Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Testing At Laguna Seea during the holidays when he was visiting his grandmother in Lancashire, northem England, Carl Fogarty country. and it was a sim· ple domestic incident. "I went to push off a chair and the elbow popped out." He had the surgery on his retum and the improve· ment was immediate. "I had a bone chip and it acted like a lever. The bone wouldn't sit in the joint right. This time they got in there and got it good. ' CBR929RR's. Miller had ridden it a few times since the end of the season, but never had the chance to go full throttle for an extended test. His first impression was that the power was the strongest he'd ever ridden, but the handling needed some work. "I can't keep the front end down,' Miller said. ''I'm trying to smooth out the throttle delivery. The wheelbase is the Chuck Graves is out of the tire distribution business. After sev- Erion Racing's Kurtis Roberts was one of many walking wounded. The Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Champion badly bruised his left leg during a photo shoot at Willow Springs 10 was his second ride on a four-stroke racebikeJ on Michelin tires. which he'd never raced on, at a track he'd never been to, Gobert lapped Willow Springs. 7 of a second faster than Graves ever had on a 600. "Unbelievable: Graves said. "First time there, first time on a 600. I would have to say he's a better talent than I've seen in years. And the bike was not even close to where it should be." At Laguna Seca, Gobert was testing both the R6 600 and R1 1000 that he and Buckmaster will race in the 600cc Super· sport and Formula Xtreme classes. The 600 he rode at Willow Springs was Graves' club bike. while this one was a factory effort. Budgetary limits will keep the team from contesting Daytona, which doesn't have a Formula Xtreme race, though Gobert is trying to organize backing to do the entire 600cc Supersport series, "Our main focus is Xtreme,' Graves said. 'We had to cut somewhere to get the program where we want to go." Gobert enjoyed his first trip to the Monterey circuit. "Every country has a track that has everything," Gobert said. "This track is pretty good.' In addition to leaming the track, Gobert had to leam to ride a four-stroke, "I haven't done a lot of four-stroke riding. It's some i've got to pick up, as well,' he said, Complicating the task was a motocross injury. During a track day at Competition Park, Gobert dislocated his left shoulder, "I just didn't make a double. It was a pretty hard case." Getting through the Corkscrew and the left-handers were giving him trouble at Laguna. been. If you're leaned over and driving off the shortest it's ever eral years as Michelin's west coast distributor, Graves decided to drop that line of the business from Graves Motorsports to concentrate on the engineering work, "I'm now a Dunlop team. I needed to be competitive. If you want to be competitive in motorcycle racing, you have to be on Dunlops. I couldn't be promoting Dunlops, while competing on and selling Mlchelins. It was a stepping-stone at one point and it generated income, The profit margin is quite small: Graves said he'd asked Michelin for clarification on his status as early as last June, and again in September, but heard no definitive answer. He finally heard from then in November, but by then he'd already made up his mind to go with Dunlop. Who will take over the distributorship remains to be seen. At Laguna Seca. wond was that Freddie Spencer. a long-time Michelin man, would be the new distributor, but it would be a considerable undertaking. Spencer would have to put a truck on the road to service the Michelin riders at all of the west coast events, and getting from Las Vegas. Spencer's base. to tracks as far away as Sears Point and Willow Springs. would be a headache. For the first time in anyone's memory, Michelin had no tire service at the most recent Willow Springs club race. Kurtis Roberts was among ttle walking wounded at Laguna Seca. days before the Laguna Seca test. "The first two laps I couldn't get my knee off the gas tank," Roberts said of his initial outing on the CBR600 F4i. "It's quite swollen, bruised and sore. It's hard to sleep with it. Every two hours. I wake up. The first day the whole leg was bruised blackish purple. Now it's yellow, green, and purple. It looks like a rainbow." Roberts said he fell on cold tires entering tum five at Willow. "I did 25 laps behind the photo car. As soon as I was done. I went in. On the first lap back out I went in there and - I wasn't even going fast - leaned over and it highsided me.' The injury was clearly holding Roberts back. It was more swollen on the second day and he said it made it impossible to move around on the bike. Last year he did a 29.6. His test best was a 31. Roberts could barely move his knee and could only drag it at maximum lean angle. "Now I know I have to get rehab on it to get a full range of motion.' What he was working on was rear-end chatter on the comer entrance, "Our bikes always seem to have that problem here. We're trying different settings.' Roberts was trying completely different suspension on two different bikes, One was fitted with Showa suspension and the other with Ohlins, His best times were with the Showa, • It's better for my riding style.' Because the AMA removed the weight limit for the 750cc Supersport class, Roberts said he might ride in that class. "It's the fastest thing I've ridden since August of 1998: Graves Motorsports' Damon Buckmaster said of the Yamaha R1. What he rode then was a ZX-7 Superbike for Kawasaki Australia. Now he's back in the U,S, for another round of racing, only now Damon Buckmaster· getting acquainted with ttle Graves Yamaha Ri. Aaron Gobert was also injured for the test, but ttle young Aussle continues to Impress. he's in the Formula Xtreme and 600cc Supersport classes. Ever since the Chapparal Mazda Suzuki team pulled out at the end of last season. Buckmaster's been looking for work. The only other offer he had was to race a Superbike in England. "It actually came down to a time thing, whether this deal or the one in England got done first." Buckmaster said. "Chuck [Graves] and Yamaha worked this deal out quicker than the one in England. This is where I wanted to be: Buckmaster hadn't ridden since the final AMA race at Willow Springs, so he was a bit rusty. On top of that, he was struggling with jet lag, despite being in the country for nearly a week. If there was one thing that Buckmaster was working on, it was "probably keeping the front wheel down," he said of the powerful R 1. "I've been riding around with a grin on my face.' The bike was a significantly different than last year's Suzuki GSX-R750 Supersport machine, as were the tires, Buckmaster raced the Supersport machine in a Superbike race once last year. Other than that. he hadn't been on slicks for two years. "It sort of brought back how good they are. I sort of forgot how much grip they offer, They just feel more comfortable." Buckmaster was to retum to Australia after the test to pick up his visa and his wife, before retuming for the race season. Series finale at Daytona. And he'd also been to Willow Springs for a try-out for this ride, impressing Willow-meister and team owner Chuck Graves. Riding a lightly modified Yamaha R-6, (it Mark Miller spent last year chasing the Erion Racing Hondas. This year he gets to ride one, Miller will share Formula Xtreme duties with Jake Zemke, the pair aboard the potent Honda FEBRAURY 7, 2001 • cue •• n e give it gas. often beat him in previous years· ttle You've got to Erion Honda" wait. tum it, then hit it. Nothing in the paddock has more horsepower,' The handling. Miller found to be "real neu· tral.' while he was working on a set-up for his style, which is different than the dirt-track style of teammates Jake Zemke and two-time class champion Kurtis Roberts, "I tend to ride it stiffer, more comer speed, more in-line. Typically, I have a style that I run it into a comer and snap tt in, instead of rolling or backing it in. I just drop it. I have to get stiffness on the rear to hold the line. The !Attack Racing] Yamaha [R-1 J would pick up on the exit on the rear. The front would go wide. It wouldn't want to hold a line on the gas. The Honda is very good, very neutral. It's probably easier on the tire.' Miller's day was cut short when the engine blew. 'The thing was flying before it grenaded,' The class is going to be the most competitive ever, Miller feels. He and Zemke spearhead the Honda effort along with Bruce Transportation Group's Josh Hayes and Roger Lee Hayden. Attack Racing has signed up Jason Pridmore and Richie Alexander on Suzukis. Yamaha has Aaron Gobert and Roger Lee Hayden on the Graves Motor· sports' R-1 'so And it's expected that Valvoline SjJzuki will field both Grant Lopez and John Hopkins, Miller's motivation is to try to eam a Superbike ride for 2002, Shawn Higbee attended the test in his role as an employee of A year after winning the 250cc Production class title in his native Australia, Aaron Gobert joins older brother Anthony this year on the AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike trail, pairing with fellow Australian Damon Buckmaster on Graves Motorsports' Yamahas. Gobert had been to the U.S. before. taking fifth in the Aprilia Cup Challenge at the Wrenchead.com National Road Race 24 comer, you can't Mark Miller will race ttle bike ttlat _ s the Buell Motor Company to observe the Harley team at its first test, as part of the initiative for Buell to help develop the VR 1000, Higbee may get a chance to ride the VR 1000 in testing, but he couldn't say for sure. What he could say was that his only racing activity would be in the Wrenchead.com National Road Race Series Unlimited Superbike class where he'll campaign the Millennium Technologies' Suzuki GSX, R 1000. Tripp Nobles will take Higbee's seat on the Tilley's HD/Buell Pro Thunder machine. Roger Lee Hay, den was having a little trouble adjusting to the power of the Bruce Transportation Group Honda CBR929RR, the most powerful motorcycle he'd ever ridden. What was sobering was knowing that it wasn't what he'd race in the Formula Xtreme class this year. "This one is cut back 30 horsepower, Roger Lee said, "It's not a full-blown race bike. It took a while to get used Roger Lee Ha~en • high school to this much. Thirty senior and road racing sophomore.

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