The factory has so far relied on a 'big-bang' firing order for the 800cc
MotoGP formula. "We used the big-bang engine for our 990cc bike to get more traction, but now we're going to the screamer to get maximum power from the 800cc motor," Wheeler said. No decision has yet been made about when the screamer - which apparently produces an incredible sound - will get its first race.
During the tests at Jerez Jacque will also work with
Anthony West to resolve the problems that the Australian has been having in finding consistent traction on the exit from medium-speed corners. So far he has been unable to repeat the two seventh places that he recorded in his debut rides with the team in 2007.
Aksland: US Economy Will Not Block Our Return
Will the sagging American economy and housing market threaten the hoped-for return to MotoGP of
Kenny Roberts Senior's Team KR? No way, says team manager Chuck Aksland, who is here in the paddock at
Jerez.
The KR guys hope to get backing from the American
F1 MAX-X corporation and MGM's Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas in a deal that would be 'cost effective and personable,' and therefore even more attractive to sponsors during a recession, according to Aksland. Let's hope they can get back in 2009, because MotoGP needs more than its current 18 bikes on the grid.
Meanwhile Roberts and Aksland maintain a link with MotoGP through their management of the 18-year-old Californian Steve Bonsey, who rides a 125cc DeGraaf Aprilia. And they continue to employ half a dozen technicians at their Banbury race shop in England manufacturing swinging-arms, linkages and other components for Honda Fireblades in Superbike racing.
Sunday am - Frenzy time in the Zoo at Jerez
The little three-car trains are ferrying the
pedrosistas and the
lorenzistas along the roads from the car parks to the circuit, under the stars and a half-moon hanging in the Andalusian sky.
