The Yoshimura EM Pro engine management system was fitted, along with the Yosh EM Pro wiring harness. By comparison, Yamaha was using a Magneti Marelli system based on the Marvel 4 ECU, the same one fitted to Valentino Rossi’s M1 and Ben Spies’ YZF-R1 World Superbike machine. The initial Suzuki programming was done with data from Ben Spies’ 2007 Superstock bike; more came from Yoshimura Japan.
While the engines were being built, the team turned their attention to the rolling stock. First came bodywork, which they sourced from Sharkskinz in Florida before leaving Fontana. Sharkskinz suspended their regular work to turn out K8 seats and fairings. “They had two sets in stock and then started making the rest,” Doyle said. “Once they got going, one a day would turn up. We’d get it, fit it, then down to the painter which is in Costa Mesa, every day. Drop a fairing and a seat off, come back, next day drop one off, then maybe pick one up.”
With the switch to 17-inch wheels, the team was able to use the Magtans they bought for 2009. The front went straight in. Because the swingarm is different, a spacer was machined for the rear. The team fitted the Brembo brakes from their K9s to the K8s.
The ‘09 rules mandate stock forks, which meant Mladin would have to give up his preferred ’07-model Showas for the production Kayabas fitted with an Öhlins cartridge kit system. “They adapted what they were preparing for our ’09 into our ’08,” Doyle said. “So we dropped three more forks out and did the same [as the bodywork] and rotated them. We got the three sets back so we could build the bikes.” The forks are slightly different widths, which meant the team had to machine lower triple clamps. This was done at Yoshimura R&D, across the street from the Yosh race shop. The shocks came from Öhlins USA, off the shelf TTX units that Öhlins hand carried to Daytona.
“Peter has a good history, good connections with the Swedish race group over there,” Sakakura marveled. “It was unbelievable. They really came through big for us.
“Quite honestly, now with the homologation requirements, the suspension components were a challenge with the Öhlins. But they came through like I couldn’t believe. They provided product very quickly. It works very well. It’s a proven product. And we were at a point where we were either going to use the Showa product or the Öhlins; we hadn’t really decided yet. That kind of made the decision there because the product was available within a week and a half.” Plus, Showa would decide not to homologate a fork kit.