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/128310
"I'm pretty much only the guy here in the States and probably everywhere in the world who's going in three years on three completely different brands: ' said Haskovec, who rode on Dunlops last year and Pirellis in 2002. "And it's not just that . It's a rea lly huge difference with the feedback from those tires ." Haskovec crashed going into the second horseshoe on Sunday after unsettling the front end exiting the dogleg. "It was all caused from upsetting the chassis: ' he said. "In split seco nd you got to brake for second hors eshoe. So that was the thing. My hand we nt off the handlebar, a litt le bit offset. And I grabbe d the lever, but my knuckles was right there, so I just braked but not hard enough, so I got to let go, otherwise I'm not going to stop at all. That split seco nd cost me so much time. I couldn't handle; I couldn't make that corner," Aside from that setback, and a rear tire failure, Haskovec was upbeat about his test. "Now we got base situation definitely for the first race here, and we're going to go from the re. I'm rea lly satisfied to leave in this state: ' he said. The Pirelli con tingent , headed up by inte rnational racingdirector Eddie Roberts, didn't get the ir tires unt il after noon on Monday, tho ugh that was n't as bad as it sounds . The Prieto Racing Suzukis of Geoff May and Michael Barnes we re brand new and needed brea king in. Lee Acree's Suzuki GSXRI 000 was a Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Schoo l model that was in a classroom a few days earlier. The 106-tire shipme nt had bot h front and rear tires for Superbike (in 16.5 inch) and Superstock (in 17 inch). May was the first to hit the track with the dual-compound tires , and the results weren't what they were looking for. "We found out right away that the compounds were a little soft: ' Seibert said. ''T hey to ok the data back and the temperatu res they needed, and they're going to deve lop a new com pound for the left side. The tires just showed wear quickly on both the Superstock and Superb ike." www.cyclenews.com Acree was still able to do a 16-lap stint, longe r than the expected IS-lap duration of the Superstock race. "He didn't have the ultimate ly tracti on at the end, so we 're going to go a tad harder: ' Seibert said. Barnes turned his fastest lap ever at Daytona, a I:50.6 that was faster than he'd ever gone on a Superbike. The lap was impr essive because Prieto Racing had taken de livery of the Suzuki GSX-RI000 just a few days earlier, only enough time to fit a shock, get the forks valved, add a Ti Force exhaust pipe and TFI fuel management and do the bodywork. "We did, I'd say, almost a handful of 51s, and we were most of the time in 52s, and I went for it one lap on my first lap out and actually scared myself a little bit and went superhard into the chicane on the brakes and in tu rn one and got a hellacious drive out of infield: ' said Barne s, who was suffering from the flu. "The tires have such a superior right-hand side grip than previous tires. That's what I noticed . I'm not even eN sure what compounds I was on," DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA RESULTS: JANUARY 26, 2004 SUPERBIKE LAP T IM ES: I. Jake Zemke (Ho n) 1:4 7.59; 2. Miguel Du hamel (Hon) 1:47.70; 3. Eric Bostrom (0",) ' ,'7.98 ; '. Ben Bostrom (Hon) ' ;'8.56. SUPERSTO CK LAP TIMES : I. Jason DiSalvo (Yam) 1:48 .6; 2. Tommy Hayden (Kaw) 1:<49; 3. Roger l ee Hayden (Kaw) ' ,SO.3; • . Mochael Berres (Suz) ' :50 .6; 5. Stev e Ibpp (Suz) 1:50.8; 6 . Vmcent Haskcvec (Suz) 1:51.87. CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 11, 2004 47