Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts with files from Bob Dragich

Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom recorded the fastest lap time during AMA team testing Wednesday at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. After testing a ZX-6RR Tuesday, Bostrom lapped the rolling 2.2-mile road course at 1:27.16 on his big-bore ZX-7RR Superbike in cold and windy conditions Wednesday afternoon.

Bostrom led all times at the last test session at Laguna Seca, held on January 23, with a 1:26.215 on the 750cc version of his Kawasaki Superbike.

The second day of the multi-day, multi-team test at Laguna Seca started with rain, which limited riders to about 2.5 hours of track time in the afternoon, while other riders and teams packed up and went home without making any laps Wednesday.

Attack Suzuki skipped Tuesday, arrived at the track Wednesday morning, unloaded, then re-loaded their truck and went back to their shop. Defending AMA Formula Xtreme Champion Jason Pridmore told Roadracingworld.com that he felt he could accomplish nothing even if the rain stopped, which it did around noon local time. Pridmore’s teammate Josh Hayes was also in attendance but did not ride, while Attack Suzuki’s newly announced development rider Danny Eslick did not attend the test.

Yoshimura Suzuki planned to finish testing Wednesday, but decided to leave early due to the rain. In better conditions on Tuesday, Mat Mladin recorded a 1:26.4 during his first day with his new GSX-R1000 Superbike at the Laguna circuit. Mladin qualified at 1:26.553 on his GSX-R750 for the 2002 AMA Superbike race at Laguna Seca.

Mladin’s teammates Aaron Yates and Ben Spies weren’t quite as successful, recording a 1:28.1 and 1:28.2, respectively, on their GSX-R1000 Superbikes Tuesday.

Yoshimura Suzuki did not bring Yates’ and Spies’ GSX-R600 Supersport bikes to Laguna.

Yamaha’s factory Supersport truck left after team riders Jamie Hacking, Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert and Jason DiSalvo tested their YZF-R6s at the Monterey track for the second time this off-season on Tuesday. DiSalvo, who will only race a YZF-R6 in 2003, continued to ride his 600 Wednesday and nearly equaled his best lap times in the less-than-ideal conditions.

Meanwhile, DiSalvo’s teammates moved on to testing their Graves Motorsports YZF-R1-based Formula Xtreme machines. Hacking’s 1:28.4 was the fastest Formula Xtreme lap time, the second-fastest overall time for Wednesday and only slightly slower than Jake Zemke’s 1:27.808 from a January test of his CBR954RR FX bike at Laguna.

Bruce Transportation Group Honda’s Marty Craggill planned to test his CBR600RR and CBR954RR for two days at Laguna Seca, but a recurring pinched nerve problem in Craggill’s neck sidelined him after just a few laps on Tuesday. The Bruce team left the track Tuesday night.

Annandale Honda’s Ty Howard and Craig Connell were also at Laguna Seca testing their CBR600RRs and trying their CBR954RR Formula Xtreme bikes for the first time away from team headquarters at the Motorsport Ranch racetrack outside of Fort Worth, Texas. Connell spent more time in the pits than on the track Wednesday.

Bostrom’s teammates Tommy Hayden and Tony Meiring continued to test their Kawasaki ZX-6RRs but did not match the testing pace set by Yamaha’s Supersport riders.

Hayden crashed and suffered a concussion during testing at Laguna Seca on January 21 and missed two important days of testing at the challenging track.

So far this off-season, rain and/or wind has inhibited tests at Daytona International Speedway, Laguna Seca and twice at California Speedway.


Wednesday’s Fastest Unofficial Lap Times:

1. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:27.16
2. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:28.4
3. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:28.7
4. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:29.0
5. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.5
6. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:30.7
7. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:30.9
8. Ty Howard, Honda CBR600RR, 1:34.8
9. Craig Connell, Honda CBR600RR, no times provided by team