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/1542269
"lt seems like, in years past, I seern to remernber dnt there [were] a couple of [motorq/cls] that ],ou sat up on top of, and a couple of companies Olat you sat down in," he said. "Honda used to be one of those that you sat down in. But now it's kind of the othef, way around. lt's 8ot wide bars ard you sit up on top of the thing and kind of wrestle it around, where $e lGwasakis] I rode last year w€re the exact opposjte; ).ou sat down in them. lt's liftle things like that. The bike's $ill a motorcycle, it still Soes around a racetrack similar ways, but they have a lit- tle different feel to dlem." One bi8 difference was that, except for a very brief stint in last year's Dq,.tona 200, he hasn't ridden a 600 since 2(X)2. "lt's been quite a while, so l'm having !o learn a feel for it atain," he said. 'Ar this point ir all feels kind of numb to me. lt iust feels stifl I iust pin it ever,,- where. Whenever I get a better feel for the bike, I think my riding will come a.ound a liftle bit befter on that thing also." The Superstock CBR I 000RRs aren't what he and Gobert will be racint this year. "From what I understand they're'04's," he said. Teammate Gobert heard from his brother, Alex, who he replaced, that they hadn't changed much from 2004 ro 2005. "We realt weren't hr off from the m4orit), of the guys," Hayes said. "There were a couple of gq,6 that were pretty far out there. These bikes are streetbikes flat are not - speedwise, enginewise - \ rhat we're Soint to be racing." Hayes ended up well offthe pace in Superstock, but he wasn't worried. "We got laps, but we didn't get all the laps that we wanted," he said. "The lap times didn't show what I was hopint for I am a little frustrated with the lap times. Part of it was probably me. I felt like I didn't ride too bad, but it wasn't my best rhow either. So, hopefult, tet a couple of more testt in before we come here to race, and get us all ready to rock-and-roll." Gobert finished the test iust behind Hayes in both Superstock and Formula Xtreme. Like Hayes, he wa5 looking forward to the updated Supersrock bikes. He also said that he expected more out of fresh Formula Xreme motors in i4arch. "With the lap time I was going, I'm confident to come back with the bike setup and be fasr," he said. 'And I don't really think the Yamaha s l+ tlme is any- thing to worry about because that's Uason] Disalvo, he always toes quick like that. Tha!'s every sintle bike. He always does a second-a-lap quicker lap time. He's been pretty consistently fast, but I think his con- sistent lap time ir not too far off where we could be as well. The future will tell anyway when we get our new engines ahd when we go faster," Gobert and Hayes came to Florida filled with hor- ror stories about the Superstock 1000. Hayes said it wasn't as bad as he'd heard, and Gobert echoed those comments, "Superstock, we accomplished a lot for a bik€ that everyone sort ofcomplained about," Gobert said. "Not everyone, but you know around the world they've had a lot ofsuccess. But in the Superstock version, the way the AHA has the rules, it's been hard to 8e! the bike to work. Af|d we've had it working straight away. I don't think we're too far off either. I think we've got a big future - Superstoak - as well." Gobert was encou.ated by the progress of the American Honda riders on the '06 models "The geometry is a little dilferent, but as for the suspension mechanisms, that's goint to be the same," he said. "That was the toalt to get settints on the sus- pension that will tiansfer ritht over And we did that on the FX bikes as well. We had our'05 models, we did all our suspension woak, put it stiaight on the '06s and we didn't chanSe a thing. lt wes perfect." Neil Hodgron mullr things over on lhe Ducqti Austin compule.. Formula Xtreme! l. Jason Oisalvo famaha) l:41.647 2. Miguel Duharnel (Honda) l:42.663 3. ,osh Hayes (Honda) 1142.796 4. Aaron Gobert (Honda) 1A2.978 5. Jake Zemke (Honda) l:43.346 6. Eri. Bosrrom ffamaha) l:43.901 7. Ryan Andrews (Honda) l:44.942 L Ty Howard (Honda) l:45.155 Jorh Hoyrr Adion Gobert pftri:'' 4 ,,fr t/ ,/ li I I m iit o ,'} I ----! ffi I JI A ( t \ NI I l I ') I I lit E.dl { CYCLE NEWS , JANUARY 18,2005 37