Stuart Shenton is a 32-year veteran of the MotoGP paddock. Son of a British motorcycle dealer, the Rizla Suzuki chief technician attended his first Grand Prix in 1975, joined the series full-time the following year and has worked at Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki with former world champions Kork Ballington, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner, Kevin Schwantz and, presently, Loris Capirossi. Prior to this season, he spent five years with John Hopkins. Immediately following the Dutch TT at Assen in late June, Shenton and other members of the factory team flew directly from Holland to Indianapolis for a two-day test at the Speedway with two-time AMA Superbike Champion and current series points leader Ben Spies in preparation for the Texan’s “wildcard” entries at the two U.S. rounds of the series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
I expected to see more of a bare-bones effort here, similar in size to the other test teams. Why did Suzuki bring so many people to Indianapolis?
This is an important test for us. Obviously, Ben is riding, and Suzuki wants to give him a good opportunity at Laguna and here at Indianapolis. Also, from a team point of view, we need to make sure at a test like this that the information we get is correct and gathered in such a manner that come September, given the current regulations, we’re going to come back here with the right tires.
Test rider Nobuatsu Aoki made very few laps during the two days of testing. Was that part of the original plan?
Nobu just gave the bikes a shakedown on the first morning of the test. He was only scheduled to come here because, at the time, we didn’t know Ben was going to ride at Donington. Nobu is a very experienced rider, and he could have come in and told us if anything wasn’t working. As it was, everything was working. Fortunately, his job was short.
Are you pleased with the feedback that Spies has given you?
His feedback is very good. We’re pleased with what we’ve seen. His comments make sense, he’s working well with the engineers, and the tire guys from Bridgestone understand him. Obviously, he is keen and pushing a bit, which makes all the information that much more relevant for us. Donington gave him some advantage, I think—more saddle time. He’s ridden the bike in the dry, in the wet, and he’s raced it. That said, his current job is to win the AMA Superbike championship.
Are the Mitsubishi electronics working better now than in past seasons?
Electronics are probably one area that changes week to week, whether it’s a software update or some new strategy. It’s one area that does not stand still—constant development every day. There have been some adjustments in that area; I think we’ve improved it today for this track here, but it can always be better. It’s evolution. Things get updated every year. The designers change stuff. They find a better way of doing things all the time. That’s the nature of MotoGP racing; you can’t stand still. Suzuki has committed more to the project, and we have more resources. It’s not an open-ended budget, but it’s certainly going in the right direction.
What’s your assessment of the Speedway roadcourse?
I think the majority of the track is all right. The riders seem to be having some issues in Turn 1, but it got better during the day. The FIM and Dorna safety guys are here and that’s part of their mandate to look into these issues.
