Last weekend was the third time, in almost as many races, that Mladin has
had to change tires under a green flag.

Now, B. Bostrom had a similar problem, so certainly there are environmental
factors. But you'd like to think that Mladin would have enough experience to
not keep having tire choice problems.

We can blame the bike, but Yates isn't having as many problems as Matt is.
Yates is certainly pushing his bike hard, and I'd like to think that the
reason Yates isn't doing as well as Mladin is a software problem versus a
hardware problem.

Now, from a fan point of view, I'm certainly not complaining, as without
these issues, the points race wouldn't be as close as it is. But it is
frustrating to see someone like Mladin: top rider, top team, top equipment,
pitting because of tires where everyone else manages to compete and get
through the race.

It's telling how B. Bostrom's bike was not set up for a quick tire change
and he was thus "punished" more by his stop. But Mladin's team was well
prepared for this, suggesting that they know of the problem but can't do
anything about it. Mladins team is certainly in good practice.

Now I do not expect this to happen at Laguna Seca, as it's not known as a
horsepower track, (which was the "excuse" here) and it will (hopefully) not
rain. But who knows, maybe Matt can squeeze in a pit stop here as well.

Now I don't know crap about tires beyond "round" and "black", I'm not trying
to second guess these guys, but I've never seen anything like this happen.
If they're having that much trouble this year, what's going to happen next
year when they take the restrictors off?

They mentioned that most of the riders had their rear tire shaved to deal
with the heat, all except Eric. Did the Hondas do that last year? They're
not dramatically different mechanically from last year are they?

I have no passion for Mladin, and I know these kinds of things are "all part
of racing", but I'd rather have Mladin lose because someone sneaked in
around him and slammed the door on him in the last corner on the last lap
versus scenes of him in the pits as the pack goes by. I think the others
would rather beat him that way as well.

I can only hope that the points stay this close for the rest of the season.
I hope that the final race settles the championship, whomever comes out of
top.

Regards,

Will Hartung
((E-Mail Removed))

On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 17:36:26 -0700, "Will Hartung" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Last weekend was the third time, in almost as many races, that Mladin has
>had to change tires under a green flag.
>
>Now, B. Bostrom had a similar problem, so certainly there are environmental
>factors. But you'd like to think that Mladin would have enough experience to
>not keep having tire choice problems.
>
>We can blame the bike, but Yates isn't having as many problems as Matt is.
>Yates is certainly pushing his bike hard, and I'd like to think that the
>reason Yates isn't doing as well as Mladin is a software problem versus a
>hardware problem.


Yates was having vobration problems with the rear tire toward the
last also, the tires cannot take the power that the 1000 puts out on
the long tracks.


>It's telling how B. Bostrom's bike was not set up for a quick tire change
>and he was thus "punished" more by his stop. But Mladin's team was well
>prepared for this, suggesting that they know of the problem but can't do
>anything about it. Mladins team is certainly in good practice.

Ben's tire change was done using regular hand tools, unlike the air
gun used on Mladin's tire change.

>They mentioned that most of the riders had their rear tire shaved to deal
>with the heat, all except Eric. Did the Hondas do that last year? They're
>not dramatically different mechanically from last year are they?
>

More power, different delivery with the twins. Dunlop is having a
hard time coming up with tires for the new bikes.

They say that not even MotoGP generated the heat that Mladin has been
experiencing, Pike's Peak Mladin's rear had a temp of well over
anything they have experienced.

"Will Hartung" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bdqkj2$10btd5$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Last weekend was the third time, in almost as many races, that Mladin has
> had to change tires under a green flag.
>
> Now, B. Bostrom had a similar problem, so certainly there are
environmental
> factors. But you'd like to think that Mladin would have enough experience
to
> not keep having tire choice problems.
>

I switched on the TV the other day and they had some of the AMA racing on (I
live in Australia so wasn't expecting to see any of the US racing)... sat
down got comfy and then saw the blowout that Mladin had... can't believe how
long he stayed on the bike and it was only when he realised that he wasn't
going to be able to save it that he got off... very much a brown trouser
time me thinks...

Vok*