Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert and his crew sent a serious message to the rest of the AMA paddock by turning a 1:27.120 lap during AMA team testing at California Speedway in Fontana, California Tuesday afternoon. What made Gobert’s lap time such a statement was aside from being the fastest lap among the five Superbike riders and the 14 total riders present at the test, Gobert turned his time in his very first outing on his new 2002 Yamaha YZF-R7 Superbike in his first real test day at the newest AMA track and on a race tire.

In fact, Gobert’s lap time fell just 0.2-second short of Nicky Hayden’s unofficial motorcycle lap record for Fontana’s 2.36-mile infield road course. Hayden turned his time (1:26.97) on his race-tire-shod 2001 Honda RC51 Superbike at the end of a two-day test in mid-January.

“The engine on the new bike seems quite a bit stronger off the bottom,” said Gobert Tuesday evening. “The new suspension bits are a bit better, too. We’ve still got a bit to do dialing in the suspension tomorrow.”

Gobert’s 2002 YZF-R7 came with a new frame and a new set of nitrogen-charged Ohlins forks. “It’s hard to tell on this track ‘cause this track doesn’t have so much grip,” explained Gobert about the performance of the new forks. “Sort of the way the corners are, it seems we can’t get the full advantage of these forks. They will probably work better at Sears Point or somewhere like that.”

Times from Tuesday morning were useless for comparisons because the turn one chicane, made of fiberglass curbings and traffic cones, had been laid incorrectly. The result was an overly fast chicane. Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden, the fastest 600cc Supersport rider from the January tests, felt the morning chicane lowered his lap times by over a second.

Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom brought the incorrect chicane configuration to speedway officials’ attention during the lunch break. The artificial series of turns were reconfigured to a nearly-exact replica of how it was laid out for the last AMA team test January 14-15.

Although riders’ opinions on the chicane’s layout varied from “good” to “dangerous”, the unanimous verdict was that a configuration needed to be finalized Wednesday.

Bostrom ended up being the second-fastest rider Tuesday with a 1:27.656, nearly two full seconds faster than he went during his last, real test at California Speedway. Bostrom credited the improvement to continued testing and hard work by his crew.

The third-fastest overall rider was Damon Buckmaster on his Graves Yamaha YZF-R1/R7 hybrid Formula Xtreme bike with a 1:27.844. Any question to whether Buckmaster cut any of Fontana’s five chicanes was put to rest when his own teammate, Aaron Gobert, testified to the time’s validity. Aaron Gobert added, “He did a bunch of high-1:27s/low-1:28s.”

Buckmaster’s best time bettered the previous best Formula Xtreme lap time of 1:28.59, set by Erion Honda’s Mike Hale during January testing.

Mat Mladin ended Tuesday with a 1:29.445 for fourth-fastest overall time. Mladin calmly explained that he and his team are still testing new components for his 2002 GSX-R750 and would start looking for a race set-up on Thursday, the final day of the test. Mladin was seen sorting through several different shocks, forks and ram-air intakes Tuesday.

Aaron Yates spent a little over an hour on his Yoshimura Suzuki Superbike at the end of Tuesday afternoon. The reason, according to crew member Chris Weidl, was mainly to evaluate the internal gear ratios in the bike so that if anything needed to be changed, it could be done Tuesday night instead of wasting track time Wednesday. Yates netted the fifth-fastest time at 1:29.801.

The third Yoshimura Suzuki rider, Jamie Hacking, spent all of his time on his Supersport GSX-R600 and doesn’t plan to get on his Superbike until the final day of the three-day test.

Yates and Hacking were the only riders known to have crashed Tuesday. Both fell without injury or drama in the very tight chicane at the entrance to the “Playground” section of the road course. The final section of the infield was referred to as the “Playground” section for the children’s jungle gym that stands just to the riders’ right of the chicane that leads to the final series of turns.

Tommy Hayden retained his title as the fastest 600cc Supersport rider at California Speedway with a blistering 1:29.937. Hayden mounted a new set of forks with less than 30 minutes remaining Tuesday and carved 1.3 seconds off his best time from the January tests.

Tuesday Afternoon’s Unofficial Lap Times:

1. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R7, 1:27.120
2. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:27.656
3. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1/R7, 1:27.844
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.445
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.801
6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:29.937
7. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:30.729
8. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1/R7, 1:30.751
9. Tom Kipp, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.203
10. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.558
11. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:31.806
12. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:32.110
13. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:32.285
14. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.382
15. Josh Hayes, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:32.501
16. Chris Ulrich*, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:35.696

Unofficial Superbike Radar Gun Speeds From Front Straightaway:
1. Eric Bostrom, 161.3 mph
2. Anthony Gobert, 159.0 mph
3. Aaron Yates, 155.7 mph
4. Mat Mladin, 155.4 mph

*Injured