Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dunlop's Daytona Tire Test: Part I on the second rain-shortened day to end the test second best to American Honda's Ben Bostrom. "I think we've got something to work with now," MJadin said. "With that 750, we were really at the end. I think this year showed that. The past two seasons showed that 750 ... I personally don't think they've been in the race for many years. I think certainly winning the championship was possible if you were smart. That's how we did it: by doing the right thing on the right day and by having a bit of luck with of us. As far as race by race, I don't think the 750s have been competitive for many years, and I think it's time they did something about it. "What's going to happen from here, it's hard to say... first day on the bike. We still have a lot of work to do. And as you can see today, the Hondas are still quickest. That's to be expected. Again they're still the quickest, so it shows we've got some work to do, but I think our base starting point makes our life a bit easier. I think we have something to work towards now, not just to make the bike handle better at every race to try to be in every race. Anybody who's been racing a twin the past few years who's been racing 750s shouldn't have been in the race." As for actually riding the big bike, Mladin had more miles on a 1000 than his teammates. When the AMA season ended, Mladin went home to Australia and raced a GSXR1000 kitted with Yoshimura parts out of his dealership, Mat Mladin Motorcycles, in the Australian Formula Xtreme Championship. "I like the 1000; I like it a lot," he said. "The more power, the better. I'm a point-and-shoot sort of rider. I don't think the 1000 is going to accommodate somebody who leans the thing over too far and keeps it on its side for a long time. I think the 1000 plays more into my hand, the more power that we get. It's something that I really enjoy. Plus, I enjoy working the bike a lot, and that's another thing you have to do with the 1000: You have to get on top of it; you have get all over it to keep the front wheel down. The things have a lot of torque. They just try to get the front wheel up. You're forever pulling yourself up into the fairing and using your legs a lot, and that's how I like to ride. Put it this way: After the first day, I can see potential - certainly a bit more exciting than I thought was going to happen.' As far as top speed goes, MJadin said it's never been an issue. Getting to top speed is what matters. "If you're down 10 kph [6.2 mph), if you can get to that top speed as soon as they can, you're in the race." he said. "Acceleration's the biggest problem, and with this bike I think we may have something we can work with." Because of the layout of the new chicane, Mladin was hitting the bowl over a gear higher than he had on the GSXR750. By the time he got to the middle of NASCAR turns three and four, he had to back off. Despite that, he was abl'" to clock the second-fastest time of the test late on a gloomy Thursday morning. "I just really pushed it to see what I could get out of it there at the end," he said after clocking a 1:48.788. The time had come when MJadin was riding with the Bostrom brothers, Ben and Eric. Because Eric's Kawasaki lX- 7 has less power than the 1000s, he could hold the throttle wide open on the banking - something the big bikes couldn't do. That edge allowed him to pass his brother and Mladin on the east banking. "We got overtaken in a straight line by the 750, up on the banking," Mladin said, "so that's a worry. I mean, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. There's no doubt about that." Because Yosh had so much to test, they didn't run any endurance runs on the tires, something they'll have to address in March. ·W",'re not even close to the stage of running long stints," Mladin said. "It'd be silly to go out and do 10 laps, because the bike's not even close to how it's going to be come March, hopefully." Mladin was using the exact same suspension components he'd used in the final round at VIR last August, along with testing some new Showa rear shocks. The work at Daytona is specific to Daytona, so how the bike will react at Mid-Ohio Ben Spies gets 80.... words of wlllclom from Kevin Schwantz. or Laguna Seca remains to be seen. "Daytona's one of those places - it doesn't matter whether you're a second quicker than anybody and say your bike's good. It's an impossibility. So we fell into that trap years ago and learned that lesson. When we get to a normal racetrack with proper grip, we'll see how the bike turns." Yates had gotten some time in on a hybrid 1000 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada, prior to the test. The bike he rode was a GSX-R750 with a 1000 motor. The machine he rode at Daytona was more like what he'd be riding. "It's not too bad on the banking," he said. "We didn't get to try the shocks we need to at the end, and it didn't work as well as we wanted to. It's a little soft in the back. I kind of have to roll out a little to starting coming down the banking. It's different. And trying to figure out the daggone chicane back there, the last few laps I started getting the hang of it. "Right now, to me the thing is kind of heavy, like through the chicane it's a little heavy from side to side, and it seems like it takes a little longer in the first horseshoe when you get in at apex; to get the thing turned around, it seems to take a little bit longer in that spot, but we've got some things to change that should help at that point." Yates spent the test trying to make the bike comfortable. He was able to find a front tire he liked but wasn't able to run through the entire test regimen. The reigning Supersport Champion, like Mladin, said he wasn't sure how the big bike would work on the road courses. Yates, unlike Mladin, tends to lean the bike over further and for longer. "Here at this track with the horseshoes, you kind of run in there and stop and tum," he said. "I really haven't changed much as far as for this track here. When we go somewhere else, we'll see how it goes. My initial impression of this was that it was more like the 600 because the power was smooth, but now it's got more power than the first time I rode it." More power means more gearing adjustments. In the past, the team had five or six ratios for each gear. The new AMA rules allow only one ratio other than stock. Yates' crew spent a fair bit of time on gearing. "We shortened the gear up a littie bit because it seemed kind of tall, but then that made the power come on too much, and it made it spin it everywhere," Yates said, adding that he, like MJadin, didn't hold the throttle wide open on the banking. "I had to roll off a little bit. I find myself kind of rolling out when I want to come out the banking. The times when you do try to make yourself hold it wide open, the times are pretty good." No major changes were made to the chaSSiS; the team changing a shock once and gearing caused a delay when they had to change chains. Spies is the newest member of the team, moving up from the Attack Suzuki squad. Daytona will likely be Spies' only Superbike appearance. as the Texan is concentrating on the Formula Xtreme and Supersport classes. Spies tested the hybrid 750/1000 at Pahrump, his first taste of the big-bike power almost overwhelming on the narrow Nevada track. At Daytona, where the bike could stretch its legs, the power was even more daunting. Spies said that his "First time on a Superbike, it was different riding on slicks on the banking and obviously going pretty much 190, instead of 170 [as he had on the Attack Suzuki GSX-R750 Superstock machine], so it was pretty scary, too. I rode Formula Xtreme last year on slicks, but I've never ridden slicks at Daytona, and it's a different ballgame with this much horsepower and dual-compound tires. It took me a while to get used to it. I rode 10 laps on the 750 Superbike about a month ago, but I haven't ridden a thousand, and it was the first time I've ridden a Superbike here, so it was a learning experience." The machine Spies ran had a 750 main frame with all the pieces he'll run on the 1000, including the swingarrn, rear shock and link, and forks. "Everybody thought I was on a bike that was totally developed, but it was pretty much the chassis and the motor mounts are different, and the weight's different in the chassis, so it's not like I got on a bike that was totally already set up. We had a lot of work cut out, and we did a good job on it. We have work to go on this motor. This is a really, really mild motor. It doesn't have anything done to it; it's all stock. It's got a little bit of work done to it, but no parts or nothing. We definitely got power in it, power on the straightaways, so it should be good next time I come back." The hardest thing, Spies said, was just getting comfortable on the banking and picking lines on the banking and trying to drive it out of the comers once the tires get hot. "Because no matter what, it doesn't matter how good the bike is set up, it's going to spin bad here because the tires have so much heat in them," he said. "So that was pretty hard to deal with." Like Mladin and Yates, Spies found the GSX-R I 000 a handful out of the chicane on the run through turns three and four. "The way we had my bike set up, I could hold it wide open, but I think we would end up losing time because it was spinning, so it was pretty much hand-held traction control. I was on and off the gas all the way around the banking, and then, once we got on the flats, you could pin it. If I had to just do it, I could pin it, but it wasn't probably the fastest way tn go around it." The first day, Spies ended up the fastest of the Suzukis fifth overall - all while going through an assortment of tires and suspensions pieces. "It made my day a little bit tougher," he said, "but towards the end of the day, I gnt comfortable on the bike and put some decent laps in, so we were pretty happy with how it turned out. " Aaron Yates had ridden the GSX·R1000 at Pahrump, but this was his first outing on the bike at Daytona. (jJf?(Jfl@@ W@ [fD~[j)@[?f]@liD@[fD [)fl@[fD@@g jJ [jj]@J[Jx@@I!7@[? The Bruce Transportation Group Honda team has gotten a complete makeover for 2003, some of which is visible, some not. The visible is that the team is smaller, with one rider, Australian veteran Marty Craggill, and two mechanics. Last year, the team ran Alex Gobert and Jake Zemke. Craggill comes over from the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team, which he joined early last year as a replacement for the injured Josh Hayes. Craggill immediately made his mark, 38 JANUARY 8. 2003' cue I .. n finishing third in his first race at Sears Point [now Infinecn[ Raceway, but he never came to terms with the Suzuki team for 2003. Instead, he moved to the Bruce team, where he'll race Formula Xtreme and Supersport, along with a one-off appearance in the Superbike race at Daytona and possibly one other track. .. " " s Marty Cragglll got his first taste of Daytona· and of the Bruce Transportation Honda team.

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