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Corona Honda takes 6th at Macau GP |
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Posted by Staff
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Wednesday, 21 November 2007 |
CORONA EXTRA HONDA AND MARK MILLER TAKE SIXTH AT MACAU GP
INTERNATIONAL
Corona Extra Honda Racing and rider Mark Miller finished
sixth at the 41st running of the world famous Macau GP held on the streets of
the old Portuguese colony of Macau across the bay from Hong Kong.
The
Team and rider, participating at the invitation of the organizers who arranged
shipping of the Honda CBR1000RR Superbike as raced this year by James Ellison,
quickly got up to speed in this true "Road Racing" event! In the first practice
session Miller finished 7th out a field of 35 entries which included many
international stars. The race is run over city streets so practice time is
short as the populace needs to use the road! This means setup and any small
issues can be problematical. This being the first time on the bike at the track
for Mark the crew scrambled to get it spot on.
In the final qualifying
session Mark slipped to 13th. A fueling problem, arising from the requirement
to use unleaded gas in place of the leaded race gas used in AMA SuperBike, had
appeared which took time to sort out. Mark said; "The fuel delivery system has
been acting up, there's a lull almost to quitting at the bottom, then BANG! it
comes on full tilt. All else is really good. The bike is handling great and
the brakes and tires are perfect. I hit a couple walls hard so got some
souvenir scuffs on the new Joe Rocket leathers!" (The track is lined with Armco
barriers and walls in places!)
Marks review of the race; "I did a few
practice starts after qualifying and got good feel for what the clutch likes to
do on a launch. When the red lights went out I bogged the motor down a bit
trying not to rev it over 10K, then must have been about 20th into the first
bend, not far from our third row grid. After stretching our legs on the first
big straight (bikes can reach 200 MPH) I was probably up to 15th into the first
hard braking "Lisboa" ninety degree right hander. After what was a terribly fun
and aggressive tight first lap with loads of close passes between the steel
Armco, I got up to 12th at the first pass over the start/finish line
transponder. Over the next laps I was able to steadily make up additional if
not more difficult passes on the bikes ahead, eventually getting to 8th place
and in pursuit of Cummings from the Isle of Man. I just couldn't get him". At
the checkered flag Mark was in sixth place, a terrific finish for the Team in a
race viewed by over 100,000,000 in Asia and the World.
After the race
Mark commented; "My lap times improved every time around the circuit, setting my
fastest lap of our weekend on the final lap. I felt better with every minute
aboard the Corona Honda, feeling out carefully the ever-improving
technologically advanced Dunlop slicks, the massively powerful CBR1000 engine,
the terrific Ohlin's suspension, and the World Superbike spec Brembo brakes. My
crew of Dwayne and Walker were terrific and got the bike just perfect for me!
This was my first race on this bike, and I was impressed. I believe with a bit
more seat time we'd be fighting for the win!"
Corona Extra Honda Racing
is proud to be partnering with industry-leaders; Parts Unlimited, Cycle Gear, Ti
Force, Joe Rocket, Castrol, Dunlop, Sidi, Hotbodies, GPR, Motion Pro, K&L,
Thetrackclub.com, HRC, Ohlin's, VP Racing, Race Tech, Vortex, CR&A, Adran,
DynoJet, RK, Brembo, Marchesini, Galfer, STM, Powerstands, JETT Tuning, EFI
Technology, Performance Solutions, Bellco, EBSCO Media, MTS.
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