Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Marcello worked on bench-top d evelopment back a t . H usa berg Italia in Triu g g io, which is located close to Monza. " Not much of my b ik e is made in Sweden," sa id Smets , who finished third in the '93 World Ch ampionship 500cc MX Series. "The fra me was altered, as w as the gearbox, and a special carburetor is fro m Dell'Orto. In the engine, the crank, the camshaft, and the piston have all been changed . The 1.56-gallon tank is made o f al um in u m, and th e sprockets were changed." The w eight of the bi g Husab erg dropped down to 237.6 pounds and special Pirelli tires, White Power forks, Renthal handlebars, Awak Filters, Braking discs with Brembo Calipers, Regina Chain, a Tecnosel Seat, NGK Spark Plugs and Akront Wheels com- Much of Smets' Husaberg is built in Italy, including the aluminum tank and altered frame. (Belgian) Joel Smets took his Husaberg to third place in the final point standings. pleted the afterm arket sponso rs and suppliers, while leading sports drink company Isostad and Sp ringoil were the leading financial backers. "I can 't afford to own a Mercedes on my salary, but at least I am getting paid and all of the material is supplied," said Smets. "It's a long way from my first full GP season in 1990 when I was still working full-time making computer circuits. I had just one bike, a small truck, and we used to sleep in a tent. I didn't mind that. I think it was good for the character; it helps me to appreciate even more every little piece of help I get. "I tested the Husaberg before the San Marino GP last June, but I had ridden Hondas for five years and after my fourth place in the championship last year, I felt lowed it to them to find out what they could offer me, which was nothing, not even a special price. I would have had to buy my bikes and parts from a dealer. "I am still learning to ride the four- stroke to its limit and our initial aim was top five in the world, but after the first three GPs, I felt confident to go for the title . I got my starts sorted out." With the 250cc "factory bikes" of the present era, which are li ttle more than production bikes with bolt-on aftermarket parts, Martens' Husqvama is perhaps the only real works special in motocross, and it has been tailor-made for the hard-riding Belgian. "I didn't have to adapt my style to su it the bike," sa id Martens. "We changed the character of the engine so that it rides like a two-stroke. It can never be exactly the same, but I can open the throttle without it always pulling a wheelie and putting me on my back. I have been rearing out of the gate a bit in the early races, but that was down to the clutch and we eventually corrected the problem. "The 633cc motor is much better than the 500 or even the 600. I needed to ride wide open all the time on the 500; there was sim ply not enough power. The new ruling came a little late, but the factory worked non-stop si n ce to ge t m y 633 ready. " It ha s a four-speed gearbox, but I only use three in the race. I only use firs t so that I don 't have to run such low rev s going from the pits to the sta rtline." The extent of the technic al development becomes clear when yo u ta lk to Kent. "By the time I joined the team , the new FIM rule had been made and we tested 575, 600, and 633cc motors . Th e 575 was very re vvy and might'v e been very good for so me tracks, but we made a co nsci o us d eci sion to s tick to one engine and went for the lon g-stroke 633. lt would not have been such a p roblem just to swi tch mo tors, but we found that we needed to ma ke major changes to the su s pension with the d iffe re n t motors and this was simply not practical. "We tri ed th ree-, four-, five-, a nd even six-speed gearboxes before se ttling on four; the rear sprocket is !"ore critical wit h three (gears) an d top was also not quite high enough. "Ex haust pipe d ia m e te r p lays an eve r-increasing role, not only from the no ise perspect ive, but a lso in terms of power. We got the n oise down to 99 decibels a t 4000 rp m. "We did a lot of work with mat erials. The facto ry has a wealth of kn owledge fro m their Superbike involvement and we were given valves made of several different compounds to te st. I al s o learned quite a lot about materials last year when I worked for a car team and we corrected the deficit in clutch slip by using different material for the plates. For example, Jacky couldn't ke ep th e front wheel down in Austria, but that problem was elimi nated for Sweden." Widespread use of titanium - not just bolt s but also con-rod , footpegs, shock spring and discs (the latter an alloy) dropped the weight of the Husqvama down to 231 pounds, the equivalent of a good Honda (CR500 two-stroke), while the Showa upside-down factory fork at $10,000 a set were preferred by Martens to the conventional Marzocchis as well as saving another kilo in weight. The relationship with the Ducati en gineers al so produced a computerized electronic ignition. "You dia l it in from a laptop computer. The beauty of it is that you can program it relative to the throttle position with a different advance and retard throughout the ran ge," sa id Kent. The big question, however, is how lon g will it be before more four-strokes appea r in the resul ts? " If the bike proves to be reliable then the factory know s tha t it is s trong en ough to go into prod uction, " said Martens, a rider who ack no wledges that he pun ishes h is ma terial more than most. "I think it is too late for this year, bu t I w ould expec t the factory to be gearing up for production of GP repli cas by next summer. "The pow er of the prod uction 610 is al rea dy ve ry good, though, and Mike Carter ha s sho wn in England tha t you can ma ke a very fast bike from it; he has ma de a 610 rep lica for me and the power characte ris tics are very similar to my GP bike: ' . Smets too has a positive outlook of the Hu sab erg. "I had no problem sw itching to rid in g a four-stroke be ca use I think it w as my s tyle. Already on my two-stroke, I was always looking for the fluid lines approachi ng a tum from the outsi de and cutting across the inside and powering out ra ther than squa ring off the tum or ridi ng the outside berm like Dirk Ge ukens does. I don't think other you ng rid ers would have difficul ty in switchi ng to a fo ur-strok e. The p ow er comes in more smoothly. than on a tw ostroke, and this encourages yo u to ride a nicer line. I think it makes you a better rider." Sadly, there se ems little hope of a Smets replica on ge ne ral sale. "We are strictly a racin g team and just don't have the resources to go into production," admitted Guido. The enthusiasm and op timi sm of the two "thumper" stars and their teams is beyond ques tion and Martens, never afraid to speak h is mind, is confident enough to predict a rosy future both for himself and the four-strokes. "After winning the World Championship this year, the Japanese will be fighting amongst themselves to be the first to get a competitive four-stroke in the GPs," said Martens. "I bet they already have bikes in development:' "I think four-strokes have a big future in motocross," concluded Martens. "The sound is more pleasant, and there is tremendous interest from the spectators and sponsors. In the end, the customer gets what he demands. Just wait and see!" a 41

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