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/128006
do to wi n or take second, I'm su re. It's go ing to be awesome." "H e got six points on us th is weeken d , if tha t's all he can get nex t weeken d, we've got him," Mlad in sa id. "But Colorado is going to be lot closer race than here, it's a tight track , a few people are go ing to go fast and we know what we're u p against, but another second will be fine next time . I'll take it." Ame rican Honda's Eric Bostrom was in vol ved in th e race for th ird , bu t he d idn't ge t it. Inst ead it we n t to the upand -down Anthony Gobert. Gobert said he felt little confidence in the front e nd of the Va nce & Hi nes Ducati und er a full fuel load . The Austral ian was second on the opening lap, but dropped back as far as sixth before s u rgi ng fo rward as the fuel lo ad dropped. With three laps to go, Gobert made his way back to third , then se t the fa st lap o f th e ra ce o n th e 19th . H e clos ed co nsi dera b ly o n Ml adin , but came up about 2.7 seconds short at the end. "I was rid ing to the bike's lim it early on, bu t the bike just wasn ' t letting me do what I wan ted to d o and I was really, really fru stra ted, " said Gobert, wh o's in third place, 18 points behin d Mlad in in the championship . "Luckily, in the end it came in and I cou ld d o what I wan ted a to do," Behind Gobert came Bostro m, matching hi s season-best fini sh o f th e year from Mid -Ohio . Eric hooked up wi th Fast b y Ferra cci' s Larry Peg ra m ju st bef or e the halfw ay mark and th e tw o cla we d at eac h ot her for the d uration, thou gh not wi th any forward progress. Each had his streng ths tha t negated any advantag e the other cou ld gain , so Mladin got away and Gobert caug ht up as they went at it. In the end it was Eric in fro nt, about two seconds in front of Pegram an d a second behind Gobert. The n came Yamaha's Jamie Hacking who' d survived a slugfest wit h Gobert in the middle laps. He was in a no man's land, four seconds behind Hacking and eigh t in fro nt of sevent h-p laced Ja so n Pridmore of the Yoshimura Suzuki team. Pridmore had been at the front of a pack of mostly Suzuki riders, with Erion Racing's N icky Hayd en in th e mix on one of his Superbike outings a nd littl e more than a bike leng th behin d Pridmo re at the end . The Yosh imura rid er said tha t all credit wen t to m echa nic Chris We idel a nd th e team for so rting out a ma chin e which hadn' t been use rfriend ly all weekend . "We cha nged everything and I d id the best I cou ld wit h what I had today," Prid more said of the mo to rcycle w hich he sai d was " fra n t ica ll y reb u ilt overnight. I raced on things we hadn' t tested ." Hayd en took eig ht h, but he wasn' t happy about it. "I was off the pace all weekend," sai d Ha yden , who turned 18 on Friday . "I didn't feel comfortable." On e place he wasn' t comfo rtable was in turn one . Accord in g to Yosh imu ra Suz u ki's Steve Crevier, Hayden was the first rid er he'd eve r seen brake for the ultra fast kink a t th e end of the fro nt straight. "It was a hard race w ith Hayden," said Crevier, who has a history of runins with Hayd en. "To my surprise, he's th e only pers on to hit th e bra kes in to turn one . I'm s hoc ke d . I co u ld n ' t ge t over it." He trailed Ha yd en home by abou t three seconds. Do ug Cha ndl er ne ver got comfortable wi th the front en d of hi s Muzzy Kawasaki , and he finished 10th. Yoshimura Suzuki 's Steve Rapp rode through a tran smi ssion probl em to take l l th, with Aaron Yates 12th on the second Mu zzy Kawa sa ki. Th e n on -fin ish er s in clud ed Fast by Ferracci's Ma tt Wait, Harlev-David son 's Scott Russell, and Yamaha's Rich Oli ver. Wai t lost the fro n t end and crashed on the third lap while running in second place b eh in d Bos t ro m. The ig nition w heel fell off the gea r it was bolt ed to on Russell's VR1000. And Oliver, w ho said he was at about 50 per cent strengt h, s uffered an elect rica l p ro bl em on lap five . "I sa id to my guys that ther e's going to be thr ee Ducatis in front of me in the first corner, and that' s exactly what happened," Mlad in said of the run into turn one. "This straight's a littl e bit too long for us to be accelerati ng fro m first gear u p to sixth an d ge tting in th er e befor e any of those guys." He was trailing Ben Bostrom, Wa it, and Gob ert, wi t h Eri c Bo str om jus t behind, but in front by turn three. Gobert took over second by turn nine and whe n they crossed the line on lap one it was Ben Bos trom, Gobert, Wait, Eric Bostrom, and Mladin. On the seco nd lap , Pegram joined the Du cati pa rad e, moving up to fourth and dropp in g Ml ad in back to si xth , hi s wo rs t p lacing of the race. It didn't last long. On lap thr ee he was in fourth, get ting so me help when Wait pushed too hard and lost the front end in turn five. Lap four ended with Mladin in third and on lap five he was in second, havin g pa s s ed Pe gram . At thi s p oint Ben Bos trom had checke d out, tu rning his fast lap of the race on lap five, ho ld ing nearly a five-seco nd lead and ad ding to it with eve ry lap. On ce the mar gin was around eig h t secon ds, Bostro m mai ntained ilto the end . " It reall y feels good, yo u know, it cam e fairly easy today becau se my bike was just so good ," Bostrom said after his maid en wi n. "I really had a phenomenal bike. I'm sure if Mat wo uld've been u p there he'd have p ushed me th e w ho le Bostrom went o n to scor e the first AMA Supe rbike win of his career at Brainerd, and he did so in dominating fashi on - he . led each and every lap and pulled away at a race track that nor mall y features close racing. way, bu t I got a good break fro m the sta rt and it worked out rea lly well. "This is the track my brother won on her e last year in his firs t w in , it's m y firs t wi n. Th e first time I came to this trac k, I h at ed th e place, I hi gh-sid ed d own in turn one over some guy's fro nt wheel wi de open . I go, 'Oh, I don 't like this tra ck: and then it's been ge tting bet ter and better for me. I enjoy it. I'v e go t to thank the team , they're doing a great job and Mat's d oing exactly wh at he has to d o to w in a cha m pio nsh ip and he's rid ing sma rt and, God, if he keeps doing this, he's goi ng to win it for su re. I've ju st go t to d o w ha t I have to do and make sure I win and se t fast tim e and lead the most laps, I gues s. And he's go t to make sure to ge t seco nd. So we've both got our work cu t out. It'll be pretty interesting the next race." There wasn't much interesting for Mlad in in thi s race. His second see med as secu re as Bostr om 's win until Gobert made a run at him late in the race. Gob ert clo sed co nsidera bly, but needed a few mor e la ps to trul y thr eat en. Mladin said that after he broke loose fro m Er ic Bos t ro m a n d Pegram h e co ul d n ' t m ak e a ny g ro u n d on Ben Bostro m. "A few laps I tried to put a few low sevens in, but he was essentia lly doing the same lap s as I was , so I shu t it d own a few ten ths a lap and just rode it to the end , bes t I could do," Mladin said. "Today, I guess you could say I did wha t I had to do, but I'm a little bit d isa p pointed toda y because I thin k if I cou ld have got aw ay a t the start with m m m 13