Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

O bvio usly, it' s a g rea t-han dlin g b ike a n d we too k ad v anta ge of it tod a y . It was very good o n th e tires all w eekend , a nd we knew we co u ld go 20 laps in the sevens 0:37s). Everything felt good and I ju s t wanted to pull a gap . I think if I . really p us hed it , w e cou ld ha v e d on e high sixes without a problem." Ea rlv o n, it was Pridmore w ho came th e closest to m atching Ml adin' s p ace. Then ca me G o bert, ch a rgi ng through from seve n th o n th e openin g lap to pa ss hi s teammate o n lap 16. H e d os ed th e gap to Mladin fro m 6.2 seco nd s on la p 15 to 4 .6 o n lap 20 , but M ladin kn ew what was happe ni ng . Then , s u d den ly, both Gobert and Pridmore were gone . Gobert was in th e p it s; Prid more was u p side d o wn. Iro n ica lly, one Ducati failure ha d caused the o ther, with Pri dmore s lid ing off in Gobert's water. Desp ite the fact tha t he d id n' t finis h, Gobe r t w as im p ressive. Whether or not it's enough to ju stify Terry Vance rehiring him re m ains to be seen. (Rig ht) Thomas Stevens tr ies to hold off Pascal Picotte in t heir batt le for what would be fourth place. Pico tte ended up fou rth with Stevens fifth. (Below) Brotherly love . Eric Bostrom finished th ird behind his brother Be n, who earned th e National Champ ionship with the result. " I th ought I'd ju s t wa it a n d w eigh up the r a ce a n d s e e what h appens," Gobert s a i d: " M a t (M la d i n) s ta r ted going a w ay, and as he w a s going awa y I was getting held up by (D o ug) Chand ler and both Bostrom boys. They w ere holding m e up so much; I tho u ght if I got b y 'em a n d kep t m y head d own th a t I m ight h ave a chan ce of winnin g th e t h ing . I go t into third and th e brakes s ta rte d fad ing on m e really bad. I s pen t abou t fo u r laps pla ying with the lever and trying to get it in the ri g ht p osition. Then Ml adin p ulled away on m e aga i n . I put my h e a d down and s tarte d to gradually sn ea k up on them . On c e I g o t pas t Ja s o n (Pri d more ), I could s ee Mat a n d I was pulling h im in m ore a nd more each la p , I figured the way I w as going, I co u ld be on him o n th e last la p . Kn owing th e way I am, I'm pretty big o n the brakes, so I was ju st go ing to s tick it up the inside of h im som ewhere o n th e last lap and win for m y sel f a n d fo r Ter ry Vance . I feel lik e I've let him a n d the te am do w n a lot this yea r, a nd I' ve let m yself d own big" time." All o f th is ca me a fter the c ha m p ionship had alrea dy been decided. The decisive bl ow came on th e I lth lap. Again, th ere w a s so me irony in it a l l. Just when Chandler' had fo u n d a w ay around both o f the Bos trorns, jus t w hen it lo oked li ke h e ma y ha ve h ad Ben cov ered, th e engi ne let go. Though h e w as able to continue, he was never a fa c to r and h e s li p ped to a n e v e n t u a l 12th-place fin ish. "I was d oing what I needed to do," Chandler said. "I bided my time, waited for them to s low up, and made a mo ve. A lap later, m y feet s ta rted sli p p ing o n th e pegs, After that I was ju st tryin g to fin ish a nd not get bl ack-flagged . I knew they (AMA officials ) w ere watching m e. lt was g ettin g pre tt y bad . Up to that point, th in gs w e re go ing good. Eric was running a block, but I got by him, and I got by Ben on th e next lap , I was co mfo rtable; th en di sast er set in ." Was th ere ever a po int w he n Chan- for a little while and then I got sidetracked a bit again. Now 'I'm . come to terms 9" a d eal , tha t will see the ~ustra lian with , the· just 10D-percen t dedicated to racing, / want to win so bad .' Now , Yoshimura team through 2001 . "Suzuki and I have agreed to a the number-one plate is going to be under the tent next year (on commitment through 2001, so I Will be with them in AMA racing Ben Bostr om's Ducati), and I feel that it's going to be on the through the end of 2001 ," Mladin said . "I'll be do ing 600co ~ Although the Doug Chand ler/ Ben Bost ro m duel for -the AMA wrong g'uy's bike. I feel that I gave these guys a championship S upersport next year and for two years after 't hat as well. r m S upe rbike crown. made big news leading up to the Las Vegas ' this year and next year I'm not going to do that. I can't say for looking forward to it - it should be good," finale, the re turn of Anthony Gobert seemed 'almost as big. sure ,if I'll be back here next year , but I want to be under the And it didn't come without more Gobert-like cont roversy. The ' Vance 1\ Hines Ducati tent - I want to put the number-one plate So if all four Yoshimura Suzuki riders are going to be GSX-R750Australian was schedu led to take an AMA-issued drug test the on Anthony Gobert's machine. I think that Terry's Nance ' the mounted. where does that leave the TL 1ODOR program? Out in team owner) pretty keen . to have me on his team again . I thi nk the cold. at least for the time being, "The TL is,a project of racMonday prior to Thursday's unofficial practice session, but he missed the test after claiming thai he 'd injured hims elf while . it's just up toDucati. After this weekend, I hope my spot is ing," Suzuki vice president Mer Harris said. "Right now we need to put our efforts into our 750 to make sure it stays at the top of working out in the gym. He then mlssed the tes t again on Tues- secu re with the team .-. the pile. There are reallyonlya couple of things that the TL needs: day and Wed nesday before finally taking it on Thursday, Octo ber 1. That didn't allow enough time for the AMA to have the With Be n Bostrom being signed to ride the Vance 1\ Hines Ducati less weight and some suspension tweaks . Without factory assisresults ,back from the clinic that performs the test at 't he Univer- for next year, and Gobert likely to join him, Jason Pridmore tance, we just can't do it. The 750 is our priority right now, but sity of Ohio. The res ults didn't come back uniil Saturday morn- ' ended up signing contract with Suzuki. Believe it or not. 'des pite that's. not to say that the TL won't be back." ing, so Gobert didn't get to ride . After 3 1/ 2 months without rid- his performances on the Ducati, he was never offered a spot on ing', Gobe rt was up to pace quicker than most thought he would . the team. "I've bee n really loyal to Suzuki and they've been really Mel Harris also announced at the Las Vegas round that a contract be , and he qualified fifth. He was running second in the Su per- . loyal to me," Pridmore sa id. "I wasn't disappointed at all(not .to . was signed on Thursday : O ct ob er 1, be tween A rnerica n .S uzuki bike National before a blown head gasket on the Ducati knocked ge t the Ducati ride). I know I'm going to have,a good crew over at and Dave Damron of Chaparral Ra cing that will see,Chaparral him out of the race, "I wanted to co me back with a wi n," Gobert Yosh. I'm happyabout where I'm going to be . A lot of.peo ple field a 600 and 750cc Supers port team in AMA racing in 1ggg. sa id. "To have not ridden for so long, I'm really grateful to God, I made a big deal about me going to Vance 1\ Hines, butInever Former World Champion Kel Carruthers , who will serve as su ppose, for giving me the' natural talent that I'm born with to be even talked to them about a contract. They never offered me any- both team manager and crew chief, will run the team. Although able to co me back and ge t on the 'bike and be right there . Really, thing." , ' Tommy Hayden has yet to sign a contract; it is likely that he . I've got a lot of people to thank: and God is the main one . I'm so will join Australian Damon Buckma s te r on the two-rider squad, lucky to be born with the gift that I have. It' s time to s top wast - Joining Pridmore on the Yoshimura Suzuki team for next yea'r will Buckma ste r signed a' cont ract on Friday at Las Vegas Motor ing it and (start) putting it into action." When asked if we were , be newly crowned 600cc Supersport Champion Steve Crevier. Speedway and is looking forward to the challenge of AMA racing, dealing with a different Anthony Gobert than the vers ion that Steve Rapp and Mat Mladin . And all four will be aboard Suzu- "It should be good," Buckmaster said. "l'm really looking forward . failed a drug tes t three mcnths ago , Gobert replied: "I think so . ki GSX-R750s - and all four will also compete in the 600cc Super- to it. I spoke with Dave Damron on the phone and he's excited After the Suzuki incident. I.tried to keep my head down. I did it . sport class . including Mladin. In fact. Mladm and S uzuki have about "it. ". Carruthers is ~Iso excited "about returning to road racing Brieflv.,. . a

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