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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127955
ROAD RACE Round 11: Brainerd International Raceway
AMAIMBNA SU BIKE
PER
SER S
IE
turn two and Eric wen t insid e of a lapp e r wh o s hou ld n ' t be o n the t rac k,
d oing the lap times he was doing," Ben
Bostrom sa id . "I went on the ou tsid e
and the guy kind of just got scared and
sat it up a bit and pu shed me ou t and I
almost went into the grass, so I was a bit
bummed. I los t a few seco nds to these
guys."
That cost him a chance at the lead ers,
leaving Hackin g and Mladin to make a
run at Eric Bostrom . Mladin pa ssed
Hacking ex iti ng turn three, a fte r the
long stra igh t, a nd was hold ing him off
when they go t to turn nin e. That's when
Hacking we nt d own .
Mladin s a w it co mi ng . When h e
w a s ch as i ng Ha cking , h e s a w t h e
Yamaha rider u sin g his tires hard and
had seen a slight bump in the rea r tir e
- r igh t o n the crown - with abou t three
laps to go .
The re was a final p us h for the win,
bu t Mladin came up jus t short.
" It w as a ra ce - th at' s about a ll it
was," Mladin sai d . "G etting onto th e
s tra ig h t he re , I was fast a nd jus t go t
smo ked d ow n a t the en d. I'd lose 20
bike lengths, cou ld n't stay in the d ra ft.
I' d ma ke it all back up a nd do it a ll
aga in . I'm no t taking a ny th in g a way
from Eric, he rod e great - he really did. I
mean , second time on the bike to win a
Briefl
Mat Mladin (66) came through the pack to
ge t t o the f ront. Here he lead s Rich Oliver
(partiall y hidden ) and Thomas Stevens (7).
ra ce is ve ry good - it does n ' t ma tt er
what mot orcycle you ru n wit h."
Ben Bostr om was far enoug h in front
of Pridmore to no t be challen ged .
.
" O b v iou s ly , Ma t a nd Eric ro d e
s u perb ly, " Ben Bo s tro m sa id . "They
caug ht us, so they mu st hav e bee n ru nn in g qui ck er th an we were , s o th ey
deserved to win. This was kind of a bad luck weekend for me. Hop efully, things
w ill cha nge next week , but thes e gu ys
rode aweso me a nd th ey d ese rve firs t
an d second for su re."
Pridmore ro d e s tea d il y to fi nis h
fourth a fter th in kin g he might ma ke a
run at th e end and then finding th ere
was no one close eno ugh to ge t a tow
from.
"Th ey go t away from me a little bit
and I closed back up on them and w ith
six la p s left, five la p s left , o nce I go t
back on the track, they wer en't ge tting
away from me," Pridmore said . "I d idn' t
have any body to draft wi th . Tha t kind
of hurt me at that point."
Wha t hurt Stevens wa s the sw itch to
d ifferent forks.
" It took US a while to get them iron ed
out, " Stevens sa id . "Th en, tod ay, they
we re checking them back ov er and they
fou nd so mething wrong with them. So
we m ade a prett y bi g ch a n ge to the
thing right befor e the race, because w e
knew it wo uld work better . At least they
thou gh t. So we split the d iffer ence of the
mi sta ke and when w e did th at , that's
why I kind of - I go t a dece nt start, bu t I
was kind of feeling my way around the
fi r s t co u p le o f laps . I s till think we
Terry Vance is the only person that's ever o ffered me a super opt ic network sys tems after parting co m pany wi th the EMGO
V alvoline Suzuki team earlier this season . said that he 'd gotten
bike ride .. He offered me one six yea rs back and then now, so
I' m very grateful to him. too. " A s for th e D ucati. Pridmore said:
the final okay fro m H·D race boss Steve Scheibe at the b egi nning
" I' m de f in itely ge lling us ed to it. but it's funny, becau se 1 o f the we ek " I've res pected Mike' s talent for years: S cheibe
thou ght ' the power would int imidate me a lo t. but it' s learning
said, " He has a high level of ability . Some o f the co ndition s he's
.Jason Pridmore. formerly of Hype rCycie Suzuki but now riding
how muc h you can use the gas in the slow corners , comi ng off
been in before might have 'preve nted him from' bei ng suCcessful in
, under the colors of Team Suzuki Sport. made a smoo th transition
from slow co m er to slow c om er, making the transition. A nd the ' other places . W e're in one of those situations whe re the bike and
tothe S uperbike class wh en he to ok over Ant hony Gobert' s
brake s are so good, that ' those are the two things that I'm really
rider and team get along really we ll: He' s ,in the ca tego ry of fast
Vance & Hines Ducati ride at Brainerd . Pridmore said the ride
getting the hang o f. A s far as the pow er goes. it's so smoo th . guys who have the ability . Wh ether it works out or not in our, sit u, came abou t afte r he learned he had been disquali fied from 'the
and it' s so good everywhere , It's - how can I put it? - it's almost
ation remains to be seen. " Wh at also attrac ted Scheibe ' to Smith
750cc S uperspo rt clas s at Mid-Ohio . He dec ided to forsake .the
was his ability to 'give inp ut o n the V R10 00 . U nlike th e o th er
750 cc Super sport class but co ntinue on the 600cc Supers port . unim pres sive be c ause it's so go od . And you don ' t fe el li ke
team s, which have extensive worldwide netwo rks of devel opment.
mach ine . " It wa s tw o train wrec ks at t he same intersecti on. I ' you're riding very hard , altho ugh you are. I think the easier that
you try to ride the bik e, th e fa ster yo u go , and that' s what I'm
the Harley team has to rely on ,its riders , Pascal Picotte and now .
· guess . - wh ic h brought Pridrnoreto the tearn ., V anc e ' & Hine s
loo king for. I'm going to con c en trat e t oday on my br aking in
Smith. Smith' s immediate goal was to help develop the bike and
Du ceti ' s Teny Va nce 'said w ith a laugh. the tw o train wrec ks being
so me of th e slower. come rs, work on some of th?s e things. "
" maybe w in a race," Smith said. " I think they want to get the bike
Anth ony Gobert ' s and CanyAndrew s" suspensions . , There's no
out there and try to do goo d see if I wa s inte rested and still try to
o ther way to put that. He (Pr idmore) calle d J immy (Leo nard
.Jo r dan S zoke. a 19·year-old Canadian, took over the' second
go fast. " The V R1000, S mith says , is " awesome. It really is. It' s a
Vance & Hines' cre w chief) and said. " Here ' s my srtuation.' We
Fast By Ferracci D ucati following Mi ke Hale's depart ure from the
nice-handling bike . I didn 't realize all these guys are highly. highly
weren 't eyen aw are of it. Jimmy c alled m at hom e and s a id.
e
int elligen t wi t h degree s fr om co lleg e . It' s .strmlar to the D uck
'Here's w hat's happeninq ' v] said. 'M an, let' s ge t this deal going.' . team aft er t he Loud on round of the series back in J une. Team
owner Eraldo Ferracci .said that he'd , seen Szoke on television.