Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U, S, Superbike Championship Round 1 1 ; Colonels Brainerd International Raceway "We would make time in the infield and it would take to the Bus Stop [the penultimate cornerl to catch back up," Rapp said, "Even if I was ahead on the last lap. they'd draft past me," On the final lap. Bostrom showed DuHamel a wheel. but it didn't matter. "He motored around the outside of me, I could've tried an outside move in four. but it would've been risky." Bostrom sajd. and he settled for fifth. half a second back with about the same on R~pp, "I was pushing as hard as I could and I'm happy with the result," Rapp said, "A close sixth is almost as good as a distant third, My bike was fairly well matched to Eric's [Bostrom] and I really thought I'd be able to get hi,m before the checkered flag. but there's so few places you can pass at this track that I just ran out of opportunities. I made the biggest hairball moves of my life trying to take fifth. and a couple of times I thought I might not make it." Hacking was in the mix all the way. something of a surprise given his weekend. He'd tipped over at slow speed in Superbike qualifying. cutting into his track time and had destroyed his GSX-R600 in morning warm-up. In the 600cc Supersport race he was 13th on his back-up bike, His Superbike was strong. though not as strong as the Hondas, The advantage came BRIEFLY••• In the wake of what the AMA felt was overaggressive riding in Mid-Ohio's 600cc Supersport race, AMA officials met with two riders to warn them that they were under the microscope, The AMA's Gary Mathers and Ron Barrick met with Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts and Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's John Hopkins to discuss the Mid-Ohio race, The incident referenced occurred when Roberts rammed Hopkins after entering the Keyhole tum far too fast. The pair stayed upright. but continued battling on the back straight. Hopkins eventually ran off the track in tum six and the battle was over, on the track. at least. "We had a discussion with them to make sure there weren't going to be any ongoing issues with them," AMA road race manager Ron Barrick said, "Our goal is to get the riders to put on a good show, but think about what they're doing out there and the maneuvers they're making," Barrick said they felt that Roberts was stepping over the line. "It's not a black and white situation," he said, Red Bull WCM Yamaha team manager Peter Clifford was at Brainerd to have a look at prospect John Hopkins in action, The Valvoline EMGO Suzuki rider recently tested the Red Bull Yamaha - he'd also tested last year - at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic, Clifford said he hoped to get at least one more test in this year, "I'm looking at future riders and we've twice had John ride our bike in Europe," Clifford said, "and he's one of the guys we're considering for our future. It's likely he'll ride our bike again, but it's not fixed." Clifford said that current team member Garry McCoy is in the first year of a two-year plus an option contract, and that McCoy wanted to continue to ride the YZR-500 twostroke next year, "We're in the lucky position of haVing a good rider, so in July I'm not going to panic as to who the other rider is," Clifford said, It's likely McCoy's teammate Noriyuki Haga will ride the Yamaha four-stroke next year for the Yamaha factory, which leaves an opening at Red Bull WCM. Clifford said that he'd discussed the feasibility of running both two and four-strokes with Yamaha, but said "chances are we'll have two-strokes,' Though he'd seen Hopkins test. and saw him race in the 600cc Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes at CBIR, Clifford said he wasn't a great believer in evaluating a rider at one race or one test. giving more weight to the recommendation of others, The question no one at Yoshimura Suzuki wanted to answer was "What happened to Mat Mladin's engine in the second race at Mid-Ohio?" All inquiries were referred to team manager Don Sakakura who would only say it was a "mechanical malfunction, I'd rather leave it at that." Just after the race. the team thought it might have dropped a valve, a problem they've had in the past. Not so, So what did happen? The word filtering through the pits was that it was a cracked piston, Apparently the piston was cracked clear across the top, down the sides to the wristpin, and on the other side of the wristpin, Somehow it stayed together and Mladin was able to coast to the finish, The ,problem may have been caused because Mladin was said to have spun the engine to 16,000 rpm, The solution: Program a curt, profane message that appears on Mladin's dash panel when he reaches 15,500, The four·week break to the next race, at Pike's Peak International Raceway on August 24-26, doesn't mean the teams will be idle, Most of the Superbike teams will test at Virginia Intemational Raceway. site of the September 30th season finale. American Honda, Kawasaki, and HMC Ducati are testing on August 6-7, Honda will return a week later for a three-day test with Yoshimura Suzuki and Yamaha, After testing in Virginia HMC Ducati's Andreas Meklau heads back to Europe for a short holiday with his family, "The break will give my broken collarbone time to mend and I aim to return in August. ready for a strong last three rounds." Meklau said, Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Aaron Gobert took advantage of the break to fly home to Australia, 14 AUGUST 8, 2001 • eye I e n e _ in handling. Hacking could put the GSX-R750 wherever he wanted it on the racetrack. "I was down a little bit on speed to those guys." he said. "I could pull out of the draft and that's about all I could do with them. Through the infield I could turn the bike a lot sooner and get it going and drives, Those guys were using up more of the racetrack and I couldn't get by them," What he also saw was how the Hondas were using up their tires. "Saw those guys were spinning the tires a good bit and I figured. they'lI probably drop off toward the end, and mine was starting to go off itself." he said. It was about then that Hacking ran into a transmission problem that he thought nearly caused DuHamel to rear-end him at one point. Eight laps from the end. Roberts took the lead again and held it for five laps. Hayden comjng by on the 19th lap. It was clear this was going to come down to the final lap and the principals were plotting their strategies, "When Nicky got by with three laps to go. I was like. 'Okay. I'll just follow him and wait for the last lap and get him down the front straightaway ...• Roberts said. "I was just follOWing him. but I was following him a little too close and he kind of surprised me going into two before the They won't be the only ones on the move, Yamaha's Anthony Gobert was to go straight from Brainerd to Japan for the Suzuka Eight-Hour where he'll be teamed with Red Bull Yamaha WCM's Noriyuki Haga. Mike Ciccotto is also going to Suzuka, to partner Michael Barnes on the Hooters Suzuki in an effort back by the organizers of the Eight-Hour race, Kevin Schwantz was flying in the other direction, to England, where he was to attend a GSX-R Festival at Brands Hatch, just west of London. Schwantz, who With the month-long GP summer break starting, Kenny Roberts had time to stop by Brainerd to watch his youngest son Kurtis race, "It just fit into my schedule," Roberts said, "Last year I made the Colorado race," Roberts was making his annual trek to Sturgis from his home in Montana, with Kurtis going along, They'll meet up with mends to ride Roberts' Harleys around the Black Hills, said he'd ride some demonstration laps. was to be joined by Look for a preliminary AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Super" bike schedule around the time of the Pike's Peak race, One likely candidate for change is Brainerd, Next year's AMAIWorld Superbike weekend is the week before Mid-Ohio, instead of two weeks, as it was this year, That means it's likely that Brainerd will have to move a week later to avoid a three weekend in a row grind, Having to trek cross-country from Monterey to Lexington is difficult enough without the notion of a third consecutive weekend thrown in. though it has been done in the past. It's also not likely any new venues, such as Fontana or the Barber track in Birmingham. will be on the preliminary schedule, The AMA isn't likely to schedule a race on a track that hasn't been tested by riders, Corona Alstare Suzuki World Superbike riders Pier-Francesco Chili and Stephane Chambon, as well as the British Superbike Championship runners, American Honda's Nicky Hayden earned $4500 of the $35,000 Chevy Trucks Superbike purse with his second win of the season, Kurtis Roberts pocketed $3200 for finishing second with Miguel DuHamel earning $2500 for third, Austin/Bleu Bayou Racing's Jordan Szoke took home the $500 Superbike Privateer Qualifying Bonus, but blew up in a cloud of smoke in the race. The $700 Top Five Privateer Bonus went to Andy Deatherage who finished behind 13th, just behind the factory Harleys on his Woody's Service GSX-R750, Kawasaki's Doug Chandler and Eric Bostrom had the benefit of new Akrapovic World Superbike-spec exhaust systems at Brainerd, The team received the two-into-one systems just after Mid-Ohio and immediately dyno-tested them. The improvement wasn't so much in power, but in powerband, Crew chief Gary Medley said that the Fuchs Kawasakis occasionally suffered from grip problems and these systems helped, "They're designed to make the powerband smoother," Medley said. The World Superbike team received the parts at the third race of the season in Monza, Italy, Doug Chandler said that he couldn't feel much of a difference at Brainerd, "You don't notice it on a big track like this," Chandler said, "unless you're right with somebody," The radical geometry changes that Harley-Davidson tried during practice at Mid-Ohio have been shelved for now, Pascal Picotte and Mike Smith both raced on the standard machines after experimenting with a completely different set-up in practioe at Mid-Ohio, The revised chassis had the steering-head stem pulled back an inch, which created the need for wider triple clamps, and a pair of smaller radiators, mounted more to the side, The team wasn't able to test the set-up before Mid-Ohio and Picotte quickly found out that it wasn't optimum. "I didn't have any confidence on the front," he said, "It was really pushing, The tire was moving around," Picotte kept pushing and eventually crashed after losing the front. "Going in I had a more positive feel out of the front wheel. From the apex out. the thing was really running wide. worse than ever. Even though he crashed. Picotte thought there might be something in the altered geometry, "We didn't have much time to adapt the suspension." he said, "It was hard for me to not go fast [on the revised chassis] and leave me some time to adapt the suspension and evaluate parts to make it better, I just wish we had more time," Yoshimura Suzuki's Jamie Hacking had a noticeably short qualifying session on Saturday, On the third lap out. Hacking went into turn four and ran into gearbox trouble, "Seems like I didn't quite get it in gear or it didn't go in all the way. I was going into tum four backshifting and it didn't go into gear so I froze up. I was going around the outside of turn four still on the track and got right to the entrance to the comer and the thing fell into gear and it stepped out and it stood me up and I ran off into the grass and I saved it. And then all of a sudden this big damned ditch shows up in front of me and I'm like 'Holy shit, how in the hell am I going to get across this?' About that time I was probably doing about 10 mph and I just had to fall." The corner workers didn't help, Hacking said, but soon help arrived in the form of Kevin Schwantz and Yosh's Amarr Bazzaz, who were watching the session nearby. With the left side of the GSX-R750 covered in grass and mud, Hacking rode the machine-back to the pit area with just over half the session remaining, finally getting back out with about 20 minutes remaining, He qualified eighth fastest. What was Jamie Hacking doing finishing 13th in the Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport race? "I had to ride my back-up bike from this morning," Hacking said referring to a crash that destroyed his primary GSX-R6oo. "That's all I could do. It was embarrassing I think for me to be back there that far, The 600 probably hasn't been up to my riding style and I've been trying to give these guys results. I know they want results and they know I'm capable of results. I think it's a matter right now that we need to take time to develop the 600 because they know it's not what they expected it to be, I'm pretty disappointed in myself," M Dunlop had special rear tires to cope with the heat generated from the long, nearly mile-long, front straight at CBIR. The center of the tires are thinner to reduce heat. "It just overheats the center of the tire," Dunlop's Jim Allen said, "It runs too hot in a straight line, The heat's concentrated in one place for a iong time, Lap after lap, it'll melt that center part," Dunlop strips a piece about an inch wide out of the center of the tire to reduce heat build-up, The trick is keeping side grip, which Dunlop seems to have done, Dunlop's Allen said they use the same tire for the long straights of Road America and the World Superbike teams use it at the ultra·fast Hockenheim and Monza circuits. The tire is a spe- cial 701, the consensus race choice, With most riders struggling with grip problems, the belief was that last year's tire would have worked better, So: In the post-race press conference after winning the 750cc Supersport race, Corona Extra EBSCO Media's Jimmy Moore said that he's been helping his young teammate Tony Meiring adjust to his first full year of professional road racing, Ifs paid off with Meiring earning two podiums, including a third at Brainerd. "I was really shocked that he was charging that hard," Moore said of the teenager, "I'm proud of him, He's doing really good, I try to help him out when I can. I think I'm going to put an end to that." American Honda's Miguel DuHamel was quick to credit his crew for his revitalization, In addition to thanking Ray Plumb, Mitch Leonard, and John Ethel, DuHamel had a special shout-out for his computer whiz, "Darren Marshall has actually been coming up with stuff, He's been able to actually get the bike better, So finally we're seeing some fruits of the computer data acquisition helping the riders, In my case for sure Darren's a big help in the last couple of races, So with him there now I think we'll be able to keep the bikes more competitive and not have a weekend where we're running for the lead like Daytona and then the next weekend being 10th, I don't think you'll see that any more,"

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