Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

• four-cylinder Superbikes allowed under the new AMA rules. This year. Dunlop has created a special Web site to ive road racing fans an inside look at his closed testing session. The site oes live on December 4. with a fourart interview with Dunlop's racing guru im Allen. who talks about who will ttend. the intricacies of tire testing at aytona. the state of race-tire technoloand many other insights into the most omprehensive tire test in American oad racing. Throughout the event. Dunop will post live updates on the site, eginning on December 9, including a hoto gallery that will give fans an inside ook at the teams, the racers and the acing machines. For your all-access ass to the Dunlop Daytona Tire Test. ust aim your browser at www,dunlopotorcycle.com. " he Desert Vipers MIC is gearing up for he Adelanto Grand Prix. which will e held February 22-23. The club is ooking for sponsors. For more informaion. call John Marinkovich at 310/782833. he 2003 FIM Junior Motocross up. which was originally scheduled for achoeira do Itapemirim. Brazil. on July O. wiU be held in Asti. Italy. on the ame date, according to the FIM. he last round of the 2003 Individal World Two Days Enduro Championhip. scheduled for June 14-15 in Sween. will be held in Skovde. according to he FIM. The classes for the Individual orld Two Days Enduro Championship 2003 are as follows: c1asse I (1 25cc Nicky Hayden watched his first Grand Prix at Valencia in Spain, and on December 2 he returned for his first real test of the Honda RC211V. Yes, he'd ridden it twice in Japan, once in Motegi and last week in wet, windy and cold conditions at Suzuka. But those were test mules and this was the machine Tohru Ukawa raced last year, a far more promising mount. "The one here is the best of all," Hayden said after tuming 80 laps of the green and slick 2.5-mile Ricardo Tormo Circuit on the first of his two days of testing. Hayden's best was a hand-timed 1:35.65, not a bad effort considering he'd never ridden here, never ridden the bike, and the track was well off its best. "It's pretty good for the first day on a new track with a new bike," he said. Hayden, who was testing alongside Ukawa and Daijiro Kato, began the day running lap times in the 1:42 range, quickly dropping his times, most noticeably when chasing the more experienced Ukawa. "I'm making up time just everywhere. There's not just one spot." What hampered lap times today was a less-than-ideal track surface. Formula One teams held both wet and dry tests at Valencia last week, the cars coating the corners in rubber in less-than-ideal places. All three riders commented that the track was slick in the morning but became progressively more adhesive. Unlike the higher-speed Japanese tracks, Valencia is more point and shoot, the machine constantly turning, the gearbox racking between second and third for much of the lap. "It's quite a bit different than Motegi and Suzuka," Hayden said. Though much of the track is done in second and third gears, Hayden most enjoyed the "wicked left-hander in the back." The other difference between Japan and Spain was that this was the first proper test. "I mean, we said that all along because the testing in Japan was only for him to do things like foot rest positions, handlebars," Hayden's crew chief Trevor Morris said. "Just to get used to the bike and for us to get used to him. Here, we're getting slowly into the proper test mode. Jerez [where he'll test next weekI is also the same situation, leam the circuit, find out what areas we're strong, what areas we're weak. The new year, hopefully we're not a complete novice situation. What we're doing here is getting the novice bit out of the way. He got the newness bit out of the way in Japan; he's got the novice bit out of the way here.· After the holidays, testing resumes in Sepang, Malaysia, where Morris believes Hayden will be able to deliver more detailed feedback. "Then I can say to HRC, 'This is what we need. We've got to have this, we've got to have that.' Start developing parts for Nicky. "I mean basically the first thing he has to do is learn the circuit," Morris continued. "He's never been to most of the circuits. Basically, he just has to go around and divide the time up to try to improve the bike and making sure you don't make it too complicated, because if you make it too complicated, you can easily lose the direction. Step by step. Take it easy. Getting him also familiar with changing things on the bike. Even though we may be making some mistakes, he's learning from the wrong things as well as the right things. So when he's at the Grand Prix he can request, 'I want do to this.' So we can help him, and this is what we have to do. Where when he's done a lot of testing and he's eliminated things, you don't have to go down that road and you don't lose a lot of time at a GP. Here we've got plenty of time.· Hayden spent most of the day trying new things: suspension, offsets, tires, etc. "Tires we need to know about," Morris said. "We're not going to be developing tires, but he still has to do a lot of tire testing so he can tell the difference between a hard construction with a soft rubber and a soft construction with hard rubber, because that makes the job so much easier. .. Because of the characteristics of the bike, Hayden wants it to turn more. so the team changed offsets after the lunch break. "With an offset, it's a very easy thing to change," Morris said. "It's a normal setting where you've got really tight comers and you don't want to fight with it. His first impression was that it was not that brilliant, and then he got used to it a bit more. And I said even it's wrong it's not a problem. At least you said it's wrong and you said it's no good, you'll go the opposite way or put it back to standard.· Despite early reservations, Hayden clocked his best time with the changed offsets. Another of Hayden's new toys was traction control. With a flip of the handlebar switch, Hayden can modifY the power characteristics. "I used it pretty much all day," Hayden said. "It just mellows it out." At the Jerez test, Hayden and Co. will be joined by World Champion Valentino Rossi. Henny Ray Abrams J 8 o -stroke - up to 125cc). c1asse II (250cc -stroke - over 175cc). c1asse III (250cc 2002. the World Minis drew 2581 Jon E. Harding, 59, died at his home at the 2003 Xtremmy Awards on Sun- -stroke - up to 250cc). cia sse IV entries from 47 states and seven coun- day, February 16 at the Indianapolis Mar- 400cc 4-stroke - over 300cc up to tries. according to the National Moto- in Green Bay, Wisconsin. on November 13. Harding was an owner of the Motor- 50cc). c1asse V (over 500cc 4-stroke - sport Association (NMA). cycle Accessories Unlimited in Green For more information. call 800/697- Bay. Harding raced dirt track for several years in AMA D-16 and also promoted dirt track racing in both Florida and Wis- 9914. Proceeds from the show go to the consin. o J o The 2003 IDTF World Motorcycle ver 500cc, not "over 451 cc" as erroeously mentioned in an earlier FIM ress release). There will be three c1asss as of 2004, according to the FIM. he World Mini Grand Prix will be eld April 15-20 at the Las Vegas Motor peedway in Las Vegas. Nevada. In Sacramento City College in Sacramento, California. is offering a ninemonth motorcycle maintenance technician certification program as well as a two-year course of study for an ASSOCiate in Science degree. For more information. call 916/558-2441. riott Hotel. Tickets are on sale for $10. J Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Drill Team Championships will be held in conjunction with the fourth annual ANPAC Motorcycle Jubilee, August 29- Evel Knievel will be receiving the 2003 Honorary Achievement Award for his contribution to the sport and industry 31. 2003 at the Ozark Empire Fair- j ] grounds in Springfield, Missouri. Last year's champions. the Middle Tennessee Precision Drill Team, will be the WERA Vintage Racing Series. effective immediately. defending their title against a very strong field of competitors. For more MOVED: Phat Catt Apparel Company, to P.O Box 371374, Las Vegas. NV 89137,702/869-5596,702/869-1096 (fax). RESCHEDULED: P&D Promotions has secured Saturday. December 21 for the rain-dated indoor short track at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, California. Gates are slated to open at 3 p.m. with practice at 4 p.m. For more information. cali 408/249-4336. NAMED: JR Management as the official public relations firm for Engine Ice Hi-Performance Coolant. effective immediately. For more information, call 515/570-1992. APPOINTED: John Early as the chairman of the rules committee for information, call 800/843-9460. OPENED: Trail Boss Tours' home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the follOWing address: http://www.trailbosstours.com. The Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Mis- HIRED: Michael laims, by the Avon Tires Motorcycle sales team for North America. effective Immediately. For more information, call 800/624-7470. Motocross Association

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