Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IIf!IIIt. Daytona Preview ,~ 1999 AMA/MBNA Superbike National Championship EktmM A.IotDtrrdr - . By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams F or the fifth straight year, I was wrong. Last year I predicted that Anthony Gobert would end the season as the 1998 AMA Superbike Na tional Cham pion. As you know, he didn't. Ben Bostrom did. So, as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I was wrong again. This is how I had it figured last year, with how it turned out and why (according to me, anyway) in parenthesies. 1. Anthony Gobert (ninth - his season was interrupted by a suspension for failing a drug test or two). 2. Doug Chandler (second - hey, I got one right). 3. Miguel DuHamel (lOth - his season was interrupted by a broken leg). 4. Mat Mladin (third - close enough). 5. Mike Hale (out of the top 20 - his season was interrupted by his dismissal from the team). 6. Aaron Yates (fifth - close enough). 7. Ben Bostrom (first - he learned faster than I thought he would). 8. Rich Oliver (fourth - I never dreamed he'd be that consistent). 9. Thomas Stevens (13th - I never dreamed he'd be that inconsistent). 10. Steve Crevier (seventh - the TL was better than [ thought it would be, but not good enough for Suzuki to keep it going). But let's forget the past. It's the future we're concerned with. Here are my picks for the 1999 AMA Superbike National Championship. 1. Anthony Gobert - #95 Age: 24 Hometown: Oakdale, Australia Team: Vance & Hines Ducati Best result in 1998: First (Phoenix, Road Atlanta, Road America) Ranking in 1998: Ninth in AMA Superbike Championship You can go ahead and call me Terry Vance, Rob Muzzy or Sue Gobert. You can just throw me into the heap of team owners, managers, mechanics and mothers who have given Anthony Gobert too many second chances. Maybe it is 1 who need to go to a rehabilitation center, Last year, 1 wrote in • 28 this exact same spot the following about Anthony Gobert: "R aIisticalIy, if he screws this one up by being stupid, then we may have seen the last of Gobert. Smart or stupid Anthony, you make the choice." Well, young Anthony opted'once again for stupid. And, in turn, he made me look rather daft by believing in him. But 1 wasn't alone. The line of idiots forms directly behind Terry Vance. Now, when [ look at the ever-shortening line for 1999, there I am again: Vance, a horde of Italians from Ducati - and me (at times wearing sunglasses ~nd a hat pulled down real low to conceal my identity). So what does that make me now? Since I'"ve already proved myself to be the Forrest Gump of prognosticators, I figured there's nowhere left to go but up. And I might as well go there with Gobert. Last year, I based my predictions in regard to Gobert on his talent, his pure,speed on a motorcycle and his ability to win races. None of that h~s changed. If nothing else, Gobert proved last year that he's able to overcome the things that I'd questioned. In my predictions of a year ago, 1 wrote: "I believe that Gobert is capable of winning each and every race on the calendar. But he won't, and it will be those races that he doesn't win that will prove to be the most important ones in the season. Does he crash trying to win every race? Does he bum up his tires, destroy his motor? Or does he finish third, fourth or fifth on the weekends when he isn't capable of winning?" Gobert showed that he doesn't crash. He doesn't destroy engines and he doesn't burn up tires. And he is wWing to finish off the podium when things aren't right. Young Anthony is smarter than I thought. And sometimes more stupid than I could ever imagine. Case in point: Things go sour in Daytona. I-ie doesn't panic, but instead nurses the Ducati home to eighth place. He takes his points and he leaves. Smart boy, that Anthony. Then he shows up for Laguna Seca in La-La Land. Jet-lagged, he can't even make it to the grid on time for the warm-up lap. [t costs him dearly and he endsup ramming a backmarker and finishing] lth. Silly boy, that Antl,ony. It was that kind of season with Gobert. You just never knew which one you were going to get. At Willow Springs, Road Atlanta, Road America and, all things considered, Las Vegas, he was simply masterful. Between Road America and Las Vegas, however, Gobert had his well-documented problems with the FIM and the AMA - thanks to his self-proclaimed liking to "smokin' a little weed." Anthony says that's all in the past. He's ready to concentrate on his racing, ready to bring Terry Vance and Ducati an AMA Superbike title. I have my doubts. It does little to help my confidence in Gobert when he shows up at the preseason tests out of shape and fat, looking a lot more like Mrs. Doubtfire than a serious racer. I see that and I write him off. Then I watch him ride and those doubts go straight out the window. I simply can't get over the fact that somebody this good should be winning - and winning a lot. 1 will promise you one thing: If Gobert screws this one up, Vance and the boys from Ducati can stand in line by themselves. To reiterate my closing from last year: Smart or stupid - Anthony, you make the choice. (Hint to Anthony: Try the other option this year.) 2. Ma t Mladin - #66 Age: 27 • Hometown: Camden, Australia Team: Yoshimura Suzuki Best result in 1998: First (Las Vegas) Ranking in 1998: Third in AMA Superbike Championship If Gobert slips up just a little bit, Mat Mladin will be the 1999 AMA Superbike National Champion. If the AMA simply gave the title every year to the man who works harder, thinks about it the most, and goes about his business in the most profeSSional manner, Mladin would have won this thing many times over by now. Unfortunately, you also need a bit of luck, and so far Mladin's been on the short end of that stick. This y&1T will be different. MJadin's Yoshimura Suzuki will work like a charm. Mladin will win a bunch of races. Mladin will finish near the top when he doesn't win. And when they add .. up the points at the end of the year, he will either be first or second in the championship. Jt all depends on what happens to his countryman Mr. Gobert. I believe Mladin can run with Gobert any time, any place. But I also believe that Gobert still has an edge when it comes to the motorcycle he rides, and that's the main reason he sits above MJadin in these predictions. Otherwise, Mladin might just be my pick to win t1tis thing - with or without a Gobert mishap. While Gobert continues to go through life as a walking time bomb, Mladin is the complete opposite. He's rock-steady. A sure thing. Plain and Simple, be doesn't screw up. Look at his results from 1998. He finished a close second to Gobert in the season opener in Phoenix; he was a steady fourth in the Daytona 200; he rode injured to third place at Laguna Seca; he rode an underpowered Suzuki to third at ultra-fast Willow Springs; he struggled. but still finished third at Sears Point; he had a miserable Road Altanta, but still came away with a sixth and a 10th; he was taken out of the Road Atlanta race on the opening lap when Pascal Picotte rammed him off the track; he was robbed of certain victory at Loudon when his Suzuki dropped a valve; he was a sorry seventh at Mid-Ohio with problems he blamed squarely on himself; he rode his butt off to finish 'second at the highspeed Brainerd round; he ro~e to a secondplace finish at Pikes Peak; and he went out and finally won tl,e last race of the season in Las Vegas. In the end, Mladin was 25 points be.hind Ben Bostrom in the title chase. Give him decent points at Road America and the 35 points a win would have given him in Loudon, and he's your National Champion. It's a lot of would've, could've and should've, but you can't take away from the fact that Mladin is always there. There is also no better rider in the series when it comes to throwing on a qualifying tire and doing a quick lap. Mladin sat on pole seven times in 1998 - that adds up to seven extra points for the championship. Mladin will be there, week in week ou.t. Where he ends up will ultimately fall squarely on the shoulders of his team. and this championship has been won in similar fashion before. I picked Bostrom to finish seventh in last year's title chase, so it's difficult for me to be critical of him because he went out and won a championship. If he had finished in the top five last year, he would have been a hero in my book. After all, he was learning on the job and he wasn't supposed to do anything other than learn. This was to be his year, not last year. What he did in 1998 based on what he faced was commendable, and he's a worthy champion. I'm also confident that he'll make a good champion and he'll bring a youthful exuberance to the position that hasn't been there for a while. On to ] 999: Bostrom has changed teams. Gone is the Honda RC45, replaced by the Vtwin Ducati. Jt would be easy to conclude that Bostrom will struggle with the new bike, but he won't. He has already gone as fast as anyone at Daytona, at Laguna Seca and at Willow Springs - three completely different tracks that· should have tested his mettle - during preseason testing. And he's also shown that be call. bounce back from severe injury (remember his tire-failure-induced crash at over 160 mph at Daytona in December) and not lose a thing. There's an old British racing theory regarding young racers. It goes something along the lines of, "We'll see how fast they are after spending a little time between the linen (sheets)." Well, Bostrom spent a little time between the linen at the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach. And it didn't slow him down. He has what it takes to be champion again. Changing teams won't hinder his performance. He goes from arguably the best team in AMA racing to arguably the best team in AMA racing. And he's the kind of guy that can fit in anywhere. He'll be fine, and he's got a better chance of finishing higher than third than he does of finishing lower than third. 3. Ben Bostrom - #1 Age: 22 Hometown: Granada Hills, California Team: American Honda Best result in 1997: First (Brainerd, Pikes Peak) Ranking in 1997: 18th in AMA Superbike Championship; Formula Xtreme Champion; third in 600cc Supersport Championship Age: 24 Hometown: Granada Hills, California Team: Vance & Hines Du.cati Best result in 1998: Second (Las Vegas) Ranking in 1998: AMA Superbike National Champion Before we blast Ben Bostrom for failing to win' an AMA Superbike National en route to his AMA Superbike National Championship, let's look at what he did do in 1998. Remember Road Atlanta and Road America? At those two races, AMA Superbike racing was never better, never faster, never mOTe intense. It was at those three races (Road Atlanta had two, remember ... ) that Miguel DuHamel and Anthony Gobert were at the top of their game. They were fit, they were hungry and they were incredibly fast. And they battled to the bitter end in each of those three races. There was also only o!'e other man in the field who could stay in the shadow they cast. His name was Ben Bostrom. In both races at Road Atlanta, Bostrom was there. He was right on the heels of the two fastest men in tl,e series. Ditto for Road America. In fact, if not for his sheer lack of experience in big moments like those, he may have been able to win one of those three races. But he didn't Those two had better race S,avvy in the final laps, and Bostrom ended the season in the unenviable position of being a champion without a victory. But let's not forget that he is the champion, 4. Eric Bostrom - #32 Wha t Eric Bostrom accomplished in ]998 is nothing short of remarkable. He entered four AMA Superbike races. In his debut, he finished fifth at Mid-Ohio. He then went out and won two in a row at Brainerd and Pikes Peak. Then he closed out the season by Iin- . ishing third in Las Vegas. That's two wins, a third and a fifth in four races. His first four races, mind you. It simply doesn't get any better than that. It obviously impressed his peers. They all speak highly of him, and any mention of the 1999 title chase brings his name up often. He is a favorite to walk away with the crown in ] 999. When his peers voted on whom they thought would finish where (see sidebar The Racers' Top 10), Bostrom ended up second. That's high regard for a man who will enter just his fifth AMA Superbike National when he Jines up for the Daytona 200 in I March. There is no doubting the younger Bostrom's talent, but a heap of praise must also be given to his team at American Honda. Last year, Bostrom was able to jump on Miguel DuHamel's RC45 and instantly do the business. Thars due largely to a team that is' without peer in AMA Superbike racing. .It's a combination that should bring huge dividends in 1999, and there's 0.0 doubt that Eric.

• Cover