Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Chandler sets the ace ased on the fact that he had circulated at times similar to these during preseason testing at Laguna Seea Raceway, it wasn't surprising that Doug Chandler lapped at 1:26.851 on a sunny Saturday afternoon on the Monterey Peninsula. The only question was: Could anybody else crack into the 1:26s? The answer was a resounding no. Chandler and his Muzzy Kawasaki were alone in duplicating lap times only. previously seen in World Superbike racing at Laguna, and the Californian was under the the race record set in last year's World Championship round by Wataru Yoshikawa - a 1.26.926 And he wasn't that far off the time set during qualifying for last year's world round, a 1:25.715 Py John Kocinski on the factory Ducati. It was the 11th pole of Chandler's AMA Superbike career and the only real trouble he encountered en route to earning it was with slower traffic. In all, some 53 riders were attempting to qualifying for the Superbike National, the slower ones riding Supersport-spec motorcycles. "That lap [ did yesterday, the 27.4, [ had to follow a guy through four," Chandler said. "For some reason, it just seems like we have a lot of guys out there just riding around and I've never noticed that before here at Laguna. It's always been on the smaIler tracks, like Loudon. In January (during testing) we did a 26.7. [guess the track is pretty much the same. I kinda thought in January that the track was dirty. But the grip was as good, if not better than now. The thing seems to be spinning pretty easy which means you're losing it mid-corner on its side - that's kind of unusual. It might just be the track having the schools going on and it might just not be quite cleaned up. [ think we have a good shot for tomorrow - just get a good start and get my head down. [t's going to be a long race and the big factor is going lQ. be who can get through traffic the fastest." Tom Kipp placed his Yamaha next to Chandler on the front row, via a 1:27.344 in the second session - nearly a second quicker than the day before. "ObViously, lap-timewise, it was good enough for second:' Kipp said. "We're still chasing around a front-end problem and I think the bike's got a little bit left in it. Hopefully, we can figure it out the next time on the track. My best lap wasn't on a qualifying tire... the bike is just working really good. The Yamaha crew has done a fantastic job all weekend. We had some teething problems at Daytona, but ['m excited. I've got new leathers and a new truck - I'm happy." Smokin' Joe's Miguel Duhamel wasn't as quick as expected, but he also had a problem that wasn't expected. The French Canadlan ended up lapping atl :27.388 on Friday and he. wa n't able t<;> better it on Saturday - thanks to the dilemma. "['m happy, considering we had a little problem," Duhamel said. "Showa sent us a fork with the wrong bushing in it and it was binding. When the forks went down, they'd stay down there. r figured I could do a 26.7, 26.8, but the -bike felt weird. But at least we found the problem and I'm happy now. l'm happy I'm still on the front row." Although the final session was somewhat of a waste because of the fork problem, Duhamel said that they would still be okay for the race. "We had pretty much tested everything we wanted to test," Duhamel said. "But [ felt we could have gone faster. There shouldn't be much of a tire decision unless there's a drastic change in the temperature. We'll have our race setup in the morning and [think it'll be a hell of a race. [ think we can do high 27s, maybe a bit faster in the first few laps - we'll see." The ever-growing legend of Ben Bostrom gained momentum when the 22-year-old was able to put his Zero Gravity RC45 n the front row with his 1:27.506 coming late in the final session. Let's . not forget that this is only the Californian's second outing on a superbike. "The bike is just so nioe:' Bostrom said. "I haven't made too many changes. We changed the footpegs because I'm a little taUer than their guys (Duhamel and Steve Crevier). We've also messed with the front suspension, but it's so good [can't tell 'em what to do. They just keep trying stuff and it's awesome. It's getting more natural for me and I've just got to try and be smooth and not bum up the tire. I gef a little throttle happy on the thing." Although Bostrom's quick laps came when he was behind his friend and mentor Duhamel, it was the lap after Duhamel waved him by that ended up being his best. "He (Duhamel) was overcharging the comers and he was in my way a bi!," Bostrom said. 'Then he waved me by - I was sliding it all over the place on that last lap. It was fun, but a tire wouldn't last doing that." Another who expected to go quicker was Mat M1adin. He was also another who had final-session problems and was fortunate to end up where he did - at the head of row two with a 1:27.867. "I expected to go that quick, too:' Mladin said of Chandler's lap in the 1:260. "But 15 minutes from the end we had to park it. The front tire was rubbing on the radiator and water started spraying everywhere. It just started nipping it and 1 had a big front-i!llder up there. With seven minutes left r went out on the spare bike and did three laps. [just couldn't do it on the spare bike, but we know what we've got for the race. [think they'll only do low 28s in the race - they haven't done any faster than that on raoe tires. But you neVer know - they may do some 27s... maybe. The thing with the radiator just happened at the wrong time, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow." Next to Mladin on row two came two of the factory Suzuki trio, Larry Pegram and Pascal Picotte. Pegram outdid his teammates with his 1:28.062, bettering Picotte by just .011 of a second. Pegram's final session was made more exciting when his G5XR750 went completely sideways cresting the high-speed hill that makes up tum one. He saved it, but ended up running straight into the gravel pit, counting his lucky stars. Picotte was left to ponder more changes to the Suzuki for Sunday. "It just.doesn't work good with the qualifying tires:' Picotte said. "It pushes the front with those tires because there's too much grip in the back. Tomorrow I'll try a different gearbox and we might try something with the front." Yates was the last of the Suzukis, qualifying 10th. "It's still Jacking in some areas," Yates said. "But it's getting be[!er. We found out some things that helped alot and it1'W\S a little better. We're just back to the brake problems now. We're going to try a new master cyUnder and a couple of other things for tomorrow.". Row two was filled by Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr, who outqualified not only his teammate Thomas Wilson, but also Smokin' Joe's Honda's Steve Crevier and Yoshimura Suzuki's Yates. In his debut ride on the new Vance & Hines Ducati, Thomas Steyens ended up on row three with a 1:28.423. "There's just so much to learn:' Stevens said. 'There are so many combinations to go through and that's exactly what we're doing - searching for the right combination. We only ended up putting one qualifying tire on because we're working on finding <\ race setup. We're going to go back to our best setting and see how that works out. Our biggest problem is that the bike was developed to work with Michelins and we're using Dunlops. [ think we need to make some internal changes to the shock." B greasy, 1 couldn't be so aggressive and it started to work better for me. It was a case of ride easy, ride faster. It kinda goes against aggression and racers are aggressive." So did he fixate on Bostrom, not wanting to lose out to the Hondamounted upstart, the man who will be 5mokin' Joe's Honda-mounted in 1998? . "Ben's an up-and-coming rider and he's going to take somebody's job," Crever explained. "You've got to nail down those young guns before the veterans. Hey, my kid needs new shoes. My focus isn't to beat Miguel (Duhamel) or Ben, but to do the best 1 can." On this day, his best ended up being fourth - closing at the end on even his teammate Duhamel. "We worked ~ard, but Doug (Chandler) just had it together," Duhamel said. "If my bike would have been perfect then maybe 1 had a shot to be close to him, but the same goes for Mat· (Mladin). 1 was trying to hang with those guys but 1 was starting to abuse my tire and they were still pulling away from me. So 1 backed it off a bit and made sure 1 didn't get a challenge from the back. 1 just kept going a good steady pace, just in case these guys started getting aggressive and slowing themselves up. That never happened - they're too much good buddies." The race for fifth went to the bitter end with Bostrom topping Picotte in an impressive performance from the man many bill as the next great American road racer. "1 was up with those guys and 1 backed off," a modest Bostrom said later of running a t the front of a 5uperbike National. ''I'm like, 'What are they doing?' I guess they were using their heads and saving their tires because mine got real loose and [ had to back it down. The only problem 1 had was with false neutrals. 1 think 1 had some tape on (Above) Fastest qualifier Doug Chandler had no equals at Laguna Seca. He moved to the lead early in the rBce and won by a wide margin. (Left) Fast by Ferracci's Mat Mladin pursued Chandler for much of the race but had to settle for second. (Below) Smokin' Joe's Miguel Duhamel broke away with the early lead but was passed by both Chandler 'and Mladin early on. my boot or something and Crevier ended up leaving us both (him and Picotte)." Early in the race, Bostrom was hit from behind by a charging Mladin and it knocked the muffler packing off one side of the RC45. "1 heard him in turn five," Bostrom explained. '1 threw it in and he hit my pipes hard. 1 saved it and 1 noticed the bike just got louder a nd louder. [ learned so much out there today. Those guys use a lot of throttle control. You've got to use your head and be smooth to save the tires. 1 have a lot to learn - and that's basically what 1 learned." Mladin said a misshift initiated the problem. "1 accidentally put it in first gear and 1 started skidding," Mladin explained. '1 couldn't pull up and 1 think 1 was half the reason for the muffler falling apart. I hit him pretty hard." Picotte was fairly pleased, considering there's still work to be done on the G5XR750. . '1t's not so bad," he said. "It could be worse. He (Bostrom) could outbrake me

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