Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Honda Does La E,Yffiffi A merican Honda rolled out iE 2006 r&e Aruike for the ti.st tl-e during an abbrevi- ated t6t at Mazda Raceway h8una Seca at the end of last week, and there were smileB all around. But whh onty one other Supetike team te$int, Jake Zemke wesnt ready to rnake any predictions. l,lore will be known after the next test, February 73 at Califomia Sp€€dway, when all the factory Superbike t€ams gather in one place lor the fihal time before the season opener in Daytona "lt'll be realh/ good iust to have e\.ery- one back, to have Mat lMladin] back out there," Zemke said of the six-time AMA Superbike Champion who's currently test- ing in his home country o, Australia. "He's the point man, he's the rnan werybody's chasing, 5o it's good to have him at the racetmck at the same time we are, to see where the rabbit's at." The two-day Laguna test became a one- day aflai[ with heavy mist and fog limiting track time to only a handful of laps on the first day. The expected winter weather, ahd past expe.ience, kept the other teams away, with ont A,rneri@n Honda, Erion Honda and Kawasaki on track. The 2006 Honda CBRI000RR race bike was completed the day before the test, said American HoMa teem coordinator P6y Plumb. The '05 is a combimtion of parts the team dev€loped ovEr the past yean as well as HRC kit parts. The .ha..ris .ame off a 2005 stocker. "The bottom line is, we start with a 2006 base macha[e, and we've updated it," Plumb said, 'r\nd it worls better." Zemke had nothing but prarse for the a new bike. And he was €ven morc upbeat that he wasn't srarting the serJon several months behind, as h€ and toammate Mi8uel Duharnel had staned the 2005 .ampaign. "l honestly feelthat the '06 does tum a lit- tl€ bit better than the '05 did." Zemke said. "The blke seemed really .ide.-friendly. The power delivery is delinitely impro/ed. lt iust seemed like the whole bike overall was easi- er to ride. Usually that equates to farter lap times, if you're able to the same lap times quite a bit easier; usualv you can step it up and go quicker." But Zemke wasn't able to better his lap times. hrt of that was due to les+than-opti- mal track conditions- "lt looked like a din track," Zemke said. "You could see a groove of where we were running almost the whole way around the racetrack. From the recent rainr they had up there, there were spots up there where you could see that the mud had washed across the track. lt wesn't really toing away. vvith only a couple of bikes running away, it wasn't really cleaning the track redly well. "We weren't, in the end, able to go ary quicker than we did last year in the race, but we were able to go just as quick. We were a couple of temh! oII what I did in the race, but I was able to do tho6e times quite easily without really pushing hard. So far, even the other places we've gone. we've been quiak- er pretty much everywierc we've Eone, e,\cept for going to this last test. Ard Laguna uually seems so dependent on weather. Tempemture usually seems to play a big role on lap times at that racetrack. I'm not too worried about it. 'jAnd thints are definitely a lot better than they were last year," he continued, "We've 8ot that Iull season of development into rhe bike. lt's not like we got the new bike and we took a big step backwards or anything, We 8ot the new bike, and we're at least as good if not befter than where we ended the searon, and I think we're actually quite a bit b€tter than where we ended the season." But there's still work to be done. The team has made the switch from Showa to ohlins suspension. Zemke said it work bet- ter on trail-brakinS into the corners. "lt seerns like that aiso helps the bike to tum once you do get into the comer by being able to hold the b6ke on longeG" he said. "lt seerrE to tum belter under biaking. lt helpi quite a bit. For mpelf, it gives a lot more front-end feedback and feel to the ,ront end." What they haven't tettled on is a swingarm. The choices ar€ the HRC kh part and the KR model made by Team Robem- "We haven't mad6 a firm decision on that y€t," Plumb said. "Each track is toinS to maybe show rome diflercnt ad ntaSe or disadvantage for each arm, depending on which arm you're running. The KR arm does seem to hook up a little bit better on the side and straight up ind down." Plumb said that Zemke favored the KR arm, but that Duhamel "hasn't had enough time on it to really make a solid decision. I think you'll see the guys maybe switching back and fonh." Zemke agreed. "l think it's definitely something going we're going to have to look at track to track," Zemke said. "ln this test previous to Laguna, I definitely felt like the KR had some advantages. At Laguna, the kit swingarm and the KR rwingarm were very similar. So I think it will probably depend on track. And it's one of tho5e thin8r, when you get to test, it help6 out a lot. lt's defi- nitely something we're Soint to be lookint a!, definirely going to most of the tracks, is to tD/ both swingarms, because right now one doesn't have a clear-cut advantaSe over the other in every situation. ''Leadint up to this teat," he cominued, "it s€emed like the KR had better drive 8rip, whereas the kh swinSarm had a bit b€tt€r side 8rip. I would imagine track where you would be ofl th€ side of the tire trrinS to acc€lerat€ a [ot, those would be the type of trickl where the kk arm would be b€tter And bEuna is one of thoBe types o, tra.k, but at the sam€ time. k seemed like the t'ack at laguna had enough grip that it did- n't matter what swingarm we were on. I $ink it (omes down to two rhingi: One is tmck grip, ard then owiously the type oI comers that are on a certain track." The Fontam test will be another chance to te5t the swinSarms back to back, hop€- fully with better weather Ahd more tirne to dial in the '06 Ohlins gas-charyed fork. "Obviousty, we're going to have to dial those back in," Zemke said. "l hope we can improve on wfiere we were last time at Fontana. And if we can do that, it'll be real- ly tood." H.nrl kl ,fi.rurns ! o o "The bike seemed really rider-friendly. The power delively is definitely improved. It just seemed like the whole bike overall was easier to ride.' Jakezemke The ISDE: Want To Try To Qualify? The AIYA has issued its rules and reSulations for those wishinS to try to qualify for Team USA for the 2006 ISDE. The followingare the requirements: A letter of inlent and a $60 fee are required from each rider who wishes to qual- it for Team USA. The letter of intent and fee mus! be re

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