Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e 6 . 'A a r o n Yat e s - # 2 0 Age: 24 Hometown : Milledgeville : Ge org ia Team: Yoshim ura Suzuki Best result in 1997 : Second (Loudon) Rankin9 i n 1997: Fift h in AMA Superbike Championship In the past few years. Yates has proven himself t o be o ne of four men (Chandler. D uHamel. Ml adin and Yates) capable of w inning AMA Sup erbike N at ionals on any given wee kend. He has also pro ve n to be a bit on th e inc onsis tent side. ye t tha t blame may no t rest enti rely on Yates' rather large shou lde rs. Last year th e Ge orgi an starte d slow ly with three eighth·place finishe s as he adju s ted to a GS XR750 tha t now featured Showa. rather than Oh lins. suspension. Then he got it go ing again with third - and second-place fini shes in t he next tw o round s at Ro ad Americ a and Loudon. Then came an eighth, another third. a 14th and a fi ne third in th e final round aft er a hard-c harging ride that is typi cal o f the big Geo rg ian. In the en d . he w a s ra n ke d fift h, and hell be hard pres sed to fa re bette r un le s s he can beco me m ore cons istent. Yat e s s ho u l d never fin is h eighth. yet he finished there four t ime s las t year . Ei g h t h - p l a c e finishes in 1998 w on 't '~ai3~~~~ get you much . Yates will wi n aga i n i n 19 98 if he co n tin u es t o ra ise the leve l o f his riding . If he doesn ' t , he co uld end up lower than thi s . but I don' t expect that to happ en . 7 . Ben Bost rom - # 11 Age: 23 H o met o wn: Redondo Beach. Cal ifo rnia T eam : American Honda Best re sult in 1 9 97 : Fift h (Laguna Se ca) R a nki ng in 19 9 7 : 16th in AMA S uperbike Championsh ip D e spit e his horrible 1997 racing sea son , I still believe t hat Ben Bo s tro m is the most promis ing young talent in AMA racing . And I also believe this will be a breakthrough season for the C alif ornian as his po sition in one of AM A rac ing 's p rem ier team s will help him fu lfill his promise. N ot only is Bostrom racing a fac tory Honda RC45 in 1998. but he also has the good fortu ne of working with one of t he be s t tune rs in the busine ss - M erly n Plumlee. With Plum lee gu iding him. Bo stro m wil l su cceed , and he could very well w in his firs t AMA Super bike Nat ional sometime in 1998. If he wins more tha n on ce. h eIt ma ke t h is pic k lo ok horrible . O ne th ing is ce rta in : B o st rom . bel ieve s he belong s with the C handlers, the Du Hamels . and t he M lad in s , and he ' s not i n awe of any of t he m . B eing placed' i n a team that is led by his good friend DuHamel shoul d also he lp B o st ro m' s learning c urve , t hough the two have contrasting rid ing styles and likely will use different setups . Bu t as lo ng as Bo strom doesn 't pose too much of a threat to DuHamel early in th e sea so n, he sho uld be 'able to get some help from his expe rienced tea mmate. 8. Rich Oliver· #97 Age: 36 Hometown: Fresno, C alifornia Team: Yamaha Best result i n 1997: N inth (Sea rs Point) Rankin9 i n 1997: A MA 250 cc G rand Prix C hamp io n At age 36 , Rich O liver is about as old as you can ge t whi le sti ll being a supe rbike rookie . Can an old dog learn new tricks? That que stion will be answered in 1998 and wi ll be the key to Olive rs season a s Team Yamaha' s lead rider trie s t o ada pt his 250cc Grand Pri x-w inn ing st yl e to fou r- stroke supe rb ik e racing. . Last year, Oli v er raced t he YZF750 tw ic e , finishing ninth in his debut at Sears Point and crash ing out of the seaso n-ending Nat iona l at Las Vegas while running second in the early stages . S urp r is ing ly , Oli ver al s o put th e Ya ma ha on th e fro nt row f or th e V eg a s N ati onal. The c ras h in t he race hasn't been O livers on ly mi sc ue . In f act, Ol iv e r ha s cras hed th e bik e at eve ry tes t and race but one, including his most rec en t acc ide nt during the Lagun a Seca tes t ..... , .I!!!!'10... " ! in J anua ry . Fortunate Iy, h e has n't suf f e r ed se r i o u s i nj ury , and he kee ps com ing back for more . O n e thing we can all c oun t on is that O l iver has learne d something f r om every mi scue . H e ' s s rna rt , kn o w s a lot about motorcycl e set up , and he m ay just be the mo st d et erm ined racer in the paddock. O liv er also i m p re s se d i n his debut season of 600cc S upersport ra cing, and his effort at Brainerd will go down as one o f the bright spo ts of the 199 7 season. If all it takes is hard work to win AMA S uperbike rac e s , then O liver will be ju st fi ne . N ob ody will wo rk harder than Oliver. It's real ly o nly a matter of whether o r no t he can le arn the ne w t ric ks necessary fo r him to com pete at the top level of superbike rac ing . 9 . Tho m as Stevens - #7 Ag e : 33 Hometown: Woodstock. Georgia Team: V ance & Hine s Ducati B est result in 1997 : Fourt h (Las Vegas) Ran ki n9 i n 1997: 14th in AMA Superbike Champion ship Th~ma s St even s wa sn't given many chances to excel in 1997 , but by the end of the year he 'd earned at le as t one more oppo rtu nity to prove his worth in AMA S uperbike ra cing . The Vanc e & Hines D ucati team sta rted the season late and didn't really have a competit iv e bi ke fo r Steven s unt il the final few rou nd s . In the se ries f inale at Las Vega s , S teven s rode hard and finished fourth - and t hat likely earned him ano ther year w ith the tea m. This year sho uld be much better for Stevens and the team , as the D ucat i fac tory is certain to be beh ind them 100 percent. Stevens also won 't lac k for motivation as Gobert jo ins him on the team for 1998, making for a team with two ri ders who are completely diffe rent in every way. It should be interesti ng . If no th ing else , Stevens will provide the t eam wi th sta bility. and he' s so meone th ey c an co un t o n to fin ish each and e very race . Wh ether Steven s can win a'nother AMA Superbike National remai ns to be seen . Th is year he will definite ly have the motorcycle on whi ch to win - it's jus t a mat te r of if he can take advantage o f it. 1 0 . Steve Crevier - #14 Age: 30 H o m e t o w n : Pill M eadow s , C anada T e am: Yos himura Suzuki B e st result in 1997 : S e co nd (Sears Poin t> R ankin9 i n _1 997 : Fourth in A MA Superbik e Championship Steve Crevier proved a lo t last ye ar. St art ing the se ason a s the lame -du ck. rider in the S mokin ' J o e' s te am (he'd be en repla ced by Ben Bo strom before the seas on even starte d) couldn 't have been easy, y e t Crevier ca me th ro ugh ' w it h his be st -ever superbike seaso n. Crev ier fini shed e ac h and e very ,race and wa s in the t o p s ix at all o f them with th e e xce pti on o f M i d Oh io . His be st res ult ca me at S e a r s Poin t , w he re he fin ished second behi n d his te am mate M i g u e I D uH am el. In the end , he fini shed fo urt h i n charnpit he ons hi p , a n d i t wen t a l ong wa y t o w a rd s avi n g h i s career. For 1998 , Crevier has landed a reun ion rid e wi th Yo s himura Su z u ki, wh e r e he' ll h el p deve lop the new V -twin TL 1OOOR. How suecess ful Suzuki is in gelling the V -twin up to spee d will obviously determine just how well C rev ier fares in the se ries . Once thouqht as be ing a bit on the w ild s id e , Crevier has proven of late to be nothing less than stead y . He doe sn' t crash, h ~ doesn't destroy motorcycles and he ge nerally fini shes races . Tho se fac tors sho uld prove to be valuable to the development of the TL 1OOOR in its first sea so n of superbike racing . semi- fac tory riders listed above , could easily climb their way into the top 10. Picking Kipp not to finish in the to p 10 see ms rather ludicrous, but the fact that he'tl have to adapt to the D ucati and its Mi chelin nres after so many years on the Dunlop -shod Yamaha is why Kipp didn't make the cut. And his resu lts in preseason testing didn 't do much to inspire ' c o nfid enc e in the Ohioan. Ag ain, he cou ld make us look bad. Picotte didn't make the to p 10 only becau se of the VR 1000. De s pite st eady pro gre ss , the bike simply isn't reliable enou gh for Picotte to finish the majority of the races . If you don 't finish races, you won ' t be in this year's top 10 - a simple fact . Picott e wi ll be fast. and he 'll put the Harl ey -Davidson ne ar the fro nt wh en it doe sn't falter. If the bike suddenly gets more reliable, th en this pick will be wron g. J ason Pridmo re may b us t out in 19 9 8 , but when he do es it will likely be in the Supersport cl asse s . The C aliforni an w ill be th e busie st man in AMA racing this co ming season, com peting in supe rbike and bo th 600 and 750cc Supers po rt . It may be a bit much to ask him to exce l in what will be his first season of superbike racing, especially given the fact that his priori ties will likely be in Supersport . If his bike is competitive. however, Pridmore will have his momen ts and enough of those momen ts could put him in the top 10. Who knows how well Jamie Hacking w ill fare in his rookie superbike season? D efinitely fa st and talented, th e youngster has a lot on his plate for the co ming year. He 'll likely have some tough lessons to learn , and it'll be diffi cult for him to be consistent enough to crack th e top 10. Tho mas W ilson has prov en he ha s w hat it takes to run at the front of an AMA Superbike Na t iona l but . mu ch as wi t h hi s teamma te Picotte, the reliability of the V RI 000 w ill like ly sto p him from being in the top 10. Again, if the bike is right. this pick will be wr ong . Th e coming season will show us a lot abo ut young Tommy Hayd en. W ith a full seas on o f supe rbike racing under his bel t. it' s time fo r Hayden to step it up and move to the next level. If he can do that. he 'll end up one of the new stars of American road racing. He should benefi t gr eat iy from being D oug Ch andler's tea mmate, and 'this year we 'll see if he' s got w hat it take s to learn fro m the bes t. Lar ry Pegra m j o in s S t e v e Crev ier o n t he TLl000 V -tw in for 1998 , and he'll have to be more consistent than he wa s in 1997 for him to make the top 10 . Last year he ended th e season eighth , despit e finis hing 16th, 14 th , 10th and 10th in the final four races of the sea· son. In fact. his best finish of the year came in the very firs t race at Dayt ona, wh en he ended up seven t h. Tho se kinds of re sult s in 1998 won't get anyone in the top 1O. Chris Carr will ride a privatee r Harley-Davidson in 1998, but that may not be a bad thing . If you look at the results of recent years , those with privatee r -V R 1OOOs have fared better than tho se on the factory team - at least as far as finishing races . Carr's hoping that trend continues . WILD CARDS : Pas cal Pico tte, Tom Kip p, Jason Pridmore, Ja m ie H ack ing, Th o m as Wilson , T o mmy Hayden, Chris Carr, · Larry Pegram... Believe it or not. the AMA Superbike National C hampion ship is now so competitive that rid ers of the caliber of Pascal Pico tte and Tom Kipp didn 't make it into our Top 10. But those two riders. along with the o ther factory and HENNY RAY ABRAMS - CYCLE NEWS CONTRIB UTOR 1. MikeHale 2. Miguel DuH amel 3. Doug Chandler 4, Mat Mladin 5. Ant hony Gob ert 6, Aaron Yates 7. Ben Bostrom 8. Thomas Stevens 9. Rich Olive r 10. Pascal Picotte MR. RIGHT Last year . Henny Ray Abrams correc tly pick ed D oug Chandler as the AMA Sup erbik e National Cham pio n, Pr ior to t hat, he accurately picked Doug C handler to win the AMA Superbike title . Right again. Here are Ab rams ' picks for the coming season. Just for kick s. we also threw the 11 racer s that we'd both cho sen to finish in the top 10 into a hat . That order is also listed and is referred 10 as "the mon .~ key 's pick. • AND THE MONKEY SAYS••• 1. Aaron Yates 2. Mat Mladin 3, Doug Chand ler 4. Mike Hale 5. Rich Oliver 6. Ben Bostrom 7. An thony Gobert 8. Pascal Picotte 9. Thoma s Stevens 10. Miguel DuHamel 13

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