Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) Eric Bostrom had a better time of It than he did at the Califomia Speedway test. Bostrom and his Kawasaki were fourth quickest at the end of the test. (Right) Kurtis Roberts did the fastest laps he'd ever done at Laguna, including a 1:26.090. "The n w bike, I didn't get a lot of time on i . I just rode it the first day and I ju wasn't riding good," Hayden said. Roberts took over the top spot for a few hours on Wednesday and might have re-taken it had he not been balked by a few 600 riders on his fast laps late in the day. "I still (lid some 26.0s on that lap, but I had to follow them for three corners," Rober.ts said. "We definitely could have some mid 25s, 25.6, 25.7 pretty easy." This was the first extended session Roberts has had at Laguna Seca. He sat out the 2001 race while recovering from wrist surgery and only got about 40 minutes practice in 2000 during one of his few rides. His race weekend ended in 2000 when Nicky Hayden crashed and he needed the spare that Roberts was riding. "I'm more working on race times than one-lap pace because I've not ever really been that good on one-lap flyers," Roberts said. "I did seven or so real low 26s right at the end there when j'm tired and stuff." The best times were done on the 2001 RC-51. "I think the old bike right now is actually easier to ride around here," Roberts said. "The other bike's new. The other bike shows me that we have can go a lot more progression on the thing, but it's just doing it. The other bike's got some things that when we take advantage of them it's going to be really, really good. And we have a year on the other bike. I think the [2002 model] turns better. It's shorter around the racetrack. If you can get the thing to turn better faster and get out of the corner faster we're going to be a lot faster lap "We're in the big pool of set-ups on the bike and any time we hit a little bit of greatness here, a little bit of greatness there, and we just now need to sit down and put it all together and I think we'll all be looking pretty good," DuHamel said. "Obviously, these lap times are really fast with Anthony """",...j,--~Gobert and Nicky [Hayden _ _• .•,,~~" _ DuHamel predicted that he'd hit the 26s on the final day of the test and he did, clocking a best of 1:26.915. "We're working on forks, we're working on the ride heights, we times. The new bike is where it needs worked on different triple clamps to be and we can go further ith it." also. Just making notes and I think Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom was on a we're going to need them all for this half-new machine. Half of t e engine year," he said. was new, the wheels were new, the Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden was brakes were new. Team anager working through the various settings Mike Preston said the team tested a on his number-one machine when it few pieces at a time and if t ey work, quit, forcing him onto his spare. they order more. Starting in the 1:31 s, Hayden worked "We build them as we go," he said. his way down to a 1 :29.268, well Preston said he expecteCl to have faster than he'd ever gone here. mor chassis:..and engine parts for the "We just kept getting it a little bit next test at California Speedway in better and better," Hayden said. three weeks. "Once I had it pretty good, I started "The chassis seems to be better working putting some laps together than ever, but our suspension is still a an some qU1ek---trmes. 'Ffiere's more big question mark," Bostrom ,;ala potential there for sure. Also, even a after setting the fourth-fastest superlittle bit better weather. I definitely bike time. "We went bacl~ to what we think when we come back I can go a had and I learned some things and what we had was pretty good last little bit faster, which I think I'll need year suspensionwise, but it's got its to. I went pretty fast today, but that's own set of problems and y;e were tryabout what the pace was last year and ing to obviously adjust to the new gas-charged [Ohlins] fork. And it was promising because it basically eliminated some of the problems that we had with the old forks, but I also have this other set of problems, so I'm trying to get that thing irohed out. It's weird with the gas forI,<, we have some chattering that superbikes usually don't have." Bostrom was the only big-bike rider to complain of chatter, while it was a nearly universal gripe among the 600 supersport riders. "I'm sure the bike's got more speed than what I'm showing right now," Bostrom said. American Honda's Miguel DuHamel felt the same way. Having re-united with long-time crew chief AI Ludington, was back in his element and working through the various set-ups of the 2001 RC-51. eye. e every year it's stepped up a little bit." For the race, Hayden will have different bikes again. "We're building new bikes, but I don't think they're a whole lot different from last year's," he said. "They're pretty much the same model and all, but just new with some new su~ension stuff. l"think one of my bikes is actually kind of a new bike without the new suspension." Hayden was one of the many to notice front-end chatter in the fast corners, also the flat ones: turns three and four. Some put it to track damage by race cars, others thinking the tires couldn't heat up enough because of the weather. "It's not as bad as really being a big chatter problem, it's just a lot of patter which is sort of slowing me down a little bit," Anthony Gobert said on his way to the second fastest time. Gobert could conceivably have gone after the fast time, but he mostly parked his R-6 on Wednesday. "My brother went a little bit quick· er so I went out sort of to put in a bit more and I come up with 29.5, so I'm In rea Iy, reatly happy with that considering the conditions here at the moment." Miguel DuHamel said he'd do a 1:26 and he did, lapping at 1:26.915 on the final day at Laguna. n e _ 50 • FEBRUARY 6, 2002 17

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