Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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alre ady th is morning," said Duhame l, who had a minor tip-over in th e second ho rseshoe on Monday. "We fou nd out some good informat ion for Jim [Allen]." Duhamel found a favorite between the two tires , on e th at improved his lap time by half a second over 18 laps. "It's a little faster, and on their test it was eve n more durable than t he othe r tires ," he said. "It seem s to have a better res istance to heat . That' s w hat I felt. I felt it was n't as greasy as the oth er one." Ben Bostrom was fourth fastest , just beh ind brother Eric. Inconsistency has plagued Ben since his return to the USA, and it was no diffe rent at the test. On Sunday, the first day of the test, he adm itted to get rid of that." Dunlop bro ught tw o new rea rs in Superbike and one Superstock tire . Taking a cautious appr oach, it limited riders to 10 conse cutive laps until late on Sunday afte rnoon when t he Honda riders ran for 18 laps. In all, six endurance runs we re com pleted without prob lems . The fastest overall lap time we nt to Erion Hond a's Jake Zemke, a I:47.59 on a qualifying tire. His best time on a race tire was a high 48. "If we had to , we cou ld race on that tire ," Zemke said. "But obviously the boys are prob ably going to go back and t ry to get us something with a little bit more grip for the race." Zemke's end ura nce times we re consistent with every one e lse's - I:sOsand 5 Is. "The tire felt good . It was pretty consistent all the way through ," Zem ke said. The tires were similar to the Decembe r tires, except for grip, he said: "Even t hough they're t he same compound, the different me nt, Bostrom felt, desp ite the harshne ss. "They've obviously maintained the grip; just over t he little bumps it doesn't quite absorb it as well," he said. "It's surprising beca use every year we make like almost no gain on the tire , like a little half-second here , half-second he re. This year it's like a full second ." Eric Bostrom made an unex pec ted breakthro ugh at Daytona. "Today was the first day I've ever e njoyed riding here," said Eric, w hose best time came on a qualifier. ':A it wasn't like nd th at at all this morn ing or yeste rday, but I had a big smile on my face when I came in th is afternoon. I was like , 'That was actually a goo d time.' But the bike was getting so much fun to ride , I'd sit on it, and it feels like my bike now. Everything just work s. And then for t he first time eve r, I'm riding around this racetrack, and I'm having fun. I can do a lot of t hings wit h the bike; I can being out of sorts , and his lap times showed it. He sped up on Monday until a silly crash in the chicane while chasing DiSalvo destroyed his bike. "I just got really gree dy and crashed," said Bostrom, w ho was in t he middle of an e ndurance run . Cat ching sight of th e Superstock ride r, Bostrom tucked t he front whee l, trail-bra king on t he e ntra nce to the chicane. He was using a 6-inch rim at t he time and was running in t he mid-I :49s when he fell. What he learned was that the narrow rim wo uld help in the infield, but on t he banking t here was a lot of w hee lspin. "I never got to do mor e than 10 laps," Ben said. "That time I was going to, and I crashed. " put it where I want and slide the t hing. I've always felt like riding aro und t his racetra ck I've been on pins and need les. Today I felt like I was on a normal racetra ck, and I could just do whatever I wanted to do." Bostrom said he'd co mplete d two endurance runs "and had kind of mixed results," his term for the tire failure. Jean Her isse, Michelin's World Superbike man now on t he AMA trail, agreed with Eric that it was a combination that produc ed the result. "We worked all the way on our program, and I think Ducat i did t he same ," said Her isse, w ho asked the Speed way to run through Monday's lunch break. "We had a few little problems in t hese two days which we can't cont rol because it happens , incidents like that . I wish we had more time , but that's part of the game . It was not too bad." The problem was a delamination of one of Eric Bostrom's tires and a rea r tire fail- (Above) Jim Allen discusses tires with Miguel Duhomel. Allen come away from the test satisfied tha t all will be okay come March. (Right) Eric Bostrom did the majority of Michelin's testing at Daytona . (Below) M ichelin's Jean Herisse talks tires with Eric Bostrom. con struction, I'd definitely say th at there wa sn't as much tractio n available with t he newest latest model. But it was still pretty decen t for a tire that's going to last that long aro und here." Until Zemke cut his fast lap, Duhame l had the honors. With two bikes among three ride rs, t hey played musical seats w ith lower times ce rtainly a possibility if they could all have spent th e entire two days at speed. "We did about a Daytona The tires were a vast irnprove- www.cycienEWs.com CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 11,2004 45