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/128367
MotoGP Testing: Six Days, Two Continents settings from yesterday and they worked bet- Valentino Rossi was up to his old tricks at Phillip Island. ter," Rossi said. "We found more agility in the bike. Then we continued testing tires for Michelin, which were good. The test has been qUite positive, and we have collected some useful information, which we'll continue to work with when we return here soon." cations on which to work in the future. Now, it's time for a short break, and then we'll be back to work in Qatar." Fifth fastest was Repsol Honda's Max Blaggi, the Italian turning 120 laps of the seaside circuit while improving his time. In Sepang, he'd missed out by a mere .020 of a second to the top spot, taken by Tamada. The Japanese rider sat out the second two days of the test after a first day crash left him with severe bruising of his left hand and foot. "I am tired today after so many laps, but I wanted to give Michelin the information they needed from the tires they asked me to test Second fastest at Phillip Island was Nicky Hayden. The third-year - but I was praying for the red light at the end of the pit lane to end the day's testing," Biaggi said. ':A.t times today, it was a little dif- Kentuckian came within a tenth of a second of Rossi's time in turning ficult as there were some spots of rain, his best lap ever at Phillip Island. On the final day, he made 106 which did little for your confidence, especially in the fast sweep into turn one." Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Gauloises Yamaha's Colin Edwards were sixth and seventh fastest, both riders laps, including a race simulation that was much faster than his race time from October. S ix days of testing over nine days on two continents ended with a familiar name on top, but a surprise just below. Gauloises Yamaha's Valentino Rossi was the fastest rider in the second three-day test, at Phillip Island, Australia. Not a week earlier in Sepang, Malaysia, he'd recorded the fourth fastest time while missing one day to a throat virus. The three riders ahead of him were on Hondas, with Makoto Tamada's best lap .3 of a second better than Rossi's. improving their times on the final day of the "Today was the best day of the test for me. I got a good, long run cessive laps at around I :30s," Capirossi said. in and recognized a bit more where we need encouraging. I got on with some really good to improve, both myself and the machine," said Hayden, who had been sixth fastest the previous weekend in Sepang. "I felt good, tires and played around a bit, and the result and time was better. I didn't do so many laps today, but the ones I did were good. We checked out all the settings, and we feel and we made some positive steps forward, and the race time I did was 28 seconds faster than my race time last year, so we're pretty increase in off-track dirt bike and minibike head injuries sustained by children between 1997 and 2002, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Many of the injuries linked to these activIties occur in children less than 16 years of age, according to the Snell release. n't race at in 2004 due to injury. Unofficial Lap Times - Phillip Island: I. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:29.68 2. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1:29.78 3. Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1:29.85 4. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1:29.86 s. Max Blaggi (Honda) 1.29.88 6. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1:30.18 7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1:30.23 8. Alex Barros (Honda) 1:30.55 9. John Hopkins (Suzuki) 1:30.86 10. Troy Bayliss (Honda) 1:30.90 I I. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1:30.90 12. Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) I:30.98 13. Toni Elias (Yamaha) 1:32.16 14. Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1:31.42 1S. Ruben Xaus (Yamaha) 1:31.59 like we've made some progress. I'm heading back to the States now for a bit after spending the day testing a new front fork that didn't provide the anticipated results. "We worked a lot on the new forks today, but we honestly haven't had the fourth with a best lap of I:29.86, about a results we were hoping for," he said. tenth of a second faster than he'd gone on "I'm losing half a second because of it, Friday and only .0 I of a second behind Hayden. Checa had only been 10th fastest in Sepang. "I am really happy with this testing session, with my team and with my bike" Checa said. "We found a good base setup for the because the rest of the bike is fine." 13th, in the process knocking nearly a second off his best time. Australian Troy Bayliss left Phillip Desmosedici and some very interesting indi- Island in a buoyant mood after his best Kids' Helmets Get Snell ever helmet standard for children's motocross and off-road motorcycle activities. The standard addresses the threefold on all fronts, particularly on the engine control systems, in his return to a track he did- here in a couple of weeks." Brazilian Alex Barros was next fastest more consistent today, and some of that's down to me getting into a rut yesterday." Marlboro Ducati's Carlos Checa came tection since 1957, has announced its first- "I did the same time on race tires today as I did yesterday, which is more or less the same as I did at the GP here last October on qualifiers," he said. "We're still not up there with the fast guys, but we're not far off." Telef6nica MoviStar Honda's Marco Melandri was the final rider in the I:30s, the Italian managing not to fall on the final day, as he had the two previous days. Suzuki's Kenny Roberts Jr. clocked the 12th fastest time. He made progress made of family time before we come back test, Telef6nica MoviStar Honda's Sere Snell Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to head injury pro- Edwards found the final day "really happy with that - but it's still not enough. about the differences, but overall I just felt "This morning we tried some different "I'm generally pretty pleased with my pace, which was quite good for several suc- We'll take away what we've learned here and move on to Qatar. I tried both chassis options that we've got and we learned a lot Until the final day of the Phillip Island Gibernau had set the pace. Then he was gone, skipping out on day three after completing his testing program. The time he left behind gave Rossi a number to shoot for, which he hit it, and then some. By the end of the day and this round of testing, the MotoGP World Champion had clocked the fastest-ever lap at Phillip Island, his 1:29.68 well under his own lap record of 1:30.068, set during the 2003 Australian GP. test. test yet on the Camel Honda. According to the CPSC, between 1994 and 1996, about 40,000 injuries related to twowheeled motorized off-road cycles were treated in emergency departments each year, and more than one-quarter were sus- tained by children younger than 15 years of age. From 1990 through the first quarter of 1995, at least 40 reports of deaths related to "minibike" and "trai!cycle" use were reported to the CPSC, and nearly half were in children 16 years of age or younger. According to Snell, most existing motor- sport helmets used by children are actually 10 MARCH 2, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Suzuki's John Hopkins improved to ninth fastest from the previous day's Nicky Hayden ended up second fastest after two days of testing in Australia. designed for adults. Children, especially young children under the age of 12, have very different physiological characteristics from adults in terms of head size and neck strength, Snell says. Adult full-face helmets may be much too heavy and the chinstraps may be poorly suited to the child's shorter face and smaller chin, according to Snell. After consulting the medical and biomechanical research communities, as well as helmet manufacturers, Snell is now offering the first-ever Snell standard for children's motorsports helmets, specifically: the Snell CM-2005 Standard. The Snell CM-200S Standard distinguish- es between children age 6 through 12 and children age 12 through 16. For children ages 6 through 12, the helmet weight should not exceed 7S0g, and the impact energy level is set at 20-percent less than that of an adult motorcycle helmet. For children ages 12 through 16, the helmet weight should not exceed 14oog, and the impact level is set at the same level as that of an adult motorcycle helmet. Motocross and off-road children's helmets meeting the Snell CM2oo5 standard are not authorized for use on public roads or any place where they would violate applicable safety laws or regulations. For more information, visit smf.org.