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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Still, word got out that there pr oblems in only 12 laps, and the alarm was sounded. There was a movement for all parties to agree to t hree pit stops, but Dunlop wanted no part of it. Though no one had been able to do a continuous race distance run on one of the Dunlop rears, Dunlop's Allen was confident the tires would last. They did, without incident. Ironically, Michelin had trouble. Eric Bostrom had to pit when he chunked a front during his third stint , fabric showing off the shoulder. In practice, he 'd done 15 consecutive laps on his Ducati Austin F04, but without the confidence that 19 laps were doable. He, too, was on a three-stop strategy. Soon after his tire pro blem he was out with a punctured oil cooler. American Honda's Ben Bostrom had an even shorter day. His ended after 25 laps, clutch and chain problems putting him out of the race . He'd had better luck in the inaugural running of the Formula Xtreme class, w here he was putti ng in a one-race cameo. Bostro m was a tooth off on his gea ring and on the rev -limiter every time down the front straight . The best he co uld do was seco nd to Miguel Duhamel. Despite being o n a Hon da C BR600RR mini-Superbike on slicks, Bostrom found the speeds unsettli ng. "In the Formula Xtreme race , hold ing tha t thing glued on the banking was scary enough," Ben Bostrom said. "This is a 600, and on a Superbike you go through there at three-quarter throttle, and the thing's moving around , and you're saying, 'Who would like to crash here? ' Especiallywith the whole dra fting with a bunch of people - ifanyth ing happens with a tire , it would knock down all o f us. Something needs to change." There's been talk of repaving the aged and heavily patched banking. "Can you imagine the speeds when they pave it?" Ben Bostrom asked. Mladin says it doesn 't matter whether you're on a 600 doing I:50s or a Superbike doing 48s or SOs, "Whatever, the racetrack's dangerous. That's how I feel. It's easy to see. If something goes wrong here, it's going to be big. "So in saying that, the only reason why we shouldn't run bikes that are so powerful at Daytona is if Dunlop believes there's a problem. And if Dunlop doesn't believe there's a problem and we don't have tire problems here then there's no need to run a smaller motorbike at Daytona or a motorbike with a restrictor or anything else , Because a 2oo-horsepower motorbike with a tire problem is dangerous. A ISO-horsepower motorcycle with a tire problem is dangerous, too. If the tires aren't going to be a problem, then just continue to race IOoos the same way they are if they're going to ma ke us race at this race track, which the y are, without changing it. It's unfortunate that we have to come to place like this, whic h we have to because of the tradition and all which I'm to tally a nonbe liever in. I believe in moving forward . If you don 't look at moving forwa rd and improving the race trac ks, whe n are you going to?" Mladin's teammate Aaron Y s said: "Whe n I first ate went out on my Superb ike, it's like, 'This is just stupid out here trying to go around here like that , because things are going by so fast, you can't see a thing; you can't react to nothing.' All you can do is look where you're going. All you 're doing is trying to dodge so me of the paint sealer stripes down the re beca use when you come down th e banking, it sets you off, and it's just sliding and wobbling and shaking and stuff, and you're just trying to be smooth and putting in minimum moveme nts and stuff to keep from getting allout of shape coming do wn through there. And you're trying to come down off the banking just right so the thing doesn't push the fro nt and the rear doe sn't step way o ut. It's www.cyc lenews.com CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 24, 2004 41