Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, Aaron Yates and Ben Spies will test alongside Suzuki MotoGP riders Kenny Lee Roberts and John Hopkins January 12-18 at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.

“That’s what the plan is at this point,” Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Don Sakakura told Roadracingworld.com Friday. “Suzuki’s MotoGP team has the course rented for the week, so we felt it was in our best interest, especially with as much rain as we saw at Daytona; we didn’t see adequate time on the track. And as you know once we start racing, it’s hard to find any time to test.

“We’ll spend this week shipping some product (bikes and parts) out and some crew and spend the week out in Malaysia. We’re going to try and simulate some of the summer (weather) conditions that we see here – hot with humidity in the air. Obviously, the course condition is going to be a little different than what we see here.

“It’s just mainly getting some time on the motorcycle, making some changes to the geometry and suspension settings and seeing how the motorcycle responds. We just didn’t have time at Daytona to go through the normal tuning and adjustments we wanted to look at. Just some good solid track time, a good solid week of running will be a huge benefit.”

Unlike the other AMA Superbike teams, Yoshimura Suzuki is tasked with developing a brand new Superbike from the ground up in 2003. “It’s exciting, brand new motorcycle,” said Sakakura. “I think the motorcycle has huge potential. We’re just trying to run through as many engine, transmission and suspension configurations as possible. A big concern there with us, obviously, is the transmissions, because we’re limited to ratio selection. We’re just trying to get an idea of how the motor responds at certain rpm at this point. I think the factory has found a few things to do to the engine as well (since the Daytona test). So I’m expecting we’ll be very competitive speed-wise this coming season.”

Since deciding to make the trip to Sepang, Yoshimura Suzuki has canceled a private test planned for January 16-17 at Pahrump, Nevada and will not attend a multi-team test to be held at Laguna Seca January 21-23. “With the California tests at Laguna Seca and Fontana,” explained Sakakura, “it’s still pretty questionable there with weather and temperatures. We go to Laguna every year and stand around with our hands in our pockets all morning and get to run a few laps in the afternoon. It’s actually not that productive. Our next test after this Malaysian run will be at California Speedway 5-6 of February.”

One problem Sakakura still faces is finding a data acquisition specialist. “I’m still looking,” said Sakakura. “The systems are built already. The systems are up and running. The (wiring) harnesses are built. The crew chiefs can handle it pretty much on their own from here. They can plug in and download, and the analysis is all done by the crew chiefs. I’m really looking for an individual to manage and maintain the systems, troubleshoot as needed. Not a really high-experience individual at this point is what I’m looking for. More of a computer guy than a motorcycle guy, someone with some general computer skills. My plan is to maybe send them to some seminars. They should be able to pick up the system fairly quickly.”

Mladin and Yates will test their new GSX-R1000 Superbikes, and Spies will test his new GSX-R1000 Formula Xtreme bike at Sepang. The team will not ship GSX-R600s to the test.