Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Toseland Tastes Four Food The vast array of wet conditions at I Valencia were far from ideal for James Toseland's forst try out on his Winston Ten Kate Honda Superbike, but the Englishman nonetheless set 30 laps total dUring the forst day of World Superbike testing at Valencia in Spain on November 14. Spinning up the rear along the back straight, Toseland seemed at home on the CBR IOOORR right away. "It was a good start - nice to get used to working with the team," he said. "It's not ideal to have the forst ride in wet conditions, but I tried out a few wet tires and have a few more to try. The one good thing about testing in the wet is that you have more time to think about the response of the engine and the characteristics of the power curve. Because everything is smoother and slower, you can feel what the bike is doing. I suppose I could have pushed harder and taken some time off the best lap times, but what for, in the forst day of testing?" Toseland rode a 2005 machine in this test, while his teammate Karl Muggeridge passed on day one, merely liaising with Toseland in pit lane on occasion. Troy Corser flnally went out for three different sessions on his 200S-spec Suzuki GSX-R but crashed during the last one. He had tested a hard, soft and medium rear tire and thought the change from soft to medium, and a tire which had not yet reached optimum temperature, was the reason for his evencual highside crash. "I entered the last chicane before the flnal left same as before, but at the transition becween having the front brake on and before the throttle was opened, the rear just stepped out. There is more water in the middle of that comer than most places, and the back end lost grip, then caught again and spat me off." Corser landed heavily on his hip and hit his head, hard enough to take the paint off one section of his crash helmet, even if the shell underneath was virtually unmarked. Troy Bayliss' return to the factory Ducati Superbike fold was a premature restart, as he did not risk his recent arm injury in the treacherously wet track conditions on day one. That left Lorenzo Lanzi as the lone factory Ducatl lapper, and by unofficial estimates, he was the fastest man on circuit. "My arm is still quite weak," Bayliss said in the morning, "but considering that the accident only happened about eight weeks ago, it's healing up quickly." Bayliss had four plates inserted, after his forearm suffered a clean radius and Ulna Vermeulen's Suzuki Debut Australian Chris Vermeulen needed only a handful of laps on his Suzuki debut to understand why engineers have been working around the clock to fond more horsepower for the 2006 factory GSV-R. Having ridden a Honda RCV for two races in Australia and Turkey last month, Vermeulen quickly learned why John Hopkins and Kenny Roberts Jr. have struggled so badly on the four-cylinder machine. With a lack of acceleration out of corners and a top speed that sees the GSV-R blitzed by Honda and Ducati, the 2005 World Superbike runner-up said: "It's hard to gauge where we are at because of the lack of track time, but it doesn't have the out and out horsepower, for sure - I noticed that pretty much straight away. It is very mellow, which does make it easy to ride, but that's the problem, we know that, and everybody is working hard to put that right for next year. When you get second and third gear out of the corners, it goes well, but then after that it just doesn't Chris Vermeulen tries out his new ride. seem to drive like the ~ Honda. Obviously it 9 is very fast, but not to the level of one of iD them." 0 Vermeulen and b :I: Hopkins' road to sal- Q.. vation should start in 12 days' time at Sepang, where the new prototype GSVR will debut. But with Suzuki only able to fly one of the radical new machines from Japan, priority will be given to Hopkins for the forst two days, with Vermeulen possibly getting one the last day. For now, he is spending his time adapting to the 2OGS-spec model, and he did a brilliant job of it in Valencia. His best time of I:34.9 was good enough to share the third-fastest time Supercross: The Logo With a new sponsor and a new season on the horizon, Clear Channel Entertainment has unveiled the official 2005·06 Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series logos. The 2005·06 Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series logos will accompany all official electronic, print and television media throughout the season, as well as official merchandise and grass-roots promotional campaigns. "We wanted to give people a preview of the new logo 14 § NOVEMBER 23,2005 • CYCLE NEWS break in an offroad riding accident. His arm has a long scar from the operation, and his movement is limited from the wrist, due to shrinkage of his tendons. "I cannot move my wrist downwards too much right now, but it will free up with time and movement," said Corser. "I have been working it, and for everything you need to do on the bike, it should be okay. I just need to get more strength back into it." New Ohlins suspension, front and rear, was the main topic of conversation about the machine itself, which was basically the same as when it left Magny-Cours. No radical winter step-change is expected from Ducati this year, just a continuous development of its latest 99'J. The PSG-I Kawasaki squad, which will run green livery on its Kawasakis In 2006, had all three of its riders for 2006 (yes, that's three) in place on day one at Valencia, but put none of them out on track. Chris Walker g with his new teammate Hopkins, though he did make good use of perfect conditions before official testing started. When the weather dramatically dipped, so did his time, to a I:36.3, which was only good enough for 13th· but he got in less than 15 they'll soon see everywhere," said Peter Adderton, CEO/founder of Amp'd Mobile. ''As the new Supercross GP sponsor, we're gearing up for a great new season and getting our studio ready to bring the best supercross action to Amp'd Mobile phones when the races start next year." "Partnering with Amp'd Mobile for the next four years gives supercross fans the technological capability to explore supercross through Amp'd Mobile's broadband wireless service," said Ken Hudgens, vice president of Clear Channel Entertainment Motor Sports. "The new logo will be synonymous with everything pertaining to supercross, " has been joined in the PSG-I team by the expected Fonsi Nieto and the recently inducted Regis Lacon!. The latter conformed that his ride was 100-percent sure for 2006, and it was not just a test. Walker did not ride the 200S-spec bikes at Valencia, but he has just returned from riding the 2006 version In Japan. "It feels quite big after this year's model," said Walker, "and there are a few things that are not interchangeable from the 200S bike - engine mounts and so on. Now the engine is away for testing and tuning at Akira [Yanagawa] in France." Gordon RItchie good laps while he waited for his mechanics to change his gearbox back to a street-bike pattern. "I shift with a road system, one down and fIVe up, but they have only got one gearbox drum, so we had to change the whole gearbox," Vermeulen said. "We lost a lot of time, and then the weather came in. I'll stick with that gearbox. They haven't had a rider since Kevin Schwantz that used that pattern." Vermeulen was the first brave soul to go out in appalling conditions on the flnal day, but he only did three laps on Bridgestone's wet tires to get a feeling for them. "Monday, we got it into 34s straight away, and I just basically rode," he said. There was a lot of feel and a lot of grip from the Bridgestones. By the third corner, I was getting my knee down, and that's unheard of at Valencia in those conditions," Matthew Blr! r-. amp'd mobile WORLD ~UPERCReSS GP r-. ampCl mobile AMA .JM ~UPERCReSS

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