Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127962
PREVIEW By Henny Ray Abrams as Vegas Motor Spee dway may be the only place in the d eser t oasis w here ga mbli ng won' t be practi ced on Octobe r 4 . W ith th e AMA / MBNA Superbike Na tiona l Cha mpions hip on the line, the rid ers wit h th e mo st to wi n and the most to los e w ill race agai ns t each othe r, a nd each other only - and maybe eve n watch as th e lea ders fa de in to the d is tance . That's ho w it has to be. "I' m not p lannin g on goi ng for the wi n, I only want to beat Doug . (Ch an dl er)," Ame rican Honda's Ben Bostrom says. "I don' t care if we race for firs t or 10th." Mu zzy Kawa saki' s Ch an dler says, " It really depends on where me and Ben fit in - if we'll race amo ngst ourselves or if we're go ing to be go ing wi th those gu ys (th e lead ers, w ho b oth ex p e ct w ill include Ben' s younge r brother Eric, the Yoshimura Suzu ki team of Mat Mlad in and Aaron Yates, and Van ce & Hines ' Ducati 's Anthon y Gobert in his first race a p peara nce after servi ng a three-race su spens ion for faili ng a drug test and spendi ng 30 da ys in a rehab center). I'm sure you' re go ing to have to pl an on being able to do that" For the first time in AMA Superbike hi story, th e cha m p io ns hi p is tied in points go ing int o the final race. Ch an dl er and Bostrom go to Vegas with 323 points each. Both are looking for that little edge th at can make th e differ en ce. On paper, it looks even - but races aren't run o n p ap er, a nd each rid er h is L 10 streng ths . But they're not alone . The n um bers s ay th at Yos h im u ra Suz uki's Ma t Mlad in has a mathemat ical cha nce of wi nning the title. Bu t the A us tra lia n is 31 p oints be hi n d a n d would need cala mity to strike both of those ahea d of him to earn the nu mberone plate. "Something cou ld happen , but when you look at the AMA point s - they pay all the way down to 30th or something , or wha tever it is - basically, unless they cras h on the first lap, I've go t no hope," Mlad in says . "As long as they d o a few laps, they'll get some poin ts." Wh at the three very different rid ers on the different br ands have in com mon is this: None has wo n a race this season. They 've a ll been on th e podium and they've all bee n close, but not one of the thr ee has won a race. Chand ler's best chance was a t Laguna Seca, but American Ho nda's Miguel DuHamel had ot her plan s and held off th e Sa li na s, Califo rn ia , re s id e n t. Bostrom's best chance wa s a t Brai nerd, bu t he was upstaged by yo unger br other Eric a nd passed by Mladin, in his bes t race of th e yea r - he w as at a dis tin ct pow er di sad vanta ge to th e Hond a s and had to settle for third. Mlad in was pullin g away a t Loud o n , h oldin g a three-second lead on the I Oth of 39 lap s, when his eng ine exp ired , hand ing the win to teammate Yates. Loudon, the tight and tortuou s New England trac k wh ich the rid er s believe has ou tlived its usefu lness, and one they fully expec ted wouldn't be on the 1999 sche d u le, was th e si ng le most p ivot al ra ce in the cha m pi o ns h ip . Am erica n Hond a ' s Du H amel cra s hed on a w et track in p ractic e, breaking his leg and endi ng his season. Van ce & Hin es' Gob ert admitted to smo king marijuana after the rac e, an infr action that wo uld earn him a three-ra ce sus pens ion and sha tter his titl e h opes . Ch a n d le r had a very u ncharacter isti c crash on th e final lap while a close third , givi ng awa y a certai n 29 p oints. Und er p ressu re from Mladin, Bostrom crash ed ou t of the lead early on, rem ounting to take seven th . And Mlad in ' s engine w as tun ed ju s t beyond th e b rea kin g po in t and h e we n t o u t wit h a bro ke n va lv e, s te pping off th e bi ke bef ore it carne to a stop. "We went ther e and, if we wo uld 've wo n it , w it h Ben cras hing a nd Doug cras hing, we would 'v e been right back ther e," Mladin lam ents. "And, look ing a t i t n o w , if w e w o u ld 've w on a t ' Loud on - and we we re in a goo d positi on to d o so - we' re o n ly 32 points behind now. So even with th e o the r breakd owns, w e sti ll s ho u ld 've been leading the cham pio nship." Yo s h i mu ra Su z u k i' s Ya te s wo n Loud on , round nine of 13, and the following race a t the Mid -Ohi o Spo rts Car Course . Then Erio n Ra cin g ' s Eric