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/128644
programmed yo ur brain to convince yourself that what seems like a su icida lly fast e ntry s peed for S iberi a on a b ik e t h a t ' s al rea d y g i ven a pretty good impre ssion of laying a dar kie o ut of Honda Corne r, it rea lly is the righ t a nd proper wa y to ride th e mor e -o rless guided missile that a modern 500 represents. Th e d iffe re nce with a Superbike is a ll in the weight - or , strictly s peaking, in th e power- to -weight ra t io . Ev ery th ing see ms to ha p pe n t ha t m u ch fa s te r, even if the two v ery diffe rent k in ds of bik es a re lev el -p e ggi ng for t h e o ut rig ht lap reco rd around th e Austral ian GP c ir cu it . On a Wo rld S upe rbik e y ou a t lea st h a ve th e imp ression of being more or less in ch arge, able to use the kinder (if not less potent) power delivery of its fourstroke e ngi ne to someth ing a p proa c hing be st advantage , and above all to employ its mo re contro llabl e combin a t ion of e ngine b rak ing a nd metal d iscs with more assurance when stopp ing fro m high speed. Th is com pa red to the two- stroke's a ll-or -nothing carb on -c o mp os it e b ra k es a nd minim al engine reverse torqu e . But on the 500 , you're constantly pres e nt ed with the im pression of rid- ing on th e ragged edge, even though the Su zuki 's 186-mph-plus top s pee d is a ctually s lower than a lot of factory World Su pe rb ike s - it just gets th ere that much qu ic ke r, an d in doin g so mak es it ev en m or e c ruc ia l to pi c k p recisely the righ t lin e pra ctic all y ins tinc t ivel y through the s uccessi ve fa st bends a bound ing at Ph illip Isla nd , b ec ause th e optim um line gets na rrowed dram ati ca lly a t t hese s o rt of veloci ties . a nd yo u have that mu ch le s s time, le t a lon e ro om , to ma ke corrections . I ha d a good illust rat ion of that one lap climbing a wa y from Siberi a wh en - th anks to th e Suzuki ' s e xce lle n t t ra c t io n , even o n t he a ngle - I got suc h a good driv e o ut of the world 's most southerly racetra ck turn that I missed m y cutoff point into th e next right -hander and went in too d e ep , wh ich in turn put me wrong for a ll the rest o f th e hill up to Lukey He ights. There, I was effortlessly outbraked by Ro be rts h im s e lf - co m p le t e wit h a pitying shake of the head , before he gave me a m a ste r class in how to stop for the downhill MG ha irpin immediat e ly aft er. That ca me after a different kind of lesson in my previous session, where I Un le s s yo u don't brake a t a ll for turns, of co urs e. Les s on s in ma intaining mo mentum asid e - a n d e ve n at my m or e re stra ined pace on th e bike , I could app reci ate how we ll the Suzuki keeps up corne r speed , with good feel from the Oh lins for ks ad opted by the team m idwa y throu gh th e '9 9 season and ideally se t up to give lots of feedba c k from th e 17 -in ch Michel in fro nt ti re that the team inva ria bly races with - it was th e brak ing from high speed that to ok th e most comi ng to terms with o n t h e RGv500 . And that' s where I undoubted ly lost th e most time . La st yea r at Jerez, this was the o ne aspect of the bike I felt able to c riticize, a nd indeed its la c k of s ta bili ty und e r heavy br aking was a lso comme nted on by some of Ke nny's rivals , includ ing th e man he suc ceeded as Wo rld Ch ampion , Alex Cr iville. At Phillip Island a ye a r la te r, th is was the single gr eatest obstacle to a fa ster lap time , especially in terms of relea rn ing all m y brak ing poin ts to reflect the awesome effectiveness of the Brembo ca rbo n bra kes . Man ufac t u re d by the It a lia n fi rm fr om Mit s u bis h i co m pos ite m ateri al , wh ic h mai ntai ns heat lo nge r a nd so g ive s better fee l at lowe r leve r pressures , as well as blind ing ly -effecti ve binding at h igher speeds, these are also m or e dura ble , so that the Suzuki tea m has consumed just three sets of d iscs per bike a ll s eason, s a ys Brembo techni ci a n E u g e n io Gand olfi, wh o would prefe r th e RGv500 to have been us ing smaller 2 90mm dis cs at Phillip Island , as it d oe s at s ev e ra l other tra c ks to h e lp ke e p up d is c t emp e rature in co lder conditions . O nly Ke nny prefers th e bigg er 320 mm d is c s we we re using for the ir extra perfo rm a nce at t he s e ve ra l ha rd stops on the Aus tralian cir cuit. Th e S u z uki 's capa b le c h a s s is p roved j u s t as fo rgiv ing a ro u nd a fast, fe arsome trac k like Ph illip Isla nd as it had bee n ni mbl e a t a s lo we r, s w itchb ack o ne lik e J e re z. It st ill cha nges di rectio n so e asi ly, a nd fe lt be a u ti fully ba lan c ed d rivi n g h ard o ver th e bumps ex iting Si beria - we ll, whe n I d idn 't m iss m y en try point for t he ne x t t u rn! - s h rug gi n g o ff the e ffects of th em effortl ess ly as it kept driving hard up the hill. whil e hol d ing its line pe rfectly as it did s o . Throug h the next fast right , though , it was bet te r to take it one gear lower tha n yo u m ight hav e ex pected in or de r to sta y o n lin e , with the engi ne s ing ing at high re vs b ut off the e n d o f th e to rqu e cu rve : use a higher g ea r, and t his h a d th e e ffec t of push ing the front wheel wide and m a k in g y o u ba c k off to correct. was busy com plimenting m yself about how late I'd le ft m y braking for the balls -o ut first- t u rn Do o h a n Corner, wa iting until the ISO metre boa rd at the e n d o f the mai n p it s t rai g ht b efore knocking it back two gears and getting ha rd on the sto ppe rs - when KR blasted past, still hard on the gas in top gear! "I 'v e done a 31 around he re , but o nly by not braking at all fo r Turn On e ," confir med Rob erts lac onically lat er . "I just hook it back two gears at the 10 0 mark , and scrub off th e spe ed on the tire . It takes a while to work up to that · but it's one of the Suzuki's main ad vantages, how much c o rn e r speed you can carry o n it. That's o ur big ha ndica p: we' re down on hors e power compared to the Hondas a nd Yamahas , so if we c an get away ahead of them in a ra ce and make the right tire c ho ice, we 're looking good to win it. But if we have a Honda ride r ah ead of us, every time he gets on the gas ha rd, he pulls d ista nc e o n us on the exit b e fore ou r bi k e re sp o nd s, beca use of th e ir s uperior power deli v ery. That m a kes it awfu l ha rd to get pa st - I can outbrake a nyone on the Suz uki, but no t if I'm starting from 20 yards ba ck , b e cau s e o f the p o wer deficiency ." Kenny Roberts Jr. and his Telefonica MovlStar team ended a drought for Suzuki, w inn ing the 500cc World Championship In 2000. The last time Suzuki had tasted Wo rld Championship succe ss in the 500cc class was with Kevin Sc hwantz In 199 3. cue I e n e vv S • JANUARY 3, 2 0 0 1 15