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/128244
White Br oth er s/ M ota-M aster/Maxxis Honda CRF450R Paul Brent, who wa s th en still with Moto -M ast er, helpe d us select a rid er , Brit ish supe rmoto speci al ist Phil Gee , fo r t h e A MA Red Bu ll Sup erm o t o Ch ampi on sh ip o pe ne r at Lagu na Sec a du rin g Wo rl d Su perb ik e week e nd, Jul y 1 1-1 3 . T h e b i k e was truc ke d to Laguna and dropped wi th Gee , th e o nly extras being a c an o f superu nleaded g a sol i ne a n d th e enco uragement to put the thing in th e show . T o be honest, we d idn 't ho l d out m uch ho pe th at aft er Gee showed up w ith a bum left ank le. However, Gee m ust have li k ed the b ike , bec au se t he joll y En g lishm an very nearly did ma ke th e m ain event on the technical Laguna track. After fin ishi ng 11th in his heat race (o nl y th e t o p fiv e ea rne d d ire ct tran sfer s) , he ca me b ack st r o n g in hi s se mi , work ing hi s way up from a bad start to finis h th ird , one spot ou t of a tra nsfer to the m ain . In hi s defen se , Gee was c h all engi ng th e second -p l ac ed man on th e last lap. He came up sho rt by a wh eel. Nevert heless, he had high pr aise for th e White Brothers bike. " T he su spe nsion wa s excelle nt," Gee said. "I liked it a lot thro ugh the Befor e sending the bik e to Lag un a for the AMA Red Bull Superm oto sea so n o pe ne r , we opted fo r a sha k edown ride at th e STTAR S Su per TT event at EI Cajon Speedway nea r San Diego on June 28 . Right from the first lap of practice , th e bike fel t l i k e a w inner. Wh i te B rot h er s rea ll y h ad th e su sp en si o n dia l ed in , and the M ax xi s ti re s felt perfec tl y sui te d to t he E I Caj on t arm ac . Wha t was even m o re im p res sive, how ev er, was the Moto -Mast er fron t b rak e, w hich req ui re d m in im al fing er pressu re to a p p ly the g ri p p y four-piston cali pers and slo w th e bik e dramatic all y . A ft er fi gu ri ng o ut how to c ombi ne downshifting w it h brak in g , it soo n b ec am e app aren t how those good superm oto guys get th eir bikes so sidewa ys. Th e rea r end near ly overta k es th e front end wh en th e front br akes a re ap plie d . Anywa y , b ik e and ri der cla imed seventh ( we w ere b att l i n g f o r t h i rd f or a w h i l e th ere ) in th e 450 Nov ic e cl ass afte r tw o main events in sum m er heat that was j ust about th ree d eg rees coole r tha n he ll. We pronou nced the bik e fit for Lag una . di rt se cti o ns . It was re all y g o od o v e r t h e b ig j ump , and ye t i t suc k ed up all the little stu f f as w el l. I could ha ve used w ith j ust a b it m ore powe r up t he long f ront stra i ghta wa y , but it wasn 't that f a r off, rea ll y ." A w e e k l a te r , Cti ad g uy and par t -t im e test rid er D an o L eg er e com ma ndee red the bike for the Su pe r b iker s2 Na tio na l Ch amp ion ship supe rmoto event held in conjunc tion w ith the M ik uni Ca le n dar M o t or c y c l e Sh ow at t h e Q uee n M ar y i n L ong B e a ch , C a l i f orn i a . O n a co urse t ha t w a s so t i gh t yo u co u l d n ' t get o u t of third gear, Legere ga ve the b ik e its first win w he n he bagged th e 45 0 Novice class m ain ev ent. Like Gee. h e was impres sed with th e bike , his favo rit e aspect being the sna p py motor and the powerful front b ra k es, bot h of w hich were an absolute necessity on the sho rt Lon g Beach co urse. " T hat ex h au st makes a h ug e dif- . ference from stock, " Le gere sai d. " It' s so mu ch m ore sn appy . It h elps th e m otor rip . A nd th e brak es fo r superm oto a re unb e li evabl e. Wh e n y ou want to st op , you stop , rig ht now . Th at.front brake is sick !" After three good race weeke nds in su pe rmoto t rim , the bik e w as the n parke d for a while as th e dema nds of putting t ogeth e r A me ric a ' s weekl y m ot orc ycle newspap er reached fever p it c h th rou g h the late summer m onth s, bu t come Octo be r , it was time t o go ra cing agai n . Th is t im e, di rt track was th e name of the game, a nd AMA U .S . Fl at Track Ch amp i onshi p runn er -u p Joh nny Mu rphree was the stu d with game. We returned t h e b ik e t o Wh i t e B r o t h ers f o r t h e "Murphree Mak eover." the p la n being t o c am pai g n the Formula USA Skip Van Leewu en Nation al Short Track at Del Mar on O ct ob er 4 . Sensing o ur best cha nce for a real N at iona l win , we cro ssed ou r fin gers a s M urph r e e w ent o ut in hi s h ea t race. We needn 't have wo rried , as he smoked the competition easil y , earn ing a front-r ow start for the N at ion al ma in eve nt. Un fortunatel y , th e ma in didn't go as well. M urphree slipped to 15th in the bi g rac e. " I j u st go t a bad start and g o t caught o n th e outside , o ne of tho se thi ngs." Murphree rec all ed . "It was a 30-lap rac e, and nob ody go t lapped, which tell s you that we were all going t he sa me speed. But th e b ik e was actua ll y reall y goo d. I wa s im pressed wit h t he s uspensi on , w h i c h re a ll y handled all the little bumps so well . In fact, ot her than m y tea m 's full -race Cycle News MotardlDT/MX CRF450R DESCRIPTION PART# RETAIL ExhaustlIntake WB Carbon Pro Exhaust WB Engine/Pipe Guard WB Powerfilter 05-107 31-80 18 22-10 15 $895 $98.95 $23.95 56-3200 56-3218 N/A N/A $550 $625 $550 $594.95 WB Motard Suspension Front E:, Rear WB Dirt Track Suspension Front E:, Rear WB MX Suspension Front E:, Rear N/ A N/ A N/A $650 $650 $450 Drive/ Brakes Moto Master Supermoto Race Kit FastJine Brake Unes (Front) WB/Talon Rear Sprocket WB/Talon Front Sprocket DID 520ERT Chain 45-1570 24-622X N/ A N/ A 62-856X $599.95 $76.92 $59.95 $22.95 $73.95 Body/Control WB Team Graphic kits WB Team Accessories kits TAG X5 CR High Handlebars 59-504 1 59-5062 N/ A $64.95 $54.95 $79.95 N/ A N/ A N/ A N/A N/A N/A $134.99 $180.55 $92.69 $95.31 $74.45 $89.95 ~ WB WB WB WB 17" Motard Front Wheels 17" Motard Rear Wheels 19" Dirt Track Front Wheels 19" Dirt Track Rear Wheels Sus pension Ii= . Maxxis Goldspeed Supermoto (front) Maxxis Goldspeed Supermoto (rear) Maxxis DTR- l CD5 (front) Maxxis DTR-I CD5 (rear) Maxxis Maxxcross IT (front) Maxxis Maxxcross IT (rear) W HITE B ROTHERS 10 D EC EMBER 10, 2003 ยท c ue I e n e vv s M AXXIS T IRES 24845 Corbit Place Yorba Linda , CA 92887 714/692-3404 www.whitebrothers.com Available through your local motorcycle dealer 800/4 62-9947 www.maxxis .com