Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 5: Laguna Seca Raceway AMAIMBNA SUPERBIKE SERIES Aaron Yates (22) leads Miguel DuHamel (17) and Doug Chandler (hidden). Chandler benefited most from the restart to finish third, finishing in front of both Yates and DuHamel, who had led him before the flag. '1 couldn't match him," Mladin said later. "We had a little problem, but I'm not going to make an excuse for why we couldn't keep up with him. Even if the bike ran as we thought it would - we made an engine change last night and we didn't get to try it in the warmup and we had a bit of a problem with the clutch. Even with everything perfect, I doubt that I could have matched Anthony today. He was too fa t. He's good around here. When Anthony rides good and his bike d.oesn't fail him, he's tough to beat - it doesn't matter where we go." Third place also seemed cemented, with Yates doing an admirable job of fighting off the advances of DuHamel, despite the Honda seemingly having the advantage nearly everywhere on the race track. Then came Chandler, the victim of warped rotors, and a charging Pridmore - arguably the one rider who Gobert smashes la record H ot or cold, Vance & Hines' Anthony Gobert proved to be the quickest of the superbike men at Laguna Seca Raceway, breaking the lap record on a cold and cloudy day on the Monterey Peninsula. The previous day, Gobert lapped at ] :25.663 on a warm and sunny afternoon - but he went one better on a chilly Saturday, clicking off a ] :25.507 to break the lap record of I :25.600 set by Mat Mladin in 1998. He did so with seemingly little effort, at least when it came to machine setup. The Australian said that the bike was basicallv unchanged from last week's race at Sears Point. It was just a case of going out and riding it. "I felt good," Gobert said. "The Vance & Hines Ducati has been working awesomely for uS all this year, so it was pretty easy for me really just to get on it. We had a good setup from testing, so I just rode around. I've been having fun all year. Luckily, with the Q (qualifying tire) it always gives us so much more traction. So you just get a base setup, so when you throw the Q on you just drop the hammer and let it all hang on the line for those two laps. That's all that I did really. I just pushed the limit. Unfortunately, the first lap I did was a 25.7 and I wanted to go a lot quicker. I felt a lot quicker on the first half of the track and my visor started getting a bit misty for the second half - and it was only a 255. I think my bike and the combination, we had quicker time left in us. It' a shame because I wanted tu go a little bit quicker, but it was good enough for the pole and I'm happy about that." As is the norm with Gobert, he felt he still had more to give after earning his second pole position of the season and the third of his AMA career. "We put a race engine in for this afternoon, and I think I could have gone qUicker with yesterday's engine. With the more horsepower, it was harder to ride. It was lifting the front wheel up in some strange places and it took me a bit to get used to that. You definitely don't need the horsepower around here, you just need to know where to go, the right lines, because it's really crucial around here. Luckily, I think I've got it figured out a bit beller than most." Yoshimura Suzuki's Mladin, the previous lap record holder at laguna Seca, ended up second on the grid, lapping at I:25.658 on Saturday despite being balked on his good lap. He also had a tip-over when he ran straight in the Corkscrew, though it did little to hamper his efforts. "Today went pretty good," Mladin said. "Obviously, I'd done a cou- ended up getting the shortest end of the stick by the race being restarted. Ben Bo trom was next, fighting poor grip that led to him fade backward from third place, followed by Oliver, Crevier and Eric Bostrom. Following the democratic meeting between riders, crew and AMA officials, road race manager Ron Barrick announced that the race would be restarted and a seven-lap sprint would end up determining the outcome of the Laguna Seca National. "The fans have come out to see racing and that's what we're going to do," Barrick said. The decision was a popular one with the large crowd, but was unpopular with a lot of the riders. The race was short enough that there were tire choices to be made - and even using a qualifier wasn't completely out of the question. "We still had to basically use the same tire we did in the first part, but those qualifiers were good for four or five laps around here," Chandler said later. "So it was really marginal. I don't think any of us would have attempted it, but I could see orne of the guys, maybe tlUrd row on, trying it." Gobert's only anxious moment of the day came just prior to the restart, when pie of 5.00 (1:25.6) and I wa hoping to get one more, but I got held up there on the last lap. I think by the fourth lap, the qualifier wouldn't have been as good any way so r was probably pushing shit uphill, really. I seen 5.5, I came around 5.9, 5.6, 5.6. I saw a 5.5, number 95, and thought, 'Oh, here we go.' I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it today and that wa it. I did a good time and f'm pretty happy. Everything came together with race tines on halfway through that session, so I'm pretty happy for tomorrow." Mladin was sandwiched by Ducatis with Ben Bostrom ending up third on the front row by virtue of his 1:25.833. lt marked the fifth straight superbike race in which Bostrom would start from the front row. "n ran pretty good," Bostrom said. "The guys have the bike running incredibly well so I'm pretty happy for tomorrow's race. It's going to be a really good race. Obviously, you can see that all these guys are going extremely fast so it's pretty cool and I'm pretty excited. I tried to go out and put in a fast lap there at the end, but it started to spit a bit. J did the same thing as Dougie (Chandler). I just sat out for five, 10 minutes and wait for it to stop misting. 1 went h:lck out and put on a Q (qualifying tire). I went pretty good, but it was the same as everybody else - you always have somebody you've got to follow through a few comers. Fortunately, everybody else had the same problems, so I can't be too bummed. It'll be a good race tomorrow." Chandler, like Bo trom, was a bit put off by the misty conditions. StilL the Muzzy Kawasaki rider was on the front row for the Second straight race and was happy to be at his home track. The Salinas resident lapped at] :26.468 to fill the first row. "It got kinda interesting with 20 minutes to go in the session," Chandler said. "When everyone was going to go ahead and put a good lap in, we got a lillie bit of sprinkles over in five and six. I tried to get one in my bike and go out and get one in before it came in. I had a moment up in the Corkscrew and then I came in and waited until I saw the times on the monitor were dropping. Then I went back oul I was a little leery to wick it up, but I'm pretty happy ,,~th what we did. We got a front row out of it, so let's go race tomorrow." He wasn't surprised that the speeds picked up, despite the inclement weather. "Yesterday was a nice day and I knew it was going to be cooler - I just wasn't too sure about the mist," Chandler said. '1 think if it was for sure dry, then it would have been quicker and all these guys would have gone beller. We could have put more into it and taken a lillie more time and thought a bit more about it, rather than just rushing out there and trying to get something in before you got rained on." Row two was headed by Chandler's Muzzy Kawasaki teammate Aaron Yates, the big Georgian clicking off a 1:26.770 on Friday and failing to improve on Saturday. Next to Yates was the first of the factory Yamahas, ridden to a 1:26.818 by Rich Oliver. American Honda's Eric Bostrom had his best qualifying effort of the season to put the RC45 seventh on the grid with a 1:27.041 as he continues to regain confidence after his Daytona qualifying crash. Row two was ompleted by Fast By Ferracci's Larry Pegram, the Willow Springs winner lapping at 1:27.135 on race rubber. American Honda's Miguel DuHamel, Harley-Davidson's Pascal Picolle, and Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Rapp and Jason Pridmore filled row three. The last of the factory riders made up row four - Jamie Hacking, Steve Crevier, Mall Wait and Scoll Russell. he was told that his new front tire had been Ii tted to the wrong-sized rim - a wider one that would change the amount of contact patch from the tire. '1ust before I went out, the guys told me they put the tire on the wrong-sized front rim," Gobert said. "I thought, 'Oooooh, all right.' So on the first lap, it felt like lead on the front, but once it came in and I got the feel of it, I was all right. I was a bit worried because [ don't like to hesitate when I make a pass. 1 was-really worried about that with Mat (Mladin) out there. He's a hard charger and he's hard to beat." So wi th seven laps to determine the winner, the field poured over the hill and into turn two with an angry Mladin leading the way once again. This time Gobert was right behind him, with Chandler, DuHamel and Yates giving chase. Ben Bostrom had already ruined his chances for improvement when he very nearly high-sided in turn three. He was shuffled back.and would complete the first lap in eighth place. After some work, he would finish an eventual sixth. Mladin was riding hard at the front, and it took.longer for Gobert to get around him this time out. Mladin led for an entire lap, but the decisive pass came again on the entrance to the Corkscrew this time with more room to spare. '1 did the same maneuver at the top of the hill," Gobert said. "Once I got in front, I just sort of rode a hard as I could, but I wasn't on the limit because I didn't want to crash." As for the restart... "1 knew I'd won the race," Gobert said. "If I would ha ve 10 t the second one, that's where all the points are. But to me, I'd already won the race. When 1 was behind Mat (Mladin), he sort of pulled a gap. That's when I realized, 'I've got to win this, otherwise there's no points.' It was pretty strange doing a seven-lap National." From there it was another Laguna Seca clinic from Gobert as he steadily pulled away, turning the fastest lap of the race on the second go-around - a 1:26.168. Mladin was steadfast to the finish, taking an easy second place - again. Chandler improved to third, finishing almost two seconds behind Mladin. "The restart wa a blessing," Chandler said. "The first part of the race, before the red flag, I was pretty content with getting fifth. We had a few little problems out there and we were fortunate to get the red flag to fix those problems and have another go at it. It's crazy in that it doesn't really seem much like a race - it was like a trophy dash. You work so hard in the first part of the race and you kinda have to throw that out the window and go for broke. My rotors warped, so it really pulsed bad going up into the Corkscrew. It'd start hopping the fron t wheel and I'd run Wide every time. It was just really frustrating." Behind Chandler came the Yates/ DuHamel duel - a battle that went to the finish line. "1 knew I'd end up being behind a Ducati, a Honda or something," Yates said. "I changed it a click on the front (between races) and it helped a bit. [just got hung up with Miguel (DuHamel) for too long. [f I could have gotten by him, maybe I could have made a run at Doug (Chandler)." DuHamel snagged fifth place - but knew his bike was capable of better. "The bike was so good - I'm just sad to put it in fifth," DuHamel said. "I just didn't have the strength to throw it in. I would have been happy if they'd qilled the race when 1 was in fourth."

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