Bostrom Under 2003 Pole Time Tuesday Morning At Daytona Tire Test

Bostrom Under 2003 Pole Time Tuesday Morning At Daytona Tire Test

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

American Honda’s Ben Bostrom turned a 1:48.218 on his new CBR1000RR Superbike Tuesday morning at Daytona International Speedway. Not only was the lap the fastest so far of the three-day Dunlop tire test, the time was faster than Bostrom’s own pole position qualifying time of 1:48.376 for the 2003 Daytona 200 by Arai.

According to Merlyn Plumlee, Bostrom’s Crew Chief, the lap time came while Bostrom was making five-lap test runs on development Dunlop tires and pointed out that the CBR1000RR is “not anywhere near finished.”

Riding the second CBR1000RR that just arrived at the track Monday evening, Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke was second-fastest Tuesday morning with a 1:48.632, within his first 25 laps. Just before breaking for lunch, Zemke turned a 1:47.152, which would have been under the existing lap record, but Zemke admitted to blowing through the chicane on that lap. Zemke’s bike, however, was recorded at 192 mph through the tri-oval on team radar guns.

“Not bad for a crate bike,” joked Zemke. “Just wait ‘til we get it broken in.”

Third-fastest Tuesday morning – and not happy about it – was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin.

“I haven’t been a second off the pace for a while,” said Mladin. “They’re (Honda) already under the pole position time from last year testing tires, and we’re riding our ass off to be a second off the pace.”

Mladin feels the 2004 AMA Superbike rules requiring stock throttle bodies and airboxes on Superbikes have resulted in his Suzuki GSX-R1000’s reduction in top speed and slower lap times.

“We’re doing 183-184 mph. In August during the tire test we were doing 186-187 mph. They’re (Honda) doing 190 mph,” said Mladin. “I did a 1:48.2 in August when it was pretty hot. Now I’m pushing to do a 1:49.4.

“You ever ride so hard to be one second off the pace?” Mladin asked teammate Aaron Yates.

“It’s a f—king joke,” answered Yates.

Yates is the only rider to crash so far in the test, falling Monday afternoon one lap after recording his fastest time of that day, a 1:49.877. He did a 1:49.776 Tuesday morning to be fourth-fastest overall.

Once again a Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike was able to top Yates on the lap time charts Tuesday morning, as happened Monday. Although Yates was concentrating on testing tires Tuesday, Jason DiSalvo’s 1:49.508 was third-fastest overall and impressive nonetheless.

There are only two Superstock-specific tires for riders to evaluate at the test versus 15 different rears and four different front tires for the Superbike riders to get through. According to Dunlop National Road Race Manager Jim Allen, most of the Superstock tires will be constructed with the same compounds and carcasses of the Superbike tires, only in a 17-inch diameter.

Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking, the fastest Supersport rider of the test so far, spent Tuesday morning working on his YZF-R6 Supersport bikes. Mechanic Jefferson Burks said the 2003 AMA Supersport Champion was comparing a 2003-spec bike with a 2004-spec bike and looking for “that little bit we were missing last year at Daytona.”

At noon Tuesday, Hacking’s best time (1:52.376) was 0.4-second faster than Miguel Duhamel’s Daytona Supersport lap record (1:52.785).

Dunlop representatives declared that the track would be open all day, without a lunch break, but most riders and teams stopped for a break around 12:30 p.m. local time.

The weather continues to be near ideal for testing with the ambient temperature topping 70 degrees F shortly after noon, but the Dunlop men are concerned with the forecasted chance of rain on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning lap times (as provided by AMA Pro Racing Timing & Scoring):

1. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, 1:48.218
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, 1:48.632
3. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:49.416
4. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:49.508
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:49.776
6. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:50.809
7. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:51.316
8. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:51.768
9. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:51.846
10. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:52.376
11. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:52.384
12. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:52.573
13. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:52.896
14. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:53.562
15. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:54.999
16. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:55.304

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