Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dunlop's Daytona Tire Test: Part" got harder and harder to the point tires at the factory in Birmingham, that very few riders could make them England, and had them air-freighted work. Scott Russell is one of those in on Thursday. riders. On his way to winning the "That compound was so hard on third of his five Daytona 200s, Rus- the right side that he [Russell] was the sell crashed in the first horseshoe on only one who could deal with it," the second because he hadn't gotten Allen said. enough heat into his tire. Russell re- Daytona tire technology took a mounted and went on to win by giant leap forward in the mid-'90s almost 54 seconds, but only because he was the only rider who could make that tire work. The tire was something special to begin with. During the previous weekend, Dunlop realized that the tires they'd built wouldn't last and the only option was to build new ones. In an extraordinary feat, they built a new batch of The Brothers Hayden. Nicky (right) laughs it up with older brother Tommy (left). 1 1111---_ _ good time in his career to be here." Not only for Gobert but for Yamaha as well. Yamaha of America has never won an AMA Superbike race. The last time a Yamaha was in the winner's circle of a Superbike race was at Daytona in 1998, but that was under the direction of the World Superbike team of Scott Russell, the same crew that had won Daytona the year before. Prior to that you have to go back to August 21, 1994 when Colin Edwards won Sears Point for the Vance & Hines Yamaha team. For 2000 they've taken a different approach with Tom Houseworth in charge of Superbikes and Jeff Myers in charge of 600s, "just so we can have more individual focus on each one," Halverson said. With Yamaha dropping out of the World Superbike Series, the AMA Championship is the highest profile four-stroke series for the factory and Halverson expects to see the benefits of Yamaha Worid Superbike development. "We're trying stuff they developed last year and are working that into Daytona," Halverson said. For the first time in his career, Gobert was asked to race the 600cc Supersport class and he agreed. . "He said he'd never ridden one, but was willing to give it a go," Halverson said. "The first time he rode it was at Thunderhill and he was really, really happy. He had no problems and he was quite fast. Fast as Tommy [Hayden) right off the bat. Really stoked. After that I couldn't get him off the bike. I'm sure he's going to do more of that." Maybe not. After not being able to spend as much time on the Superbike as he would have liked, partly because of the weather, Gobert was re-thinking his plans. "To me it gets in the way, really," Gobert said at the end of the test. "We had roughly two days and it was cut in half. I only had one day on the Superbike and it shows. The 600 really wastes a lot of time. I'm starting to not enjoy riding it. I'm frustrated trying to split them up. Any time I'm on a 600, Mat [Mladin] is out there improving his times." Traditionally, Yamaha muzzles their riders, preferring they keep their constructive criticism within the team. "I don't think it's productive to have bad things leaked out, even to just the others in the paddock," Halverson said. "I think it gives the other riders an advantage." Halverson realizes that Gobert, like all riders, has been critical of his equipment in the past, but isn't worried. "We're not looking to anything that's happened in the past. For us it's just kind of pointless to dwell on the past." cue I e gave one to Miguel DuHamel, who'd just returned to Honda after riding the Harley-Davidson VR-1000 in its inaugural AMA Superbike campaign. "We were all sort of waiting," Allen recalls. "We basically tried not to tip the riders off to much, just to basically expect a little difference in grip left pointed out that he'd moved to Lake Elsinore and was training with seven-time Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath. "It's great to be around McGrath this time of the season. n e _ s He's super-focused, " Halverson said. Gobert and McGrath raced in a local Southern California motocross with McGrath winning and Gobert placing in the top three. Physically, Gobert looks ready to race, in better shape than he was when he left the U.S. at the end of the Vance & Hines years, though he found riding an inJine-four harder work than the twin he started the season on and which he'd ridden the previous two years. Gobert said riding the twins had made him lazy in his riding style. He also rediscovered how much an inline four with dual-compound tires spins at Daytona. The last time he rode a four was when he raced a Muzzy Kawasaki ZX- 7 at Daytona in 1996. "There's no grip here anyway with the way the tires are," Gobert said. "The twin puts power down easier, nicer. It's crucial what part of the tire you're on when you put the power on - really critical. My style has never been that way. I've always burned the tire up whenever I was here. In 1995, I had no tire trouble. I ended up crashing. Ever since then it's been tire or engine trouble." Gobert said he'd been experimenting with changing his riding style to accommodate the tires and the new Yamaha. By the end of the test Gobert was feeling better about his programs. "Realistically, we're right there," he said, though he was still encountering grip problems. "As soon as you touch the throttle, you've got to dirt track everywhere. It's the same for everybody, a bit." One bit of encouragement came from Gobert's knowledge that he still holds the outright track record at Daytona, a 1:48.516 that he'd turned in qualifying the Vance & Hines Ducati for the 1999 race. Both Gobert and Tommy Hayden were riding advanced-spec motorcycles. One of the OW-01s had a tech sticker from the Suzuka Eight-Hour, and all the quick-change fittings, while the other had been raced at the German round of the World Superbike Championship. Japanese technicians accompanied the motorcycles. Halverson wasn't sure what the team would have for the 200 and beyond. "There's still planning and politics for what we'll race in March," Halverson said. Tommy Hayden wouldn't be unhappy if they rode these same bikes. "The performance, all around, was just better," he said. "Leaps and bounds in certain areas. The clutch is way better. Where we really suffered last year was pretty much there wasn't a race we went to where weren't trying to fix that, as far as slip going into the corner. We had new parts here." Hayden hooked up with his brother Nicky, of American Honda, and HMC Ducati's Scott Russell and found his bike to be competitive, even though each bike had its strengths on the 3.56- Atlthony Gobert JANUARY 17, 2001 • ure. Watkins and Allen took the tires to the December test in 199'4 and cation, Halverson Yamaha came to Daytona with a new rider and a different approach. The new rider is Anthony Gobert, last seen in the U.S. racing for the Vance & Hines Ducati team and last seen racing for the British Yamaha team in their National Superbike Series. Yamaha UK was the last of about five teams which Gobert rode for in 2000, beginning with the factory Bimota World Superbike team, which went out of business, and followed by stints on Kenny Roberts' Proton Modenas 500cc GP team, as well as a couple of teams in his native Australia. Well-traveled is an understatement, not only for the season, but also for his career. Gobert comes with baggage. There's no getting around it. He's been fast on whatever he's ridden, but not consistent enough to win a title since he left Australia in the mid-'90s. There was the failed drug test in 1998, which kept him off the V&H bike for three races, but he was clean in 1999 and again in 2000. If he's serious, dedicates himself to the task at hand, and gets the proper support, Gobert will be a contender at every race, and that's one of the reasons team boss Tom Halverson signed him up. "Basically, management came down and said if you could choose any guy, who would you choose? I put him on our list," Halverson said. "They looked and put him on top. We called Anthony to see what his goals were and what his goals in our program were. It's a 16 tires work effectively and without fail- As an example of Gobert's dedi- Team Yamaha ~llnllue when Dunlop's Dave Watkins discovered a way to make dual-compound mile road course. "It's a Jot faster here than both bikes," Hayden said. He also had only good things to say about the 600. "I was out with the Hondas and Suzukis and I felt competitive with everyone. I feel like the bike was running better than it did in the race," Hayden said., though he could have used a little more power. "I was second going to the checkered flag and ended up fourth."

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