Jake Gagne has been testing his Broaster Chicken/Roadrace Factory Superbike-spec Yamaha YZF-R1 in Colorado and California.
If you asked die-hard road racing fans to name something they will be paying particular attention to in the fast-approaching 2016 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, chances are many of them would say they are intrigued by how 2015 Superstock 1000 Champion Jake Gagne will fare as he makes the jump to the Superbike class with the Broaster Chicken/RoadRace Factory team. And why not? After all, the 22-year-old Gagne won more races than anybody else in the series last year, the resident of San Diego, California, parlaying his 13 race wins into a runaway title in Superstock 1000 and ultimately ending the season 60 points clear of his nearest rival, Taylor Knapp. So there’s no doubting that Gagne is a huge talent. Now we just have to see how he fares when he lines up against the very best in his rookie season in the premier class on a Superbike-spec
Yamaha YZF-R1. We caught up with Gagne for a little chat as he was headed to the City of Industry in California to help his team owner Danny Walker with some instructing at this weekend’s American Supercamp. He also made a quick pit stop at Yamaha’s U.S. headquarters in Cypress with the accomplished motocrosser “picking up a fresh Yamaha YZF450 from Yamaha. I’m dialed in now.”
You’ve now tested the Superbike-spec Yamaha YZF-R1 twice. Tell us how those tests went for you and the team. They were really good. We started with our first test at High Plains in Colorado. It was really cold, there was snow on the ground and it was a little bit windy, but we ended up getting three days of testing in. We started with what we had last year and we just got a few little chassis things and that's all we have right now. We did a track day at Chuckwalla (in Desert Center, California) yesterday for a single-day thing and we’re mostly just testing suspension stuff right now.
So at this point, how close is the bike to being a full Superbike? We’re kinda halfway there. We have a few little chassis things like triple clamps and stuff, but motor-wise… we don’t have any electronics yet. Hopefully, we’ll have all that stuff dialed in for the COTA test (March 23-24). It’s really hard to say how different the bike is from what we had because I haven’t ridden them back to back, but we have a better working chassis now and just to start with that will be a big difference. We also have some suspension stuff to try with Penske and those guys have been awesome this year. They’ve stepped up huge. We will have some really cool stuff with those guys. The COTA test will be huge. We hope to have all the electronic stuff dialed in and we should have some other cool stuff and pretty much be done with the Superbike at that point. That’s going to be an important test and we’ll be just doing as many laps as we possibly can and running through as much stuff as we can. It’s a cool test because we’re there with all the other teams and be at the track we open with.
Gagne suffered a broken arm in December, but says he's back to 100 percent fitness now.
“"We want to be up there fighting for wins, fighting with Cameron (Beaubier), Josh (Hayes) and Roger (Hayden) and all those guys." –Jake Gagne
You’ve raced these top Superbike guys before, obviously. You’ve raced Cameron Beaubier in other classes as well as a bit last year since Superstock 1000 shares the track with Superbike, so are you confident that you can be competitive with the top Superbike riders? I think so. That’s definitely our goal. We want to be up there fighting for wins, fighting with Cameron (Beaubier), Josh (Hayes) and Roger (Hayden) and all those guys. I think if we continue to do our work and do what we do, we’ll be good to go. I don’t have any doubts. I think we’re going to be good.
How was your off-season? A lot of motocross, flat tracking… And, most importantly, how is the surf this winter? “The surf has been good, that’s for sure. I actually fractured my arm, the humerus bone, at Supercamp back in December. It was just a minor little thing. I was in a sling for a few weeks, but I couldn’t do much for like two months. But for the last two months or so I’ve been riding a lot of motocross, riding my mountain bike, and going to the gym a lot. I’m feeling more fit than I ever have and I’m ready to go on the big Superbike.”
What do you anticipate will be the toughest part about making the jump up to Superbike? “It’s just going to be racing those guys. I think if anything it makes it a little easier being on a Superbike because we have a lot more room to do new things with the bike. So it’s mainly the competition. For instance, all those races I did last year I was by myself for the most part. Now I’m going to have to be battling with those guys and banging bars to the end of the race, which is something I didn’t really do last year. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be tough, but that’s the fun part.
Story courtesy of MotoAmerica.com.
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