Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

lenge for the gutsy Australian if the red flag had n't been thrown will never be k now n, bu t Pr id more was t hrilled no netheless. And rightfully so - after all, he'd prov en on ce aga in that he can ru n wit h the big boys. "I' m s till .1eam ing a lot abo ut su perb ikes, a n d I wa n te d to conserve m y ti res," Pr id mo re sai d . " I saw Ma t (Mladin) setting a good pace and I knew Eri c (Bo s tro m ) was go ne. I saw Mat catching Ben (Bostro m) and I thou ght , 'Well, th ere' s no sense in me try in g to race with Ma t, and maybe we can all ca tch Ben.' Then Pascal (Picotte) went by, then Rich (Olive r) w ent by me. I thought, 'Oh, [eez, it's time to go.' I was ab le to get back by Rich an d back by Pascal. I had some ground to make up on Mat and agai n we started ca tchi ng Ben. I was really content to wa tch w hat Ma t d id because I wan t to lea rn fro m these guys. The only way I' m going to learn is to keep it o n two w heels and keep fini sh ing races. I'd love to finis h second or first, but I'm just as happy to finish third ." Fourth place went to Harley-Davidson's Pascal Picott e. The French Canadian fina lly had things go his wa y and he rod e t he VR1 000 h ard , cha lleng ing Mladin and Pridmore the who le wa y to eve ntu a lly fini sh fourth. It was by far his and Harl ey's best performan ce of an otherwise lack lust er season. With Ben Bostrom fifth and Chandler sixth, the battle for seventh went the di stan ce, with Yamaha' s Rich Oliver holding off the Yoshimura Suzuki of Aa ron Ya tes, who battled front-b ra ke problems through out the Na tional. Filling ou t the top 10 were a pa ir of Yoshimura Suzuki TLlOOORs, rid den by Steve Crevier and Larry Pegr am . All six manufacturers (Hond a, Suzuki, Ducati , Harl ev, Kawasaki and Yamaha ) were r epre s ent ed in the top 10, incl uding both varia tio ns (squa re fou r and V-twin) of Suzukis. Nota ble nonfin ish er s included Fast By Ferrac ci Du cat i' s To m Kipp, wh o was a victim of the oil -induced melee (w hic h included Ste ve Teschke, Da le Kieffer a nd Chris Rankin ) that prematu rely ended the race; Tom my Hayd en, wh ose Mu zzy Kawasaki d id n't last past the 32 nd la p; a n d Mike Smith, w ho parked h is fac to ry Ha rl e y-D a vid son a fter just 11 laps. Brillian t sunshine a nd tem pera tures in the low 90s greeted the start of the second -eve r AMA Su perbike race a t Pikes Peak International Raceway, and it was Ben Bostrom leaping into the lead from pol e position wh en the ligh ts were flicked to green. He had his sibling Eric brea thing down hi s ta il p ip e s, wit h Mladin, Oliver, Picott e, Pridmore, Yates and Ch andler all following in single file. A t the st a rt of the fourth lap , Eri c swooped around the ou tside of Ben on the exit of the fastest corne r on the race track , the racer in him winning out over bro th erl y lo ve . It w a s h is intent for brother Ben to hook on, the pa ir of them riding into the su nset with victories and cha m p io ns hip leads, but some things don't work ou t as planned. "I was actually thinking about him (Ben), but I seeme d to ha ve qui te a bit m or e moto r th an hi m," Eric Bos tro m sa id . "I w as th ink in g, ' Ma n , tha t's a bu m mer for Ben.' I went aro und him on the o u tsi de go i ng d o w n th e b a ck straig ht. I was thinking, 'Well, ho pefully he'll be able to tuck in and I' ll tow him along and he'll be ab le to save h is tire an d we'll both be there in the en d .'" This one was far from over, though Eric Bostro m would never be head ed . Ben and Mladin stayed close ea rly on, (Above) Eric Bostrom was simply unst oppable at Pikes Peak . The yo ung Calilorn ian won hi s seco nd straight AMA Superbike Nat iona l in only hi s th irdever superbike race. (Right) Mat Mlad in (66) was abl e to ho ld off the advances of Ja so n Pridm ore (41) in the late sta ges of the red-flag-s hortened race. but Eric slow ly started to pull away - by inches at first, then by yards and eventually by seco nds . He would have more tha n seven seco nds in ha nd w hen the red flag was th rown. "I think we just really had our setup worki ng goo d, " Eric Bost ro m sai d . "Tha t's a b ig thanks to the crew - Al Luding to n, Ray Plu mb and Joey Lom bar do. They d id a fantastic job of ge tting the thing to ho ok up. This place is really s lip pery a nd it' s a ll ab out ha ving th e bik e track every lap ." By the time the you nge r Bostrom had made th is race his own, the battle for seco nd still includ ed his brother Ben . It w as Ben Bostrom, Mladin and Picotte, with a small ga p back to Pridmor e - w ho had finally disposed of Oliv er, who wa s ahead of an other ga p back to Cha nd ler and Yates. By this p oint , Mia din had a ll but conced ed second place to Ben Bostrom. The Honda was just to o strong, a nd Pikes Peak offers little in th e w a y o f passing opportunities. Then Ben presented the grea test passing opportuni ty of t he m all. With Bos t ro m , Mladin , P r idm o re and Picott e approachi ng h eav y traffi c o n th e e n trance to th e ri g ht -ha nd ca ro usel co rner, Bos trom was a littl e too en thus iastic. He ran in hot, takin g bo th himself and the lap ped rider wi de. No t one to let a good opportu ni ty pass, Mladi n slid underneath and e merged in seco nd p lace - b ringing Prid mo re with him. "T he re was a lapper, an d I was on > • the ou tside and he wa s on the inside," Mlad in exp lained. "We go t to the comer and bot h so rt of looked at eac h other. It was an 'I'm not braking till you d o' so rt of th ing . Then I thoug ht, 'Well, it's time to brake.' He was still going and I knew he was go ing wide. He just got in a little hot ." Mla din later a d m itted th at if Ben Bostrom had n't erred , then there wa sn' t a place wh er e he cou ld have passed . "I wa s g la d he ran wid e because, honestly, I could so rt of drive with him but I couldn 't s tay c lose e no ugh," Mlad in said . " By th e ti m e we got through that left over the re (tu rn two), I just w a sn 't close enough to m ake a move on th e brakes. I ju s t had to sit th ere and hope something happened. And it d id - and I got second. Fortunately, I d id n' t make an y mistakes. I rode it on line the who le race - for the first time in my life, I think." Sudd enl y , Bostrom was fou rth instead of second. A lap later he would be fifth as the Harley and Picotte also thunde red past. Bostrom's prob lems with his clutch we re get ting wo rse and h e was, as h e ca lled it, " in s u rviva l mode." "I just had to keep la te-braking so those guys could n' t snea k by me," Ben Bostrom said. " It was ge tting wor se an d I though t it was shearing teeth off the back s p rocke t. I'm li ke, 'C ' rno n , red flag .' I tried to s tuff tha t lap per to ge t him between m e a n d Ma t (M la d in) , Instead, all I did was ta ke myself and th e la p per rea l w id e and he (Mlad in) and Pridmore jus t went by. Then I got ano ther lapper, cou ld n' t get a drive and Picott e wen t by me." . With Eric Bostrom still well ou t fro nt, Mlad in and Pridmore conti nu ed to battle, wit h Pi co tt e a lways lu rki ng right behind in case they erred . As it tu rn ed out, the red flag came out befor e he had the cha nce. Picotte th ou ght he'd hav e more for them based o n the mornin g wa rm u p session, and he wasn't pleased to see the red flag - but he wa s happy to finish fourth nonetheless. "Th e b ike worked better this mornin g ," Pi cot te s ai d . " We made s o me ch a ng es , very s ma ll cha nges - reall y minor stuff, but it wasn 't as good. All w eekend I could go flat out through tum one, but I could n' t do it today. I lost the front three tim es over there. I was actually sliding the front and getting it back. Mat (Mlad in) was a little slower, but I couldn't gel by him. I was hoping for traffic near the end and I was catching back u p. I thought I had a shot at third place, maybe second." Altho ugh the red flag en ded all the dram a in the figh t for second , it provid ed a little exciteme nt. With the four riders sliding d own in the oil, ther e wa s su rprising ly no red flag shown - an d the leade rs w ere head ed tha t way. Bostrom mad e it Ihrou gh cleanly, Mladin had to take evasive act io n a nd took to t h e grass, while Prid more go t things slowed d own enough to avoid cras hi ng. Then the red flag came o ut. The race rs 5

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