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/1492570
Gagne Heads Buttonwillow MotoAmerica Team Testing T wo days of semi-private team testing at Buttonwillow Racetrack Park ended last week with Fresh N' Lean Progressive Yamaha's Jake Gagne at the top of the heap for a second straight day, this time by just 0.69 of a second over his teammate Cameron Petersen. Gagne's day ended prematurely, however, with a tip-over mid-afternoon. Fortunately, the two- time MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike Champion escaped uninjured, but opted to call it a day and start his drive home to Colorado. Gagne completed 21 laps on the day with his best lap a 1:41.875, which was 0.102 of a second faster than his best on day one. "We made some good progress," Gagne said. "We were here earlier with some new parts, a swingarm and some stuff so where we came from with the last test to this test, I think we made a lot of progress with the bike. I'm a lot happier leaving here than when we left the last one (test). We learned a lot. "I just made a mistake and threw it off into the grass. It was my bad. My foot was kind of under the shifter, which they told me not to do, of course. I was already in there and already did my shifts, but my foot was still under the shifter, and I got a little quickshifter blip when I was leaned over and that took weight off the front. It wasn't that fast, but I got off in the soft grass over there and caught an edge. "I'm still leaving here happy. We made a lot of progress, and we were going fast easier and that's all that matters." After spending the first day testing the YZF- R6 that he will race in the Daytona 200 in March, Petersen was back on his Superbike on Wednes - day, and he finished just off Gagne's best with his 1:41.944 coming on his 28th of 36 laps. "Great test," Petersen said. "Yesterday, I was all day on the 600, so today we jumped on the big P32 WIND IN THE Jake Gagne led the way at MotoAmerica Superbike testing at Buttonwillow. PHOTO: TUCKER SCOTT bike, and it took me a good session and a half to get used to a big bike again. We went through our whole test program, we had a bunch of stuff to test, and we ended up going faster than I've ever been around here other than on a qualifying tire. And it felt rela- tively easy, so there's some big improvements on the motorcycle and we still have some stuff in the works. I think the bike will be even better two weeks from now when we come back. There's nothing but smiles on my face and it gets me excited to go racing again."