Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMAIMBNA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Final round: Las Vegas Motor Speedway • By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams .·' A a ~ LAS VEGAS, NY, OCT. 4 or th e fir st 11 laps a t La s Veg a s Motor Sp eedway, everybod y w as g ettin g e x actl y what the y 'd hoped for. Yoshimura Su zuki ' s Mat Mlad in w as headed for his first AMA Su perbike Nationa l victory of th e seaso n; fan favorites Jason Pri dmore a nd An tho ny Go bert appeared se t to put the tw o Va nce & Hin es Du catis in th e winner's circle ; and the battle for the Su per bi k e Na tional C h a m p io n s h ip was rea ch in g a feve r p itch a s Doug Ch andl er and Ben Bost rom were se par at ed on th e r a ce tr ack b y m e r e inches. Th e n, on lap 11, th in gs s ta r ted to unravel. Shortly a fter passin g Bostrom under braking for the Sahara Ha irpin, Chand ler 's Muz zy Kawasaki emit ted a big puff of smoke from its exha us t canister. That was the beginning of the end as far as any suspense regarding the champi onsh ip chase was co ncerned . From - F th at p oint on, Ch and ler cou ld on ly . nurse his leaking ZX-7R home, and he eventually limped acro ss the finish line in 12th place. Chandler's demise left Bostrom free and clear . All he had to d o was stay ou t of trouble. With his brother Eric watching ou t for him from behind , trouble n ever ca m e Bostrom ' s w ay. A fte r 25 lap s'of racin g arou nd th e 2.5-mil e Las Vega s M otor Speedway , Bost ro m crossed th e lin e in second p lace well behin d race winn er Mlad in, but wit h the AMA Superbi ke Na tio n al C hampi onship in hand . - And what of Pridmor e and Gobert? In his return rid e after an AMA -mandated drug sus pension, Gobert was nothin g less than impressive. Despite not bein g able -to take to the track unt il Sat urday morning (see "Briefly ..."), Gober t was qu ickly on the pace and he only got better as the weekend wo re on. By Su nday he was r ea d y to challenge a n d h e 'd moved th rough to second pla ce when the Ducati blew a head gasket with just five laps to go . Gobert brou gh t the V- tw in on to Pit Lan e, but hi s teammate never mad e it that far. Rid in g not far behind Gobert , Pridmore hit a patch of water tha t the Au stralian's Ducati had left behind, sending him to the pavem ent and leaving him ' wi th a broken left arm. Ju st lik e that, two- thirds of the Vance & Hines Ducati tea m were out of the race - and out of wha t woul d have been a certai n twothr ee finish for the pair. No t a very good 29th birthday prese nt for Pridmo re. The d emise of th e tw o red V-twins left the door open for the oppo rtu nis tic red V-four Ho ndas ridden by the Brothers Bostrom. Those two rode across the line in forma tion and then started a victory celebratio n that su rely lasted lat e into the Vegas night. Fourth p lace wen t to Harley-David s o n 's Pa sca l Picott e, ma tc hin g h is fourth-pl ace fini sh a t the las t round in . Colorado. Early in the week, Picott e suffered fro m a bad co ld, bu t things got bett er on Su nday a nd he was able to ha ng around a t the fron t of th e p ack. And his VR1000 di dn' t fail him, allow- Mat Mlad ln (66) leads the AMA Superblke pack on the open ing lap of the ser ies finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He's being chased by Jason Pridmore (41) and the rest of the as-r ider field. ing him to finish fourth - four spo ts better th an h is teammat e Mike Smit h. It wa s easily the Harl ey-Davidson team 's best effort of the season. Thomas Stevens managed to keep his Vance & Hin es Du catiboth upright and running, and tha t nett ed him fifth place on the d ay. It also matched his best performance of the year, wi th Stevens ge tting fifth at both Loudon and Brainerd . Ironically, the ride will likely be the final race in Stevens' eight-year AMA Superbike career, as he appears cer tain to lose the Van ce & Hines rid e. He may, howe ve r, b e b a ck fo r a seaso n o f 600cc Su pe rspo rt raci ng in 1999 (see "Briefly..."). Behind Stevens ca me Yos h im u ra Suzuki's Steve Crevier in his final rid e aboa rd the TLl O OR V-tw in. ext yea r O

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