Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Final lap times:

1. Ben Bostrom, Honda RC51, 1:49.322
2. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:49.468
3. Anthony Gobert, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.475
4. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:49.626
5. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:49.869
6. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:50.076
7. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:50.382
8. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:50.474
9. Gaku Kamada, Honda RC51, 1:52.644
10. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:52.716
11. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:53.032
12. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.348
13. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-636RR, 1:53.435
14. Marty Craggill, Honda CBR954RR, 1:53.454
15. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.628
16. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:53.871
17. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:53.977
18. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.109
19. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600RR, 1:55.204
20. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR600RR, 1:55.583
21. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR600RR, 1:55.599
22. Kurtis Roberts, Honda CBR600RR, 1:56.432
23. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:56.660
24. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:56.677
25. Marty Craggill, Honda CBR600RR, 1:59.112
26. Brian Parriott, R1100RS, 2:19.384

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Bikes rolled out onto the track at 10:37 a.m. today at Daytona International Speedway to begin the annual Dunlop tire tests. The test was scheduled to start Monday, December 9 and end today, but rain on Monday and Tuesday forced riders to sit out the first two days. Tuesday, officials extended the test until 1:00 p.m. local time Thursday, December 12.

The delayed start on Wednesday was not directly due to rain. Riders waited until the west banking of the speedway tri-oval dried before heading out.

The banking is so steep that portions of the track remain shaded from sunlight until the sun climbs higher in the sky.

The first factory rider to go on course was Kawasaki’s Tony Meiring on his ZX-6RR. Meiring was quickly followed by several other riders.

Technically, Brian Parriott was the first rider to go on course during the three-day test. Parriott actually took to the wet 3.56-mile road course Monday morning on a BMW Boxer Cup racebike supplied by BMW North America. Parriott was again the first rider out on Wednesday.

BMW’s appearance at the test was a special deal set up between BMW, Dunlop, Daytona International Speedway and AMA Pro Racing. The most surprising element was that Parriott rode on Metzeler/Pirelli DOT-labeled tires with special permission from Dunlop National Road Race Manager Jim Allen, as a courtesy to the AMA Pro Racing and the Speedway.

“We’re trying to downplay that part of the deal. Jim Allen was very generous. It was very nice of him,” said BMW North America Aftermarket Consultant Richard Dampf. Dampf was involved with the BMW Legends race program. “We’re just testing clutches. The lap times aren’t very important. That’s why we aren’t worried about the damp track.”

Gerald Young, a BMW North America employee who works as an instructor at AMI, also made laps on a BMW Boxer Cup bike on Monday morning but did not run Wednesday morning.

Young and Parriott will join Jimmy Lewis, Jay Springsteen and an undecided fifth rider as BMW North America’s tentative team line-up in the BMW Boxer Cup race. The controversial BMW Boxer Cup race is scheduled as a support race for the AMA Superbike weekend at Daytona in 2003. Other BMW Boxer Cup racebikes will be supplied for American journalists and VIPs to run in the March race.

Another new face appeared on pit lane Friday morning. HRC test rider Gaku Kamada suited up and took one of Miguel Duhamel’s RC51 Superbikes out. “He was here for testing in August,” said American Honda Team Coordinator Ray Plumb. “He has a very good feel for some things.”

Most of the factory riders pitted after their first lap or first few laps of the track. As the riders returned to the pits, mechanics pulled most bikes’ lower fairings off and put torque wrenches on bolts, apparently looking for fluid leaks and loose fasteners. One rider who didn’t pit after his first few laps was Parts Unlimited PJ1 Erion Honda’s Roger Lee Hayden. Hayden was the first rider to crash, falling at approximately 10:50 a.m. local time.

“I lost the rear over in the second horseshoe,” said Hayden, who was uninjured in the highside. “I don’t know what happened.”

Neither Hayden nor his mechanics knew if they would be able to get Hayden’s bike back on track. Evidently the parts supply for the new Honda CBR600RR is low.

Teams are expected to test straight through Wednesday, skipping the lunch break, and be back on track at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning. Rain is forecast for Thursday but not expected to arrive in the Daytona Beach area until the afternoon, after the test is scheduled to end.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Fastest lap times as of 3:40 p.m. Eastern Time:

1. Ben Bostrom, Honda RC51, 1:49.811
2. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:49.812
3. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:50.291
4. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:50.303
5. Anthony Gobert, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.461
6. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:50.993
7. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:51.029
8. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:51.045
9. Gaku Kamada, Honda RC51, 1:53.331
10. Marty Craggill, Honda CBR954RR, 1:53.454
11. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.628
12. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:53.639
13. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.725
14. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:53.977
15. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.041
16. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-636R, 1:54.100
17. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.386
18. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.948
19. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR600RR, 1:55.599
20. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600RR, 1:55.738
21. Kurtis Roberts, Honda CBR600RR, 1:56.432
22. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:56.676
23. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:58.571
24. Marty Craggill, Honda CBR600RR, 1:59.112
25. Brian Parriott, BMW R1100RS, 2:19.384

From a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

Walker and Toseland test new Ducati

Chris Walker has made his long awaited debut on the Ducati 998 F02 at the team’s first pre-season test at Valencia. The Nottingham rider joined team-mate James Toseland for a three-day test session at the Spanish circuit that will host the first round of the 2003 World Superbike series on 2 March.

As expected, Walker quickly became familiar with the power and handling characteristics of the HM Plant Ducati, despite an ankle injury sustained in a Supermoto accident last month. He made good progress on the first two days of the test but opted to sit out the last day (Monday) to rest his injury.

“I felt a bit beat up and sore after covering 40 laps on Saturday and Sunday,” admitted Walker. “I couldn’t move my ankle properly so I wasn’t really able to get any valuable feedback. However, I was dead chuffed to get into the mid-35s on my first shakedown test, which is already a second faster than I’ve ever gone round this circuit before.

“When I first jumped on the HM Plant Ducati it felt great. The riding position was a bit different to what I’m used to but it didn’t take long to adjust my style. Under the circumstances, I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve in terms of getting a feel for the twin and settling into my new team. I’m now desperate to get myself fully fit and ready for the next test in the new year.”

Now entering his third season with GSE Racing, James Toseland’s objectives at the start of the test were different to those of his team-mate: “I was eager to get on the HM Plant Ducati again after two months. I’ve missed the track time and was determined to get as many miles as possible under my belt even at this early stage.

“The new F02 has more poke through the power range compared to last season’s model. That was what I expected and needed for 2003. My fastest lap was 1:35.37, set on race tyres, which equalled Ben Bostrom’s lap record from earlier this year. I was also able to run consistently in the mid-35s. However, I felt quite tired on the third day after completing 240 laps, so there wasn’t much for me to prove and I didn’t want to risk a crash just for a faster time.

“I’m really pleased with the way I’ve ridden and I feel that I’ve taken full advantage of the good weather conditions we’ve enjoyed over the weekend. Dunlop has provided me with a wide range of tyres for testing, and that has proved useful. I know the track really well too and it will fill me with confidence for the remaining tests and the start of next season.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Ammar Bazzaz is leaving his position as Technical Liaison for the Yoshimura Suzuki team to start his own business.

“Basically, I’m going to go out and do some freelance work and do some design work on some projects that I wanted to work on,” said Bazzaz Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway. “The relationship with Suzuki is very good; there’s no problem there. I just felt, for me, it was time to look for some new challenges, both technically and personally.

“I’ll be starting out with some basic freelance consultation work, obviously using data acquisition as a pretty important tool, and also implementing integrated data acquisition and fuel systems for race machines. Then I’ll maybe move into some machine parts and possibly suspension, diversifying into some aftermarket fuel-injection equipment, throttle bodies or other aspects of racing, drag racing, etc. I’m working on getting a few projects going in racing. I’ll still be around (the paddock) next year.

“I’ll see where it goes. I’ve got plenty of work to keep me busy for a while, which initially was my fear but that’s gone away. It’s a little scary in one sense. In other ways, it’s a good change for me. It’s exciting, but it’s also strange to leave these guys. I’ve been here almost six years.”

Bazzaz was at the Daytona tire test filling as the data acquisition specialist for Yoshimura Suzuki in place of the departed Hiro Yamaguchi, who left to work with Cosworth Racing in the CART series. Yoshimura Suzuki is currently looking for a new data acquisition specialist.

Bazzaz’s first solo project will be working with the Annandale Honda team to set up the team’s data acquisition/engine management systems on its AMA Formula Xtreme racebikes.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

After three seasons in the Superbike World Championship, Ben Bostrom is back in the U.S., riding for American Honda. Bostrom will compete in the AMA Superbike Championship, and will make one guest appearance in 600cc Supersport, riding the new CBR600RR in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.

As rain washed out the first day of the Dunlop Daytona tire tests Monday, most of the riders left the track at lunchtime. Bostrom, however, stayed until the end of the day, and Roadracingworld.com caught up with him in the garage area.

Roadracingworld.com: All the other racers have left. Why are you still here?

Ben Bostrom: Because my crew’s still here.


RW.com: What are your thoughts about coming back to AMA racing?

BB: I’m real excited, real excited. It’s nice to be home.

The last couple of months have been so fun. Right now, I feel that I’m in the best shape of my life. I’ve just been training and playing so hard. I haven’t done this in three years. I’ve almost forgot what it’s like to be feeling strong.

It’s good to be back with everyone again. I’m really fortunate that Honda took me back. I’m lucky, lucky to come home.


RW.com: Over in Europe, did you just have to do a lot of stuff in each hotel’s gym or run laps around the racetrack or what?

BB: Yeah, stuff that actually takes motivation to do. ‘Man, I’ve got to go find a gym.’ And that’s not easy to do in Europe. I can put on my running shoes and go for a run, but there’s a lot of cars, there’s a lot of smog. It’s just not easy to motivate yourself.

Here, I’ve kind of got my friends. I’ve got all my toys. The most important thing is to have my brother there – my life-long competitor. We get up, and we’re like, ‘Let’s do something.’ It’s not like you just go and ride your motocross bike. He’s on the track, too. So, all of a sudden, it becomes this race. Go climbing, and it becomes this who-can-get-to-the-top-off-the-rock-first race. Even if you’re surfing, we’re just going for waves. It’s kind of funny. Everything’s been a real competition. It’s good for your mind, body – I’m stronger than I’ve been for a few years. I’m pretty excited.

Daytona is such a long race. That’s why I wish we were testing right now. Daytona’s kind of a classic. I think everyone would like to say, ‘I won the Daytona 200.’ Just kind of something to put on the shelf there. I don’t think there’s any other race like this. If you think about all the races we have, the Daytona 200 is a classic. I’d love to come here and say we won it. I came to America just for this, to get another shot at it. I thought I’d never get another shot at winning this thing.

The track makes me nervous, but I still want to win so bad. You kind of have to (block the danger out), but it’s always still there. I remember in ’99 after testing, it was almost impossible to hold it wide open. I only did it one lap, and that was probably my qualifying lap, pin it over through (NASCAR) turn four. Otherwise, I would just kind of roll it off and roll it back on again. I bet I was giving up a half-second.


RW.com: What do you think about riding a 600 again, the new CBR600RR?

BB: Normally, I wouldn’t be too excited, to be honest. But in this case, I went and tried the bike out. I did about 10 laps on it, and the thing is awesome! It’s really unbelieveable. It’s probably the first time I could say the bike did everything right.

I’ve ridden several different kinds of bikes. It’s like you’re out in the corner, and no matter what, it’s going to walk the front end wide when you get on the gas. It’s just not going to stick. If you got it to where the front sticks good, you’ve got no grip. But that thing just does everything right. It’s pretty amazing, so I’m pretty excited.


RW.com: Some people say coming back here from World Superbike is a demotion. How do you feel about it?

BB: No, there’s only two good options, really. There’s either go to a GP team and be on A-equipment or not go at all, because it’s just not worth it. Either be on A-tires and A-equipment or just don’t go.

Or come to America, because World Superbike’s lost its…the top five guys left. It’s not going to be as much fun next year. I saw the AMA series would be more competitive, and more than that, I wanted to come home.

I was like, ‘God, I want to come home!’ And there was just no way to come home, because I want to come home to a good team and stuff. When this door opened up, I couldn’t wait to put my foot in there.

Plus it’s good to be back with Honda again. It’s a good company. It’ll be really good for ’03. It’s exciting. The last two months of my life are probably the funnest I’ve had in the last three years. It’s a good welcome home.


RW.com: Do you think the World Superbike series is a hollow Championship this year?

BB: Yeah, it is, unfortunately, because a couple of manufacturers dropped out. I think everyone’s going to be racing Neil (Hodgson). Neil’s got the best bike, the best tires. He’s going to be kind of hard to beat. Hopefully, Ruben will ride really well and push him. At least there will be two guys up there. Granted, they’ll both be on Ducatis, but Ducati stuck with it. So they’ll win the title for sure. It’s theirs for the taking.

But yeah, you come to America, you’ve got all the manufacturers, you’ve got several good riders in it. This is for sure the premier Superbike class next year.


RW.com: What were your options for this year?

BB: We had a couple of GP things and some World Superbike things, but nothing sounded better than coming home.


RW.com: Talk about tires, were they an issue last year?

BB: Yeah, that was an issue for about half the guys, really. What happens some times through history, you see one tire manufacturer, more or less, gain speed on the other one. It’s unfortunate. The first two years I was over there, there was quite the balance between Dunlop and Michelin; that made for really great racing. You’d see probably seven or eight different winners. It was really cool. Every race, it was guaranteed three or four guys had a shot at winning the thing. That was really fun. It was good for the crowd. As a matter of fact, I think that’s what kind of built up the whole crowd.

Then last year, unfortunately, Michelin kind of figured something out. They went ahead and did a good job. They did their homework and controlled the series. They had three riders with Colin (Edwards) and (Troy) Bayliss and Xaus. They pretty much (were the) top three the whole series. I mean, they did a good job and deserved it.

The Dunlop boys worked real hard. Every race they were bringing us a couple new development tires, trying to get it going on. We just never hit it. We were just kind of hoping at some point they were going to hit it and then it would be our turn to win, but it just never happened. I know they’re working hard this year, too, to catch back up.

From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

HRC Winter Test Jerez, December 10, 2002.

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly on Jerez

The HRC winter test at Jerez, in Southern Spain, continued in inclement weather on the second day of the planned three-day test. Rain prevented serious work in the morning and, although it eased off in the afternoon the lack of sunshine saw the track develop half-dry/half-wet conditions for the four HRC riders to contend with.

MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi did not participate on day one of the test but took his RC211V Honda out onto the damp 4.423km track today, for nine laps.

“Unfortunately the weather is not good, the track conditions are very tricky. I asked the mechanics if I could take the bike out, even though I had nothing to test, I have not sat on my bike since the last race. But it was not much fun; the track surface was just too wet to enjoy it. I really hope we can get some dry time tomorrow,” said the World Champion.

American Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden had to test. The 21-year old Kentuckian has no experience on the RC211V four-stroke in wet conditions, nor on the Michelin tyres he will use in his debut season at MotoGP level in 2003.

Hayden, who completed 47 bone-chilling laps of Jerez said “For me everything has been positive today. I need to get as many laps in wet conditions as I can; I need to be able to have a good feeling with the bike in the wet. Any experience I can gain here will help me in races.

“I have only the Superbike to compare the RCV with but the RCV feels much more precise than the Superbike in the wet. Even though it is much more powerful than the Superbike, this bike is easier to control. I am beginning to get a very good feeling from it.”

Gresini Honda rider Daijiro Kato continued his testing programme. With no dry time to undertake test on the parts they came to Jerez to try out, Kato concentrated his time on wet-weather set-up.

Kato said. “The rain is not all bad. I had some problems in the wet last season and it’s good to be able to test the bike in these conditions. The four-stroke is heavier than the NSR and the tyres have a different feel. It’s hard to move around. I’m working on my strength to help this. So we can say the test turned out OK for me. But I hope it’s dry tomorrow so we can test what we need to test.”

Tohru Ukawa, the most experienced RC211V rider, was not at all disappointed by the weather and used the conditions to his best possible advantage. Ukawa is more at home in wet conditions than the majority of his rivals, and although he did not revel in the conditions he was happy at the end of the day.

“The weather is obviously not what we wanted and the lap times are not good but I’m happy with what we have done so far. At the very least we have found a really good wet set-up. We have not done all we wanted to but we have tomorrow, and I hope it’s dry. But really we learned a lot about the RCV in the wet,” Ukawa commented.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

The annual Dunlop tire test at Daytona International Raceway remained on hold Tuesday due to rain, but officials have arranged to extend the test for an additional half-day on Thursday.

Tuesday started with heavy overnight rains ending, and the prospects of riders getting on track looking good. Riders took trips out onto course in pit vehicles to inspect the drying process early, but rain returned to the famed World Center of Racing at 11:30 a.m. local time and continued into the afternoon. At 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, some teams had loaded their bikes into their trucks and left the circuit.

Only a few riders actually came to the track Tuesday, opting instead to stay at their hotel waiting to be called to the track by their teams if the track dried enough to ride.

In the meantime, Dunlop National Road Race Manager Jim Allen has made arrangements to extend the tire test into Thursday, December 12 but only until 1:00 p.m. Thursday. Even then, Allen says Dunlop engineers won’t be able to accomplish as much as they had hoped.

“Right away, as soon as you lose track time, you’ve got to prioritize,” said Allen. “It’s very likely that some of the stuff we brought won’t get tested or it won’t get tested as fully as we would have liked it to. If we have a full day tomorrow and a half-a-day on Thursday, we’ll have a-day-and-a-half instead of three days. We won’t be able to test as much or put the distance on as many tires as we wanted to do. We’ll just have to do the best we can.

“Over the years, we’ve been pretty damn lucky, really. We’ve never lost a full day here that I can recall. All the December tests I can recall, half-a-day here, half-a-day there, but I don’t think we’ve ever lost a full day. That goes back to the early ’90s, maybe before. So quite some time.”

Asked if he could spread the new and different compounds, constructions and sizes of Superbike slicks and Supersport DOT-labeled tires over all of the different riders to make the most of the available time, Allen said, “We do that anyway. We sit down, and let’s use Eric Bostrom as an example, he has a really good feel for compounds. So Eric will do the compound testing. Kurtis has a real good feel for casings. So we’ll have him test the casings.

“You get two or three guys to do each of those tasks. Then you can sort of put them together. Eric said this. Kurtis said this. Miguel said this, but he also said this. Then we’ll try and get Eric to try the casings and Kurtis to try the compounds and see what they say there.

“That’s what you try to do. It’s always dangerous to put all of your development into one guy. If the guy’s wrong, then you’re wrong. You try to get two or three different opinions. If they’re all divergent, then you’re really screwed. If they coincide, then that’s a pretty good indication that you’re on to something.”

Allen said that Dunlop brought 21 different combinations of Superbike tires, front and rear, and 16 different combinations of Supersport tires, front and rear, to test. Most of the tires are Daytona-specific, and at least half of the tires are new designs aimed at withstanding the new challenges presented by the revised chicane layout and resulting higher speeds.

From a press release:

TORONTO, ON – The Parts Canada Superbike Championship, Canada’s national motorcycle road racing series will sport a new look when the 2003 season gets underway at Shannonville Motorsport Park May 15-18.

Professional Motorsports Productions, organizer of the national tour has released its final rules package for the coming season. Central to the new regulations are performance restrictions for the feature class, designed to control costs and encourage stronger participation.

Motorcycles racing in the new headline division, still called Superbike, will be faced with a 155 horsepower limit. Minimum weight has been set at 360 pounds while engine displacement is unlimited. There will be an ‘open’ tire rule, meaning slick, or non-treaded tires are permitted. However, they must be mounted on stock 17-inch wheels. Brake and suspension modifications are substantially restricted.

Horsepower will be verified post-race on the series’ official Dynojet Dyno.

“Thanks to the co-operation of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha we have been able to develop a set of rules that should provide continued excellent racing in the Superbike class,” said Colin Fraser of PMP. “In today’s environment money seems to dictate who can excel in motorsport. We’re doing our best to open the doors for talented riders to compete at the top level, whatever their financial means.”

As part of the implementation of the new rules package, Honda’s RC51 and the Kawasaki ZX-7RR ‘works’ Superbikes have been grandfathered for the 2003 season. They will be allowed to compete next year with additional restrictions agreed between the four major motorcycle manufacturers and PMP.

Those two models were the most exotic equipment involved in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship over the past few years. Steve Crevier won the 2000 and 2001 national title on a Honda Canada RC51 while Owen Weichel placed second in points last year aboard the Canadian Kawasaki Motors prepared ZX-7RR.

In a further move designed to bring new blood into the feature class each of the four participating manufacturers will be required to provide direct factory support to at least three riders in the Superbike division.

Rules have also been finalized for the pro Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike and amateur International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW 600 Sport Bike national support classes in 2003. Power will be restricted to 110 hp and minimum weight is 360 pounds. Both standards are identical to last season’s Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike rules.

Manufacturers will also be required to field three riders in the pro 600 Sport Bike national class.

The Amateur 600 Sport Bike series makes its national debut in 2003. Full details on the new program will be released shortly.

After opening at Shannonville Motorsport Park near Belleville, ON May 15-18 the 2003 Parts Canada Superbike Championship will visit Calgary, St-Eustache, QC; Bowmanville, ON; Shubenacadie, NS; and Mont-Tremblant, QC; before concluding back at Shannonville Aug. 29-31.

The schedule is the busiest for the national tour in almost two decades.