From a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

Yoshimura Suzuki team test
Sepang, Malaysia

MALAYSIA TEST SEES MLADIN SHARE TIME ON BOTH SUZUKI SUPERBIKE AND MotoGP MACHINES


Four times American Superbike Champion Mat Mladin has returned to Australia after completing a solid four-day test session at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia where he shared track time with fellow Team Yoshimura Suzuki rider Aaron Yates and a number of the factory supported MotoGP teams.

The off-season Malaysian test saw 31-year-old Mladin continue to work on the development of his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in preparation for his title defence in this years AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship that commences at Daytona on March 6.

While at Sepang, Mladin was provided the opportunity to complete a number of laps aboard Team Suzuki’s factory prepared GSV-R MotoGP machine. Reports from the circuit had Mladin circulating at 2 – 3 seconds off the pace of regular team riders Kenny Roberts and John Hopkins. A remarkable effort given the short period of track time, difference in machine performance and characteristics and different brand of tyres that he is familiar with.

“I had about an hour on the bike which saw me do about a dozen or so flying laps,” said Mladin. “It turned out to be rather frustrating actually as I was initially told that I could have a full day on the bike to try and put an independent evaluation in it. In the end I didn’t get enough time on the bike to give them too much to work on.”

The main focus of the four-day test was for Mladin and his crew to take advantage of clear weather conditions and maximise track time aboard the Superbike. Rule changes that affect the performance of their championship-winning GSX-R1000 for this coming season have the team searching for the best possible overall package that will allow them to remain at the top of the championship.

“There wasn’t as much new stuff to test as we had here last year”, added Mladin. “We’ve run the bike for a season now, so we were here just trying to sort things out to comply with the rule changes for this year. The altered rules that have seen us go back to standard throttle bodies and air boxes has robbed us of a lot of horsepower, so we just have to work on making the bike better for that situation.”

“We’ll reconfirm a lot of what we did when we return to America and go to Fontana (California Speedway) in a couple of weeks time.”

“It was a tough test, where I had a few other things on my mind, so I’m actually looking forward to heading back to the States next week and knuckling down to the work that we have and make sure we are ready for the start of the season.”

No official lap times were available for either Mladin or Yates from the test.

Mladin will be aiming to stretch his unprecedented tally of American Superbike Championship titles to five as he heads into this years 18-race Championship.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The AMA team tire test at Daytona International Speedway is being attended by a virtual who’s who of AMA Pro Racing officials.

Attending the test are:

Merrill Vanderslice – Director of Competition
Ron Barrick – Superbike Series Manager/Race Manager
Rob Hallam – Assistant Superbike Series Manager/Race Manager
Rob King – Technical Manager
Bobby Lemming – Starter/Equipment Steward
Kerry Graeber – Vice-President, Director of Communications
P.J. Harvey – Chairman, AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors
Mike Buckley – Vice-President, Dunlop Tire Corp./AMA Board of Directors/AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors

AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth is expected to attend the test on Monday.

Ken Vreeke and Ken Lee of Vreeke & Associates, the Public Relations agency representing Dunlop and Honda, are at Daytona.

The test is also being attended by several tire engineers from Dunlop, Michelin and Pirelli.

From a press release issued by Yamaha:

YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TESTS
Sepang, Malaysia

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Introducing MASAO FURUSAWA General Manager, YMC Technology Development Division

YAMAHA ‘CHEF’ PREPARES FAST-FOOD FOR HIGH-SPEED ‘DOCTOR’

The recently appointed head of Yamaha’s new MotoGP Sports Department is gearing-up the famous Japanese Yamaha factory for a full-throttle assault on the 2004 MotoGP World Championship. The 52-year-old Masao Furusawa, who has worked with Yamaha since the early 1970s, heads up the factory’s massive effort to wrest the World Championship from its biggest rival.

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi rides for Yamaha this season and Furusawa likens his head of development role to that of a chef – a chef preparing winning high-speed machinery for the Champion known as The Doctor. “We have prepared some ingredients, now we are mixing them together and soon we will be able to taste the result,” he said at Yamaha’s first tests of the year here in Malaysia.

Furusawa and Rossi are united in the goal of winning the World Championship in the Italian’s debut season with Yamaha and the Japanese boss has the highest regard for his new rider. “I like his character and I appreciate his grasp of the technical matters that need attention. His crew is also a great help.

“I started mid-season and have looked carefully at what we need to upgrade. One area is horsepower and we have increased maximum speed too, but this is not everything in MotoGP. We investigated the chassis and introduced a new one at Valencia last year.”

But it’s this season when the results of Furusawa’s direction will show. “We have prepared different specification engines and chassis and many smaller items. We currently have four types of engines and four types of chassis to try. We have five more tests before the first race and we will test them all
and then combine the results to make a good bike.”

Furusawa has forged even closer links between Yamaha’s renowned Research and Development department and his MotoGP set-up and he fully appreciates the pressure time puts on the factory’s brave bid for World Championship glory – the first race at Welkom in South Africa is on April 18. “So the deadline for making the best bike is two and a half months,” he said plainly.

From a press release issued by Yamaha:

YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TESTS
Sepang, Malaysia
Sunday, January 25, 2004

Ambient temperature: 29 degrees C
Track temperature: 41 degrees
Humidity: 60%

YAMAHA TEAM RIDERS STEP UP THE PACE IN STEAMY SEPANG

As track temperatures matched the scorching 41 degrees of the Malaysian Grand Prix in October 2003 Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team) cut his lap time down to a best of 2:03.17. This was more than six tenths of a second faster than his best time from day one of this three-day session. The Italian completed 66 laps, among them a brief ride on a Yamaha M1 with a different engine specification.

“I’m very happy with today’s work,” said the reigning MotoGP World Champion. “I had a good rhythm with the bike today and all the changes we made helped us towards consistent lap times. The suspension settings with the 16.5-inch Michelin front tyre are quite good now and although we need to do more work with the engine, I’m happy with what we’ve achieved at this stage. The other engine was good, but it’s very new and needs a few more development kilometres before we can really tell how good it is.”

Rossi’s Crew Chief Jerry Burgess was typically realistic about today’s improvements but was quietly satisfied with the progress made. “We’re going forwards,” he said. “We’ve been playing around with the little things, now we’re up and running fairly consistently and we made a minor mapping change to the engine which was slightly better.

Spanish star Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team) put in 58 laps of the 5.548km track with a best time of 2:03.57. He tried a selection of different front tyres and believes he has found an effective set-up with a 16.5-inch front tyre.

“We tried a lot of different front tyres today,” he said. “The bike has been working well in some areas, but we didn’t quite get the consistent results I wanted. I managed four laps in the 2:03 bracket but we have more work to do tomorrow, as well as tyre endurance tests.”

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Team) completed 36 laps and fell without injury at turn six in the morning session. But the gritty Italian bounced back to record a best lap of 2:04.90 in the afternoon after finding a front tyre that allowed him to fully exploit the power and nimble chassis of his Yamaha M1.

“This afternoon was much better,” he said. “Once I found a front tyre I liked things started to work for me. The crash was as strange as the one I had here at the Grand Prix last year. But my shoulder is getting better and today I could do five laps at a time. But each lap I got slightly weaker and it felt like someone was adding 10kg to the bike on each lap! It will be stronger tomorrow and we’ll work on improving engine response.”

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Team) worked his way steadily through a total of 61 laps and the Japanese ace is methodically carving down his lap times. Today he recorded a best of 2:04.90 – a full second faster than his best of yesterday.

“Things are getting better,” he said. “We’ve got some work to do still on the front suspension, but to achieve this improvement on several sets of one type of tyre shows we are going in the right direction. We’ll go step-by-step tomorrow and see what improvement we can make.”

Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Team Director Herve Poncharal was happy that both riders broke through the 2.5 second barrier and he expects bigger improvements on tomorrow’s final day. “We have good bikes now for the individual needs of both riders and now we’ll see how much we can improve again on new tyres.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins crashed Saturday during practice for the celebrity Crossover race at the San Diego, California round of the AMA/Clear Channel Supercross series.

Hopkins, an accomplished motocross racer, came up short on a jump during practice and injured his ankle. Hopkins told Roadracingworld.com that he believed he just sprain the ankle and described the injury as “not a big deal.”

Hopkins said he planned to have the ankle checked out by doctors within the next few days.

More details will be posted as they become available.

From a press release issued by Spectrum Motorsports:

Spectrum Motorsports have completed their Aprilia Ducati Performance and Service Center. The Grand opening will be “Pasta Day” January 31st, with Ducati’s team rider Eric Bostrom on hand to sign autographs. Local Italian restaurant “Bella Rosa” will provide pasta and refreshments between 11.30 am and 1.30pm

Spectrum Motorsports is located at 45 Oldfield Road, Irvine, California 92618. Tel: 949 859 3186. www.spectrumotorsports.com


More, from another press release issued by Spectrum Motorsports:

Spectrum’s Aprilia Ducati Service & Dynojet Tuning Center Is Open For Business.

More than 1 year after it was first established as a Ducati dealer and two as an Aprilia dealer, Spectrum Motorsports is pleased to announce the opening of its new performance department and Dyno Jet Tuning Center in Irvine, California. Spectrum has brought over from Europe two technicians and a Service Director who previously worked at three of the largest Aprilia Ducati Dealers in the UK. Neil Freeman has trained at Bologna for seven of the last 14 years and will head up the service department, assisted by our two valve specialist Neil Foreman. Cliff Walker will be Service Director and the shop will cater to all Italian brands, specializing in Aprilia & Ducati.

Spectrum Motorsports has just installed the latest Dynojet 250i for its ram air Dyno room becoming a Dynojet Tuning Center. The workshop will focus on performance, concentrating on engine building, cylinder head work plus custom fuel maps, but this will not detract from the regular service work. Spectrum Motorsports has a suspension technician available for Ohlins and Showa service and set up.

Donations to the Roadracing World Action Fund, Inc., a 501(3)c non-profit corporation dedicated to reducing racetrack injuries by encouraging the use of soft barriers, have reached $262,669.75 for road racing and $19,147 for dirt track, for a combined total of $281,816.65.

The Action Fund educates racetrack and racing organization officials, racers and spectators on the benefits of reducing rider injuries by deploying air-filled soft barriers in front of walls, embankments and other obstacles located adjacent to racetracks.

The Action Fund arranged for AMA Pro Racing to deploy soft barriers at the Springfield Mile dirt track last September, and followed that up by adding six sections of inflatable Airfence brand soft barriers to AMA Pro Racing’s deployment inventory. For unknown reasons, AMA Pro Racing did not issue a press release on the deployment agreement, despite being asked to and responding with “We can.”

In the meantime, both Clear Channel Entertainment — Motor Sports, which runs the F-USA Series, and SMRI, which runs races in New Mexico, presented the Roadracing World Action Fund with plaques commemorating the Fund’s educational soft barrier deployments with those organizations during the 2003 racing seasons.

The 2004 season marks the Roadracing World Action Fund’s fourth year of promoting motorcycle racing safety through educational deployment of soft barriers.

Fred and Adrienne Bittner started 2004 off for the dirt track portion of the fund, with a $450 contribution. Mr. and Mrs. Bittner’s donation of $2900 in 2002 in honor of injured racer Papa Thiam, along with another $2900 donated in 2003, was enough to buy, transport and install two full sections–almost 60 linear feet–of inflatable soft barriers.

Web-based pledge drives to support the Roadracing World Action Fund are increasing, with bulletin boards and dot-coms throughout the motorcycle community joining in.

The Buell riders and enthusiasts at Badweatherbikers.com raised a total of $800 for the Roadracing World Action Fund through sales of a poster celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first Buell motorcycle, the RW 750: “We as motorcyclists would like to commend Roadracing World for having the initiative and drive to make the Air Fence Fund work. As fans and as racers, none of us like to see bad things happen to good riders, especially when something can be done about it. Thank you for all of your efforts, they do not go unrecognized. Sincerely – The collective ‘BadWeb,’ and Buell Riders and Enthusiasts.”

Mark Brereton has contributed $900 from sales of his DVD entitled “Road Race,” available at www.customflix.com. Brereton has pledged $5 per DVD sold.

Other web-based donations include Carolinabreeze.com, donating $100 “In the name of Mat Mladin,” and R6MessageNet.com donating $20 to start an ongoing campaign for increasing the use of soft barriers.

Other recent contributors include Charles Buse, $250; Scott Whetzel, $20; and Jay Barfield, adding $50 to his ealier donation of $25. Barfield sent this note with his donation: “In honor of the Eagles/Panthers NFL playoff game bet I had with Frank Angel. My team, the Panthers, won the game, thus giving me the honor of donating to the airfence fund. Thanks, JU and Roadracing World Action Fund. Oh, and Frank Angel owes me Philly beer, pretzels and a cheesesteak.”

Summary of Recently Posted Contributions

Mark Brereton/Road Race DVD $900
Badweatherbikers.com/Buell Enthusiasts $800
Fred & Adrienne Bittner $450 (Dirt Track)
Charles Buse $250
Carolinabreeze.com/In the Name of Mat Mladin $100
Jay Barfield $50
R6MessageNet.com $20
Scott Whetzel $20

Accounting Details
As Of January 22, 2004

Road Racing Expenditure Details

Direct purchase of soft barriers: $101,350
Shipping/Customs: $5654.75
Bank Fees: $344.05
Soft Barrier Deployment Crew Training: $700
Transportation & Installation: $4689.47
Corporation/Business Fees: $612
Online Auction Fees: $221.99
Printing Education Materials: $346.42
Misc Supplies: $39.59
Donation to AMA Pro Racing for soft barrier purchase: $104,104

Total Spent: $218,062.27

Total Donations Collected $261,869.75
Misc. Income $92.32

Cash on hand: $43,899.80
Soft barrier orders pending: $40,000


Dirt Track Expenditure Details

Direct purchase of soft barriers: $9200
Shipping/Customs: $2717.72
Transportation & Installation $2174.77

Total Spent: $14,092.49

Total collected: $19,147

Cash on hand: $5,054.51

All administrative costs, including the percentage taken by credit card companies on credit card donations, have been absorbed by Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

From a press release:

Drive Systems USA is the new US Distributor for AFAM products. AFAM products and services that were previously available from AFAM USA will now be provided by Drive Systems USA. As the new company develops, it will be offering a greater selection of products and services for the enthusiast. Contact information for customers and racers wishing to send in their resumes for racer support is:

Drive Systems USA
5953 Engineer Drive
Huntington Beach, CA 92649, USA
800.290.9040
Fax 714.379.9042
www.DriveSystemsUSA.com