Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o o o o o Briefly... t F-- I - Voshimura Suzuki's Ma( lnlladin arrived I ar Phillip lsland in Australia on Monday, January 16, to continue the test- int program he began the pervious week after a four-month recovery from surgery Mladin declared the three-day test at Eastern Creek, just outside of Sydney, a successful test of both himself and the new Suzuki GSX-R1000, despite rajn on the third day. "We didn't get anything done on the last day, but the first couple of dqls were good," Mladin said in a cell-phone inter- view from Phillip lsland. The six-time AMA Superbike Champion had surSery on his left ankle on September 9 in Los Angeles. The proce- dure was done to correct a number of iniuries, including one suffered in an ultra- light accident l0 years ago, and last January's crash at the Daytona tire tert. The surtery was a success, but his recov- ery was slowed by problems with his Achilles' (endon, which had had a limited range of motion for a decade. "k was great. No worries. Even/thing s fine," ln'lladin said of the ankle. He added that he hadn't been overly concerned about the four-month hiatus. ''l',ty second or thrrd lap of the test at Eastem Creek - we never had this bike to test, we didnt know anythinS . b), my sec- ond or third l+ at the test. I only relly went a couple seconds faster (han that after two days, he said. 'l ceftarnly renlly wasn't rusty or anythinS. I iust got up to speed and 8ot goin8. lt was all good," Having missed Dunlop's Daytona tire test, Mladin was playing catch-up in Eastern Creek, testing many of the same components that teammates Ben Spies and Aaron Yates tried in Florida. "lt's stuff I had to sort through on my own." he said. "Some of the stuff I had actually thought I had an idea on from the last race at Atlanta. We just got some new engine srufr which we put in at Erstern Creek and certainly found tome improve- ments there, Suspension... we tried some new stuff and found some improvem€nts there. Overall, after lust a couple days at Eastem Creek, the bike is certainly a lot better than we left the last race with." Mladin's clutch problems were well documented last season. The worst case was a DNF at California Speedway. And in other races. hir fear that the clutch might fail, after a restan, caused some anxiety. The Yoshimura team tested a clutch designed by Eskil Suter late last year and continued to do so in Daytona. Eastern Creek was Mladin's first taste of the clut.h. "lt's a lot better," he sard. "we've cer- tainly got a good motorcycle to start the season with. that's for rure." Mladin confirmed that the clutch was infinitely adjurtable. "But for Eastern Creek," he noted, "we got to the point where it was very 8ood, and then we moved on. There was a couple of little things I d like to see happen befo.e we get to Birmintham at the end of April, Bur tenerally, the clutch worked realy well and much. much better to start with." Of the new Showa suspension and Suzuki 5win8arm, Mladin said they tried ever,,thin8. ''We certainty found some positives with eve4/thin8 and, obviotisly, we found a couple o, neSatives with some things," he said. "Overall, 8ene6lly, it wEs 8ood. Suzuki has been workint hard on the Superbike, and it certainly showed. ''We got a lot accomplished. Without going into detail. we tot through a lot of rtuf{, and we ll continue that tesfing start- in8 tomorrow at Phillip lsland." At Phillip lsland, l'4ladin will be testing alongside a number of the world Superbike riders, including World Superbike Champion Troy Corcer and. possibly, former MoroGP star l''lax Biaggi. The ltalian is expected to make his World Superbike debu( at lhe test. None of which .oncerns lvlladin. "we'll ius( conlinue on and do our thing," he said. "We've got a bunch more stuff to 8et through, and Dunlop's 8ot some stuff that they need to Eet on. Probably the people who we really need to do a lot with at Phillip lsland are Dunlop. They ve got a bunch of different stuff there to test, and stuff they want to try to l€arn - the tires for 2006 - and things like that. We've tot a bunch of stuff w€ need to run thaough there." Mladin said he wouldn't be using a qualifyint tire ro cldm bra€gin8 riSh6 over the world Superbike crowd. "l don't know if rhey brought qualifying tires," he said. "l won't be usinS them. I don't use qualifying tires at a test." Setting (he fastes! time isn't his goal at the test, 'Absolutely not. I don't care what they do. No. Vy'hy should l?" he asked. "Prop the ego up a little bitl That's not really the case, unfortunately. l've got testing to do, we've got a championship to win in America in 2(x)6, and what flroy] Corser does or any of the other EU,,s, I lust don ( The test is four days, though Mladin said he didn't know if he'd stay for the duration. Late next week, he'll return to America, with his first track time coming at Califomia Speedway, February 7-8, the flnal all-teams test before Daytona. Th€n i('s back to Australia in the third week of February for the Suzuki GSX-R600 and 750 preis introductions at Phillip lsland. Henfil Ro, AbrdJns Continued f.on pdge 9 remains hospitalized in stable condition. An MRI and other scans have erEblished that a weak blood vessel near the top of his brain began to leak, causin8 swelling of the brain. Fortunately, without the need for surgery the bleeding has subsided, and his condition and symptoms are continually improvint. lnhially, Sorenson experienced symptoms on Wednesday, lanuary 4, but felt that pos- sibly medication, a result of a recent motocross crash that injured his ankles, was the culprit. lt now appears that the leakinS vessel was not a result of his crash or the medication, but rather an existing, irolated factor. Cards and letters lor Darrin Soren- son can b€ sent to Yamaha Motor Corpom- tion. aftn: Racing Department, 5555 Katella Avenue, Cypress. CA 90630. The GNCC Series has announced that Rdaer X lrlustrdted will sponsor the flrst- ever Roccr X GNCC Holeshot Award. At each ofthe 2006 Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Pro Bike event!, Rocer X wjll award $ l0o to the Pro rider who grabs the holeshot in Sunday afterfloon s bike event. ''We love helping the riders out, whether it's with the Rd(er X Gas Card in Amp'd Mobile supercross, Team USA at the Motocross des Nations, or the new GNCC Holeshot Award," said Davey Coombs of Rocer X. "The GNCC starts are always exciting - dead-engine start, the count- down, the fans screaming for their favorite riders - and this award should help make things a little more interestinS: Get the holeshot and you tet (he moneyl" ln addi tion. Rdaer Xwill increase its coverage of Suzuki GNCC racinS in 2005 with a new magazine section titled "Quick Fill," which will be conrained rn the 'P"acerhead" news portion o[ each issue, providing news and scories from the GNCC tour. The GNCC series kicks off dunng Daytona Bike Week with the Orange Crush GNCC in De Leon Sprints, Florida, lt{arch 4-7. For more infor- mation, visit GNCCRacinS.com. Online gaminE company betandwin,com has renewed its agreement with the MotoGP World Championship's .ommer- cial rights holders Dorna Sports to acquire the title sponsorship package for three rounds ofthe series in 2006. Following its sponsorship of Grand Prix evenrs in Portu- tal, Grear Britain and Valencia last season, the Austria-based company will again be given the right to name the events. The Gran Premio beandwin.com de Espana will be the opening round of the season, taking place at theJerez circuit on March 26, while lhe betandwin.com Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at SachsenrinS and betandwin-com Giande Premio de Portugal at Estorilwill be the IOth and l6th rounds, Continued on pdge 13 CYCLE NEWS . IANUARY 25, 2006 I I Mol lt^ladin ladin h- ack On Track

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