Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

to right. When Miguel came in his first comment was, 'When do we get the front?'" The dual-compound front followed shortly afterward and it was ready for the race in March, which DuHamel won. Daytona may be one race, but the development process continues yearround. When the March race ends, the data is taken to the company's headquarters in England where work begins on a preliminary set of tires to be tested during a selective test at Daytona in August. "We spent quite a lot of time machine testing and collating the results," Dunlop's Watkins, who is in charge of the Dunlop racing effort worldwide said the day after the test. Watkins is a soft-spoken Englishman, round and balding, who commands enormous respect in paddocks around the world. Watkins spent most of this year on the Grand Prix trail with occasional forays to World Superbike. "We'll work for three or four months towards the August test, ordering tires to be built." The company recently set up a motorcycle-specific research depart- rnmkDffi illm@nffilli/illmD@(B Wffiffi0DJ0mJffi([10ffi (5lSwmDJ Swap_le------=-st_ American Honda did a swap on its satellite teams, moving Jake Zemke from the Bruce Transportation Group team to Erion Racing, with Josh Hayes going the other way. Joining Hayes will be Roger Lee Hayden, formerly of Chaparral Suzuki. Mark Miller, who last year rode Yamaha R-1s for Attack Performance, will ride a Honda CBR-929RR in the Formula Xtreme class with Zemke, while Kurtis Roberts rides under Erion colors in the 600cc Supersport class. Zemke got a taste of the Erion operation at Willow Springs last year when he rode Kurtis Roberts' 929 to his first-ever Extreme victory. Everything about the bike was better, he said at the time. Now that he's there full-time, Zemke is quickly realizing the benefits. "Already I'm going faster than last year," Zemke said of the new Honda 600. "The fuel injection feels like it works. It doesn't have that abruptness. These are smooth. I can't tell any difference between the carburetion and the injection." Because Daytona doesn't run the Formula Extreme class - there was talk they wouid in 200 J - Zemke didn't test the big bike and Miller wasn't here. Roger Lee was and his first impression of the Honda was favorable, even though he had to share one of the new Fi's with Hayes. "I like it a littie better than the Suzuki," the youngest of the racing Haydens said. "It might suit me better. It's a lot skinnier than the Suzuki was. It's easier to be on the bike. I feel a lot more confident on it. It seems fast. It gets off the corners a lot faster than the Suzuki did. The F-4 is a little more stable than the old bike. "It's a different bike, different tires," Hayden said, adding that the team was working on set-up "so when we come back in March we don't start from scratch." N one point during the test a number of the 600 riders, including Nicky Hayden, Kurtis Roberts, Jamie Hacking, and Josh Hayes hooked up. Rogert Lee was in the middle of them and said that his bike "was just as fast as any of those guys." This wasn't the first time he'd ridden the Hondas. He'd tested both the 600 and 929 at Las Vegas Roger Lee Hayden and Pahrump. - This is Hayes second year on the Honda and he said he "didn't notice all that much difference [between the F-4 and the Fi]. It still feels like a Honda to me. It doesn't feel much difference. It's just new. They tell me it's as fast as the old bike." Sharing the bike with Roger Lee meant a curtailed testing period, even more so given the inclement weather. The end result was that Hayes wasn't riding as well as he wanted. "I'm not hitting my marks like J should," he said. The bigger problem for Hayes is physical. Hayes was involved in the horrific crash in last year's 600cc race at Daytona, suffering 18 inches of nerve damage in his right forearm. There was an expectation that it would re-generate at about an inch a month, but there's been no progress since Willow Springs at the end of the year. The two smallest fingers of the hand stay numb. Hayes also jammed the thumb on the hand when a mechanical problem caused him to crash while testing at Las Vegas. "The doctor says it just one of those things where one of these days it's going to get better again," Hayes said. He was scheduled to undergo surgery at Louisiana State University soon after the test. "Right now I'm just trying to get my head screwed on straight and start riding a motorcycle like the old Josh_ Hopefully, I can get back to there," Hayes said. To get back up to speed, Hayes bought an F-4 that he plans on spending as much time on as possible, racing in club events at tracks like Talladega and others close to his Gulfport, Mississippi home. ment to do FEA (Finite Element Team Kawasaki Doing It Right "It's a triangle," Preston explained. "They send information to Japan and the Japanese team sends information there and it's dispersed out to the teams. Last year we started with their specs. With the results we've achieved, they're asking us for input." It wasn't until the Pike's Peak race that they won and Preston saw the frustration. "They would chase themselves in a few places and the next place they'd excel," he said. "We found that when they were chasing themselves, they'd make progress. It carried over to the next track. With the 600, one race we'd win, the next race we struggled. By the end of the day we were close." The 2001 Kawasakis are refined but not new models, and the ZX-6 is by far the more impressive. Eric Bostrom was the leader of the 600 class at Daytona, turning the fastest 600cc Supersport lap ever at Daytona - a 1:53.64 that would have put him 15th on the Daytona 200 Superbike grid, just behind the two factory Harleys. He was clocked on a rival team's radar gun at 168 mph, and this on a motorcycle with plenty of development life in it. "I ran with the other 600s on the banking, which is nice," Bostrom said. "We were several k's down in March." Chandler finished second in last year's 600 race, one of only two appearances he made in the class. The second one was at Willow Springs where he tried to support Bostrom in his championship bid. Daytona will likely be Chandler's only appearance on the ZX-6 in 2001 and he was impressed with the progress of the bike. "For sure I was faster through the infield on the 600 than the Superbike," Chandler said. "It stops, turns, and goes. The 600 is like it's on rails. The Superbike wants to spin." The difference between the two bikes, and, more importantly, the dual-compound vs. DOT tires, had Chandler swimming early in the test. "I kind of messed myself up riding both bikes," he said. But once he parked the 600, he was able to concentrate on the Superbike, a machine that is refined and evolved, but not new. Chandler said he expects more parts to arrive before the season starts in March. "They're an improvement, but a good rider's never happy," said Chandler, who used a qualifying tire to clock the third fastest time, a 1:50.03. "We always complain Mike Preston was thrown in the deep end when he was tapped to take the Kawasaki road race effort in-house after the Rob Muzzy years ended in 1999. The decision was made at Road America in June of '99 and from then on Preston was working towards being race-ready for 2000. When the semi rolled up for the Daytona test last year there were signs that Preston was doing it right, spending the money on the right riders, technicians, and equipment. The organization was first rate, though Preston did ruffle a few feathers along the way. More than a year into his reign, Preston is more relaxed, clearly at home in the paddock, anxious to get the season started. "I'm a lot more at ease this year because I don't have the big distraction of trying to build a team," Preston said. The results were respectable in 2000, capped off with Eric Bostrom's runaway win in the penultimate Superbike race at Pike's Peak. Bostrom also came within inches of winning the Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Championship, losing at the line to Erion Racing's Kurtis Roberts. The frustration for the team was in the lack of consistency. Both Bostrom and Chandler struggled with traction at too many tracks and Chandler, who many thought would challenge for the title, ended up fifth, one spot behind Bostrom. Preston's focus this year is building on what they leamed in 2000. "We have information on the bikes, information on the team, the same riders, and we've had a year to work on it. It makes things easier," Preston said. "Everybody's more used to each other, more comfortable. Last year was a bit of an unknown. This year we have a baseline." They also have three new crew members, Danny Hull, who worked for Kawasaki during the Muzzy World Superbike years, Mike Perez, formerly of Vance [, Hines Ducati, and Kenny Hunter, late of Chaparral Suzuki. The results they achieved last year caught the attention of the factory and Preston sees a little more support, as well as a two-way street. The team doesn't share information directly with the World Superbike team, but gets it from Japan. Eric Bostrom and we want to work more. It Chandler tried a second qualifier, but it was the end of the day and he wasn't motivated. "You're just fooling yourself. I was able to go back out there (on the race tire) and stay in the 50s on it." His best time on a qualifier was only a few hundredths faster than his race tire times. What Chandler was looking for at Daytona, and what he found on his way to last year's third-place finish, was grip. "Anyone in the garage is going to say they're looking to get grip out of the rear tire. "If you can get it, you can do consistent times, because the thing (rear tire) drops off." Rain on the first two days of the three-day test meant riders had to make the most of their time. Once Bostrom found his way on the 600, he parked it to concentrate on the Superbike. "With the rain yesterday, we found ourselves clawing our way through the 53s and 52s," said Bostrom, who ended the test with a best of 1:50.87, slightly slower than he'd qualified for the 2000 Daytona 200. Bostrom was one of the riders Dunlop had pegged to test their new tires and he made his way through the range, commenting that there was a "general improvement," especially with the front tire. Bostrom said the rear was very similar to the 2000 race tires. "If it's not the same, it's got to be close," he said. eye I e n e _ os • JANUARY 17, 2001 17

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