Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dunlop's Daytona Tire Test: Part /I after being released by HMC Ducati. The machinery wasn't the best, and they didn't have the unwavering support of Michelin tires, but Picotte somehow managed to ride to fourth in the championship. Gobert rode Picotte's bike during a wet track test at a Dunlop facility in Huntsville, Alabama, and again at a track in Texas. "The customer ones are pretty good. The full factory one is just that little bit better," Anthony said. "Definitely the power of this thing is unbelievable - it just wheelstands everywhere. I wish I had this two years ago." The team took delivery of their 998 RS03s on the Tuesday prior to the tire test and had to race-prep them for the test. "It wasn't like last year, when we had six days to go through four bikes to make two race bikes," Ducati Austin's Lance Baker said of the second-hand equipment the team rushed into the fray. The team retooled for 2003 with help from the Ducati factory and a new crew. Vic Fasola left his job as Aaron Yates' crew chief at Yoshimura Suzuki for the chance to work with Anthony. Tom Bodenbaugh, who worked on the Harley-Davidson race team, is the team manager, with Lance Baker and Jim Roach working on the chassis and Australian Owen Coles, who last worked on the Vance & Hines Ducati team, doing the engines. Terry Gregoricka is the team owner. When the final times were posted, Anthony had clocked the third fastest time, a result which he would have had a hard time accepting in the past. Now that he's been to Daytona a few times, and because of the limited time on the bike, he knew there was a more important objective. "In the past, I've gone for lap time, and I maybe haven't really put enough laps on the tires in my setup and race distance," he said, "and that's why now I just want to string laps together and choose the right tire and try to get a good combination for the 200." It wasn't easy. Using suspension numbers from the I"st time he rode a Ducati at Daytona in 1999, Anthony struggled. The setup that year wasn't perfect, and it was less so this time around. Working on setup while testing tires in a finite time period meant that something had to suffer. "We're trying to do a lot of things," he said. "It's difficult to fit everything in, and then today with the lack of time - we're doing the best we can. We do have a direction we want to go in, we just need time to test everything." On top of that, Anthony was dealing with a surplus of horsepower. Out of the new chicane, the Ducati was clearly weaving and hopping, struggling to find traction. "To be honest, this thing's got so much power, you just can't put it to the ground," he said. "Not on this track. This track's so slippery anyway. As soon as I open the throttle, it Attack Suzuki: u[}i]@ ©[}i]&J[fi]iJ[i2~~0 _ Jason Pridmore came to Daytona in his first appearance as the Formula Xtreme Champion, but in Florida he had Superbike on his mind. The main focus for the 33-year-old Califomian was to defend his FX title, a formidable task given the heightened interest in the class by rival factories Yamaha and Honda. But with the new Superbike regulations, Pridmore and the Attack Suzuki team, led by Richard Stanboli, decided to see if they could be competitive in the premier class. Early indications were positive. Pridmore ended the test well in the mJx, with the seventh fastest time. That was less of a concern than the real world application of the Suzuki's GSX-R 1000 power, which he had a chance to test against the Ducati 996 RS03 of Ducati Austin's Anthony Gobert. The pair hooked up early in the test, with Pridmore coming away confident that the team could be front-runners. 'I probably did about four or five laps with Anthony [Gobert)," Pridmore said, "and it was just kind of fun to see where our bikes matched up with the Ducatis. I guess that was the big question everybody wanted to see when they came down here. I think, from what we saw yesterday, first time out on the 1000s, I think it could be competitive. I think for everybody involved, I think Yosh IYoshimura Suzuki] and we could definitely be competitive with the twins. I think it should make it a lot of fun." The plan for now is to do Daytona, then reassess with an eye toward Fontana for the Superbike doubleheader. Because Pridmore is only doing Formula Xtreme and not Supersport, he won't be burdened with the extra ri.ding work, though the crew will have its hands full on the Superbike doubleheader weekends. "We're just going to play it by ear. .. and go that route with it, because Ri.chard [Stanboli) feels pretty confident that we can do fairly well with the 1000s," Pridmore said, "and it would be good for me to just be on one bike all year. I'm not going to have to worry about jumpJng back and forth. I'm not going to be on the 600. I'll be on 1000s all year long, which I think is going to help me in the long run, for sure." Pridmore raced the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 Superbike for two years, so he knows somethin9 about Superbike power and the dual-compound conundrum at Daytona. 'This is a whole different type of beast though," he said. "A thousand was pretty wild around here. I kind of expected that coming in. I was happy. We were only a second off the pace, I think, which is fairly competitive. I think it's going to be nice to know that I can go back and come back in March and be on something competitive." "It's amazing how much my inner legs were really hurting me last night, just from holding on with knees wben I was on the banking," • Pridmore said on Thursday morning. "The bike Js obViously really fast. And I used first gear a lot on this bike; just about everywhere on the infield is first gear. So heavy acceleration everywhere. It's just a different kind of bike. The thing wants to wheelie everywhere. It's a lot of fun. It [the power] comes on a lot smoother. It doesn't have that hit. It just seems like it pulls hard all the way through. It definitely requires a little bit different riding style than what I've been used 20 JANUARY 1 5, 2003' cue • • ne""s lights up everywhere. Sometimes it's a bit of a hindrance having so much power. It's just a matter of dialing the bike in. Hopefully we can get the rear grip a little bit better." Thursday's 90-minute session was enough for Anthony to improve his time by a tenth of a second to a best of 1:49.271, about half a second behind Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin, with American Honda's Ben Bostrom the fastest at 1:48.651. "I would like to have done a 48, but the track just wasn't there for me," Anthony said after the rain-shortened Thursday session. "It was wet and kind of drifting the bike Into the comers. It doesn't make it much fun. It's a little bit dangerous around here in the best of times when you're trying to go for a time, let alone with it raining. I was trying to be cautious as well as push the limits at the same [time). I lowered my time a little bit. I'm happy with that. I didn't really get as much track time as I would have liked to." Track time will have to wait for March. Ducati has never won the Daytona 200, and neither has Anthony. Last year he survived the same horrific Supersport accident that battered his brother, Aaron, though he didn't emerge unscathed. Anthony rode in the 200 with a broken collarbone, which turned out to be the least of his problem. There was a succession of problems in the race, including a blown rear tire that could have ended his career had he not made a miraculous save coming onto the front straight. Anthony likes his chances much better this year, as does crew chief Vic Fasola. "They [Ducati Corse) are making a big push with us," Fasola said, pointing out the two engineers over from Italy with a third expected for the race. "Especially having never won the thing. They've got Gobert. This is their best chance." Anthony agrees. "I think right now I have the best opportunity I ever had to win. A lot of guys have been going for lap times a little bit here. I was trying to do more consistent laps. I saw the Bostrom boys [Ben and Eric]. They were going around together, and they were going low 51s, and I went out and strung 49s together, so that was a second and a bit quicker than what they were stringing laps together. So looking at it that way, I couldn't be happier. They looked like they were pushing each other, and I was circulating a second quicker than what they were. I'm confident for the 200 for sure." One of his reasons for optimism is the lowered stress the Ducati puts on the rear tire, he believes. "The way they're building the tires, you don't have to be conservative anymore," Anthony said, though Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts no doubt feels differently. Roberts blew a tire apart in the race last year and wore the rubber off the tire during an extended run in this year's test. "I found on the four-cylinder, you had to conserve the tire a little bit. But on the V-twins, it's going to be so much easier on the tire, you can just hammer the tire the whole time. It's amazing how good the tires are now." to, but having ridden the Xtreme for the last couple of years, I've been a little bit used to it. I'm so used to running the Supersport stuff around Daytona, and it's amazing how narrow the track got on the 1000 for sure. Even on the banking. Because all of a sudden I found myself up against the wall a couple of times yesterday. And I was thinking, 'Gosh, how did I get out here?' Coming off the banking my first stint out, even with Anthony [Gobert], coming on the back straightaway, I found myself focusing so far down the track and scanning the track so much quicker than I was in the past. I used up a lot of mental capacity, I guess you could say, from having to keep scanning and keep looking ahead. Whereas you get on like a 600, it doesn't require as much. It definitely keeps your attention." Josh Hayes is new to the team; the MJssissippian is on his third team in three years. Daytona has been a particularly hostile environment for Hayes. In March of 2000, Hayes suffered nerve damage in his right arm when he was involved in a multirider crash in tbe chicane during the 600cc Supersport race. In the fall of 2001, Hayes destroyed a Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R750 in a dogleg spill at Daytona. In 2002, Hayes pulverized his left hand in a crash while practicing at Fontana. He was hurt for much of the year, injuries which he said eventu-

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