Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128196
Dunlop's Daytona Tire Test: Part" ally led to his losing his equipment and ultimately caused a career move. Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Honda are all entering 600s in the Superstock class. The signing of Hayes shows that Suzuki doesn"t want to be embarrassed by losing a class title, which it sponsors, to a smaller motorcycle. Hayes will also race the Formula Xtreme class. He was aboard one of Jason Pridmore's Star Motorcycle School Suzuki GSX-R750s at Daytona, a far cry from what he'll be racing in '03. "This year, instead of putting us out 10nJ a 600, I guess they wanted to keep us on the 750 and make sure that no other brands get up on the top rung of the podium," Hayes said. Hayes did a lot of laps, so many at one time that he ran out of gas. With more sustained open throttle racing, caused by the reconfigured chicane, Hayes said the Superstock teams would have to top off with gas on the start line. "We went out on a full tank and did 16 laps, and the light came on and I had to come in," he said. The Superstock race is 15 laps. "With the rules changing and these bikes are making more and more horsepower, they're going to suck more fuel. Plus we're at wide open throttle longer at this place. Because of the new chicane, fuel management may become an issue. Being that we came here for three days and we've ridden for one, it's probably something that's kind of slipped everybody's mind a little bit. Everyone's been getting out and trying to get out and get some laps in and do what they need to for Dunlop and shake down their stuff." Erion Honda: @D@~@ {jJG!J(1 []!]@ @D@@[l Jake Zemke finished the 2002 Formula Xtreme season tied for points with Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore. The first tiebreaker was race wins; Pridmore had two, Zemke one. It probably shouldn't·have come to that. In the final race of the year, at Virginia International Raceway, Bruce Transportation Group's Zemke collided with Erion Honda's Roger Lee Hayden in the first corner, then spent the rest of the race catching up. He closed to within four seconds of the second-placed Pridmore but had to settle for third, and second in the title chase. For the past three years, Zemke has shuttled back and forth between the Bruce team (2000 and 2002) and Erion Honda (2001). The pattern continues in 2003, with Zemke again racing Formula Xtreme and 600 for the Erion team, not surprising given his success in FX and his win in the Supersport race at Brainerd. It was the lone win for Honda in the Supersport class on a track that favors horsepower. Honda didn't much like being humbled in the class they sponsor, so they've strengthened their hand for '03, bringing all-time class champion Miguel DuHamel back into the class and adding two more satellite teams, Annandale Racing and No Limits Racing, to join the Bruce and Erion teams. Zemke got only a very small taste of the new Honda CBR600RR during the windswept Honda test at Las Vegas. The team only got the new machines on the Tuesday before the Daytona test, with the truck leaving on Friday, so the crew didn't have time to make any significant changes. "We haven't had time to do anything," Zemke said. "The thing's still got rubber brakeIines on it. III Daytona would be the true coming-out party, and Zemke liked what he found. "The last session, I went out and clicked off seven 53s in a row," Zemke said of his Wednesday times. "The best being like a 53.3. So all in all, I think we're looking pretty good.· Zemke improved his best to a lap of 1:53.153, near the best in the class. As the pace increased, Zemke began to fmd problem areas. "Mostly under braking," he said. "It's not a big deal - it's just something with the valving that we have to sort out, just being new. It's still really good; it's just it could be better, that's all. We definitely made improvements on it yesterday, and we could definitely make some more improvements to it. We kind of have a direction to go, and we revalved it once yesterday. The Showa guys revalved it once for me yesterday, and it definitely got a lot better. We're definitely moving in the right direction with it. It's one of [those) things - new bike, just sorting it out and getting things working. "I think it's got an awesome base to start with; the bike's just incredible. It's really fun to be on a bike that just works that good. Even when it's not the best, it still works really good. Once we get the thing 100 percent, I think it's going to be a whole lot of fun to ride. On deals like this - other than just kind of sizing everyone up - for me, we came here with just our plan to just get the bike kind of sorted out and move on to tires.· When Honda needed someone to pinch hit for the injured Kurtis Roberts in 2002, they called on Zemke. The venue was Road America, one of the Superbike doubleheaders. With his FX and 600 duties, it added up to four races and innumerable practice sessions spread over three days. Zemke said there was no plan to race his Honda CBR954RR in the Superbike class this year. Roger Lee Hayden will contest the same classes as Zemke. The youngest of the Haydens had the most unproductive test of any rider. Hayden crashed on his second lap, forcing him out for most of Wednesday. At the end of the day, he tumed in some decent lap times while getting acclimated to the new 600. "The bike's so fast," Hayden said. "I went by one of the Kawi guys like they were sitting 22 ..JANUARY 15. 2003' cue I I!! n.""s