Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Brief'Y··· Continued (rom poge " more feel from the rear tire as the rider feeds in the power while leaned over. Four-time 500cc World Championship runner-up Randy Mamola, a longtime resident in Sitges, Spain, was in attendance for the World Superbike tests in Valencia, Spain, for the World Superbike test, arranging a meeting with Chris Vermeulen. An interested spectator and now a rider agent for The Familie, Mamola was impressed by the speed of the superbikes on certain sections of the circuit, though he did not seem overly impressed by the lap times on the spec tires. The Road 2 Recovery Foundation has announced its sixth annual USlots of Golf" Supercross Celebrity Golf Classic for Thursday, May S, at the Badlands Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada. This tournament teams a Supercross rider with each foursome for a day of golf. Past riders who have participated include Jeremy McGrath, Travis Pastrana, Ricky Carmichael, Chad Reed, Kevin Windham and Jeff Emig. This year's event promises to have another starstudded field of celebrities teeing it up with their fans, according to event promoters. Space in the toumament will once again be limited to a first-come basis, and the event has sold out for the past three years. For more information and sponsorship opportunities, call 866/686-6869 or e-mail info@road2recovery.com. Yukio Kogayama didn't go fast until late· then he went very fast. Working through some development chores Yamaha Motor France teammates Sebastien Gimbert and Norick Abe were only 15th and 18th, respectively, with Gimbert experiencing some woes with his front fork. As many expected, the season is shaping up to be a four-cylinder benefit, and thus few were surprised when. after his extensive comparative testing chores were completed, Chris Walker's PSG-I Kawasaki blasted his ZX-I 0 into the top10. His 1:36.793 was even good enough for ninth and outpaced the first of the KJaffi Hondas, that of Pier-Francesco Chili. Chili is still awaiting a new suspension linkage, which frustrated his attempts at finding sufficient rear grip to move further up the order. Walker's late stopwatch progress made it five different manufacturers in the top nine places, an indication of the even spread of machine capabilities and rider talents throughout the field. Of greater importance and a shock for many was the pace of Steve Martin on the Petronas FP-I, who made it six different bikes in the top I I places with his time of I :37,038. He was the first rider to have to rely on his time from the Sunday morning session rather than the frantic final one. His teammate, Garry McCoy, was testing chassis parts for most of the sessions and ended up 25th quickest. Max Neukirchner had the joy of holding off the current World Champion, while the Bertocchi Kawasaki of Ivan Clementi was 14th fastest, just behind Toseland. Were this test a Superpole session at a real race, then Gimbert and Ducati SC Caracchi's Lorenzo Lanzi would have been the last two in the top 16. Lanzi was in far better condition than his teammate, in another garage, Fonsi Nieto. Down in 26th, he had another nightmare in trying to get accustomed to his big V-twin. He found it impossible to go faster on a qualifier than a race tire and occasionally lapsed into thinking he was back on a 250cc two-stoke, running in too deep and opening the throttle too early. Gordon Ritchie Miguel Duhamel (1) en route to winning the Daytona 200. T revor Weiler was given an odd brief for the Daytona 200: Make the American Honda Formula Xtreme CBR600RR's slower. Or, more to the point, bulletproof. In sprint trim, the engines are solid. There were no race failures in 2005. But Daytona is 200 miles, five times the usual Formula Xtreme race length. "We just went with a real safe program," Weiler said after Miguel Duhamel won his fifth Daytona 200 and Jake Zemke came in third. "There are a lot of guys that had failures today. That was our plan to make it up on the pit stops - and we've got to give it to the guys: They made a kickass setup for that and practiced it." More OEM parts were used, Weiller said, including valve train components. "We got away from some of the exotic titanium components. It's not that it wouldn't have lasted, it's just due to the lack of time in testing we felt it was safer to go with a known thing." The team used stock pistons, mostly for oil consumption, and they added an oil cooler. Titanium connecting rods were used for greater acceleration. "Most of the power is coming from the camshaft and cylinder heads," Weiller said, adding that they used a conservative grind HRC cam. More power came from a modified alternator and close ratio (HRC) kit transmission. Jardine built an effective exhaust system. "That bumped us up," Weiller said. With full control of the ECUs (the onboard computers), they were able to map the ignition and fueling to the limit. They also have the ability to do individual cylinder trims. ''A lot of the HRC stuff is really conservative, and they test it thoroughly before we even get it," Weiller said. It all added up to a 1055 of six or seven horsepower. The team never had time to dyno an engine continuously for 200 miles. "We never did that, and that was due to the time factor," Weiller said. "It was one of the key things not to run that, because it's different. Two-hundred miles nonstop as opposed to collectively 200 miles - it's a different animal." Erion Honda's Kevin Erion said his team used stock valve parts to increase reliability in Kurtis Honda's CBR6ooRR. "That's where the horsepower seems to be," Erion said. The Erion Hondas were down about four horsepower. Henny Roy Abrams Clear Channel Entertainment's Motor Sports division has announced that Honda's Jeff Willoh won the 2004-05 Regional Arenacross championship, taking home a $6000 points fund check and the numberone plate. Willoh clinched the championship at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, with three races to go, winning nine main events and six Dash For Cash races on the season. He battled with rookie sensation Jake Weimer throughout the year en route his first-ever Regional Arenacross championship. "I was really surprised at how competitive this series was," Willoh said. "I never even heard of Jake Weimer before the season started, and I know who he is now. We battled all season long. I plan on putting together my own team for next year and defending my title." Clear Channel Entertainment's Motor Sports division has announced the MGM Grand is the host hotel for the THQ World Supercross GPfTHQ AMA Supercross Series finals at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, May 7. A block of rooms has just been released for fans to purchase at a discount rate for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the low rate on the rooms, when fans purchase rooms through Continued on poge 'S CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 23, 2005 13

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