Up Front

UP FRONT

Laguna notebook

David Edwards

OUCH! SOMEONE GET THE NUMBER OF the truck that just ran us over. Or was it a buzz saw?

The perpetrator in this case was the World Superbike Series, which chewed up and spit out the Team Cycle World. Yamaha YZF750 racebike like it was a rancid hors d’oeuvre. Not exactly what we had in mind when we signed-up for the event.

When last you saw the Team CW Superbike, it was wheels-up on the outside of Daytona’s Turn 1, having been adroitly deposited there by Don Canet, Road Test Editor, KX80 mini-motard demon and top-20 qualifier at the previous Daytona 200 on the same YZF. Anyway, four laps into 1995’s Big Race, Mr. Canet simply rode the thing right off its wheels, crunching all the bodywork in the process, but leaving frame, engine, wheels, brakes, etc. in fine working order.

Okay, not your Mk.I fairy-tale ending, true, but we had a good story about the highs and hardships of going racing (see “Daytona DNF,” CW, June, 1995). With that, it was time to retire the faithful YZF to display duty in the magazine’s lobby.

Then someone asked, what about the World Superbike race at Laguna Seca?

Hmmm. A chance to sample the waters in the world’s premier four-stroke series, to see how a true privateer effort would stack up against the works and semi-works Ducatis, Kawasakis, Hondas and Yamahas. One last race for the YZF? Why not?

Small snag, in that Canet’s only two previous Superbike starts ended with DNFs and no points; he wasn’t on the AMA’s grading list, never mind that his team, Action Speed, is currently fourth in the AMA’s SuperTeams series, never mind he’s an ex-WERA Formula USA regular (on a nitrous-injected GSXR1100, no less!), and especially never mind that he’s a go-fast magazine guy, maybe even the goingest-fastest.

Fair enough, we said, how about Doug Toland, then? Toland’s status as ex-CW Associate Editor and current tester/photo model for the magazine didn’t hold much sway with the powers-that-be, but his winning the 1993 FIM World Endurance Championship did. We were in.

Meanwhile, Air Tech had fixed us up with new fiberglass body parts, delivered to Jerry Sievers of Paint ‘n’ Place (a little something for you fans of 1960s TV) for another round of his distinctive “radioactive-bird-droppings-on-black” graphics. Richard Stanboli, crew chief for the previous Daytona efforts, reupped his shop, Attack Performance, for the Laguna Seca effort. Stanboli and crew fettled with the engine, coaxing almost 140 horsepower from the 20valve Four while decreasing compression and changing cam timing to broaden the Daytona powerband. Turns out we would need all of that-and more-to run with the WSB boys.

First clue came during timed practice. Caught in the all-telling beam of CW's radar gun, Toland could muster only 129 mph down Laguna’s short front straight. Top qualifier Troy Corser, with at least 150 horsepower at his disposal, was steaming along at 141 mph; the factory Yamaha of Colin Edwards-hardly the fastest bike in WSB-had 6 mph on our YZF. When the official lap times were given out after Saturday’s final qualifying, Toland was mired in 28th place, almost 7 seconds a lap behind Corser, 4 to 5 seconds behind most of the field. This on a bike that is a legitimate top-10 threat at AMA nationals, with a rider who last month damn-near eclipsed the outright Willow Springs lap record on a street-legal Ducati 955. Don’t let anybody tell you World Superbike isn’t serious stuff.

Stanboli, an intense man described by Tech Ed Kevin Cameron as, “Vesuvius, that other Italian volcano,” was uncharacteristically placid.

“You take the top five guys in AMA and they're only in, what, the top 15 in WSB? That’s what you have here; it’s tougher than going to a GP,” he said, adding, “We just didn’t give Doug enough time on the bike. The other guys competing here have been riding their bikes for at least six months. More seat time would have been worth 4 seconds.”

Toland didn't get to be World Endurance champ by riding over his head and tossing bikes into the bushes. He gunned the YZF hard out of corners, sliding the rear end to the point of several near high-sides, but was much more restrained going into turns.

“The bike says, ‘Don’t flick me any harder or I’ll flick you back.’ When the bike gives you these messages, you better heed them,” was how he described it.

There would be no magical midnight fixes before Sunday’s races, no lastminute unearthing of 10 extra horsepower, no overlooked suspension tweak that would suck the front end down to Laguna’s asphalt. Toland took to the starting grid knowing he would be lapped by mid-race. Which is just what happened followed by an engine misfire that mucked things up even more. Rather than get in an overtaking rider’s way, Doug wisely pulled into the pits.

During the two-plus hours between races, the bike was checked over for the source of the misfire, but it had mysteriously disappeared. We found it soon enough. When the second leg was flagged off, carbon-copy time for Team CW: trail the pack, get lapped engine acts up again, pull into the pits. At least we were in good company-ToIand lasted longer than Freddie Spencer, Mike Smith and Aaron Slight.

Is there glory in going 23/20 against the world’s best Superbikes? That wasn’t the point. Look, we get paid to be reporters, to observe, to analyze. Problem is, motorcycling is not a spectator sport-never has been. You have to get involved you have to participate, even if that means, sometimes, getting in over your head. CW has been doing it since issue no. 1 way back in 1962; we’re not about to stop now.

Project YZF is officially retired. Team Cycle World will ride again. □