Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts with files from Bob Dragich

Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom continued to show his mastery of Laguna Seca and the development progress made on his over-bored ZX-7RR Superbike by turning a 1:25.6 during testing Thursday at the Monterey, California circuit.

Bostrom’s time is better than both his 2002 AMA Superbike pole time of 1:25.716 and his 2002 World Superbike qualifying time of 1:25.875, approximately one-tenth of a second off Anthony Gobert’s AMA Superbike lap record, and Bostrom told Roadracingworld.com’s Bob Dragich, “I could’ve done that time on any tire they (Dunlop) had in the truck.”

Bostrom’s Kawasaki crew, led by Crew Chief Dan Fahie, has completely abandoned its 750cc machine in favor of two different over-bore engine configurations, one fitted into each of Bostrom’s Superbikes. The 26-year-old Californian said he didn’t know the exact differences between the two engines but knew that one was definitely faster, smoother and overall better than the other one.

Bostrom’s teammates Tommy Hayden and Tony Meiring continued to work on their ZX-6RR Supersport racers with some progress, according to Hayden. While Meiring worked mainly on his set-up and technique, Hayden developed two better fork settings that he wants to “marry” into one best configuration.

Both Hayden (1:29.29) and Meiring (1:30.3) recorded their best 2003 off-season lap times at Laguna Seca Thursday and all but matched the times set by Yamaha’s Aaron Gobert (1:29.14), Jamie Hacking (1:29.2) and Damon Buckmaster (1:29.8) from Tuesday and Jason DiSalvo’s 1:29.6 from Thursday.

However, the Yamaha trio only rode their YZF-R6 Supersport bikes for a few laps Tuesday with Buckmaster, for instance, only doing 19 circuits before all three switched to the development of their Graves Motorsports YZF-R1 Formula Xtreme weapons with great success.

All three Yamaha riders recorded lap times under the existing AMA Formula Xtreme lap record for Laguna Seca (held by Buckmaster at 1:27.855) Thursday with Buckmaster fastest (1:27.1) followed by Hacking (1:27.3) and Gobert (1:27.55).

Also in attendance Thursday were Annandale Honda’s Ty Howard and Craig Connell. Leaving the set-up of their CBR600RR Supersport bike to be completed during the CCS weekend at Daytona International Speedway, the Annandale Honda riders visited pit lane frequently to work on the chassis of their new CBR954RR racebikes.

Howard told Roadracingworld.com that his bike had “a wobble,” and Connell said his 954 had “a skip and a jump,” but Annandale Honda’s Jerry Daggett said that the team had found the right direction to go and was focusing on the steering head of the chassis.

In a limited number of laps, Howard turned a best time of 1:29.99, while Connell lapped at a best of 1:31.80.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios/American Honda’s crew returned from an annual bike-building expedition to HRC in Japan to do a shake-down test of their newly-constructed 2003 Hondas Thursday at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California, before heading to Daytona. According to sources on the scene, most of the Honda team left about halfway through the day, about the same time that gusting winds died down – which is the opposite of the normal weather pattern at Willow Springs.

Thursday’s Best Unofficial Lap Times From Laguna Seca:

1. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:25.6
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:27.1
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:27.3
4. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:27.55
5. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:29.29
6. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:29.6
7. Ty Howard, Honda CBR954RR, 1:29.99
8. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:30.3
9. Craig Connell, Honda CBR954RR, 1:31.80