Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Nell Hampshire International Speedway AMAIIABVA SUPERBIKE NA TlONAL CHAMPIO,\/SHIP dler going with him, along with Eric Bostrom and Muzzy Kawasaki's Aaron Yates. Chandler was briefly in front. Then Gobert took it back with a move in the downhill turn-six bowl, with Bostrom in attack mode along with Yates and Mladin. Mladin ran wide in turn six on the second lap and lost the spot to Ben Bostrom, who would continue to move forward as the race went on. Of the leaders, Yates was the only one who wouldn't see the finish. The Georgian tried Bostrom with a move on the inside of turn 11, then crashed when he flicked it back for turn 12, the bike and Yates sliding along. Yates blamed the crash to a lack of side grip. '1 came out of there a couple of laps earlier and the thing stepped out pretty big and I caught it," Yates said. "And then that time I just got by Eric (Bostrom) and I was just trying to get a good drive out of there and the thing came around and bounced off the banking and just smashed the front around and threw me on the ground." By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Tom Riles . [iliJ II !IIi IIliii III ~ W :iii Q • §! _ ~ el> § ..., S LOUOON, NH, JUNE 20 uzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler ended the longest drought of his AMA Superbike career when he won the 76th annual Loudon Classic on an overcast Father's Day at the slightly altered ew Hampshire International Speedway. The last time the father of three won a Superbike race was at Laguna Seca in April of 1997. The last time he won here at Loudon was June 17, 1990. '1 won here in 1990 when Jett (the oldest of his three children) was first born, and we're winning again in 1999 when he's 9 years old," Chandler said aIter being joined by all three of his children on the podium. "It's a pretty cool feeling:' Cool and surprising. It's no secret that the Muzzy Kawasaki team has struggled this year. The year began with the loss of longtime Chandler crew chief Gary Medley to the Vance & Hines Ducati team. Chandler also gave serious thought to leaving before being convinced to stay. The team struggled on the tracks where they use dual-com pound tires - the first three races - and. had other problems after that, including a DNF at Road Atlanta that basically ended their championship hopes. Then, last week at Road America, team owner Rob Muzzy, absent today, found out that Kawasaki was going to take the team away from him next year. Add to that some internal dissent over what's perceived as the favorable trea tment tha t Chandler gets over Aaron Yates, and the team was reeling. None of that mattered today. Chandler's Muzzy Kawasaki was clearly the sweetest-handling machine in the field, showing none of the bucking or sliding that bedeviled his pursuers. Instead he was on rails as he ran down early leader Anthony Gobert, passing him on the 14th of 39 laps in front of an estimated 30,000 spectators. Vance & Hines Ducati's Gobert hung in briefly, soon to be passed by teammate Ben Bostrom, who carded a frustrated second (6.002 seconds behind Chandler) for the fifth time this year. (Above) Doug Chandler (10) leads Anthony Gobert (95), Eric Bostrom (32) and the rest of the Superbike pack early in the National at New Hampshire International Speedway. (Right) Chandler was impressive in pulling away to his first Superbike National victory since 1997. '1 rode really aggressive and real hard behind Dougie and I kept looking for the opportunity and I could see tha t he had a bit of speed on us, beca_use he'd just carve me up," Bostrom said. Gobert ended up third, ending his win streak at four. The Australian said part of the problem was a new rear-shock spring the team fitted for the race. Instead of adding grip, it compromised steering, and Gobert suffered. "The guys put a softer rear spring on before the start of the race, hoping that it was going to save the tire better, but it ended up costing us a lot of steering, so I was struggling a lot during the race," Gobert said. Chandler completed the 39-1ap, 62.4mile race in a new record time of 46 minutes, 22.607 seconds at an average speed .of 80.731 mph. The track layout, while remaining the same length, made for a quicker pace, and the new average shattered the previous record of 79.666 mph. 'The bike was good all weekend long, the thing worked really well and I was comfortable," Chandler said. "As long as I kept my head, I knew that we had a really good chance of winning today. The bike just worked perfect." Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin finished fourth on a machine he never felt comfortable with all weekend. On race morning, the team fitted a new engine, whiCh turned out to be a mistake. At one point he made a run on Gobert, but his fellow Aussie gassed it up and pulled cleanly away. "We really had no bottom end at all," Mladin said. "Like worse that what I'm sort of accustomed to:' The end result was that his championship lead was whittled down to five points, 269-264, over the Vance & Hines riders who are tied for econd. Chandler moved into a distant fourth. Fifth on the day went to Yamaha's bruised and battered Jamie Hacking, who couldn't atone for a horrible start. Hacking had crashed twice on Saturday, and he said his right leg was still bothering him. Alone in sixth was American Honda's Eric Bostrom, who'd started the race an encouraging third before rear grip problems sent him backward. Then came a stream of riders, five running together who'd all fought over seventh. Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Crevier ended up with the spot, acknowledging that he'd made some enemies by holding other riders up. Close behind came Harley-Davidson's Pa cal Picotte, Fast By Ferracci's Larry Pegram, Yoshimura Suzuki's Jason Pridmore, and Harley's Scott Russell. Russell had started the race well, running as high as sixth. But a high-side in Saturday's practice dictated his rear-tire Choice, and the softer rear tire meant that he'd chew it up as the race wore on, which he did, ending up in 11tho The race got under way under ominous clouds on Sunday afternoon, with Gobert getting the holeshot from the pole position and second fast qualifier Chan- Ya t e s also added that he doesn't have the same swingarm as his teammate Chandler. Chandler was using his bike to good effect. He kept the pressure on Gobert, wi th the pair being joined by Ben Bostrom after he'd passed his brother exiting turn six on the ninth lap. Ben Bostrom had gotten a bad start and ended up running onto the grass on the outside of turn one. Ending the first lap in sixth, he had to move fast, which he did. "Everyone was riding so well, I didn't know if I was going to catch up to these guys, but I got a few lucky breaks," Bostrom said. "Mat (Mladin) lost the front, Aaron (Yates) crashed. I carved through a couple guys and then these guys were kind of messing with each other and that allowed me to catch back up." The trio formed up on the 10th lap, though Ben would again be held up by a lapper and Eric was able to move yet again, though only temporarily. Bostrom was back in third on lap 13, and on lap 14 Chandler made his move on Gobert, outbraking him in turn one to start the lap. Bostrom would get Gobert later in the lap. "1 just had a good go at him down the front and figured that was pretty good and just poked it up into one and the thing stuck and I put my head down and made a go at it," Chandler said. Gobert knew he was coming. "For me, I was just trying to do whatever it took to set the slowest kind of pace," Gobert said. "I actually felt the

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