Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

IRTA Test From Saturday to Sunday, Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden improved his time by 1.4 seconds and his standing from 24th to 13th, in the first aUteams gathering of the winter testing season held at the Catalunyan Circuito de Montmelo. The 21-year-old reigning AMA Superbike Champion was pleased with the progress. Mostly he was pleased that now. but for one final test at Suzuka just prior to the season· opening Japanese Grand Prix, it's time to go racing. "Testing has been good, and this weekend, for sure, being around a lot of other guys, has been good," Hayden said in a phone conversation from Barcelona. But having circumnavigated the globe testing most of the winter, Hayden said, "It has been getting a bit stale. I'm excited now about going to the race, and I think it'U help my learning curve, I hope. More than anything, I'm just excited to be racing." Hayden ended the first day of the two-day test with a best lap of I :46.913. On the sec· ond day, he lowered the mark to 1:45.533, a time 1.899 seconds behind the fast lap of 1:43.634 run by Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi and just ahead of Suzuki's John Hopkins. Capirossi's lap was about a second under the standing lap record. "My fastest lap was the last lap of the day," Hayden said. The time came on lap 104 of lOS, Hayden completing more laps than anyone else at the test. "I definitely learned a lot here this weekend, for sure, riding with everyone," he said. "Just like any test, sure you would like to have been a little bit faster, but just grinding out some more laps. Almost time to get serious, time for racing. A lot of the teams tested on Wednesday and Thursday so they had a couple of days' head sta.rt." Hayden said most riders were reluctant to be followed, but he was able to tail Tohru Ukawa, the rider he replaced on the Repsol Honda team. Since this was his first visit to the Catalunya circuit, it was helpful following a veteran. "Most of the winter I've been riding around by myself for the most part," Hayden said. "Here it was interesting to ride with some other guys and going past and people coming past me, and it was a little more fun than just doing laps." Hayden said the predominantly right-hand tum track was the bumpiest he'd been on, by far. The bumps are the result of testing and racing by both Fonmula One and truck racing teams. "ft was pretty cool here, mostly all right-handers, not exactly a dirt tracker's track," he said. "Still, it was a good track. It was fun, and the bumps for me were not so bad. I've been around a few bumpy tracks over the last couple of years, so I'm used to that." The bumps played havoc with the suspension in ways that Hayden hadn't yet experienced. But he was reluctant to make wholesale suspension changes, preferring to work on his ridIng. "Yesterday [Saturday]. we were sometimes two seconds off the pace, so I don't want to change the bike, get too carried away on setting it up for being off the pace," Hayden said. "Making a lot of small changes to try to make it get better a lot of times and just working on my riding. At times I felt like I wasn't riding the bike to its limits. Before I get carried away making a bunch of useless changes trying to get to the limit, [I need to] keep it near a lot of the base settings." More than anything, Hayden realized how impressive the competition is. "It's going to be tough," he said, noting how many World Champions were in the field. "Yesterday I remember looking up at the board, and I was in 21st position, but behind me were [Troy] Bayliss, [Max] Biaggi, [Nori] Haga and I think Colin [Edwards]. It's gnarly how deep the field is. Everybody here was talking about how it seems to be the deepest it's been in a while. Obviously, with Ducati and Aprilia having two riders it's pretty stout." What also impressed Hayden was the size of the crowd who came to watch what was essentially a practice session. "The whole test was kind of cool because everybody was here," he said, "and the fans here are just crazy, with how many fans came to the test with these flags and banners and air horns. It was kind of gnarly." Hayden left for Spain the Wednesday after Monday's Dayt6na 200 and Superstock races. With the threat of rain on Monday, Hayden had returned home to get ready for the Barcelona test. For the first time ever, he watched his brother Tommy race live on television in the comfort of his family's home. "It was pretty cool," he said of watching Tommy Hayden riding his Kawasaki ZX-6R to an improbably victory over Arclight Suzuki's Lee Acree in the Superstock race. "We were hollering and stuff in the living room. It was so close. They went to the commercial break, and we didn't even know who won. I was really happy for Tommy. Just the way he rode. He rode such a good race. To steal one pretty much on the 636, nobody really expected it." The next trip is to Japan for an IRTA test at Suzuka the week before the season-opener. Though he'll likely be on his own for most of the year, he'll have a familiar face nearby in Japan. "My dad's [Earl] going to Suzuka with me," he said. "That's going to be cool. I think he's excited, and I'm excited to have him there. I couldn't think of anything to get him for Christmas, and then it kind of hit me: just get him a plane ticket to come to my first GP." Has his father ever been to Japan? Hayden laughed, "No, I'm pretty sure old big papa's never been over to Japan. There's no horse racing over there, I don't think." Henny Ray Abrams 10 MARCH 26. 2003' cue • e n e _ s Nicky Hayden was also a Catalunya first-timer. The AMA Superbike Champion ended up 13th, dropping 1.4 seconds on the final day of the test. Then came Alice Aprilia's Nori Haga, Pramac Honda's Makoto Shinichi Itoh, and the Kawasakis of Tamada, Norick Abe (Yamaha) and Andrew Pitt and Akira Yanagawa. only then an unhappy Kenny Roberts, growing increasingly frustrated that Slowest, not surprisingly, was the Rl-Yamaha-based WCM bike of slow Aprilia; Bridgestone tester the potential within the new Suzuki British GP rookie Chris Burns, seeing has so far remained locked inside. the track for the first time. Garry McCoy was 20th, fastest of There's one more group test at Suzu- the four Kawasakis; then came ka before the first race of the season, Haruchika Aoki on the second Proton the Japanese Grand Prix on April 7. two-stroke, Alex Hofmann's Kawasaki, Colin Edwards on a surprisingly (Rlghtl Kenny Roberts Jr. didn't leave the test as a happy man. (Belowl Ditto for Colin Edwards. the Texan crashing and injuring a finger. Less than three weeks for the slow coaches to get their act together. eN

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