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/128316
less likely, but the speeds exiting the chicane and through the banking have increased significantly. Riders are hitting the banking a gear or more higher and hitting terminal velocity that much sooner. '" know that the chicane change led to compound overheating and higher tire temperatures," Dunlop's jim Allen said, adding that it contributed to Spies' tire failure. "For sure it's made it harder on tires . It's made the speeds higher going into the banking. Higher speeds equals greater g-forces equals more work for the tires: ' The change in tum six also raised speeds, not to the same extent. From the side of the track, Allen could see the riders struggle on the banking. "It's pretty frightening to see that they 're actually breaking traction all the way around the banking now," he said. "The pavement's not in great shape." Zemke agrees : "The asphalt's pretty tore up, and there's a lot of tar sealer, so ifyou hit any of that and the thing spins sideways, man... it takes a lot. You've got to roll out of it quite a bit to get it pointed back in the direction you need to go. It just depends on the tire . On a 'Q ' [qualifying tire] you can pretty much hold it wide open all the way around , if you're brave enough." Zemke had the rear wheel of his Erion Honda CBRIOOORR snap sideways at over 180 mph. Eric Bostrom figured the Michelin qualifier added 10 mph of top speed to his pole-setting record time. Duhamel and Zemke would like to convene a gathering of all interested parties. Duhamel's solution is to . redo the facil ity substantially "I'm just trying to put the bug in everybody's ear that why don't they step up and do a MotoGP-spec track?" he asks. "They've got the grounds , they're going to move the lake over. Then there are no more safety issues. We can run the Daytona 200. There's a way of incorporating the front stra ight into that photo-finish kind of drafting duel that Daytona wants to kee p and have a MotoGP fee to attract a GP. Second is that no amount of reconfiguring the track would convince MotoGP riders to run on the front straight. The death of Daijiro Kato, in last year 's season -opening japanese GP at Suzuka, has given the MotoGP riders more leverage than ever on safety issues. It's inconceivable they would sanction a racetrack where you were racing at 180190 mph with a concrete wall mere feet away. Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden and others believe the Speedway could add an infield second below the east banking. "To me it just seems so simple, over here where all the problems are [in NASCAR three and four]," Hayden says. "It's never been a problem over [in turn six], when you come on the banking. Most of the time it's over here, because you're going on the banking four times faster than you are over here, and you're going all the way around . It seems like there's some way to slow it down . Use some of the apron . There's a whole apron full of grass that we could put something in." Ben Bostrom agrees, saying it would allow for drastically reduced speeds down the front straight, while still race track. You could get MotoGP here you cou ld get anyo ne you want . It'd be like what Daytona did to beco me Daytona. They took this giant chance to build this big oval. I'm sure whe n they built th is, a lot of peo ple thought they were going to go bankrupt, and that it was going to be ludicrou s. Look w hat it turned into, look what NASCAR is. And I think that this would be a moment for them to seize the moment and do a Moto GP track anyhow." The re are two significant impediments to that plan. First wou ld be the Speed way's aversion to paying the $2 million sanction www.cyclenews.com providing enough room for late-race dram .... "How hard would it be to add a little road course, cut out three four and then make somethinl1 that sweeps onto the front straight, and you'd stillget that same draft ou coming to the start/finish line," he said. "Y wouldn't have the tire wear. Basically you wouldn'[ sit on the banking all the way around like that ." Bostrom isn't a proponent of using Formula Xtreme of Supersport as the premier class for Daytona. "It doesn't make any sense ," he said. "I don't get it." Zemke, the third-place finisher in Formula Xtreme, doesn't see smaller bikes as a solution. "I don't really think that's the way to go either just because it's different ," he said. "But I don't think that just by making the bike smaller, that's the .answer." Zemke agrees that the track needs to altered . "We have to figure out a way to re -create the road course inside the Speedway that willstill use some of the oval, and that, in my op inion, would be a doable option," he said. "just to sit down with everybody and figure out how we can figure how we can get these bikes not going on the banking so fast. Because it's scary." Whether or not the Speedway would agree to spend the money required to design and implement a new road course section remains to be seen . Part of its reluctance could be that it would change the nature and excitement of the trademark chicane-to -checke red -nag drafting duels that have characterized so many Daytona finishes, including this year's Supersport, Superstock and second place duel in Superbike . The winner of the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race is all for 600s as the prem ier race, on DOTs no less. DiSalvo rightfully points out that Supersport bikes we re faste r than Formula Xtreme, and the race was both more competitive and entertaining. Mladin, like everyone else, has heard rumors of 600s being the premier class and thinks it's ridiculous. "In America, whe re big trucks, big everyth ing is the go, you've got to race big bikes," he said. If the AMAchanges the struc ture, Mladin is looking at the support classes. CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 24, 2004 43