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/127973
By Henny Ray Abrams . i1 DAYTONA BEACH, FL, NOV. 4-6 here was som ething mis sin g wh en th e teams gathered at the annu al Dunlop winter tire tests at Daytona In ternational Speed way. Only two o f th e seven team s that took part w ere at full strength wh en the test s tarted and on ly one made it through intac t. The machine ry, in many cases, w as new or w as n' t re ady, a nd th e riders weren 't able to replicate the times from the Dayton a race in Mar ch, let alone those from last winter's test , when the unse asonably co ld weather was a fa r cry fro m this year's heat wav e. The riders ag reed that the 'new dual-compound tires wer e a marked improvem ent over last year's rubber, but a pall wa s cas t over the test halfway through th e fina l d ay of th e three-da y test when a rear-tire failu re caused Vance. & Hines Ducati's Ben Bostrom to crash heavily in the middle of the east banking. , His onboard compu ter said he was g oing 168 mph. Much of the damage wa s the ind irect r esult of a previous (Above right) Ben Bostrom puts the Ducati through its paces on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. (Below) Bostrom's new teammate Anthony Gobert showed up a bit out of s hape and so me 20 pounds overweight, but he still went fast. The pair provide team owner Terry Vance with a potent duo for the 1999 AM Superbike Champ ionship. A V &H ance inesD ucalj think when the season starts, we ought to be going pr ett y good. The bike's fast - rea l fast-J thin k they (the Ducati 916 and the Ho nda RC45) end up being the same spee d. This one seems to ge t there a little qu icker , and the Ho nda see ms to run at the en d a little qu icker. It's real com parable. In the end, I'm sure they ge t fro m A to B equa lly." Bost rom just wa nted to stay out on the track, though it took a w hile for the team to get going . There we re numerous eng ine problems ' on Friday which kept th em mostly off the track and en Bostrom bri ngs the number-one plat e to the Vance & in the garage area . Once they go t going, the team had to quickHines Ducati tea m for 1999, joining the returning An tho- ly sort ou t the suspension. ny Gobert on a team tha t has been assured greater factory "They keep making changes, bu t I thin k it's just because of support from Duca ti. Gober t sho wed up overweight and ou t of my weight," Bostro m said. "We were having a wo bbling probshape a n d never rea lly got close to what he 's capable of . lem around the banking and they just keep changing the susBostrom, meanwhile, was in near-peak shape - he still has a pension. Now the thing goes abou t as straight as an arrow. The sore wrist from a motocross accid ent - but he suffered a rear bike's rea lly sensitive to changes . Even rider seat position - if tire blow-out in NASCAR turn you' re off just a li ttle bit on sea t position, that'll u pset the bike. three (see Du nlop story) on the 'It's a finick y bike. That thing is definitely capable of putting in fin a l dav of the te s t a n d w as some of the fastest lap s. It's quick and do es eve ry thing right, as hospitalized with lacerations to lon g as you ride it good - which is precision riding; it's a bit his left hand and with va rious d ifferent that wa y. You don't slide aro und. It's going to be fast. abrasions . Befor e th e s p ill , Next yea r it's going to be tough to beat that bike." w hich required s kin-graft What he wa s working for on the third da y was consis tency . s~ rgery and w ill keep him in the "Yesterd ay I wasn' t very consisten t," Bostrom said . "I'd put Halifax Medic al Center for three in a good lap but I di dn't know wh y. I'd com e around and the days, Bos trom w as th e fa st est board wo uld sho w a qu ick lap and I'd go, like, 'I don't underrid er a t Da yt ona , ge ne rati ng stan d: Put in the next lap and think I did the same lap and I'd impressive times in his firs t ou t- be wav off, like a second off the pace. So tod ay, I just want to ing on the Italian V-twi n afte r go out there and try to get real comfortable with the bike, and yea rs of ridin g fo u r-cyli nder cons istency wo uld be nice . Then, when we go to the next test, I Hondas. cou ld try to put in speed." Prior to his crash, jus t before Go be r t sai d he'd tra ine d on ly two d a ys in th e p as t two Sunday' s lun ch brea k, Bostrom months and came to the test anyw here from 10 to 20 pounds ' had turned a best lap of 1:49.88, ov erweight. He was havin g a hard time ge tting tucked in on recorded o n the Ducati ' s on - the long straights, and there was no flash of the brillian cethat bike computer. The hand-h eld he showed as the fas test rid er during th e test here last year, watches had him at 1:50 flat. No and throughout his car eer. His best time pu t him fourth fastest , matter - he was fast and he was but it wa s well off the time he set to put the Du cati on the front consistent, and if he was ha.ving row for this year's Daytona 200. a hard time ada pting, he didn't "We' ve sort of spe nt all the time ,mainly just going out and show it. burning tires u p , reall y," Gobert explained. "We trie d a few "Ju st a w hole lot differ ent," different suspension setups and nothing rea lly seemed to work is how Bostrom d escribed the that good fo r me . I'm not real hap py with the bike a t th e Ducati 916. "It' s just a complete- moment - the way it's hand lin g in the rea r en d. We seem to ly different animal. You've got ha ve a bit more hor sepower tha n last year, so that's a bonus. I to ride it a lot d ifferent because really feel that w e onl y just sort of got sta rted . I missed h alf the of the way the rpms are and the day yesterday beca use of an engine problem. Just a few things bike... it's not a slider, it's more kept us off the track a bit . I di dn't rea lly ge t a cha nce to get a keep -the-wheels-in-line, kind- going." of-s tav-on-the-rails bike. So it Gobert did a 1:49.9 here last year - his bes t this weeke nd keeps' you on the ed ge. If you was a 1:51.17 - and it was the first time he'd ridd en a Ducati ride it right, you do quick laps and the first time he'd ridd en a race bike of any kind since his and vo u also save the tires. The dismissal from the Lucky Strike Suzu ki team in Au gust of 1997. bike's really good. "1 haven't rea lly do ne any training," the always candid Gob''I'm watc hing 'Gob e r t rid- ert admitted . "I've done two d ay s' tra ining since Vegas and ing," he added, "a nd tha t's the I've been enjoyi ng m yself. That's p robably the main thing . Ben , way you need to do it. I' ve just down the straightaway, he was pulling ou t on me - my thi ng got to take today and a couple was lagging, it w as having tro u ble when I was clicking to p more practice' sessio ns before gea r - it struggled to pull it, beca us e I'm about 10 pounds or ยท the season starts and just put in more heavier than I should be. When I come back here after I as many laps as I can - just keep go hom e, things should be different. I just want to try to have a ridi ng around on worn-out tires full off-season so I've taken that opportunity to do nothing and so I get th e feel o f the bi ke . I enjoy Illy life, and now I'm ready to go back to work." Both barrels blazing .' B