Hayes pulling double duty on new CBR600RR

[totalmotorcycle]

Hayes pulling double duty on new CBR600RR
Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - By Chris Martin - AMA Superbike - amasuperbike.com




Even coming off his intense and thoroughly draining Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme championship win, Josh Hayes has been aching to throw a leg back over his Erion Honda racebikes.

When asked if he was already recharged and ready to get on with a title defense, Hayes commented. “I’ve been ready to ride for a while. I’ve been wishing these boys would let me go ride some more. I want to stay on top of things. Things are going good and I want to keep that ball rolling.”

Hayes added that perhaps he could use a bit of rest and relaxation before the year is out, but don’t mistake that for a lack of enthusiasm looking ahead to 2007. “I haven’t been able to get much rest at home. We’ve been traveling around, doing a lot of family things, and other things came up like the Supermoto opportunity. Just business and busy work, so I wouldn’t mind having a couple weeks at home to do some training and some relaxing. Melissa and I keep saying we’d like a two-week vacation to sleep in our own bed. Hopefully that will come up soon through the holidays and come January be ready to do more testing. I feel like I’m riding good here. I’m ready to go racing.”

Hayes and his Erion Honda crew overcame Yamaha’s bid to steal away the FX title last season largely by getting the most out of the well-developed CBR600RR package. Next season will be a different story, however, as the team will be fielding an all-new, all-different ’07 machine in the class.

“The bike is still a Honda,” Hayes said. “Yeah, it’s definitely quite a bit different but it still feels like a Honda, still rides like a Honda. I think we have a pretty good idea about how the electronics are going to work, which is really important because we’re just going to take our engine management systems off of last year’s bike and implement them on the new bike. I think we’ve got a better chassis and engine to start with. I think the bike is definitely going to be a weapon.”

This week at Daytona International Speedway, the Mississippian is still riding the ’06 FX machine (to sort the electronics), while getting acclimated to the new machine in Supersport-guise.

“I’m really impressed with the bike,” he commented. “The engine is just different. It seems to have about the same power, but different power characteristics. The chassis was a welcome change. It’s definitely a shorter motorcycle and it seems to turn well; it carves a good arc mid-corner. I think you take the Honda strengths that we had last year and you implement some of these new things and it’s going to be a really good motorcycle. Honda did such a good job with this new CBR600. For Honda this was more revolutionary than evolutionary than I think I’ve ever seen them do. I’m really excited to let these guys go home and make true racebikes out of these things and come out swinging at Daytona.”

Hayes will be spending all of his time on 600s in 2007, as he’s swapping out his Superstock duties for Supersport. While on the surface that may appear to make his life easier, it’s actually quite a bit more difficult according the Hayes.

Having already been in a similar position (riding both Superbike and Superstock-spec ZX-10Rs for Attack Kawasaki in ’04), Hayes speaks from experience. “Personally, I think it’s quite a bit more difficult riding two similar motorcycles. It’s very easy to get confused between the two as far as downloads and debriefs and things like that. Without any big gap between the two, you’re always trying to turn one motorcycle into the other. You may have some favorite things on your FX bike and you have some adjustments you can’t make on the Supersport bike and you’re always trying to make the Supersport bike feel like the FX bike.

“You sit on them and they feel the same but they ride differently. Something always lacks and falls behind. To have the focus to keep those two separated is going to be quite an ordeal.”

It will be a worthwhile ordeal, however, as Hayes is highly motivated to succeed in both classes. “For sure we want to defend the #1 plate, but there is going to be 15 factory and factory-supported bikes in Supersport this year, and I want a piece of all those guys too. It’s going to be an interesting year.”