Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Round 1 AMA SUPERBIKE TIRE RELIEF "It's over," Dunlop's road race manager Jim Allen said with a big smile and firm handshake at the end of a very successful, but equally stressful , week at Daytona Internationa l Speedway. Dunlop swept the podium in every AMA road race during Bike Week , including the Daytona 200, where Ducati and Michelin threw their best-ever efforts at the race. Proving that Daytona defies conventional wisdom, Michelin was the tire company that had a failure, Eric Bostrom losing a chunk of tread on the front tire he'd fitted after the second stop. When he pitted for a replacement, there was fabric sticking out the edge of the tread. Dunlop came to Daytona with both trepidation and confidence. It had suffered two catastrophic tire failures, one in October and a second in December, and was loath to contemplate a third . For an extraordinary AMAorganized test in January, the Dunlop team brought tires that were significantly stronger than they 'd been a month earlier. The radial casing strength was increased by SOpercent, they increased the belt adhesion by a large percentage by using new technology - topping compounds - and they'd employed different molding techniques, using clamshell molds that take twice as long for a tire to cure . "We actually found better consistency, didn't find any more grip," Allen said. The changes came from December to January with only minor touches from January to March. "In January the tire was just a touch too harsh, and we just made it a little bit softer in the Sidewall, but the change was so small," Allen said. "It worked so well in the test, we didn't want to test it, to change anything. We seemed to achieve the softening effect, made it more comfortable. If anything the tires were not quite as good as the January test because of that . They were more comfortable for the riders, but in doing that, they probably lost some lap time . Allacross the board, Superstock and Superbike. It felt too harsh." There were three viable race candi- dates among the 17-inch Superstock tires, with most picking the harder tire, while Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo chose the softer one. Kawasaki's Roger Lee Hayden blistered his race tire , but it wasn't overheating. There was a blemish on the rear tire of Ben Spies' Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-RI000, but when it was cut open, it was "sound as a bell." Everyone used the same front . The five Dunlop factory Superbike riders used the same rear compound; both Suzukis and American Honda's Miguel Duhamel usingone casing the other two , Hondas a different casing. "Three of them felt one had a little better feel than the other," Allen said of the 22 Briefly... Mar. 6 , 2004 ~ Suzuki and Duhamel choice. There'd been talk of a gentleman's agreement for three pit stops, but Dunlop wanted no part of it. It was confident that its tires could go the 19-20 laps between stints . Its confidence was borne out by the results . A post race autopsy of the tires showed there were no problems of compound overheating or casingintegrity "That was particularly gratifying," Allen said. "T he biggest worry we had was the wear. [jake] Zemke wore his first tire right down to the cords, and they were just beginning to show in one spot. That's because he had to work so hard to catch up. Even Miguel [Duhamel], there was rubber left on all his tires. " Duhamel had vibration on one of his tires after it turned a few inches on the rim. It wasn't the first time Honda had this problem, but it should be the last. When Honda's rims were measured, they were '. Conrinued from page 20 Superbike tires because they're 16.5s, and they weigh probably two more pounds than a stock DOT. And they just don't offer the grip because they're built for a Superbike at Daytona, so they're like a brick. It just spins everywhere. The rest of the tracks won't be an issue. We went a bit quicker than the Yamaha boys [and their 5upersport R6s] at Laguna." Mat Mladin earned $ 16,0 00 for winning the Daytona 200 , the winner's share of the $138 ,000 purse. Jake Zemke took home $10 ,500 for finishing second, with Miguel Duhamel earning $7500 for his third-place finish. The Pro Honda Supersport class paid a purse of $17 ,500; Repsol Superstock paid out $10,000, and Formu la Xtreme had a purse total of $17 ,500. As always the factory teams had all the ultratrick pit stop equipment, including quick-change wheels, etc. Not so for Pascal Picotte's team . Picotte's answer to being ready for the 200 was a trip to Sears on the night befo re the race, where the team spent $500. "We made our own fuel found to be off-spec . a condition that leads to cans, and we bought a compressor," Picotte spinning on the rims. said. The team's pit stops we re lengthy, but Picotte still ended up finishing seventh. Another factor that helped the Dunlop cause was the pit stops. Led by crew chief Peter Doyle , Mladin's experienced Yoshimura Suzuki team had the best fuel stops and tire changes of anyone, consistently the fastest with a stellar third stop. For Ducati , it was its first 200 as a team. The two leaders came down the pit lane together for one stop, Bostrom in first, Mladin out first. "It was pretty obvious when they came in together, the Suzuki guys put the Ducati guys on the trailer," Allen said. "Mat [Mladin] made a point of passing Eric [Bostrom] going down the pit lane." As to whether Dunlop can keep up with the development pace of the Superbikes at Daytona, Allen said: "I think if we continue to come down here and run under the Superbike format, we need to look at new technology. We need to do something different, something new to insure that level of safety." One of the factors in lowering tire temperatures this year was the use of a special proprietary mix of gases for inflating the tires, rather than air or nitrogen. "Essentially what it does is conduct heat from the tire to the rim," Allen said. Dunlop is testing a completely new concept with the Proton KRteam in Valencia. The Roberts team will learn March 15 whether or not Michelin will sell them tires for the season, reportedly at a cost of $1.5 million. Otherwise, they'll use Dunlops . "If you have a continuous lining of strong material like steel or aramid or zero growth material, not extensible material, the tire won't grow at high speed by such a big percentage," Allen said. "We've had several shots at this. With this later test we seem to be getting somewhere. It would be extremely useful at Daytona." Henny Ray Abrams MARCH 17,2004 • CYCLE NEWS As much as a fifth Daytona 200 victory would have been exceptionally sweet, Miguel Duhamel wasn't complaining after getting out of Florida with a pod ium finish. "It's just a really tough race , and it takes a toll on people. I'm always happy to be here on the pod ium. I haven't always won it, but I've been quite a bit often up here o n the pod ium, and it's always a pleasure and an honor to be here. Actually, I owe a bit to Mat [Mladin] because I was reading his quote that he tried to make the gap back on Nicky [Hayden , in 2002) when he had 30 seconds down, and he threw it away. I couldn't get rid of the idea in my head that this was so much of a similar situation. So even when I had 12 laps [to go] and I had about six seconds (beh ind Mladin), I did try to catch up, but after awhile I said, 'No, I'm not going to do that to the championship.' The bike's really good , the CBRI oooRR I think is a wonderful machine, and I want to be sure to be in a good position and come out through the season strong. Because win- ning Daytona's great, but winning the cham pionship is pretty good , too." As with any new father, Mat Mladin was eager to get home to his wife, [anlne, and new baby, Em ily, afte r being away from them for the first time? How was not having them there for the first time. "It sucked, actually," Mladin said. "Becau se I'm used to having her [janine] with me , and she wasn't there. She's got mo re impo rtan t things on he r mind back home at the moment. It's just one of those th ings that you have to do sometimes. It's our profession, and some- times we have to make sac rifices to be able to do the things that we do . But this way I'm not getting up to be at work. at nine on Monday. I'll be home with my daughter, so I'm not complaining too much ." Erion Honda's Alex Gobert found the experience of riding a big bike on the high banks of Daytona more than a little daunting. Stepping up to the Repsol Superstock class this year, Gobert had the misfortune of 40th Ann iversary making his debut on the most frightening track of the series. "I just wasn't comfortable. I got a pretty good start and got to the banking, and I was still a bit hesitant on the throttle. I didn't hold it flat out the first lap, and like six guys went past me and another two the second lap, and by the time I got comfortable. I went down into the 52s, and my tire started going off, and I thought, 'What's the different of getting 18th or 22nd' [where he finished) or whatever. That's not where I want to be or need to be. The bike was good on the infield, just all me on the banking. Not enough experience on the big bike to hold it flat." Pascal Picotte crashed his Yamaha Canada R6 in the first horseshoe during practice. Coming out of a tankslapper, he knew he wouldn't have brakes, the shoes receding into the calipers . "That was okay; you 've just got to pump it," he said. "That' s what I did, but the throttle got stuck because our cable goes under the throttle, and it went so far from lock to lock that we bent the thing and the throttle got stuck. I'm up in the air, and then I hit the ground. I got lucky I didn't really highide. I just kind of fell inside the bike and went over the bike after that and hit the tire barrier and the bike fell on top of me. Reallysore shoulder, major headache, I think I got some rib also because I'm having a hard time also." Picotte had a headache after the Formula Xtreme race , so he skipped Superstock, aiming for Superbike, where he finished seventh. His plans for the season include the entire Parts Canada Superbike series and about six AMA Chevrolet 5uperbike meetings. "We' ll do the fist four. We'll do Mid-Ohio, Brainerd and maybe two more at the end, ifeverything works according to plan. I wish Yamaha would step up and try to help me in Formula Xtreme because I know we could be there with Miguel (Duhamel)." Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies returned to the scene of the crime. It was the first time back to Daytona for the Texas teenager since his catastrophic tire failure du ring the October tire tes t. "I have to be honest; I wasn't scared, but I was nervous," Spies said. "Y have to be nervo us when you ou come back after that. Like DiSalvo, he had a real bad crash, and he didn't get all hurt , and where he fell he was lucky. Byall means a very bad crash. Where I fell down I smacked the wall and had a hole in my arm and basically lost all my left ass, and just I got lucky basicallybecause when the bike caught on fire, it got by me , and I just got lucky basically. I didn't break a bone. I was de finitely nervous , and it was in the back of my mind all week and even on the 600 . The 6005 are going so fast now. I don't th ink it hindered. I was riding fast on the infield. On the 1000 I was the man to beat, but we jumped the start. Just a bunch of crap went on there. It was my fault." Spies feels his GSX-R6oo is the bike to beat in 5upersport. "Wh en we went to Fontana, we were under the track record ," he said. "Daytona wasn't friendly to me this weekend except for [Superstock] pole, and we got a pole point. Hopefully we can keep streaking the poles and gain some points for some people. I guess it was a good weekend that I'm not hurt . We're out of here, and that's all I wanted."

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