Bostrom, DiSalvo Lead The Way In Daytona Tire Testing

Bostrom, DiSalvo Lead The Way In Daytona Tire Testing

© 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

American Honda’s Ben Bostrom and Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo recorded the fastest Superbike and Supersport lap times, respectively, on the first day of the Dunlop tire tests at Daytona International Speedway.

Bostrom recorded a 1:49.322 on his ex-Nicky Hayden Honda RC51 to lead all Superbike riders even though Bostrom only spent a few hours with the 999cc V-Twin and rode on Hayden’s set-up most of that time.

“It was Nick’s race-winning set-up from last year,” said Bostrom. “It worked great for Nick; it just didn’t work for me.”

Bostrom said Hayden’s set-up was “more dirt track…real high in the front, real stiff in the rear. He must have been burning the thing around the track.

“I tend to have the bike a little more biased toward the front and a bit soft in the back. Just two different riding styles.

“We left Nick’s set-up and burned through the (test) tires. At the end of the day, we changed it kind of to what I like, which is just softer everywhere. It’s like a new bike. That thing’s almost raceable right now. It’s pretty cool!”

Bostrom also survived a tense moment en route to his fast time. “I found a false neutral between downshifts in the second (west) horseshoe. I was like da-da-da-da-da, like I had plenty of time to stop, which you usually do if you go off the left side. But at the last minute, I locked the front. I was like, ‘Oh, no! I’m not going to stop!’

“When I lost the front it put me a little bit off angle. (makes gesture of not being straight up and down) Right before the (hay) bales, I fell off under it. It was strange because the bike bounced off the bales, then kind of did this wrestling move and body-slammed me.

“I had myself stuck under the sprocket and chain. The rear tire was still spinning. It spun a hole through my suit. I was stuck. I’m like, ‘I can’t believe it. I’ve never been stuck under a bike before, and I’m stuck!’ The bike didn’t get a scratch, just me.”

DiSalvo, 18, impressed with the fastest lap time among the Supersport riders in his first official appearance as a factory rider. DiSalvo said he got slightly lucky on his fastest lap, catching a draft from a Superbike down the back straightaway and then catching a second draft from Erion Honda’s Alex Gobert around the east banking to record a 1:53.032 on the new, fuel-injected Yamaha YZF-R6.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel was listed as doing a 1:51.247 on his Honda CBR600RR on the AMA Pro Racing timing and scoring system, but Duhamel told Roadracingworld.com that he cut through the chicane on that particular lap. Duhamel’s best actual lap time was a 1:53.628.

Even with the first two days of the test rained out and a late start on the third day, Dunlop National Road Race Manager Jim Allen was pleased at the end of Wednesday. “We’re pretty darn happy at the moment,” said Allen. “We’ve got race times going on right now with both types of motorcycles (Superbikes and Supersport bikes).

“I think it’s fair to say the new crop of 600s is probably improved, but I think we’ve addressed the issues that those things brought along and integrated by the track as well. So we’re pretty happy with the lap times on the 600s, and real happy with our times on the big bikes right now.

“We got good distance on the two Hondas today. We got race distance or segment distance on two of those with no problems at all and good lap times. So we’re happy.

“If there was an issue brought up by the track changes, and I really think there is, I think we’ve addressed those problems. When we designed the tires for this test, we took into account what we learned in October (at the Formula USA races), and I think we seem to be OK at the moment. Overall, things seem to be going OK. We’ll have a meeting tonight; all of us technicians will get together and pool what we’ve learned and try to figure what we can get out of (Thursday) morning.”

The Dunlop tire test at Daytona was scheduled to last until 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday.

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