Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MUZZY KAWASAKI Anthony Gobert • The young Australian came to Daytona International Speedway last year for this same test and immediately made his mark, smoking the tire through turn one and turning in very creditable lap times. His wins in the World Superbike rounds at Laguna Seca and Phillip Island only confirmed that the "Go Show" is one of the brightest talents in racing. His reputation was enhanced by setting fast time in the Dunlop test, though there's more in it, he feels. "My bike seems a little bit down on the Yamaha and Honda. That's to be expected at this stage. I didn't expect to get into the 50s. I expected 52s and low SIs. I thought I could go faster, but I was trying too hard and going in too deep in too many places. "I was riding the '% bike and there's not much differenCe, really. It feels similar to sit on and ride, though it's a little smaller and narrower, more like a race machine. The horsepower is quite good straight up. This is the first time at this circuit with the new bike and it took us a little while to get it sorted out. We found a good direction and kept going and did good times yesterday afternoon. Today we were faster this afternoon with yesterday's settings. Because of my lack of road racing experience we try as many options as we can. "Last year I was in second place before crashing out. It sort of suits me better that happened so 1 can come here and win. I knew last year when we came here we had a good chance to win the event. As it turned out we were pretty close." Mike Smith After a year on the Fast by Ferracci Ducati, Mike Smith pored through "three or fOUI serious offers" before deciding that the Muzzy Kawasaki was the "best combination for sure." Smith has yet to win an AMA Superbike National, but feels this is his best chance. His time of 1:50.90 was third-best, unofficially. . "The bike is really, really fast. It has a lot of torque and it handles great going in. It lets you make mistakes. It lets you learn. Within six laps I was down to 52.8 on the Superbike. That blew my . mind. Scott's (Russell) best in testing was about what we did. Ws a rear-tire-slide-and-bury-it-deep kind of bike. I'm in awe of the power off the comers. lhere's nothing like this. This bike here gets it Riding the Michelins and Ducati, it was more of a torquey bike instead of a top-fuel dragsteJ JjJce this. This is like a big 427 V -8. I want to say it's a redneck bike: it's a country-boy bike. The DI,tcati was a good bike, but it left very little room for error. You had to be so precise. I was always holding my breath. "The tires work really good and tbey'11! predictable. I think it's harder to go from Dunlop to Michelin than Michelin to Dunlop. I flat track a lot and I like sliding. I JjJce to bite off more than I can chew and make it up and digest it The suspension on these things really helps. I just get in there and make the bike squirm and it doesn't want to low-side and do something crazy. The only other time I felt suspension like that was on an NSRSOO or RVF Honda." # Doug Chandler Doug Chandler re-joins the team he won the AMA Superbike Championship with in 1990 after a year of struggle on the Harley-Davidson VR1000. Anyone who questioned his commitment to racing will have to reconsider after his performance here. The Salinas, California, native got time on both the 1995 and 1996 race bikes, though the '96 were just off the production line. '1 could have gone better on the '95 bike (with a '%.motor) but they wanted me on the '%. We had a bad day and I was never comfortable. With the '95 you can get in the corner hot, get it turned quicker, and let it go. With the '% I had no feel for the front. It wanted to ron wide and I felt really slow. "Iran with Miguel (DuHamel) and then Mike (Smith). Miguel was getting away from me. I couldn't ron through the comers. It ran fine in the draft. The old bike felt so good, so comfortable. This one felt like I was on pins and needles. We tried a bunch of stuff and I think we got crazy with some of the stuff we tried. "T. tri~ three of the Japanese tires today to see which one I preferred. 1hey were nothing like what I had yesterday. I preferred the grip of the standard one, which was good, but Jimmy (Allen) doesn't think it will last All the new ones (tires) are a lot better than what we had last year." new Superbike tire that drew all the praise. "The tires are 'definitely better than last year," Muzzy Kawasaki's World Superbike rider Anthony Gobert said after setting the unofficial fast time of 1:50.73, just a tick under Scott Russell's 1994 test best of 1:50.62. But Russell did it on a tire that would clearly not go the distance and was, in fact, not used by him in winning the race. In Russell's absence, DuHamel became the de facto testing voice and he assumed the title enthusiastically, smoking the rear tire on both the Superbike and 600 in every infield turn and sliding up onto the banking. "At one point I looked back coming out of the second horseshoe and there was still bl ue smoke in the ·air. I'd never seen that before," DuHamel said with a grin. "In the years past, I've always been giving good feedback to Jim (Allen) and Dave (Watkins) and definitely Scott was giving good feedback, because he goes really good around Daytona. Now that Scott's not here, definitely, his load is transferred to me. Actually, I've come up with some pretty good ideas that we've been testing here and that's been turning out really well and that makes The fastest lap times were turned In by Muzzy Kawasaki's Anthony Gobert. The Australian will ride in the upcoming Daytona 200 before starting his assault on the World Superblke Championship. SMOKIN' JOE'S HONDA Miguel DuHamel The 1995 AMA SUperbike Champion rode his 1995 RC45 to the second best time of the threeday test, an unofficial 1:50.89, well under his 1995 Daytona 200 qualifying time of 1:51.245. But having the number one on the nose of the Smokin' Joe's RC45 isn't something that concerns DuHamel. "When I'm riding the bike I still feel like number 17, I'm still out there racing. The way I look at it now is that I'm number one, I won it this year, but next year it's not really mine. It's on my bike because last year I won it This year I've got to go out and win it again. "It's good to see that we made a lot of progress. Last year testing this same day I was doing 54s and in the race qualifying I did 51.2, which is, ~ guess. decent. But today I 1'1'45 oonstantly in the SIs and a few in the high 50s. It's Nce to see we made a lot of progress. And. hopefully, the new bike is going to be stronger, it's going to be more compatible with the World Superbike guys:1 think that's something that definitely going to give us better results at Daytona. As far as race setup, we have a real good idea where to go. We have some more testing plans before Daytona. It's not the same bike we had here a year ago. "We were trying different swingann pivot positions. We also tried different triple clamps and offsets. We got some stuff done. That's what we're here for. This bike is going back to Japan and probably get crushed into aluminum cans or something. "The test here in September, it was very important. We were talking about a lot of stuff and then Dunlop did a fantastic job, they really did their homework, and they came up with good ideas and that September test gave us what we have here and a lot of people are really happy. I think that they did incredible work. I'm happy, I'd !:>e happy if I'd been 54.1, instead of 51.1, .2, .3. I think the thing that was real good for us as far as the race goes is that we can go consistently faster. I did about 250 laps since I've been there. I never really concentrated to see if I could do'a really fast lap. This test was real solid, real strong for us. Steve Crevier Steve Crevier comes to the Honda team in 19% from the Muzzy Kawasaki squad and he spent much of the test adapting to the unfamiliar RC45, though he had tested it once before at Willow Springs. "The Superbike is really quick, but I didn't get great lap times. I was fighting a problem down low that I couldn't get over mentally to get a good lap time. There was a slight hitch in carburetion. 1 bitched the last two years with Muzzy about the same thing, but there's definitely a problem here. We'll get it sorted out. The bike's tight and it's real comfortable to ride. I'm real confident in the whole package. "1 rode the Two Brothers RC30 in 1992, and it's not that much different an idea from the RC45. It's a torquier motor, more power down low, easier to get on the gas sooner than the ZX7. The ZX7 is really long for a small rider and it's hard to sit on. Inline four's, you shut off the throttle and get a lot of backspin. These things send you into the corners faster and that puts more of a load on the brakes. "I've been working with Merlyn Plumlee and he can teach you a lot if you sit back and listen. Ray Plumb is real good on chassis setup: 1 thought I was pretty good: I'm learning a lot. "As far as the tires, the other tires seemed to spin a lot when you were straight up and down. These give a bit of a slide while they're spinning and push you forward. There is better performance on the right side. It gets hotter and that means a lot in the right-hand turns." If) 0\ 0\ rl C')' rl !-o C1) "S C1) u C1) a 13

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