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/128329
MotoGP Tech Update The Ita lian Mot oGP at Mugello produce d I yet another crop of new te ch nica l advances as it is now almost more unusual not to have new parts for each motorcycle at each round than not. Ducati carried ou t major back-to-back tests w ith modified GP03 and modified GP04 bikes for each of its riders . As the weekend went on, the '03 bike was prog ressively retired with an '04 chassis with modifications subst ituted. By the end of the weekend Lo ris Capirossi was using an '04 bike with its electronics moved from the small cavity at the fro nt of the fuel tan k to the front of t he fairing nose . Troy Bayliss was using a similar bike, but his retained the small substitute fuel tank where the electro nics used to be. There are undoubted ly many othe r small changes that we cannot see, all to try to move weight - and to try to get a feel that the ride rs are happy with. W hat is most important , however, is that the GP04 bike was seen to be definitively quicker than the modified '0 3 bikes t hat were also used, and it is unlikely t hat the three-bike experiment w ill need to be repeated. Aprilia surprised with a revised engine tune w hile it wai ts for its new engine casings. The new engine tune is designed to improve throttle re spons e, helping the bike mimic an accurate cable- type throttle . The bikes with this engine had diffe rent exhaust outlets . In additio n, however, eac h ride r had one bike fitted with a new, more aerodynamic fairing, giving more cover to the rider's shou lders. The fairing was also fitted w ith small head-wind deflectors on its front edges, clea rly designed to kee p the fro nt end down at the end of Mugello's long and extremely fast straight. Proto n also arrived with furt he r modifications ; it had run a longerstroke e ngine in pra ct ice at Le Mans, and the riders like the fee l of that setup better. The changes in this eng ine are likely to be very small poss ibly as mu ch as Imm on the st roke - but it is less o f a short-st roke engine tha n the team had previo usly been using. In the words of Stuart Banks, "it is poss ibly a little bit more like wha t we think the Ho nda is." To go w ith the new motor, the five into-five pipes introduced at Le Mans (Left) Ducati is exr.erimenting w ith d ifferent rear shock angles . (Right) Ducati has have been furt her mod ified with the a lso moved the e ectrics to the front of the fa iring o n Ca p iross i's bike. pipes for two o f t he front cylinders Unfortu nately, Moriwaki clearly has limitre luctant to discuss t he eng ine problems, but now fused into a two-into -one pipe . All of ed funding for its effort , but from a technical cracking pistons cou ld eas ily be ca used as a the engines have the rev ised firing order first point of view it is far more interes ting when resu lt of an attempt to close up t he sq uish introduced at Le Mans, but we still await the Honda provides engines to satellite teams ban d - the d istance between the cylinder improved cylinder head w here at least 20 than complete motorcycles as we get to see head and t he pisto n - and increase co mpreshorsepow er seems to have gone missing in more new ideas and different solutions. sio n fo r a stop-start t rack t hat favo rs accelerthe course of develo pment. T here w ould be muc h more ind ividua l ation, just like Le Mans. Ho nda has bee n trying to bolster its development in the class if more excellent Shinya Nakano's big crash was caused by cha mp ionshi p chances by ensu ring t hat its little projects like this one were encouraged. rear tire "chunk out" problems - the tread top runners have acces s to the latest HRC Ne il Sp alding delaminating from the carcase - not sometechnology. It was rumored t hat there were t hing that Bridgesto ne would have wishe d for. new engines afte r Jerez for Sete Gibernau, O ne lap late r the similar tire on the back of vigo ro usly denied, and now we have been Makoto Tamada's bike went as well, but he told that when Max Biaggi picked up Repsol was ab le to bring his bike to a halt o n the grass spo nso rship, he also rec eived a new elec at th e entry of the first co rne r without a crash . tro nic package for a bike - a package th at Bridges tone does not know the cause but is gives additional capacity for fine-tun ing the promising a close analysis of the problem. t ractio n control and fue lling. Where it' s not Moriw aki ar rived using its steel-tube clear is w hether Blaggi w as having difficulties frame chass is with a Honda RC-2 1IV engine, making use of this additional tec hnology, but although w ith mufflers very similar to thos e he certainly seeme d to have a hea lt hy to p fitted to the w o rks bikes at the sta rt o f last sp eed over t he w eekend. year, it wo uld seem natural that th e engine Kawasaki's reliability returned with its lat they are fitted to is of a similar vintage . The The Proto n's exhaust pipes for two bikes had Andrew Pitt, the ex-Kawasa ki est engines no longer crac king pistons as of the front cylinders have now ride r, in the saddle. they w ere at Le Mans. Kawasaki is very been fused into a two-into-one pipe. Thomas and Watson Take Bushkill " T o w in here you have to have the right setup, you have to stay low over the jumps, and yo u have to keep it w ide open." Former AMA National Champion and current NAHA poi nts leader Je ff Thomas followed his game plan to perfection as he blasted the field in round three of the 2004 AMA National C ham pionsh i p Hiilclimb Series, prese nted by Pace American. In the 540cc class, de fend ing National C hampio n Dave Watson continued to pull away from th e field after a 6 JUNE 23, 2004 • CYC LE N EWS come-from-behind win over Chad Disbennett. The Bushkill Valley hill is over 500 feet long w ith three jumps , and it was hit by rain earlier in the week. "The hill is perfect; you 'll see some really fast times today," said Walter "Tiger" Strank Jr. Honda CBR540-mounted Thomas has man y wins at Freemansburg, and he was the first rider to crack the nine-second barrier with a run of 9.453, but Watson set the pace in round one with a run o f 9.4070. "The run was pretty good," Watson said. "I got a little screwed up o n the third jump and had to ease it through there. I think we can get into the 8s on the second run ." The riders real ly picked it up in round two, as Tho mas came back with a 9.293 early in the round. Chad Disbennett won both 540cc events held at Free mansburg last season, and he hoped to rebound after a tough day at York last week. Disbennett had an excellent run w ith a fast, smooth jump off the line , and then he battled the front e nd over the last two jumps for a great run. But the timing light malfunctioned, and he would have to let the K&N Filters{Thor/Bo's Radical Race rs Triumph coo l down and try again. O n 40th Anniversary his second tr ip in the round, Disbe nne tt ran a 9.048 , but Watson wasn't done. He lined up in the center of the hill and was really fast on the bottom. Watson kept the Kleebe rg Sheet Metal/Cycle Accessories & More/Factory Connection-backed CBR Honda straight over the bottom jump and hit the jump at the 2S0 mark with the throttle pinned . Watson was looking for the win after he ripped past the last jump, and the crowd roared as the timing board rang up his 8.327 . Disbennett's teammate Jo hn Hamilton Jr. has also won at Bushkill, and he finished the round with an excellent ride to claim second with a 8 .946 . "Iwas going fo r the win , but Watson just had a great run ," Hami lton Jr. said. Thomas also had an early run in the 800cc class, and he stunned the competition with a blistering fast 8.06 1-seco nd effort on the Thomas Racing/Vinylcra ft Honda CBR800. "I had to ride the clutch at the bottom, but I kept it pinned on the rest of the hill, and it was really moving in the midd le of the hill," Thomas said. "I had to fight off a wheelie over the third jump, but everything else we nt great." Watson held second after the first round