Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

B RAINERD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY BRAINE RD, MINNESOTA RES ULTS: JUNE 2 7, 2004 (ROUND 7) P RO H O N DA O ILS SlS PT: I . Tom my Hayde n (Kaw ): 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Kaw); J . Jason DiSalvo (Yam);... Jamie HaclU (Yam 5. Aaron Gobert (Yam): 6. ng ): Ben Spies (Suz); 7. Steve Rapp (Suz); 8. Aaron Yates (Suz); 9. Midlael Barne s (Yam); 10 . Jason Perez (Yam): II . ChMs Pens (Suz); 12. N iCky Moore (Suz); 13. Danny Eslick (Suz); 14. Darren Luck (Suz); 15. Blake Young(Suz); 16. Jason Farrell (Kaw); 11. Heath Small (Yam): 18. Giovanni Rojas(Y am); 19. Shane Fletche r (Y am): 20. Adam Dotney (Yam) ; 2 1. Nathan He ster (Y ; 22. Pedro Valiente (Y am) am) : 23 . John Bowman (Yam): 24 . Darin Edwards (Suz); 25 . Chad Klock (Han): 26 . Dan iel Doty (Y am); 27. Peter Bohlig (Hon ); 28. Christopher Flores (Hon); 29. Jessica Zalusky (Yam); 30. Montez Stewart (Yam ); ] I. Ben Attard (502): 32. Tim Mitchell (Yam); 3l. James Davis (Yam); H . Tony Meiring (Kaw) . TIm e : NlA due to red flag Distance: 13 laps, 39 miles Average speed : NJAdue to red flag Margin or victory: .09 5 sec . PRO HONDA O ILS SUPERSPORT C'S H IP POINTS STAND INGS (Alter 7 of II munds), I. TommyHayden (2 l 7/~ wms ); 2. Roge<- Lee Hayden (2OB/ 1); l . Jamie Hacking (201); ~ . Aaron Gobert ( 19B); 5. Jason DiSalvo (114/ 1); 6. Ben Spies ( 16811); 7. Steve Raw (156); B. Mochael Barnes ( I 55); 9. Aaron Yates ( I ~ I); 10 . Ben Attard ( I l l ); II. (TIE) Tony Meiringll)Mren lliCk ( 106); Il . DaM)' E~K k (9 7); I ~ . Lee Acree (9 2); IS. Jason Perez (90); 16. Chris Pens (BB) 17. John Bowman (76); ; lB. Nockyr-tccre (Il); 19. Nathan Hest... (7 1); 20. Giovanni Rojas (66 ). UPCOMING ROUNDS: Round 8 . Monlerey, California, Ju~ 10 Round 9 . lexinglon, Ohio, July 25 Briefly..• Continued from page 23 America's fast. It's got three Sixth-gear straightaways that a re probably 180 m ph straightaways, and t hey 're all lined by concrete walls on both sides . If something was to happen, it wouldn't be too good . It had to have spu n under braking. It was mostly going down t he straightaways and braking, as well . It w asn' t too horrible once act ually the th ing was leaned over on the side of the t ire - it didn't seem to be affected as m uch . But as soon as you 'd stan d the th ing up and accelerate or brake, the th ing was horrible . Th ere's no reason , It was mounted the same as all our other tires were. There's no real e xplanat ion for it .tl Star Motorcycle School's Jas o n Pridm ore is attempting to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship. Pridmore w illbe competing in a qualifying round at Southern Highlands Golf Course in las Vegas on July 19, between AMA Chevro let Superbike Championship rounds at Mazda Raceway laguna Seca Ouly 10) and Mid-Ohio Spo rts Car Co urse Ouly2S). Should he qualify , Pridmo re would hea d to Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaronec k, New York, just north of New York City, for the August 16-22 championship. Dunlop pulled one o f the tires it had brought to Brainerd afte r blemishes o n the surface turned up in th e first Superbike pract ice sess ion. Dunlop'S chief engineer Dave Watkins said the "specificatio n was unsatis factory, so we pu lled it." Engineers noticed pinholes in the rear tire o f Mat Mladin's Yoshim ura Suzuki GSX-R I000 after six laps of Friday morni ng's practice. Dunlop 's Birmingham , England, factory confinned its suspicions in testing that was done afte r t he tires had been air fre ighted . Th e 279 rear had bee n bu ilt specificallyfor Braine rd , and all 40 , whi ch we re ma de in the sam e size , const ruction, and co m po und , w ere scrapped. O the r riders had tested it. but no ne felt it w as th e best of the five rear tire o ption s fo r t he race, and by t he e nd of pract ice and qu alifying, one race tir e em erged as the clea r favorite. Much was discussed during the fou rh our AM A road race advisory bo a rd meeting Friday night at BIR. Among the topics were Dayto na, rider eligibility , and tire rules . There was a proposal by Yamaha to effectively lessen the cost of Daytona by changing pit stop rules. The driving force seems to be the expensive qu ick change gear. One part of the proposal was for mandato ry two or three pit stops, each with a minimum time. The fallacy in that proposal would be in seeing 80 AHA officials rushing up and down the pit lane to make sure the riders spent their allotted two minutes in the pits. Pit lane speed limits were also discussed . Another idea was to mandate that the sprock et come off with the wheel, unlike the currently popu lar system where the hub is attached to the swingarrn. On the tire side , the proposal was for Supersport to remain a DOT www.cyclenews.co m class while the other classes would be deregulated. That would allow treaded tires to be used in Superstock and Fo rmula Xtreme. Dunlop's road race man ager Jim Allen was in favor of the rule. " To me it makes sense on a number of fronts, " he said. O ne example he used was Yamaha's testing 01 the Dunlop 190 rear o n its RI Supe rst ock bikes . It gave less chatter, but at the end of the day they adjusted the bike, and the slick was better. He also said the 0208 front worked well in inte nned iate condi tions . "If we have to hand cut intermediates, the factory guys are going to get t hem for sure," he said. Because of poss ible ti me constraints on cutting tires for the en tire field, the DOTs could serve as a viable alternative. The rule prohib iting Superbike ride rs from racing in Superstock would also be scrapped, according to another proposal. But that one may be self-regulating . With Yamaha and Kawasaki looking to jump bac k into the Superbike class in 2005, it's not like ly t hey'd race both Superstock and Superbike at the factory leve l, leaving Superstock to the satelli e teams like Erion t Honda and Attack Kawasaki. Any propo sals have to be forwarded to the AHA Pro Racing board, which has the option of alte ring, enacting , or ignoring the desires of t hos e who actu ally attend the races. AMA Ro ad Race ma nager Ro n Barrick confirmed that he and othe rs in AMA Pro Racing had continued ta lks w ith th e manage ment o f Dayto na Inte rnat ional Speedwa y. "We've been in discussion s," Barrick said , adding that AHA Pro Racing C EO Scott Ho llingswort h was also involved . The Dayto na side was re pre sen ted by Jim France , CEO 01 International Speed way Corpo rat ion ; Dick Hah ne, vice pre side nt o f o perations for Dayto na Inte rnatio nal Speedway; and Gary Van Voorhis, DIS dir ector o f events . Barric k said he 'd been to Daytona m o re th an on ce since the March 200 and had tak en part in a co nfere nce call th e Wednesday prior to th e BIR race weekend. Bar rick wouldn't say w hat w as discussed, but wo rd in the pits was that Daytona was conside ring a change to t he Speedway road course, something the riders had long insisted was needed. The work would be done while the track's closed for the construction of a tunnel and pit facilities following the July 4 Pepsi 400. What the t ire companies are hoping for is the elimination of at least one bank ing. Considering that the tunnel would burrow unde r NASCAR one and two, it's likely the West Banking is the one that would be eliminated. Though the work, if it hap pe ns, would be welcome , more than one rider wondered why the AMA or the Speedway hadn't bothered to see k their op inion. The last major change to the Speedway was to the chicane , a move that increased the amount of time the motorcycles were at top speed and exacerbated the tire problems seen last year. Ma rty Craggill will find out t he day after BIRwhether or not he'll race again this year, accord ing to C o ro na Extra EBSC O Med ia Suzuki's Tim Saunders. Saunders said C raggill, who injured his neck pr ior to Fontana, was to seek a release from his doctor in Melbourne, Australia . If the doctor doesn't allow him to race, "That' ll be it for the rest of the season," Saunders said . Craggill had to have his C-6 vertebra pinned and bone grafted follow ing Fontana, though the exact cause of t he injuri es is unknown. "He says he 's fine , and he 's been fine for two months," Saunders said of Craggill, but the doctor has the final say. Scott Greenwood was filling in at BIR, as he had at Road America, but Saunders is look ing for a more e xperienced Superbike rider if Craggill can't make the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca round in two weeks' t ime . Among those Saunders is interested in are Italian Giovanni Bussei, who raced for the Ducati Austin team last year, Brit Paul Young, and Australian Shawn Giles . If th e sched ules allowed, the rider could conceivably ride the Corona Ext ra Superbike fo r the rest o f the season, though Saunders isn't avers e to using m ultiple riders. One rider he w on't be calling is Anthony Gobert. Saunders was impres sed w ith Gobert's ride for t he team at last year 's Suzuka a -Ho u rs. But as a recovering substance abuser, riding for a team spo nsored by a beer company isn't a good fit. Saunde rs said the Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki team wo uld have show bikes at seven locations in the Mon te rey, California, area for the mo nth of July. Fo ur will be in supermarkets, including Albertson's, and three in restaurants, one being EI Palomar, a well-kno wn Monte rey Mexican sea food re staurant that's a favorit e of Mo nte rey res iden t Wayne Rainey. Th e bikes, a vari ety o f GSX-Rs, will be on display for the entire month. Saunde rs said he expects to have 20 display bikes up and going by the en d of the year. Ame rican Ho nda' s Ben Bostrom had a few tool s to help him turn ar ound what has been a disappointing season. First was his sight. Most of the season he's been bothered by vision problems. Holist ic treatments did litt le good, so he sought prope r medical advice . The vision is coming back , but it's not 100 percent yet, he said. As important is his decisio n to enlist the Carmichael Training System. Jim Le hman, a fonne r bicycle racer with the Colorado Springsbased company, was at BIRobservlng Bo stro m's weekend. "The main goal of com ing here is to see the routine of the races ," he said. Hydration and recovery after qualifying were monitored along with the demands of the race weekend. Lehman said that he wants to improve Bo stro m 's aerobic conditioning over the course of a weekend. " If the condi tioning's not there, if the hydration's not there, you 're altogether less fit and less alert," he said. One of Lehman 's colleagues, Dean Go lich, works with Duhamel, and Mat Mladin worked with CTS last year. Most CTS clients are bicycle racers, including five-time Tour Co ntinu e d on page 30 CYCLE NE WS • JULY 7,2004 29

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