PHOTOGRAPHY BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS
Roger Lee Hayden came away from his
Jennings test feeling more positive about the
season opener.
Hayden lapped faster and more consistently than he had on his last visit to Jennings back in December.
“We were trying to get a direction on how
I wanted the bike, to see what the bike did
if we lowered the rear or raised the rear,” he
said. “When we left the test I felt a lot more
comfortable on the bike. The electronics
package, we needed to change it around a
little bit just around my riding style some.”
The two main areas of improvement were
in rear traction and engine braking.
“For me, trying to get the rear to bite for
me on the exit, he said. “Also, the engine
braking from last year… the guys had a lot of
engine braking going into the corner and I
don’t really like that. I like to control the braking with my finger going on, so that’s probably the biggest thing is moving the front end
under and changing the engine braking and
the way the power is off the corner with just
the electronics.”
Henny Ray Abrams
Briefly...…
Corrado Cecchinelli has been named as the director of technology for the MotoGP World Championship. The Italian will oversee and be responsible
for all technical developments relating to the three
World Championship categories; 125cc, Moto2 and
MotoGP. One of the main functions of Cecchinelli’s
role will include the development of new regulations
regarding the implementation of the Moto3 category
and the new 1000cc engine capacity in MotoGP,
both of which come into effect in 2012. He will also
play a key role in providing a technical link between
manufacturers and suppliers and the organizations
involved in the governing of the World Championship,
which include the FIM, the MSMA, IRTA and Dorna.
Arnaud Larose, the team manager of RAC 41 in the
World Endurance Series, was killed on Friday, February 11 in a plane crash in Switzerland. Larose’s wife
Laurence, his son Enzo and his stepdaughter Clem-ence were with him on the flight and all three – and
the pilot – were also killed. Larose, 40, was visiting
Greg Junod, one of the RAC 41 riders. The RAC 41
team competes with the support of Yamaha Motor
France.
Valentino Rossi topped the likes of LPGA golfer
Paula Creamer, sprinter Tyson Gay, tennis star Justine Henin and others to earn the 2011 Laureus World
Sports Award Comeback of the Year prize in results
that were announced last week. Rossi, who returned
to racing just 41 days after suffering a compound fracture of his right tibia, was voted as having the best
comeback of the year. Rossi suffered his broken leg
on June 5 at the Italian Grand Prix and returned to
action on July 16 at the German Grand Prix. Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal was named Sportsman
of the Year and American skier Lindsey Vonn earned
the Sportswoman of the Year at the ceremony that
was held in Abu Dhabi.
Auction company Mecum Auctions has launched a
motorcycle division to offer consignments for the collector motorcycle industry. Gavin Trippe, the former
cont. on next page
