Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HON'D Anthony Gobert (left and opposite page) was simply unbeatable at Laguna Seca, winning both "legs" of the red-f1aginterrupted race. (Right) Mat Mladin finished second to extend his championship points lead, completion. At the end of the day, Mladin was satisfied with extending his series points lead but was still seething with how things were handled. Third place went to Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler, another who felt that the race probably shouldn't have been restarted. The nearby Salinas. resident ended up bettering his position by two spots thanks to the restart, but it still didn't make it right, he said later. Chandler had finished tile first portion of the race in fifth place, bu t was given the reprie.ve of changing his warped brake rotors for the second part. He used his better brakes to move up two spots. His gain was his teammate Aaron Yates' loss. The Georgian was third when the race was stopped, but he slipped to fourth in the seven-lap sprint after getting caught up with American Honda's Miguel DuHamel for the duration. DuHamel ended up fifth, one spot worse than where he'd been in the first portion of the event. Still, the French Canadian was pleased with the effort and looking forward to the month layoff to get his health back in order for the middle portion of the run for the championship. Vance & Hines Ducati's Ben Bostrom ended up sixth on the day. One of those with a lot to gain from the race being restarted, Bostrom was able to fit new tires to his Ducati after fighting for traction in tile first part of the race. Bostrom had started strongly and appeared to have a stranglehold on third place, but then his troubles started and his pace was slowed un.til he slid all the way back to seventh by the time the race was stopped. Bostrom still couldn't take much advantage of the situation as his problems continued in the second part and he only managed to move up to sixth. Then the V&H team di~covered that his problems weren't tire-related at all. Instead, they found that his front brakes had been sticking all the way through the corners, causing him to nearly crash five or six times. "I didn't know what the problem was," Bostrom said later. "We put the. new tires on and it was the same deal. It's a shame because I thought I had the best bike out there 'all weekend. In the race, I was riding harder and going slower." Behind Bostrom came Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Crevier, the Canadian able to better his position by two spots after the restart. Yamaha's Rich Oliver was eighth, just clear of American Honda's Eric Bostrom. Fast By Ferracci's Larry' Pegram rounded out the top 10, with Yoshimura Suzuki's]ason Pridmore 11th, Yamaha's Jamie Hacking 12th, Ferracci's Matt Wait 13th, Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Rapp 14th and Ricci Motorsports' Jimmy Moore 15th. Mladin now leads the title chase by ·26 points over Ben Bostrom, 161-135, with eight races left to run. Pegram is third with 124 points, just one clear of Gobert and two ahead of Chandler. DuHamel is sixth with 115 points. For all practical purposes, two Superbike races were held on the day - but only one counted. The first portion of the race ran for 21 laps and it featured some performances that are worth pointing out. Namely tile one turned in by Gobert. Mladin nailed the holeshot and led the pack over the hill and into turn two, but all eyes were on Gobert as he sin1ply rode around the outside of Bostrom in turn two to take over second place. Then he barged up the inside of Mladin entering the Corkscrew for the first time in a move that even had the ultrabrave Gobert a bit nervous. "I nearly hit hin1 and I nearly tucked the front," Gobert said. "I lost tile front a bit and I sort of two-wheel drifted until 1 changed direction. Luckily it gripped. I tllought Mat (Mladin) might say something about it. I got a good drive on him up the hill. As he peeled right, r thought, 'Mat's pretty good on the TemDers flare A n already strained relationship between the AMA and Yoshimu- ,ra Su.zuki's Mat M-Ia"din only got worse on Sunday afternoon at Laguna Seca Raceway, as the championship points leader was incensed at the fact that the red-flag-interrupted race was restarted with just seven laps to run. A meeting between the AMA, several riders and some crew members became somewhat heated, with the most serious exchange coming between Yamaha crew chief Tom Houseworth and Mladin, with Yamaha's Jamie Hacking also getting involved, Tempers flared throughout the impromptu meeting, with different riders having different viewpoints, depending on ~1eir given situation. Mladin was adamant that the race shouldn't be restarted and he confronted both Ben Bostrom and Hacking, two riders who were in favor of starting the race again. Bostrom was having problems with his Honda that he thought were cured and was hopeful of a better finishing position, and Hacking had run off in the Corkscrew on the opening lap and knew that he'd u1pm~tely have a better chance if the race was to be started again. The AMA was within the rules in calling for the race to be restarted because it had run less than 80 percent of the full race distance. Had it gone two more laps, the race would have been called complete. After a race has run 50 percent of its distance, it's up to the AMA's discretion as to whether or not to restart it. "Personally, what pissed me off is that our numbers man figured that the top four or five guys had gone past the finish line to finish their 22nd lap, so we were .4 9f a lap off 80 percent," Mladin said. "Then they go and run a seven-lap race. These donkeys don't even have aggregate time, so all the hard work that everyone did in the first part of that race was essentially cut out - goodbye. I don't have a problem running a seven-lap race, but I'd busted my ass to be in second place, six to eight seconds in front of Aaron (Yates). Then they just put us in an even playing field again. What's the good in that? We should have combined times, then I don't have a problem with doing two races. I'll do four races if they want to do a combined time. "Secondly, what pissed me off was the unprofessionalism of Tom Houseworth and Jamie Hacking - two just totally barbaric people. I can't believe how unprofessional they are. Houseworth is up there saying that I didn't want to race again because I knew I was going to get smoked by (Anthony) Gobert. That's right - I didn't have anything for Anthony today and I can accept that. That's not a problem. And then Jamie Hacking's like, 'Well, at least we didn't stop riding the 600 because we weren't competitive: What a load of shit. Essentially, where are they in the championship? I don't even like to get bitchy like that, but they are a bunch of moles. I can't-believe I even got into an argument with them. I should have just turned around and just forgot about it. Common sense should prevail in these circumstances. We're brakes; should I or shouldn't. I?' And then I thought, 'Ohh11.h, I'm doing it.' By that time he was nearly tipping it in. I had to run us both out a bit wide." . From there tl1e colorful Australian was never headed. Lapping in the high 1:26s and low 27s, Gobert pulled away slowly at first, with Mladin hanging tough, and more easily later on when Mladin realized he was fighting an uphill battle. Gobert's lead stayed at less than half a second for the first four laps, then he started to pull out half a second per lap on his longtime rival. By the time Sullivan's crash brought out the red flag on the 21st lap, Gobert had some eight seconds in hand. Mladin was also secure in second. six laps from the end of the race and we've just run a National. They want to run a National over six laps - how stupid is that? Anyone can come from the third row of the grid and banzai everyone in the first corner - who knows what's going to happen. I was leading that race and thinking, 'Anthony deserves to WU1 this race. I don't deserve to win this race - the race is already done.' It's a load of shit and I just can't believe the decisions that are getting made. It's terrible." Even though he ultimately gained some positions because of the restart, Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler said that something hould change. "If we continue to do something like this, I think it would be good to add a few more laps an? put some distance in it so that it's a better race, or a longer race," Chandler said after the race. "It's a tough call. I understand both sides of it. It's something that we need to get clarified a bit better for the future. Now that we have transponders on our bikes, we could go off of a timed deal. That way you have a gap, and you continue with that gap.rather than just luling up straight across with a fresh start. That's ultimately the best way of going. Everyone put in really hard rides at the start of that race, and Anthony (Gobert) and those guys were out 2D-some seconds on me - to have a second chance at 'em, it's just not right." Race winner Anthony Gobert took the position of Switzerland throughout the ordeal, staying completely away from the argument. "T didn't really get involved," Gobert said. "I tried not to get caught up in it. J knew that if 1 started thinking that the race should be called, then I'd get that in my head and then when I started the race I wouldn't be focused. I just sat there on the wall and let them do the talking. I knew once they announced that they were going to do the seven laps that they wouldn't change it. I was 9O-percent certain of that, so I just got the race face on." If Mladin was the most incensed of the riders, then Jason Pridmore wasn't far behind him. Pridmore had climbed all the way to sixth and was closing on Chandler when the race was stopped. After the restart, he finished a disappointed 11th. "The AMA are a bunch of idiots," Pridmore said after the race. "Every racing organization in the world, except for the' Amateur' Motorcycle Association, runs on aggregate time. We restart the race and have a bunch of guys with their heads unplugged running up under you. I busted my ass for 21 laps and it means absolutely nothing - it means zero. And that's not fair. Why don't we step up and make it professional? You risk your life for 21 laps and it means nothing. We should have seven-lap sprint races every weekend if that's what we're going to do. I haven't been to a riders' meeting in the last three races because they don't listen to anything." Ben Bostrom wanted to race again. He thought he had a tire problem and thought that he could better his position with a restart. "T wanted to restart," Bostrom said. "I had tire trouble, or so I thought. I just told Mat (Mladin) that rules are rules and let's go race. He-got in my face, but I know where he was coming from. He deserved to get second - it was just a bad situation."

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