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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127998
Rounds 6 &7: Road Atlanta
AMAIMBNA SUPERBIKE NA TlONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
hnues to regain the confidence that
made him a preseason favorite to challenge for the superbike crown.
Fast By Ferracd Ducati's Matt Wait
showed serious promise at Road
Atlanta. Although he finished ninth on
Saturday, his'Sunday performance was
stellar. Wait ran with Gobert and
Bostrom early in the race until he
encountered problems with the clutc.h
that forced him out of the race.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Rapp finished 10th on Saturday but failed to finish Sunday's National. Fast By Ferracci's
Larry Pegram finished seventh and 11th
in the two ra'ces, suffering from a Saturday morning crash that left him beaten
up.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Crevier
was one rider who showed vast
improvement over the two days, upping
his effort from a 12th on Saturday to
fifth on Sunday. Ditto for Muzzy
Kawasaki's Aaron Yates, who went
from 13th and struggling on Saturday to
fourth and happy on Sunday.
Hi teammate Doug Chandler wasn't
as fortunate, as an engine failure prevented him from finishing on Saturday.
On Sunday, Chandler ended up eighth his poor showing over the weekend all
but ending any hopes the three-time
AMA Superbike Champion had of earning a fourth crown this year.
The factory Harley-Davidson team
also struggled. French Canadian Pascal
Picotte had clutch problems on Saturday that prevented him from finishing;
then he crashed on Sunday morning
and was prevented from riding by an
injured shoulder. His teammate Scott
Russell failed to finish on Saturday
when a battery went bad on the
VR1000, and on Sunday the Georgian
pulled out of his home race because
he'd missed the setup so badly that he
thought staying on track would prove
to be dangerous.
8
RACE ONE
Race one started with a Gobert
holeshot, but pole sitter Mladin swept
past Gobert - angering his fellow Aussie
in the process.
(Above) Anthony Gobert (95) leads the second race over Doug Chandler (10), Eric Bostrom
(32), Mat Mladin (66) and the rest of the superbike pack.
(Below) Gobert holds off Bostrom and a hard-charging Mall Wait on the Fast By Ferracci
Ducati - it was Wait's best effort of the season.
"I was really surprised when 1
holeshotted," Gobert said. "[ was fiddling with the brake lever a little bit
before the start, so [ wasn't too sure
going into tum one. Mat (Mladin) nearly
took me ou t and I was a bit pissed off.
From then on, I really wasn't keen on
letting him beat me."
Those two gapped the field sligh tl y
on the opening lap, and they continued
to pull clear until the third lap. At that
point, Bostrom moved in and started to
dose the gap.
'1 felt comfortable at the start," Gobert said. "I remember last year here that
he (Bostrom) was really strong, so 1
dropped back to see what pace he was
going to set. 1 figured, because he hasn't
had a win yet, tha the'd drop the hammer from start to finish and the strategy
kinda goes out the window a bit. 1 was
kinda hoping that he would cook his
tire and start coming back at the end."
It was on the ninth lap that Bostrom
took the lead for the first time, outbraking his teammate on the entrance to turn
10. He then pulled away, a hall-second
here, a half-second there. Soon it was
Hacking who held second place as Gobert continued to go backward. By the
16th of 25 laps, this was a two-man race,
and one of those men wasn't Gobert.
But he-was only fooling us.
On the 20th lap he trailed Bostrom,
who had opened up a bit of a gap on
Hacking, by 1.9 seconds. Tha twas
quickly whittled down and Gobert shot
by Hacking on the 21 st lap and started
his charge to Bostrom.
"I was getting worried for a little
while," Gobert said, "but only because
when I started to make a charge, some
lapped riders sort of held me up a bit.
Then they gapped me a bit and r nearly
gave up because I didn't want to risk
binning it. I didn't want Ben beating me
and I knew Mat