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/127375
" M Y best track as far as stayi ng close to th ese guy s was Eastern Creek," th e si te of th e Au stral ian GP. " Wayne was right o n th e track reco rd and I was a 'litt le o ver a seco nd o ff. I'm not su re why. The track kin d of su ited me. At Phillip Islan d you' re ca rry ing yo ur spe ed a nd you're never in tight fir st a nd seco nd gea r co rn ers to where th e power 's goi ng to ge t you a nd you're ca rry ing your sp eed and it doesn 't wa nt to sta nd up -o n the rea r. Yo u go to trac ks th at a re a little bit tighter a nd yo u're cons ta n tly tryin g to keep your head in the bubb le to keep the front end down." T he Suzuka Circu it is some thi ng o f a co m prom ise track. It has a few slo w bends (the chicane , th e hai rpin and th e Spoon Curve) a nd a few fast cu rves (D u nlop, the left befo re the ch icane ) a nd a cou p le o f stra ig h ta ways , so it would test Ch andler' s abi li ty to get th e bik e set up for a ll th e cha nges. Rather , it would have done th at had it not ra in ed for three of th e four p racti ce sessio ns . In t he o ne d r y sessi o n, Chandler had to wo rry a bo u t getting th e race setu p and qual ifyin g. " T he p lace is a lot diff erent in th e dry ," he sa id. There was a morning warm-up sessio n a nd Chandler had a few things to try before deciding on th e race sett ings. " We' ll probably rai se th e front end a litt le. It wa nts to tu ck un der in th e stu ff wh ere you 're fli ck in g left to right," he said. Chand ler went ab ou t the race th e sa me way he'd a p proache d ada p ting to th e 500. As Rober ts sai d , " O nce he lea rn s so me thing, he j ust ge ts faster." " I came o ff o kay , but I didn 't know what to expec t," he began. " O nce I go t settled, every la p got better. Wh en I was go ing th rough guys, I was gett ing a n idea o f what they do. I co uld ca tc h t he m t h rough m o s t of t he ' corners." After work ing hi s way past a number, o f rid ers , Cha nd ler sett led int o a scrap with Brazilia n Alexa ndre Ba rros o nthe fa c to r y Ca giva, ea c h ha vi ng h is streng ths. . " Barros got me throu g h the first two turns and once th rough Degn er (a midspeed right) a nd th e fast righ t past the hairpin . H e co u ld ge t un dernea th me ou t o f th e Sp oon a nd acce lera te a hea d o f me. With a good dr aft do wn th e back straig h t, I co u ld get half a wh eel an him, " Ch andler sa id, bu t he cou ld n 't draft pa st. In th e end, Chandler wo u ld fini sh a co n tent l ith , a finish tha t sh ould improve with hi s next few o u tings since he's tested a t th e next three GP venues. U n li ke hi s fell o w Am eri ca ns , Ch andler isn 't pl annin g a ll co m m u ting to th e races; he'll be th ere most of the seaso n. But wh en the Continental Circus folds its tents. he has h is eye o n anothe r series, the Camel Pro Series. "The m iles a re the on ly thing I' ll miss . It 's a pretty go od fee lin g when yo u ha ve that m uch fait h in th e o the r riders. Scotty (Pa rker , the th ree-ti m e Camel Pro Cha mpi on ) is rea lly goo d to race with," he said. "The reason I go t invo lved in road raci ng was tha t th e cham p io nshi p was a co m bined deal a t tha t time. You'd race in bo th (dirt track a nd road race ) a nd ge t ext ra points. Once I started road raci ng I stuc k with it. Wh en I sig ned wi th Ka wasa ki it was road racing first, d irt trackin g seco nd ." Because he's co ntracted to Yamaha, he won 't be able to race a Honda if he goes dirt trac king, bu t he did say there were a co u p le of Ha rl ey X R750 o wn ers who hav e o ffered him rides a nd if things wo rk ou t, he' ll tak e them up on it. eN TOYOTA IS TH E OFFICIAL CAR & TR UCK OF LAGUNA SECA RAC EWAY.CHAMPION IS THE O FFICI AL SPAR K PLUG O F LAGUNA SECA RACE WAY. TICKETS ADVANCE PRICE TICKET N O. SAVE $10.00 ON GENERAL ADMISSION.' ORDER NOWl TOTAL SUNDAY GENERAL ADMISSIO N $30.00 X 2-DAY GENERAL ADMISSION $40 00 X • Ad mission tickets not good for campin g. 3-DAY GENERAL AD MISSION $50.00 X • Camping tickets not good fo r admission. FLAG ROOM • No Saturday only tickets available. • Children under 12 years of age free with parent. • All general admission tickets $10. 00 more at gate. • All Grandstand seats $5 .00 more at grandstand gate . 3-DAY ADMISSION Hcsprtauty · Inheld Parkmg . ReservedGrandst nd a $175 00 X GRANDSTAND SAT GRANDSTAND $5.00 X SUN GRANDSTAND $10 .00 X CAMPING TYPE OF VEHICLE ARR IVAL MOTOR YCLE C WEDNESDAYTHRU SATURDA YNIG HT $1 00 X 5 RVIOR WEDNESDAYTHRU O THER YNIGHT SATURDA VEHICLE Name PER NIGHT $25 00 X Address City/State/Zip Daytime phone ( TICKEnOTAL - GRANDSTANDTOTAL RAND TOT AL G o check or money orde r payable to SCRAMP o MasterCard or VISA # Exp. date CAMPING TOTAL $ ) ~%~~i~ RACEWA Y Signature MAI L TO: SCRAMP. P Box SCRAMP .O. Monterey, California 93942 or call: (408) 648-5100 · Toll Free (CA) 800 ·367·9939 (Outside CAl 800·327 ·7322