Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA SUPERBIKE "If it was the old track, I could tell you exactly what was going to happen," he said. "It would be a huge pack of us with a fight to the finish. But with the new track layout, it's hard to say how it's going to work out, if someone's going to be able to get away or not, or if we're all going to end up in a drafting war like a Supersport race. One of the two is going to happen, I guess." Attack Kawasaki's Josh Hayes thinks the new layout will change up the race because of the difficulty in passing. "If there's a couple of guys that get away that are really good through that section early, it could break the race up," he said. "Till the first pit stop, everybody's usually stuck together pretty well. I don't know that it's going to be so much like that this year. I think it's definitely going to be tougher for the privateers this year because there's going to be 10 strong superbikes out there this year." It is hard to imagine that the Supersport and Superstock races could be as close as they were last year. The top six in Supersport were covered by .254 of a second, with Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo first across the line, followed in quick order by Kawasaki's Roger Lee and Daytona Preview Tommy Hayden. Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Aaron Gobert won the Superstock race by .0 I0 of a second over teammate Jamie Hacking, with the top six covered by .662 of a second. Gobert thinks, of the two, the 600 race will be more of a sprint race. "I definitely know for sure it's not going to be a 'rest on the infield, get the draft on the banking, catch back up,'" he said. "It's still going to have that drafting on the last bank, but it's going to be a lot more tougher racing on the infield. We're going to have to race like we race AMA everywhere else and try and stay as a pack or lead and break away, because there's probably going to be a good chance somebody's going to break away if they get the correct situation where something goes wrong at the back and they've done a good lap." With the addition of the two infield lefthand corners (run on the hard part of the dual-compound tires), (Above) Jason Pridmore will lead Michael Jordan's new team into action at Daytona. (Left) Duhamel and Hodgson talk racing. 30 MARCH 2, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS a more cautious approach is needed. "The infield is going be everybody tippy-toeing like it's always been, except now we tippy-toe twice as much because there's twice as many turns," Gobert said. "The 600 will definitely be more of a sprint race. The I000, we'll all settle down and try to finish. The 600 we'll try to win it, a sprint to the finish because it's always been like that." DiSalvo thinks the Superstock race will "present an opportunity to break away if someone can really get in there and master that infield, put together some pretty good split times. It might make it so one rider could break way from the rest or even two or three riders could break away and have their own little fight at the front. I definitely would like to see that, especially if I'm one of those riders. The 600, I think the 600 is going to be pretty tight, as it always is. But the 1000 there might be some room to pull one out." Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden doesn't see racing being as close. "I think the fields will be spread out a little bit more than usual," he said, adding that the draft still will playa big factor. Hayden thinks the infield will give riders more opportunities to make time. "Someone who really has the infield dialed can probably get away a little bit quicker rather than someone who could just hold on and keep up." Traffic won't be an issue in Superstock, Hayden said, simply because the race is so short. Superstock, however, will see traffic jams. "I think traffic might separate people a little bit more," Roger Lee Hayden said, "because if you get stuck behind somebody in the infield, somebody could get away." Roger Lee also thinks that the new infield will make it harder for riders who can't keep pace, "whereas before, the infield was a little bit easy. You could just survive through there - mainly on the 600 - you could just stay within a second and then you get on the first banking and it brings you right up to the guys. I definitely think that's going to knock a few guys out." Experience will also playa part, Roger Lee believes. The factory riders had three days of testing the new circuit in January. The privateers, unless they run the previous Formula USNChampionship Cup Series weekend, will still be learning the track on the last lap of the race. "That's going to be a problem," Roger Lee said. "For the 600, I think lapped traffic will playa pretty big role in it. If you come up to a guy on the last lap, you can definitely break away through there, I think, through that little infield section, because it's so hard to pass. It's first gear, so it's not like you can really get a good run and put it up under somebody." Tommy Hayden thinks the elimination of one banking, and Dunlop's new N-Tech tires, should relieve some of the anxiety over tire life. "Last year, definitely I was doing a little [tire management] myself, because I think everybody was a little unsure, not completely confident of what would happen on the bigger bikes like that and still shaken up by a couple of accidents," he said. "I was being a little bit careful with mine. This year's, it's totally different. The heat's a lot different and the tires - the tires are a lot different. It's hard to say, for 12 laps on those bikes, I don't think it'll be a huge deal. It is anywhere, but I don't think it'll be a huge deal." Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster thinks that the racing will still be very close, though the infield will separate the field. "You've got to remember from that last infield turn to the turn one is a big old straightaway, a big drafting effect that's going to happen right there," Buckmaster said. "It could happen right there. It won't be Jason DiSalvo because I'm going to be right on his ass." eN

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