Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Bayliss said the Ducati was "not far off. The bikes are not far off. Just made it a bit more comfortable for me. It's not moving around too much." "I feel good around here now. NI the riding I've done has advance of the season and would come back to Florida in March with a substantially improved package. "I think the biggest thing is just we were down on speed," Chandler said. "I think as far as going around the racetrack, I thought the bike was pretty good, we just couldn't run with anything down the straights. The race pace was quite a bit faster than it has been. I wouldn't say we slowed down. I think we kind of ran the same race times we did in the past, but it just wasn't good enough. These bikes [the 2000 factory machines] seem to be faster. They feel like they accelerate a lot better. "Our biggest problem now is just trying to get them to work, basically just try to get traction and quit shaking. That thing just feels like you're doing 50s and 49s when you're running out there and doing 53s. It just shouldn't be like that. Because I know the motor's better; it's accelerating faster, but the times just aren't happening. It feels like you're going a million miles an hour." Chandler's new Kawasaki teammate, Eric Bostrom, spent three days wobbling around the banking, spooked every time he went across the tumfour banking where his brother, Ben, blew a rear tire on his Vance & Hines Ducati last year during the same tire test. Kawasaki stayed on for two more days after everyone else left, but didn't come up with a magic bullet. been by myself, so I'm happy with where I'm going. When it comes to March, I'm definitely going to be around more people, and if there's anything to leam, I'll leam a couple of little things," he added. Last year, DuHamel raced with a still healing right leg, the result of his horrific Loudon crash nearly nine months earlier. All week long he'd been hobbling around with a cane and there was some concern about whether he'd be able to go the distance. The stability of the RC45 allowed DuHamel to rest (if you can call it that) on the banking. The RC5] feels just as good. "If anything, I think it's more relaxing on the rider, it's easier on the rider," DuHamel said. "So that's a big asset for the 200 miles. I think that's going to make me feel a lot more comfortable out there, and it's got the speed so I think it's going to be really interesting. " On the RC45 DuHamel said he "could go with one hand around the banking. I was amazed how good that bike was with the doublesided swingarm, instead of the singlesided one. The bike was just so much more stable on the banking. It was just a joy to ride. I needed a great bike to win, and I had one, because, obviously, I was not 100 percent. But the RC51 is just as stable, maybe a little less, but I haven't done nothing to either bike." What some find surprising is that the 200 isn't that physically taxing a race. Sure it's long, but the corners have long entries and a constant radius, for the most part, so there's not a lot of side-to-side movement. "For the year 2000 I think I'll be coming in here with a better physique," DuHamel said. "I should be a contender. It's kind of hard to do better than what I did this year, especially in the 600cc class. I thought that I had a slow bike there [which is how Mladin felt about his Superbike]." After the race, Mladin was distraught, at least until he saw a video of the race and saw the evidence of his power deficit. "As far as the race, 1 think we done a pretty good job," MJadin said. "It was pretty much an event-free race. We didn't make any mistakes that I can really recall. We had as good a shot of winning it as Miguel did; it's just unfortunate that when I pulled out of the draft there's nothing I could do." "I think nothing went wrong last year, pit stops were great, tires were great also, they were wonderful," DuHamel said. "I way surpassed my expectations this year, 1999, and I hope to do the same." This makes him his own very tough act to follow. eN Survival of the fittest Daytona International Speedway is the kick-off site for some of this country's most important and popular motor racing series. NASCAR begins its season at Daytona, as do AMA's National road racing and dirt track series, but by the time the supercross racers of the AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series make it to Daytona, they're already well into their racing groove. But that doesn't mean the Daytona Supercross is any less important. The Daytona Supercross is the ninth stop on the 16-round AMA/EA Sports Supercross tour, so there's still plenty of time left for many of the top series riders to make a run for the championship, and what better place to begin that second-half charge than at Daytona? Guys like Rick Johnson and Jeff Stanton have done it, en route to some of their multiple Supercross Championships that they earned in the late '80s and early '90s. Perhaps Factory Connection's Mike LaRocco, Chevy Trucks/ Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael and Yamaha's David Vuillemin can do the same this year in their quest to dethrone the six-time Supercross Champion, Jeremy McGrath. McGrath, of course, has to be the favorite to win this year's Daytona Supercross; after all, he's won it three times in the last four years. But if there's anyone rider who really has a shot at beating the Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha rider at Daytona, it has to be LaRocco, on the Competition Accessories/Amsoil/Jack In The Box Honda. Throughout his long career, LaRocco's weakness has always been his starts. To make up for 14 MARCH 1, 2000' cue • B n B _ 51 this shortcoming, however, LaRocco has mastered the art of coming from behind. But before he could do this, he had to get in better physical shape than the rest of his competitors, which many will tell you he has. The Daytona Supercross is significant- Iy longer than any of the other races on the SX circuit, which works out well for LaRocco, who many say is the strongest rider on the track at the end of a moto. Usually, he runs out of clock while still making progress on the leader, but at Daytona, LaRocco should have a lot of time to work with. But if laRocco does get the holeshot, or at least a good jump, things could get especially interesting. However, there are other riders who can do well at Daytona. Because of the track's unique layout I~ng, rough and fast, very "outdoors" -like - National and World Motocross Champions such as Suzuki's Greg Albertyn and Honda's Sebastien Tortelli, as well as former GP rider Vuillemin, stand good chances of pulling off a win. Ca rm ichael, a three-time AMA 125cc National Champion, certainly has the speed to win, but his stamina on the bigger bikes is still an unknown, though he has been showing improvement as of late. Honda's Kevin Windham? He's a big question mark. Everyone knows he has the ability to win, but the factory Honda rider hasn't been able to do that this year despite getting good starts and having plenty of chances. As of this writing, there is still another Supercross round to go before Daytona, so who knows? Maybe he can turn things around by March 11. The 125cc guys will be taking to the track as well. The Daytona Supercross is the fourth stop in the Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Series, and anyone of a bunch of guys can win, such as Yamaha of Troy's defending champ Ernesto Fonseca - last year's winner - and Stephane Roncada, West Coast champ SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Nathan Ramsey, Suzuki's Travis Pastrana, Demarini's Tyler Evans, and FMF/Honda's Michael Brandes and Brock Sellards. Kit Palmer

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