Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Both Robertses Back On Track rc%r,i'T'] !#::: J:ilfj i1 Monday, January 23, tied for I lth place. Not only was it hiSher than he's been accustomed to placing for the last severai years, but it wasn't far off the pace. And the fact rhat he did it the ver,, first time the Honda-powered, Team KR MotoGP hybrid hit the racetrack was encouraFng. Kenny Roberts Junior and Senior both have a lot riding on this season. ForJunior, it's a chance to show that, afier several frustratint yea6 on the Suzuki GSV-R, he's still competitNe at the ate of 32. For his father, whos had liftle success since leavint Yamaha at the end of the I 996 sea- son, it s a time to prove that he can devel- op a competitive chassis around a race- proveh entine. By the end oI day one, both had reason to believe they were on the riSht path. Robens lr lapped th€ SepanS circuit in 2:03.80, not much off the lead pace of 2:02.14 s€t by Valentino Rossi. And not much behind the 2:03.686 Roberts Jr. turned in the Malaysian GP His first impr€ssion: "The motor's awesome. lmean, better than lcould have anticipated. Just so rider-friendlx and th€ power, the way that it comes in. it's iust like a sewing machine. lt s awesome. You can spin it when you lrant to - it accelerates hard in every 8ear. lt doesn't stop. Yeah. pretty amazin8." The motor is one of the many proven components on the machine. There is also the championship-winning Ohlins suspension and Michelin tires. "lt's up to us to tet the chassis and everythint workint and all the pieces of the puzzle to work totether. ' Roberts Jr said. "Once we do that, we should be as competitive as everybody. Until we tet all the pieces of the puzzle gelling cofe.tly, the lap times are going to be sliShdy less than another Honda or Yamaha or what- not. From where we shrted today, we're not a great distance off, and we've got a lot more that we have to go through and have ro get right to where the bike goes around the corner the way i( needs to." Roberts lr. said the bulk of the work was in the chassis. Helping out was Australian Warren Willing, who reioined the team he left to follow Kenny lr. to Suzuki in 1999. Last year, Willing worked for KTM. WillinS will work as a consultant and willassist race-team enti- neer Tom Joiic at the racetrack. The Roberts-Wi llinS partnership transformed Suzuki's RGV-500 two-stroke into a World Championship-winninS motorcy- cle in one year. Kenny Jr. won the 500cc title in 2000- 'At the moment, it's not a smooth cor- ner," Roberts Jr. said. "Obviously the track's different in many places, so some corners it feel. this or that, lt's not like we're going, 'Wlry is ir doing this?' lr's not like we're goang,'wlry does it do thir?'We need to tidy ever),thing up to do things. It's got to go from point A to point 8, which is braking to accelerating and finish- int the corher, iust faster. Whatever we've tot to do to make it do that is the thing what we have to adiust." Robertsjr. added that they'd done sev- eral thinSs to make it corner better and that it had responded well to the chanSes. "We made one or wvo changes that kept it the same, which Save us some other options and different directions to 8o," Roberts Jr- said. "There's nothing strange or drastic or netative about it- For the amount of time they've had it, it's quite a tood iob. That's going to be the bittest thi% in our lap times to get ritht, but so far it's pretq/ good." He also said that the enSine supplied more than enough power for the time being. "Until we get down to a lap time where we're iacinS with the guys in the front, there's not really anything that I need," Roberts Jr said. "l don't need to say, 'We need to work on this,' because I'm not even racinS with the 8uys. I've 8ot to Bet up to where they're at first, as far as runnin8 rac€s with the top 8u),s [is con- cerned, and] then improve it from there. Risht now it s pretty awesome." ThouSh the Bridgestone tires Roberts Jr. ra, last year worked well in Malaysia, and a few other track, and also in the wet. they weren't consistent. The Michelins were and hav€ been for years, which was something Roberts Jr. noticed by the end of the day. H€ used last year's rear race tire and a front tire that's slight- ly diflerent than last year's ra.e tir€, 'We did two race distances on two sets. and th€n we had a thi.d set, and Michelin was pretq/ happy with where we're at on lap time with the stuff we're usin8," Roberts Jr. said. "They're saying you can to to about this l+ time with th6e tires, and that allows us to work with on the bike. I actually went quicker at the end of the run, as far as the first two sets. We did the quickest lap time on the last lap, which would've been over raae distance." ')As long as they tell us we're doing good lap times Ior the tires that they're giving," Team manager Chuck Akland said, "then that makes us happy," Robens .lr said that what the bike needed to be competitive was: "Time and making even/thing gel together and get back up to speed. Mentally and phys- ically, eveD,thint felt tood. It's just a matter of being intelligent and making the riSht decisions, workint closely with rhe team and then puttint ouBelves ih the ritht frame of mind to make tood luck - the riSht place at the right times. The hardest rhing I rhink was iust getring the lirst day done and over with, Now we have a base to where we can improve within ourselves to what we have. lt's at a stage where it's going to be the most raw and roughest and unproven situation that we will have all year. Technically, as a rider and as an engineer and a5 a team, it'll get better, because you have hard inrormation on what works in whach way and what rhould be better for what issues you're having." Tearn manager Aksland added that it was important to: "Remember this is the first day it turned a wheel on a mcetrack, and the first time Kenny's ridden in about three months. Overall, we're fairly happy in where we are and direction and the areas that we need to improve. From here on out 'til we get to the first mce, we'll iust work on those issues. "Like Kenny said, we concentrated on iust finding a good balance so we'd have a level where he's comfortable at and a decent understanding of the bike," Aksland continued. "Now we can start progressing through the list of items. No use throwinS things in there when you're three, four seconds, five seconds off the pa.e, whatever, Obviously, as the lap times drops, it kind of changes the condi- tion or the feel of some of those items. We still have quite a lot of stuff to get throuSh. But we have, obviousry, a test at Phillip lsland, and we come back to Sepant and then we test in Spain before the first race. We have enough time and we have the backup support ofthe facto- 0,, to react quickly to any o{ the needs the race t€am requires." The team arrived in Sepant with only one complete race bike. Aksland expects the second to show up for the Phillip kland t€rt nrxt week "l don't think I would've even used a second bike today for the mixed condi- tions and the thinSs we wanted to change," he said- "You can't anticipate chantinS until you try The state we're at, we're not rcally, in my opinion, w€ re not really hindered by only havinS one bike. We're at a state to where it's not saying we're toint to try this shock in this one and this shock in that one. But as we get closer to racing, that'll become more crit- ical. We'rc not fa. off lap-time-wise. but we're not close sefting-wise." "We got all the ritht pieces, so it s just a mauer of putting them all together and bein8 intelligent about what we do," Roberts lr. said. Henfiy Rat Abromt Team Monster/Pro CircuidKawasaki's Ben Townley sulfered a knee iniu.y on Januar,, l6 that will keep him from taking part in the AMA East Supercross Lites Series for the team. Townley s!ffered a tom ACL litamert and minor damage to his rcL and MCL lita- mems, which will require surgery ard will caus€ him to miss the entire Sup€rcross s€a- son. He hopes to be read for the AMA Motocross Lites s€ries that starts in May. Mike Kidd Entertainment Group has announced that Gary Be€kcr. lhe former CEO of PACE Motor Sports, ha5 loined the company that now directs the BooKoo Are- nacross Championship Series, as well as othel motorsports even6 that Becker and Kidd are dweloping. Becker helped PACE Motor Sports to becorne one of the larSest motorsports-promotion rompanies in the wodd - a cornpany known for it5 Super- cross series that Becker helped build, which was then acquired by SFX Entertainment and then Clear Channel. 'lAfter fours years of retirement, l've missed the sport and the p€opl€ involved that really brouSht about a lot of passion for me," said Becker. "l'm ready to get back inlo the motorsports business, and I ftink lYike Kidd has a great start with the BooKoo Arenacross Series. Mike and I both have the same philosophy. that our events should support the growth and success ofall partier invotved, including mcerc, sponsors and teams," ln addition to sponsoring the Caterpillar rnotocross team for the 2006, Help- meride.com will also suppoft the Hooter'! AHA road-racing team in the coming iea- son. Anthony Fania lr., who work for Helpmeride.com, will also ride for the Hooter's team in selected East Coast events this ),ear. The Grand Prix ol Valen ia, at the Ricar- do Tormo Circuit on tfie outskins of the Spanish cit),, has earn€d the IRTA trophy as "B€st Grand Prix 2005." This marks the third time the circuit has won the award. The IRTA trophy is awarded based upon a point-scoring system that covers every aspect of the runninS ol a Grand Prix. Fantasy Racar has announced that you can download dre trial version of THQ's MX vs. ATV Unlcrshcd (PC Versiofl) by visi.- ing wwwFantasyRacer.com. FantasyFacer.com is the only motorcycle- related site where you can downlqad the trial version of the popular recing game, according to Fanrag/ Racer "We are very happy to announce rhis agreement with THQ, and we think MX vs. ATV Unleashed is the best motocross Same by far," said Fantasy Racer's Chris Kawasaki. "We really missed the tmck editor, so we are glad that it is back in the PC version." Fanasy Racer is a company that offers fantasy-racing leagues Ior the motorcycle-racing enthusi- ast at FantasyRacer.com. For more informa- tion, visit www. funtasyRacer.com. The AMA has announced that Doudar NGubauer has been promoted to the posi- tion of vke president of AMA SporB, the AHAS Amateur and Pro-Am competition division. Neubauer, who previously was Con?inued on pcge I I o o o o Kenny Roberti Ja (

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