Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

for t he Lag un a Sec a round . A m onth prio r to t he race, I was sent a le tter info r m ing m e t ha t m y entry had n ot b een acc e p t ed be ca use t h e y we re onl y acc e pting 65 e n t rie s fo r t h e cl ass at Laguna . O nce aga in my lac k of points in th e class pu t m e too far down o n the list to make it in . After Sears Point, whe re I saw empty spo ts on t he grid . I was determ in ed to get an entry . Lu c k il y , a fr iend of m in e w ho had an ent ry was un able t o ra ce . so h e ga ve m e his at the last m in ut e. Du e to all of the problems . when we finall y got an en try into th e field . we reall y had t o scrambl e to ge t the bike ready in t im e. So wi t h ju st o n e day left b efore I h ead ed o ff to Monterey . we to ok a gu ess at t he gearing and th e suspe n sio n and h it t he road . In t he wee ks pr ior t o Lagu n a Seca , we had recei v ed a couple of key n ew p arts for t he bik e. T A W gave us som e 16 .5 -in ch M a r ch e sini wh eel s . a nd STM p r o vi d ed o ne of its exce l le nt slipp er cl utc hes. with th e rear shoc k and t he squatt ing . He i n f o rm ed m e tha t h e h ad so me setup inform ation fro m the teams th at are racin g th e 999 in Europe. so I left him to work h is magi c o n m y shoc k. In the m o rn ing practi ce the n ext day, I was ab le to gain a secon d and a hal f. T he new va lving reall y made a big diffe renc e . N o w . if o n ly we had so me m ore pow er ... I aske d Du c ati 's Gabriel e Racc io for so me advice on th e b est way that w e could ext ract so me a dd it ional po we r fro m the 9 99 . He recommen d ed that we switch to a full T ermignon i ex ha us t system . but it woul d tak e two m o n t h s t o ge t i t , an d we o n ly h ad abo ut two hours. Desp it e the la ck of power . t he 999 t urns and st ays p lan t ed a lo t b etter than our 998 d id , and it' s m ore stabl e o n th e straig hts. Granted t he old bik e is a g reat bi k e , b ut it ta kes mo r e effo rt to get it set up co rrect ly. TH E RACE W e ha d do ne eve ryt hi ng to th e 999 It's al w ays coo l to be th e f irst. Montano and Munroe Motors were the first to race the Ducati 999 in the Un ited States at the national level. t ired , as I ha d alread y done laps in th e Sup er bik e race earlier in th e day. I tr ied to k eep up th e pa ce and got b y a c o up le mo re. After mak ing a mistak e on t h e last lap , I took a look bac k wh ile ex iti ng t urn fo ur and real ized th at I had two of m y earli er vi ctims breathing down aboa rd to give chase . No w I was p issed o ff , so I put t he h am m er dow n and c aug h t ri ght b ac k up to t ho se g u y s. Je rv is i s a ni ce guy . so I co uldn't figu re out why h e would m a ke su ch a h ar d m ov e . Wh en I p assed him in turn nine, I ra n him o ut wid e. lookin g back th e en ti re Attack made t he triPle • • , cla m ps IIiI for M on tano' s 748R, but they also worked well on the 999. Radial-mount Bre m bos w ith Perfonnance Friction pa ds handle bra k ing duties. T he Oh li ns re ar shoc k was mod ified by Joey Israel t o suit the 999 and M onta no. L A GUNA SECA F ormu la Xtrem e pra c t ic e w ent pretty well at Laguna . bu t I sti l l had th e squ att in g p roblem at the rear of t he b ike . The front end felt g reat. p er f e ct l y pl ant ed even under th e m ost ext re m e c ondition s ( p un i nt en d ed ). Th e r a d i a l - m o u n t ed Brembo brakes helped o ut quite a bit w ith th e st abi l i t y o f the fr o nt e n d while offering to n s of stopping pow er. I was grossly underpower ed compared t o th e co m pe t it io n, b ut I still man aged t o qu alify 14 t h with a 1:32.893 -second lap, compared to fac tory Suzuki rider Be n Spies' 1:26.738 po le ti me on his GSX-R1000 . I pai d a visit to the Ohlins t ruck and Joey Isr ael t o d isc u ss m y p ro bl em s Munroe Motors and Montano would like to thank: Ducati North America Dunlop Tires Sprocket Specialist Performance Frict ion Brake Pads T.A.W./Marchesini Wheels Regina Chains STM Clutches Motul Nutec Arai Helmets DP Safety Schools The only e xha ust that was available at the t ime w as the silencer and ch ip combo offered by Ducati Perfonnance , but it saved a w hole bunch of w eight . that w e w ere c a pa ble o f w ith o u r sh ort t imeframe, so th e rest wa s up t o me. I got o ff the line well at th e st art, but by turn two almost everybody h ad blasted by me. I knew right then it was going to be a lon g race. I sta rted to pick guys off, but it was tough . The 999 was considera bly fas t er in a lot o f t he corne rs, and in fact I wa s gett ing h eld up . I a l mo st r e ar - end ed so m eo n e in al m o st ev ery co rner. By lap fo ur or five I passed two gu y s in t urn 11, onl y to have them m otor by m e up the hill past th e sta rt/ finish line . Jeff Bostrom passed m e on the outsi de , wh il e Oliver J erv is came up the ins ide. Wh en J ervis cam e by , he cl ip p ed my left handleb ar. Th e next th ing I k new, I was hanging off the side of th e bi ke as it wo bbled do wn th e tra c k at ove r 130 m ph. I thought it was o ver righ t there. I was head ing for the wa ll but regained my co m p o s u re and c li m be d b a c k time and ma king sure he k n ew it was m e. I clear ed o ff and set m y sights o n t h e next pack o f gu y s. It took a wh ile to ca tc h up bec au se th ei r bik es were fast er o n t h e st rai ghts, but I had t h e co rne r spe ed and co uld ki ll t he m on t h e br ak es. Ev entu all y I p icked so me m o r e ri d e r s o ff. b u t it w as g ett i n g h arder th e f urther up I got. B y this p o in t I was sta rt ing to get cy cle n e m y neck . O ne of t hem m otored b y m e in to turn five and th en pa rke d it midcorner. I had to b ack out of it to keep from rea r -ending hi m . W it h m y loss of drive up the hi ll , th e othe r guy alm os t got m e head ing into six, bu t I he ld him off . I w anted to g et back th e pos it io n tha t I had j u st lost b efo re t h e finis h, but I co u ld n ' t ge t a ny t hi n g acc om pl ish ed i n n i n e o r 10 . I stuffed i t un d er hi m i n turn e le v en . only to have h im m otor by m e on th e stretch to t he fin ish . I wa s a bi t d isappointed with m y 14t h p la ce finish. but all in all it's not bad f or a 99 9 w ith a bone-stock m ot or in it. In the end I had a lo t of fu n , and after the race J erv is c ame o v e r and ap ol ogized fo r ou r ea rlie r in c id en t. We had a good lau gh and pu t i t d o w n as a r aci ng i nc i de n t. Anoth er positive was th at o n lap 14 o f 17 I t u rne d m y fast est lap of th e rac e, a 1:3 2 . 15 0 , wh ich wa s co nsid era bly f aster t ha n I q ualifi ed . Th e D u ca t i 9 9 9 p e r f o rm ed v e r y well in it s ne ar-stock stat e. W e' ll see w hat ot her so l utions we can c onj ure up fo r our next o ut in g . If we c an find so me m or e po wer from th e motor . we sho uld be able t o ru n a b it m ore com p et it iv ely . T he bottom line is t h at we went o ut and raced a bike tha t no o ne else in th e co unt ry was rac ing at t he n ati o n al le vel, and we d idn 't em b ar r a s s oursel v es d o in g i t. M iss io n accomplis h ed . CN _ S • O CTOBER 22 , 2003 45

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