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Road Atlanta Test Yates' fast time was achieved the traditional way - with attention to detail and painstaking work. He, his crew chief Vic Fasola and Bazzaz put their heads together to build a package he was comfortable with. "We just kept changing things, little small things," the Georgian said. "We actually picked a particular setup from the day before and concentrated on that and went through a bunch of different things, different brake-rotor sizes, things we needed to get an answer on to see if they were better. We just found some things to make the bike comfortable for me. A couple of things helped with the grip, a couple of things helped with the steering." The test was successful for Yates, and most of the teams, largely because of the weather. It was the first test this year that hadn't been hit by rain, and three days of mostly warm, sunny weather netted invaluable track time. Yates turned his best time on Thursday moming when the weather turned 'slightly cooler. He consistently lapped the 2.52-mile road course in the 1:23s - the only rider to do so - with many of the laps in the mid to low 23s. To get there, he had to go through five or six Bazzaz-designed rear linkages, all of which were very similar, but all of which worked better in different parts of the turn. Yates settled on one that was best at absorbing bumps without upsetting the chassis, but didn't have the best grip. "He's got a lot of things figured out as far as his little computer deal, as lAbove left) Although defending Superblke Champion Mat Mladln missed the test· due to Injury, Aaron Yates filled In admirably for the Yoshimura Suzuki team. The Georgian did his best Mladln Impression, leading the times throughout the three-day test at Road Atlanta. (Below) Doug Chandler was fast on his Kawasaki, despite stili suffering from his Daytona Injuries as well as a bout with the flu. full attention of Bazzaz and his hard drive and his collection of suspension linkages and data and theories, and it paid off. Yates handled Mladin's testing chores the way Mladin would have, setting fast time from the first day and keeping it to the end of the threeday test. When the test ended on Thursday afternoon, Yates was fastest with a hand-timed lap of 1 :23.3, faster than the 1:23.782 Mladin had turned on a qualifying tire on his way to last year's pole position. And, Yates said, there's more to come. "We found a couple of things that worked really good and they have to go back and do an evaluation on the suspension dyno, just basically for data, so next time we'll know," Yates said. STORY AND PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS BRASELTON,GA,APR 11 \V7oshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates U got the full Bazzaz at the Road Atlanta test. That's a good thing. Amarr Bazzaz is the computer whiz and former crew chief who, along with chassis man Reg O'Rourke and engine builder Yuji Kikuchi, shepherded Mat Mladin to the AMA Superbike title the past two years. When Mladin had Yoshimura Suzuki hire Peter Doyle to be his crew chief this year, Bazzaz was freed up to work more closely with all the Yosh riders. Because Mladin wasn't in Braselton - he was recovering at home in Australia after breaking his fibula in a motocross accident - Yates had the 14 APRIL 25, 2001 ' II: Y II: • e n e _ s