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/128409
Briefly... Continued from page 7 Ranseder. Both 8radl and Ranseder raced in selected GPs in 2OOS, but 2006 will be their first full World Championship seasons. "KTM and Red Bull want to give young and talented riders the opportunity to compete on the highest level of motorcycle racing," said KTM's racing boss, Harald 8artol, "and we are all looking forward to this new and exciting project." The first test for the Red Bull KTM Junior Team is scheduled to take place in Spain at the end of January. In Pedrosa's case, the problem is different. He needs substantial familiarization time on the RC21 IV. and Honda needs some time to modify the bikes so they fit him well. An initial set of modifications to his bike are a revised seatand-tank unit that was built to make it easier for Pedrosa (who is extremely small, even by motorcycle-racing stan- The new Kawasaki. dards) to reach the handlebars comfort- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ably and also get his feet on the ground. The made to the swingarm to allow them to photos show the standard hard-edged relocate their exhaust system and therefore RC21 IV seat and the revised curved bodyuse the freed-up space to modify the fuelwork, shorter tank and narrower seat unit tank location. used on the "Pedrosa Special." Over the last year, Suzuki has been Kyochi Yoshii, the RC211v project extending the size of its airboxes in an leader, confirmed that Honda would bring effort to find more midrange power, but something new to the next Sepang tests, to do this it has had to relocate fuel-storbut he said that precisely what they will age capacity out under the rider's backbring will be decided after this test. Yoshii side and into the seat hump itself. This has confirmed that Honda still thought that its compromised weight distribution and the bikes' stability into corners was still not bike's turning ability. Moving the weight good enough. One thought is that some closer to the center of the bike gets changes will be made to the engine-manSuzuki the same advantages enjoyed by agement system to help overcome the both Honda and Yamaha in this regard. problems caused on the overrun by the firJohn Hopkins is doing most of the testing ing order of the five-cylinder machines. now that Kenny Roberts Jr. has left the "The works bikes and the customer team, and he had three different bikes will be different next year; they always swingarms and two different chassis to try. have been slightly different, and this will Depending on the results of the test, continue," Yoshii said. "I don't know if Suzuki will go ahead with a new chassis Marco Melandri will have the same sort of and swingarm setup for the 2006 bike. additional help that Gibernau had last year. Suzuki has been considering fining a As far as Dani Pedrosa is concerned, at the Magneti Marelli fuel-injection and enginemoment we just try to make him comfortmanagement system, but in recent months able, easy for him to control the machine. the Mitsubishi system it has used for the last We will listen carefully to his comments; he three years has been dramatically is a factory rider - we have him in the team improved, and that decision is again under because of his knowledge, his experience review. Suzuki needs to get a proper tracand his skills. He is very important for us." tion-control system that compares frontAsked whether Pedrosa would ride and rear-wheel speeds rather than the curthe 800cc machine this year, Yoshii rent setup that appears to merely check the explained that he was not involved in the speed of crankshaft acceleration. 800cc project but that "it is qUite possible It is easy to see from the photos that jugthat Dani would ride the bike this year if gling the requirements for space of the it was ready." exhaust systems, fuel, electronics and the Suzuki motor itself is not easy when making small Suzuki brought an almost completely racing motorcycles. There may be some new motorcycle to the test. With billet-aluhelp coming for Suzuki, in that it was using minum engine side covers and sump. the the new Ohlins TTX36 rear shocks. These motor appears to be completely new. shock absorbers are substantially smaller Suzuki was saying that they have a revised a than their predecessors - being possibly V angle on the engine, but without seeing SOmm to 60mm shorter. If Suzuki was to the engine out of the frame, it is difficult to redesign the frame to use the shock confirm. Substantial changes have been absorber as small as it can be used, it is pos- Kawasaki tried aut a smallerdiameter clutch. sible that they could lower the back of the fuel tank a further 50mm. "We will have a completely new engine next year, albeit it will still be a V-four," team manager Paul Denning confirmed. "The overall philosophy will be the same as the bike you see here, but the detailed packaging of the new bike will be much better than the prototype. The great thing is that we are here in November with a new motorcycle that basically works. In fact, we are testing a prototype machine and are less than a second off the front." Kawasaki Kawasaki's new bike was out again after its debut at Valencia, and Shinya Nakano had two bikes to try. Once he got the frontend setup he liked on the old chassis, the settings were transferred over to the new bike, and serious testing began. During the course of the day, three different firingorder engines were tried while the team looked for the right combination of grip, drive and throttle response. Harald Eckl confirmed that the team was trying many different variables: thronle systems with two bunerflies controlled by the computer and two by the rider (last year was one controlled by the computer and three by the rider), different suspension from Ohlins, and different engine concepts. "We need to find the senings the riders prefer [and] then develop from there over the next months," Eckl said. "We are midfield on engine braking control. If you watch the bikes coming out of the pit lane, the bikes that are easiest to control are the ones that are easiest to use on the track." Neil Spalding AMA Pro Racing has announced that it has added two staff members to its organization. Kevin Crowther joins AMA Pro Racing as director of technical development, and Gus Niewenhous has been hired as assistant manager, commercial development. Crowther has been a technical inspector for the AMA Superbike Championship since 2002 and will continue in that role, in addition to his new responsibilities. Crowther will relocate to AMA Pro Racing headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio, from his home in California and report to Merrill Vanderslice, AMA Pro Racing's director of competition. Niewenhous has served an internship in the AMA:s amateur racing department and most recently has been involved in sponsorship-implementation duties in the AMA Superbike Championship. Reporting to AMA Pro Racing's vice president, director of commercial operations, John Farris, Niewenhous has relocated from Washington, DC, and will be based in AMA Pro Racing's Southem California office. Donnie Hansen has two motocross schools scheduled for January. The sessions are at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, California, January 2-3, and at Elsinore MX in Lake Elsinore, California, January 19-20. For more information, call 9S 1/609-2709 or visit www.DHMA.com. AMA Grand National dirt tracker Jess Roeder has inked a deal that will see him racing under the Blue Springs Harley-Davidson banner in 2006. Along with backing from las Vegas H-D, KK Motorcycle Supply and Roeder H-D, Roeder also has legendary tuner Skip Eaken in his camp for the coming season. In addition, Roeder is slated to graduate from college on December 17. For more information on Roeder's program, visit www.bluespringsharleydavidson.com. Ducat; North America has announced its contingency program for the 2006 racing season. 'i\fter a very successful first year, I am pleased to announce that we have raised the bar and are now offering bonus payouts at even more race events in 2006, with the addition of WERA to our roster of racing organizations," said Michael Lock, CEO of Ducati North America. "Racing is an exciting but very expensive sport, and this is our way of supporting the efforts of dedicated Ducati racers throughout the country. Racing is in our blood, and Ducati Is an important presence at the grass-roots as well as the attention-grabbing internationallevel." For 2006, Ducati will again offer two contingency programs, one for Continued on page 13 CYCLE NEWS • JANUARY 4,2006 9