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/128199
Team Test At Laguna Seca carry a neutral speed. Bostrom's first impression was that it made the old bike feel like a 600. "The old bike, you can just hammer it off the corner and it didn't upset the chassis at all," Bostrom said. "This thing has more power, so you're more straight up and down. But it's still trying to pull, so it's upsetting the thing a bit. It'll try to basically run wide more; it'll try to lift the front and wheelie off the edge of By displacing over 770ccs, with the team HENNY RAY ABRAMS able to go as large as 800ccs. ~he On the first day of the test, the teams they were a-testing at U season is approaching, and Bostrom didn't get a lot of laps on the Laguna ... big bike because it had a hiccup in Maybe it was because they didn't the throttle delivery, making it hard to have qualifying tires. Maybe it was because a number of riders were sick and didn't complete the test. Or maybe it was because they were so (Above) Eric Bostrom had two bikes at his disposal at Laguna, bottI the new, big-bore version, and his triedand-true standard ZX-TR. However, It was the standard SupertHke that he set his fastest lap on • a 1:26.215. far behind in testing that they couldn't think about it. Regardless. The mantra from the three-day test at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca was "race setup, race setup, race setup," not the usual refrain of "fastest lap, fastest lap, fastest lap." That said, the rider with the fastest lap time was Kawasaki's (Right) Kurtis Roberts ran the second fastest time of the weekend, turning a 1:26.220 on his factory Honda, despite fighting the effects of deep bruising on his inner thigh received In a training Incident on his motocross bike. Eric Bostrom, who turned the best lap on his standard bore Kawasaki ZX- 7R, while testing a newer big-bore version for the first time. The team is taking advantage of the new AMA rule allowing up to a 2mm overbore for the Superbike assault (see Kawasaki Box). The big engine bike Bostrom rode is very much a work in progress, 26 FEBRUARY 5. 2003' eye I ... neVIl's the track." Bostrom said he noticed the added power off the fast corners, tums four and five at Laguna Seca. On the second day of the test, Bostrom was back on an updated version of the machine he rode to second place in the 2002 AMA/ Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship while the team worked out teething problems with the big bike. He wasn't riding very well, but he still turned the fastest lap of the test, though one well down on his best ever here. Dunlop brought two new tires, the medium compound 758 and softer 950. Most of the fast laps were done on the 758, a tire Bostrom didn't think had the endurance for race distance at Laguna Seca. "I'm happy because today, right at the end, we went around fairly quick, and I was riding terrible," he said after setting fast time. "( just wanted to come in each lap because I felt like I couldn't put anything together. The only reason I stayed out there is because it was coming so easy. And so ( think that says a lot for the bike. It was very easy to go that speed, and so if I can get my head together, we should be able to go beyond that." On the final day of the test Bostrom was swapping back and forth, turning his fastest time on the big bike. The rear of the big Kawasaki was sliding around on exit, a problem Bostrom put to carburetion. "We need to figure out the carburetion to get it to carry into the corners," he said. "It's something in the motor itself. Because with all the other components on the 750, the bike's fine. We're fairly confident we can go fast on the 750, so it'd be nice, and fairly easily, it'd be nice to get that on the other bike. Until you can carry speed through the corner, which our bike likes anyway, you're not going to be able to do that. "Obviously the power helps, when you're stopping and going more than anything, but our setup for here has been pretty good anyway, and obviously we're not looking to give up anything; we're looking to gain. Right now it's a little bit of a toss-up because we've lost something." With a well-chronicled record of success at Laguna Seca, Bostrom wasn't surprised by how well the test went. What happens at tracks like Fontana and Road Atlanta and Sears Point remains to be seen. "So the tough part is going to be just for once getting our whole season strong and no DNFs," Bostrom said. That's a goal that Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts could aim for. Roberts