Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128004
Round 10: Mid-O ioSports Car Course
h
AMA/MBNA SUPERBIKESERIES
10
ish , s a lva g i n g some ch ampion ship
poin ts - including one for le ading the
m ost laps.
"Th a t thing was really smoking - it
w as putting so m e oil down," Chandler
sa id . "I was picking up some oil on th e
w in d scree n and my shield, but I wasn't
thinkin g much of it because he was carry in g good speed . I figured if he was
really oi ling, h e ' d be on it himself. I
thin k he was oili ng the tr ack, but somehow no t getting him as bad. I no ticed
the track rea lly getting slippery in a few
places, b ut [ don't know if it was hi m o r
not. Later in the race, so me of th e backmarkers we were passing ... a lo t of bikes
were smoking, so I think th ere was q uite
a bit of oil on the tr ack. "
Bostro m knew h e had a pro b lem
because his boots were oiled a nd slippery, bu t he also kn ew it wasn't causing
him a gri p p ro b lem .
" I kn ew a fter seven o r eigh t lap s into
it," Bostrom sa id. "I w as like, 'Ma n, m y
fee t fee l s lip p ery .' I kn ew I had. to just
kee p riding , so I ju s t s ta r ted cruisi ng
a ro u nd - [ w asn' t pushing h ar d a t all.
O ther w ise, I thi n k I would have b een
gone. Those guys w eren' t making any
grou nd - I w as ju st keeping them ba ck
a round th ree secon ds . I kne w I had a
problem, bu t a t th at pace I wasn' t go ing
to crash. I wasn' t pushin g very har d, '
and [ w as rea lly d is appoin ted w hen
they showed me tha t o ne . I saw it bot h
la p s. I would never ig nore it - I'm n ot
Max Biaggi. For m e, it was easy to run
28s the w hole race. For a few laps, I got
hung up with so me lappers , but then I
could just drop it d ow n to 28s again and
pull away from those guys. I really had
a perfect bike again this weekend, and ·
it's really making it easy on me. It's just
an unfortunate deal. I don' t see a problem in ....-inn ing the ne xt two - I have to
win the next two."
With Bos t rom i n the pits getting
repairs, that left Chandler free and clea r,
with Mladin just 1.5 seconds behind but
not willing to r is k doing anything he
didn' t need to do wi th his rivals having
floundered . C ha nd ler, w ho had already
se t th e fas tes t lap of th e rate, settled in
a nd stea d ily pulled away to a rela tively
easy victory.
" It ' s goo d w he n thi ngs go yo u r
way," C handler said. "Vje had a really
good motorcycle . If we w ere to d o it
aga in in a cou p le of ho urs, I don' t th ink
I'd c ha nge n othing o n the b ik e . Th e
th ing work ed rea lly good, start to finis h .
Other than kinda getting a s lo w s tart, I
w as reall y ha p py with the way eve rything w ent. At the s ta rt of the ye ar, w e
d idn' t rea lly ha ve th e speed th e rest of
the g uys had. Without that, yo u' ve got
to s ta r t looking for o ther t hings . We
worked on the chassis a nd tried to get
(Above) Althoug h he s till wasn't pleased with
his pe rforman ce , Eric Bostrom ended up
fo urth on the Ho nda RC45,
(Right) Jason Pridmore (43) had his best race
of the year. Pridmor e held down second
place until letting his teammate Mladin go by
on the final lap.
the most out o f the chassis. I feltwe had
a really good motorcycle by the third or
fourth race and, if we g o t so m e speed
out of it, we'd be really good - an d that's
what we did. We h a v e a really g o o d
m otorcycle as far as getting through the
corners . It's smooth and easy to ride,
a n d a li ttle ' b it more power puts y o u
righ t u p a t fro nt."
Behi nd h im, th ings weren't entirely
settled as Pridmore a nd Havden were
o n th e m o ve a nd catching th e content
Mladin . By the 23rd lap the th ree were
· ,' .efI' .
BrI IVI ~:'
together, with Pridmore getting past his
teammate - and Hayden s u d de n ly
crashing out.
"(Jason) Pridmore ran it under (Ma t)
Mladin, and I took my eye off what I
was d oing," Hayden explained. " I just
lost concentration, got out wide and lost
the front. The last four or five laps I was
d ehyd rated, di z zy and my back was
cramping, but I was going fo r it. I just
got a little bit greedy, and I had a really
good weekend goi ng (Hayde n h ad
already won the Fo rm u la Xtreme ra ce
,
o n Sa t u rday aftern oon and Sunday
morning's 600cc Supersport final )."
That left Pridmore to lead Mladin
a nd, without the threat from Hayden, it
was natural fo r Pridmore to sim p ly le t
his teammate by on the last lap to fu rther h e lp hi m wi th his championship
points lea d,
"It's nice, but I' ve got two races to go
and 14 points isn' t a w hole lot ," MIa din
said. "We're raci ng agains t two ri ders
w ho ca n win World Champio ns hi p
ra ces. It .w as good fo r u s today . When
.
visits Mid-Ohio, those teams are allowed to use the variou~ vehicles for
tran sport ation ,
~,ow 900~
"
..
'
~;"p
. , .' "
. , ' _ .. •
. '
" J ust
have the new 600s gotten? Or is it just the new
i,i '
'So when was the last time a Kawasaki won a Superbike National at the hungry young riders? Y
amaha's Tommy .Ha yden eamed pole position
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course? How aboutt 993. The rider? Da le Q ua r, .for Sunday's 60Ccc Supersport final with a lap time of 1:30,89 1 , ' 1.293
.
, seconds under AaronYates ' lap record from lastyear at Mid-Ohio, ln all, '
te.r1ey .on a Team Mirage Kawasaki. .
,.
. .
"
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,
,
four riders. lapped under.the lap recordjncludinq-Yates : though he was
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:.Ja m ie Ha cking had a day that he'd rather forget on S unday'at Mid- . · just-.032 of a se cond quicker than a year ago. .
Ohio. The factory Yamaha rider cras hed his 60Qi::c Sup ersp ort bike .
,
,.,
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'on the warmup' lap and wasn 't able to s tar t afte r s mas hilig everything Fast By Ferracci's Matt Wa it ,was .on hand at Mid-Ohio, but he won't
on theriqht side , Then he cras hed o n the 10th lap of. the' Superbike 'return to racing until the Brainerd.round on August ' " ' My back is n't
National. ,Aske·d if he'd ever had a worse day ,' Hacking said: "No. I ' · strong enough yet," Wait s aid.. ' It' s the upper middle back that I broke;
ca n' t s top that thing (the new R7). Es pecially when yo u'I1" go t' to do and if. I got into a s ituation, my spine ' wouldn't' be strong enough. Dr.
' you r gears , quick .: You can ' t stop it 'With that c lutch on' tt. That' s a ',