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/128639
Stephane Cnembon's Corona Suzuki GSX-R600 mo re powerful fue l - inj ected GSXR600 set to debut in 200 I. But then it all went ho rr ib ly wrong for Chambon as his GSX -R6 00 suffer ed a mechanical fa ilure at Brands Hatch in the season finale. Scoring zero poin ts in that final round, Cham b on watche d a s t he t itle went to Ya maha's J o r g e Teuchert i n a strange twist of fate . Cham bon wou ld end u p tied for second in the title chase with Paolo Caso li - j ust three points be hind Teuc hert. Ev en though the b ik e di d n' t wi n the title , the question rem a in s: Ju st ho w di d th e ol d GSX-R remai n co mpet itive enough t o even cha llenge fo r the title once again? T he answer is simpl e: th e Belgi an team 's R& D en g ineers worked lo ng and hard in A lstare's Li ege base this B Y ALAN C AT HCA RT P HOT OS BY K EL E DGE ea d in g into the final race of the Supers p o rt Cha mpi ons h ip , d efend ing World C h amp i o n S tephan e Ch a m b o n must h ave th ought he had his ti tle defense well so rte d. Th e pocket -size d Fr e n ch tr ick cyclist an d h is A lst are Coron a GS X -R 6 0 0 S uzuki we re 1 1 p oin t s clear of Du c at i' s Paolo Caso li and all loo k ed to be in perfect o rder for his second t itl e and th e team 's third su c c es si v e (Chamb o n's t eam ma te Fabri zi o Pir ovan o w on th e Wo rld Sup ers port c r ow n o n hi s Cor on a Su zu ki in 19 98 ) w ith the Suzu ki ' s cu rrent 60 0 SuperSport cont ender in it s fi nal season in c arb ure ted gu ise, a nd t he n ew , sleek er , ligh t er a n d H o rl d W 14 NOVEM BER 15.2000 ' cue I ... n e vv s The author puts the Corona Suzuki GSX-R600 through its paces at the Zolder ci rcuit in Belgium. Although the dated GSX-R didn't win the World Supersport title in 2000, it came cJose very close - against much newer machinery. season t o fu r t h er r efi ne t he p o w e r del ivery of last ye ar's title-w inner. The fact that the Corona Suzuk i is the on ly GSX -R600 to be a prov en race- winner in any ma jor Su perSp o rt series any wh ere in the world , shows how well th ey 'v e succeeded, principally by ma k ing use of their own ingenuity. rather than bu yi ng in outside pow er-u p parts. So fo r the Y2K season they bu ilt on their '99 success by further developin g th e 66.4 x 44.5 m m eng ine to extract an extra 6 hp fro m it on top end, and even more all through the rev range. Using Al star e 's own d es ign o f c a m sh a f ts a n d w a isted v a l v e s to allow a straighter h it of m ixture from the 36 .5mm M ikun i ca rbs , di fferent in let po rt in g on the 16 -val ve DOHC cylinde r head, a slightly higher 14: I c ompression , revi sed ign iti o n timing from the kit Su zu k i b o x , spec ially co nc oct ed ELF race fue l m ad e spe ci all y for Team A lsta re, a larger Ital ia n- m ade rad iator with an all -new ci rc ulation sys t em wh i ch holds w at er tempe ra tu re d own to th e optimum 65 -6 7 -de gree m ark (any higher than that, and you lose power - 3 hp less at just 75 deg rees , for exam ple), and an all -newall -t itanium exhaust sys tem developed wit h their Arrow partn er s , th ey 'v e produ c ed a bik e tha t indeed feel s m ore p owerfu l at high rp m , w ith 124 h p at th e bac k wheel at 13 ,6 00 rp m - bu t wh ich al so c ar buretes noticea bly better lo wer do wn t han t h e t i tl e-winni ng ' 9 9 Coro na GSX -R600. That bik e had a fl at spot between 8 -10 ,000 rpm wh ich meant you needed to k eep it revving in the five -figure zone t o ge t d ecent d ri ve out of slower turns , and make full use of the rac e gearb ox sourced fro m the t eam 's factory Superbike pa rts bin so the sa m e as fitted t o F ran k ie Chili 's GSX-R750 - to do so. T h ings are quite d ifferent now on the Y2K bike , wh ich we had the opportunity to test ride at the Zo lder circuit in Belg ium recently. Now the bike pulls cleanly out of Zol der's trio of chic ane s fro m as lo w as 70 00 rpm, with the front wheel paw ing the air in thi rd gea r as th e engine bu ilds rev s fast, wi th o nly a sli g ht hiccup in th e m idra n g e ar o u n d 9 0 0 0 rpm w hich they haven 't quite been able to di al out, as the extremely crisp and free re vving eng ine builds power progressive ly b ut fast - th ere' s a l so extra k ick at around 10, 50 0 rpm , whe n the eng ine sp eed rea ll y p ick s up. This mak es th e motor seem torquier than before, which indeed it is th an ks t o th e al te re d ign it ion curv e and all -new exhaust th at thankfully still reta ins the high -p itched if only slightly muted howl wh ich makes rid ing the Suzuk i such an added thrill . If four -stroke GP racing produces bikes that sound as good as th is one, but about tw ice as loud, sig n m e up for the end-of-season ' B est O f. . .' CD an d m ake sure it includes a track of every bike accelerating through the gearbo x p a st t h e p it s at Ass en , e speci a lly w h ateve r Suzu ki d eve lops . O r, will they ra ise the noise li m its for Sup er bikej Supersport in respo nse, in whic h case the Corona GSX-R600 's Arrrow exhaust note will take some beating? An yway, the changes A lstare has wrought to the Suzuki this year mean you have a wider effective pow er band th an before , wh ich m ake s the bike t h at mu ch m o re r id eab l e - no t so mu c h a f o ur -st roke GP r ac e r as a j unior Sup erbi k e - wi th good pu nc h till t he jun io r re d search ligh t mo u nted