Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128102
o f sta nda rd co m pone nts to find four that match . Tha t' s bloody expe ns ive . But, over tim e , that s hou ld work itself out, be cause b y the tim e yo u build 10 eng ines , yo u 'll have a wh ole range of we ig h t s e ve nt ually availa ble whe n yo u need it. With the Superbike, th e b igg est exp en s e wa s c ha n g in g th e gearbox every ra ce. The ro lling ch a s s is is e ssentia ll y a Sup erbike , because yo u're mod ifying it the same wa y as a Superbike. So you've got an Oh lins fork a nd s hock, your strengthened swingi ng arm, so it's about the same cost fo r that." And a lthough the Pha s e O ne GSXR I 000 m a k e s 12 more horse powe r tha n the te a m 's 2000 Superbike, the fact that the torque curve (u p 17- pe rcent at pe a k) is s mooth er ha s actual ly re du c e d t ir e co ns um p t io n , a lt ho ug h th e SE RT te am , Dun lopequ ipped like Pha s e one , s aid their t ire us a ge wa s a bo ut th e s ame. Wei g ht lim it for the new class is dry we ight, m inus 24. 2 pounds. Fo r the GSX-RIOOO, that's 34 9 .8 pounds, 13 .2 lighter t h a n the min imum for Superbikes . "In real ity, o ur bike weighs about 17 1 kil os [376 .2 p ounds] without : gas ," Benny sa id. Ev en the Honda France team mana ger Bernard Rigoni was enthusiasti c about the new cl ass, although he thought that th e weathe r and track. co nd it ions , as we ll as th e cha ra cte r of " t he Le Man s co u rse , h e lp ed th e : Supe rproducti on bike s be com petitiv e with his team 's Superbike . "I think the new cl ass has very g o o d pot e nt ial , " Rigo ni sa id . "We :, wer e surpris ed at how c om petit ive the Superprodu ction bike s we re ." As fo r wheth er Honda wa s pl an nin g to introdu c e an official m a ch ine in the cla ss , he wa s non c ommittal. "I don 't kn ow wh at our d irection . will be ne xt year. It d epend s o n HRC. '.. Th e F ir eb lad e ha s goo d pote n t ia l, . b ut maybe not high enoug h for this , ' cla ss . By th e middle of thi s year we will have a p la n for the next. I thin k b y 2002 we wi ll ne ed a g oo d response ." As for th e riders on the top te ams, a ll were surprised with the perfor m a nce , a nd m ost p raised th e ride a bilit y of the 10 00 cc machine s versus th e Su perbi k es . SERT's Chr istian Lavi e ille s ai d h e thought onc e th e 1000s are better set up - being short of development time wa s a com plaint of many - that t he re would not be a big diffe ren ce betw e en Super p rodu c t ion and Sup e rbi k es , al t ho u g h he th ought his 100 0 was less agil e . He a dded, "T he engine -bra king is mu ch m or e , sci you have to be c a reful with the clutch entering c orn ers , but th e powe r d e livery wa s s mooth a nd th e accelera tio n wa s simila r to th e Yam a h a [Fr a nce ] Sup erbi ke . It' s qu ite a goo d b ik e , s ince we o n ly got it in J anuary ." Team boss Christophe Gu yot of the win n ing GSX -R 1OOO -mounted GMT squa d wa s much m or e e nth us iastic. "I like t he cla s s be c a us e the bikes h av e t he ir own id en t ity . Wh e n e n d ur a nce us ed Superb ik e s , t he y were always detuned bik es from th e World [Superbike] Championship . S o wh en we go to te st or ra ce a nd a re 5 o r 6 s e c o nd s a lap sl ower th an th e Su pe rb ike s , it makes e nd ura nce not have a n ima ge of p erfo rm a n c e . At Va lenc ia la s t ye a r o n m y Ka wa s ak i Superbike , I was five s e conds s lowe r th an th e fac to ry worl d Superb ike , a nd n o o ne und erstands . But t hi s ye ar wit h our Superprodu c t ion b ik e at Valen c ia with a ll of th e Worl d S uperbike tea ms testin g , I wa s o nly fo ur seconds s lowe r tha n Co lin Ed wards. All th e ride rs and me chanics c ame to ask us a bout the bike, a nd were ve ry (Below left) Jason Pridmore rode for the Phase One Suzuki team, but mechanical problems forced the team out of the race. (Below right) The MY Agusta pits during the night at Le Mans. A big crash hampe red the team's efforts. cue' e Sebastien Gibert and his team put the Honda VTR1000S into second place overall by the end of t he 24·hour event. int e re s te d. Here at Le Ma n s , at t he e nd of th e ra c e we we re d o ing th e sa m e times as th e factory Honda , a nd that is why we are so proud. For s ure if th ey d idn 't cras h , we woul d n ot have won , but th e y did crash." Thus fa r, the only a ppa re nt wea kness on t h e GS X-R I 000 is with the g ea rbox , a s SERT wa s s aid to have had four fa il during practice and qual ify in g, wh ile b o th GMT and Phas e O ne lost a t le a st one e a c h , th e latte r's com ing unfortunately du ring the race. Alth o ugh Be n ny a nd c re w furiou sl y re p la ced th e gearbox in u nde r two hours aft er rider Jason Pridm ore p itte d just after 8 p.m ., pushing in from th e fina l corn e rs, they withdre w com plete ly before II p .m ., with what was descr ibed as a n e lec tric a l problem. "T he tru th is we 're a low- budg et team," s a id Benny, "a nd we 'd rath er n e _ S • MAY 2 ,200 1 37