Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Calling Dr. Y-ng, Calling Dr. Yin!L (Above) Eric Boslromwas fast on his Kawasaki ZX6R. (RlghtJ But not as fast as Jamie Hacking was on the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX· R600. !Below) Yates had plenty to smile about. tinued to familiarize himself with the new machinery and team. Hacking had surgery just after Christmas and missed the testing season. Daytona was the first time he got significant time on the bike and he was still getting used to the machine and the team at Road Atlanta. The machine was the easy part, even though he'd been told by Mladin that this GSX-R750 was harder to ride than last year's. "He doesn't like the front of the motorcycle," Hacking said. "He's so big, he likes to get away from the front. I'm so small, I ride the front end." "We're just trying to get the bike better going up and coming down the hill [out of tum one and through the esses]," he said. "That's where we struggled most last year. So far, that's where the time is to be made." Behind Hayden came his teammate Anthony Gobert and Yoshimura Suzuki's Jamie Hacking. Hacking spent most of the first two days on the Suzuki GSX-R600, and it showed. With a number of riders trying to limit their time on the smaller bike, Hacking was easily the quickest, turning his best lap of 1:27.65 on Wednesday morning. The time was behind Yates' pole time of 1:27.358 from last year, but faster than Hacking had ever gone around Road Atlanta on a 600. "We're pretty much concentrating on the 600," Hacking said, as he con- Yamaha's Gobert was still working on basic things, like seating position and handlebars. Gobert thought he was set after Daytona, but found something he liked in the ergonomics of the Yamaha OW-31 he tested in Malaysia the previous week. Between that, and splitting his time between the R-6 and the OW-3], he was plenty busy at Road Atlanta. Gobert found that stiffening the front end and change the rear spring stopped the Yamaha from hopping in the corners. "I had a real problem trying to get as comfortable as I should be," Gobert said. As much as he likes riding the 600, he said it takes time away from the Superbike. "We should have everything made comfortable in the off-season. I think we're a long way behind where we should be," Gobert said. "Today we made some jumps." CN Never before have so many riders been hurt at this point in the season, and earlier. Every team except for Yamaha and Competition Accessories has, or had, injured riders; some sidelined by training accidents, some by racing accidents, and some by voluntary surgery. Yoshimura Suzuki leads the sick ward. Two-time defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin, who rarely crashes and never gets hurt, is recovering at home in Australia after breaking his fibula in a motocross crash on his practice track. He missed the test here, but will arrive in Califomia on April 26 in advance of the May 4-6 Sears Point road race. Jamie Hacking had surgery on his left elbow after it popped out over the holidays. Hacking missed the Laguna Seca and Willow Springs tests. The elbow hadn't been healthy for some time, the result of an old crash and snowboarding accident. Aaron Yates broke both his tibia and fibula just above the right ankle in a motocross crash prior to the Daytona Dunlop December tire tests. The 200 was the first time he put significant time in on a race bike, and he was hurt again, twice. He broke some of the bones in his right foot in a practice crash, and then got banged around in the pace car incident on the back straight. "I limped around for a while, but now I'm getting to where I can walk around pretty normal and I'm starting to do the things I need to do to get it going," Yates said. American lionda has suffered almost as much. In December, Miguel DuHamel had surgery to remove a rod from his femur, the result of a much earlier accident. He missed the Laguna $eca test, but was healthy at Daytona. and uninjured when he crashed. Two days after Daytona, Nicky Hayden had surgery on his left wrist. His scaphoid was pinned and the cast won't be removed until April 18. Hayden doesn't know when the injury happened, but it had been lingering for some time. Kurtis Roberts was healthy until the backstretch pace car incident at Daytona when he was rammed from behind, breaking a bone in his hand. Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom was healthy, not so for his teammate. Doug Chandler crashed hard during practice for the 600cc Supersport race, bruising his back and leg and bumping his right arm and elbow. At Road Atlanta, Chandler cut his second day short because he was having trouble getting through the esses. In addition to his arm problems, Chandler felt he might be coming down with the same flu that had his wife and children laid up at home in Salinas, Califomia. HMC Racing's Scott Russell has a long and difficult recovery ahead after his horrific start-line crash. With nerve damage in both his right hand and foot, the resumption of his racing career is well in the future. Teammate Steve Rapp had voluntary surgery on his left hand in January. The hand was sore during a Willow Springs test in February, but he was fine at Daytona. Harley-Davidson was hit by a unique problem. Pascal Picotte had a snowmobile crash while trail riding near his home in Quebec, Canada. Picotte was beaten up. but no bones were broken, and he'll be ready for Sears Point. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's John Hopkins was another who missed the Road Atlanta test. The young Californian is still recuperating from the collarbone he broke in the 600cc Supersport final at Daytona, though he is expected to be fit for the Formula USA race at Willow Springs on April 22. Grant Lopez and Ben Spies were on hand at Road Atlanta to represent the team, with Lopez concentrating on his Formula Xtreme bike and Spies. the Daytona 750cc Supersport runner-up, posting an impressive 1:27.38 on his 750cc Supersport Suzuki GSX-R750. Hopkins' loss was Chris Ulrich's gain as he was able to attend the test in place of the injured Hopkins. Pe ram Goin Solo It's likely that CompetitionAccessories.com's Larry Pegram will be the team's lone rider for the foreseeable future, Pegram said at Road Atlanta. "There's not anybody available that can win," Pegram said. "It's not necessary to put somebody on the bike that can run 10th." One of the riders being pursued was young Australian Anthony West. According to Pegram, West had a deal to ride an Aprila RSV-250 in the 250cc World Championship, but discovered the level of support wasn't what he'd expected. With West and Aprilia squabbling, Pegram's team didn't want to get in the middle of it, and backed off. West was the sort of rider the team was looking for. "If there was a young guy that was a potential winner in the future, we might take a chance on it," Pegram said. Because he was the only rider, Pegram had four motorcycles and three mechanics at Road Atlanta, with two more mechanics back at the shop. "We don't know what we're going to do with everybody," Pegram said. "HMe's in the same boat." Motorcycle and parts problems compromised Pegram's track time in Atlanta. He didn't get on the track until 11 :30 a.m. on the first day because he was waiting for some suspension parts. On the sec· ond day, the team had to change engines when he blew one up. "It's our engine from Daytona," Pegram said. What the team spent most of their time working through was fuel injection. "We have new fuel injection this year and that's a lot of what we're working on," Pegram said. "'We still haven't gotten it right. There's a glitch in it.' ." U ." • ... n e _ S • APRIL 25.2001 17

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