 200 miles as long as I was ahead o f him on the last lap. H e' s a real good rider to ' rid e 2.1RANSMISSIOII "/ choose SAE 80f or 80·125 cc mach in es, SAE 85 ueigbtfor 250 and open bikes andfill to the manuf acturer 's recommended quantity. / also cbange the o il after et 'e1J' m ota , lbu probably d on 't hat 'e to, but remember that sma ller (125) bikes use m ore clu tcb and thus n eed to bare their tra nsmission oil changed m orefrequently. Also, use a gea r o il, n ot a m o tor oil. Their additire package delirers betterprotection. .. CliffWblte - 1982 De Nations Cbampionsbip Team Mecbanic.