Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P73 time it felt like I was running on a treadmill, because every time I got off the bike, I had to get back on to go back out there," Mees said. Above all, Márquez was better than he was at the first race, back in January. "Marquez took two huge steps since the first race," observed Chris Carr, the AMA Hall of Famer present to help with commentary on the English- language TV coverage. "He had a motorcycle that was dialed in a little better. That wasn't the same motorcycle he was here on in January." Márquez confirmed this after winning the race. "This year we make like a MotoGP test with the Spanish guys in my team," he said. "We did many tests, changed the speed and managed the set up." But Chris Carr insisted it was more than just the bike. "Márquez looked prepared. Mostly mental- ly, because what he did tonight is not like wrestling an RC213V around a track. He was prepared to race, and he's undoubtedly a great racer—not just a good rider, a good racer, as all great cham- pions are." The race was nearly decided in the first corner, when French Supermoto rider Thomas Char- eyre fell in front of the pack after getting the holeshot. That nearly put Márquez off his bike, and caused Mees to stall, putting the two favorites back in the pack. Kenny Noyes, reigning Spanish Superbike champion and former dirt tracker, took advantage, and tried to open up a lead. What did he think when he saw the chaos in the first corner? "It was beauti- ful!" Noyes joked. He had planned to line up on the outside of Mees and Márquez, but Mees had told him to line up Briefly... One of the biggest adaptations for the AMA regulars was the use of 17- inch wheels shod with wet Super- moto tires, rather than the 19-inch wheels they were used to racing with. Brad Baker had experience from last year, but both Jared Mees and Shayna Texter had a steep learn- ing curve. "Getting used to 17s has been a big problem for me," Texter said. "I'm still not 100 percent com- fortable and confident on them. But as the night and the weekend went on I got better. Hopefully in the fu- ture, if I plan to run on 17s, I would spend a little bit more time testing before going racing." Mees had less trouble adapting, but he had an extra day of testing. "At first I was a little skeptical when I practiced with them, but they were fine today," Mees said. "We use 19-inch Dunlops at home, and they're a little skinnier, and defi- nitely a little taller, but it wasn't that much of a difference really." The main difference between the two wheel sizes? "The 19s raise the bike up quite a bit, so you have to lower it a bit more. But the way it reacts is about the same actually. You just got to get used to it, it's more of a confi- dence thing." The Superprestigio may have been intended as a bit of light-hearted entertainment, but the riders were taking it all too seriously. "This was supposed to be fun, but fun is winning at any cost," Tech 3 Ya- maha rider Bradley Smith quipped. It was visible both in terms of equip- ment and in terms of support. There were riders with low exhaust pipes, special forks and fork internals, and even riders experimenting with fuel and ignition mappings throughout practice. There were even rumors Just before the first-turn melee that put top riders Marc Marquez (93) and Jared Mees (1) near the back of the pack. continued on next page

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