Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ber of riders felt that the cars may have compromi ed traction for the bikes. Dunlop Tire Corporation issued a statement at Laguna Seca, dated January 10, 1999, regarding the rear tire that failed on Ben Bostrom's Vance & Hines' Ducati during the Daytona tire tests in early December. It said: "A detailed analysis of the tire involved in the incident during testing by Ben Bostrom of the Vance & Hines Ducati team at Daytona has shown there to be no deficiency in material or manufacture removed from Bostrom's machine. Deflation was attributable to a failure on one sidewall, possibly induced by curb impacts." The statement went on to say that Dunlop had "decided to embody an additionally reinforced bead construction in tires supplied for the 1999 Daytona ce" in March. The reason for this, Dunlop says, is that "improved machine capabilities and the associated suspension changes mean that tires are more likely to be subjected to extreme stresses than in previous years, and Dunlop Motorsport have therefore decided to incorporate additional resistance to such forces." The tire that failed on Bostrom's bike had more than 25 laps on it. Typically, a tire need only last the 19 or 20 laps between pit stops - at which point they'd be changed. Though it wasn't a tire test, Dunlop did have a new hard-compound rear tire - the 335 - at the test, though it wasn't a tire that would be used at Laguna. "It was a combination of last year's and this year's tire," Dunlop's Jim Allen said. "The range is pretty much the arne, except for the hard rear, which is a new compound. Primarily we have two front compounds; the construction was upgraded. All three rears have the same construction, just different compounds." Allen said that most qf the riders were using the softest rears, which is what they used in April and which worked well during the World uperbike race in July. Muzzy Kawasaki's Aaron Yates continued to familiarize himself with his new team and machinery after a career spent on Suzukis. The Georgian's times were just Chandler's - his best a 1:27.82 to Chandler's 1:27.70, though he spent considerably more time on the ZX-6 than his ZX-7 Superbike. "J had a pretty good success curve," Yates said. "Everything we did, things got better, and J got comfortable. We did a lot of changes to just get the bike dialed in to what J want. At Daytona, it's a different place and different setup. One thing that we're just trying to get right is the spring rate and damping and stuff, to get it the way J like it. My setup is totalIy opposite from Doug's. When J started to ride the 600 here yesterday, they thought they kind of had an ideal starting point. But it was way too soft, so that kind of makes me think that even at Daytona it wasn't perfect. It's kind of my weight and the way J ride. I brake really hard all the way to the apex of the off tum. I don't see how anybody else goes fast without doing that, so I don't know how much different it is than anybody else. Doug's setup, they call it the Cadillac. It's really plush. It's unbelievable. It works for him. J like the bike to stay pretty flat, not really move much. With it soft, it loads up the front, loads up the rear, turns, wobbles and wiggles, and 'shakes and stuff." Yates lamented that he didn't have anyone to ride with during much of the test. "A few times J was out there, pushing really hard and going hard, and J felt like I was going real good. When you're with somebody, you always push a little extra just to kind of go better than them. J think it would have helped the lap times a good bit just to have someone to gauge off braking and all that - to kind of go to tha t next level, even run it in harder in a couple of places. In turn 11, J was getting in thereI couldn't get in there any faster. Running behind Scott (Russell, who Yates followed briefly on Thursday), he pul.led a gap on me there (in turn four) and then J had to make it back up through six and seven, going up the hill, braJ9ng for the Corkscrew." Harley-Davidson team manager Steve Scheibe said that Thomas Wilson, who was seriously injured in a practice crash at Loudon last July, would get back on the bike during an upcoming test, probably in February. "That'll be the next step," Scheibe said. "Then we'll see. He wants to ride the next test." As to whether he'd race alongside Scott Russell and Pascal Picotte this season, Scheibe said, "Anything's possible." Though it's not a rigid schedule, Scheibe said the team planned to test about every two weeks prior to tlle Daytona 200. His budget is the largest it's ever been and there's always something new to test. Unlike other teams, which can rely on their World Superbike counterparts, Harley is in the unique position of having to test and develop everything themselves - and, in tlle past, too often at the race track. In addition to the new Showa suspen ion, Scheibe said the team was using an up!1jraded MagniMarelli fuel-injection system. "The fuel injection has demonstrated to be clearly better here," Scheibe said. "These are things we wanted to do for a long time but didn't have the resources. We have the responsibility to have the equipment to go with the riders. It's not just the rider, but the package that goes with it." The team is still acquiring new personnel and has a new race trailer. Randy MamoLa, tlle four-time 500cc World Championship runner-up who now does television commentary for the Grands Prix on Speed vision, said that he hoped to sign a contract as a test rider for Kenny Roberts' Modenas team. Mamola, who now lives outside of Barcelona, Spain, but who grew up in the Bay Area and was home for the holidays visiting his family, said he'd be testing the Modenas, along with JeanMichel Bayle and Mike Hale, at Phillip Island, Australia, in less than two (Above left) Eric Bostrom had some problems with the factory Honda at Laguna. (Above) The Brothers Hayden Roger Lee, Nicky and Tommy. (Above right) Miguel DuHamel only rode a scooter, as he continues to heal from his leg injuries. (Right) Chandler and Mladin meet on th.e pit wall. weeks. He'd been mentioned as a test rider for the BSL SOO, to be built in ew Zealand, and that may happen, though his first allegiance is to Roberts. "BSL asked me in Australia (during the Phillip Island Grand Prix) if I'd ride it," Mamola said. "I'm open to any offers to do testing for them. They were hoping that they'd have something ready in December. Just after r tested the Modenas in Jerez (in October), they sent a fax saying th re were delays and problems in the machining. Two weeks ago, they said they hired (Australian) MaIk Willis to race the bike this year. They're still having problems and they're shooting for the lRTA tests (at Phillip Island). I feel a lot more obligated to Kenny, for obvious reasons. Part of the reason they wanted to hire me was all my experience on all the different bikes I've ridden, and their bike is close to what Kenny has done. I don't have a contract yet (with Roberts), but it looks like there will be a contract for Kenny's team." Mamola has already ridden the Modenas twice, most recently after the Catalunyan GP at Barcelona. "J went faster than (KerulY Roberts) Junior did. Junior said he just wanted to go home. I was half a second off the race time. I hadn't ridden but twice in two years." Mamola also said that, if he signs with Robert, he'd also be working with riders at Roberts' riding school at the Circwto de Catalunya. Roger Lee Hayden, the younger brother of Tommy and Nicky Hayden, signed a two-year contract with American Suzuki on Wednesday, January 13. Once he turns 16, on May 30, Hayden will race for the 1-800-CYCLEGEAR team in both the 600cc and 750cc Supersport classes for the. 1999 season. He'll make his debut at Road Atlanta, where Earl Hayden, the boys' father, wiJl have three sons in the 600cc Supersport race. Nicky races a Honda for Erion Racing, and Tommy, the oldest, rides for Yamaha. "With three of them out there, I'm going to need some oxygen," Earl Hayden joked. "Two of them was bad enough." Roger Lee Hayden has raced several times at Road Atlanta in WERA dub races and the WERA Gra"d National Finals this year. The Laguna Seca test was the first time the 15-year-old had ridden a 750cc machine and the first time he'd been to the track. '1 like it," Roger Lee said at the end of the first day. "The first time J went through the Corkscrew, I kind of lost my stomach." Hayden was riding Steve Rapp's 1998 machinery and the rear shock spring was too stiff, caus- ing the rear to hop off tlle ground under heavy braking. "Toward the end of the day, it was better. The 750 has a lot more power than the 600. That corner (turn 11) and turn two, it wheelies more than the 600." Roger Lee said he. a"d his brothers had studied tapes of recent races at Laguna Seca to learn.. the track. He expected the CycleGear .team to have their '99 bikes at the early Willow Springs test in early February. Yamaha's Tom Halverson said the dates for delivery of the new R-7 Yamahas had not changed. Aside from the one that was in the country as a show bike, Halverson said there wouldn't be any more R-7s delivered until the end of January, about the same time the kit parts showed up. With such a late delivery date, getting tlle bikes ready in time for Daytona would certainly be problematic, but tha t's the date the team's shooti ng for. Don't be surprised if the team races the 1998 YZF750s at Daytona. With no Superbikes to work on, the team has been able to develop the R-6s that were basically stock at Daytona. "At Daytona, we hadn't cracked the gaskets, hadn't done any jetting," Halverson said. "(Tom) Houseworth (the team's crew chief) has been through the motors now and he's getting the jetting right. So far" they seem to be pretty good. That's definitely exciting for us." Halverson al 0 said that Jamie Hacking wasn't at the Laguna Seca test because Dr. Arthur Ting, who performed surgery on Hacking's damaged right elbow, hasn't released him. "He probably won't until Phoenix (a test scheduled for January 2728)." Hacking, who spent tlle holidays in his native England, originally injured tlle elbow in a snowboarding accident in Co rado. "At the time he didn't think it was that big a deal," Halverson said. Hacking tried to ride at the December Dunlop Daytona tests but quit after only a few laps, then went to San Francisco for surgery. If Hacking doesn't make the Phoenix test, he should be at the February 5-6 Willow Springs test. The improvements to the Yamaha translated to the best times for both Yamaha riders, Oliver and teammate Tommy Hayden. Oliver's best was a 1:31.23, not far off the 1:31.002 which Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler rurned to take the pole for the April AMA 600cc race. Hayden was just back at 1:31.38. "We did low 31s. We need to be in the high 30s on it," Oliver said. "We've got things to do. I put a seat on it and dropped half a second. r can't ride 21

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