a ton of money; I can't imagine how it
affected the privateers. We salvaged very
little from the bikes after that race."
Berluti: "It was terrible. Not only is this
a race, but it is a show, too. We are repre-
senting the manufacturers, so we have to
make sure everything looks great. We have
to make it look like a brand-new bike
every time and after that race, we had to
replace everything. We have enough parts
on the truck to build a couple of bikes, but
luckily, we were in California, so we were
able to do it in the shop."
The bikes aren't the only things that have
to look good. The team driver washes and
cleans the semi, trailer and the canopies,
plus takes care of other duties, such as get-
ting groceries for the weekend, while the
mechanics prep the bikes. On Friday, the
crew starts setting up the pit area, takes the
bikes through technical inspection, then
spends the rest of the day finishing up the
motors that will be used the following week.
On race day, Gosselaar's and Berluti's jobs
turn to setup.
Berluti: "We have a lot of help on race
day. It is sort of a group effort. Showa sends
a suspension tech, Scott Bennett, to each
round. We've been working on suspension
settings with Ivan all year, and every week
we try to refine it a little more."
Gosselaar: "Ricky does a lot of testing
at his home, and he usually comes to the
races with changes in mind. We are
always changing stuff. Everything is con-
stantly changing and a lot of that happens
in practice."
A lot of testing is also done during the
week, when there is extra time.
Berluti: "Testing is a never-ending
process. Ricky is hard-core when it
comes to testing. His dad has a good test-
ing program at their house and Ricky
comes in with new engine settings every
week. His emphasis on testing is a big part
of his success."
Once the nightly program starts, Berluti
and Gosselaar are prepared to make last-
minute adjustments and listen to their
rider's needs. Sometimes they are as much
psychologists as they are mechanics.
However, if everything goes right, they will
only need to gas the bikes and make small
adjustments on race day, besides keeping
the riders updates during the race, via a pit
board. Once the race is over, Berluti and
Gosselaar pack it all up and get ready to do
it all again. And again... CN
C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 19, 2006
49
(Top) The Makita Suzuki team uses
two motors for each bike, which are
constantly being rotated and rebuilt.
(Middle) Machine work on the head
is done at the shop, but Berluti
(shown) and Gosselaar prefer to do
all other work out of the trailer.
(Left) The factory rig is a complete
mobile shop, equipped with every-
thing the team might need on any
given race weekend.
