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/128109
AMA C h e vy T r u c k s U.S . S upe rbike C h a m p ion s h ip Jamie Hacking (92) gets the jump on race winner Mat Mlaclin (1), Migue l DuHamel (1 7) , Kurtis Roberts (hidden), Doug Chandler (10), Eric Bostrom (32) and the rest of th e Superblke pack in the fi rst of two races during the Road America doubleheader. Mlad in in the dr y, but he was close, and he finished second in Saturday's race. In the wet, however, he was pe rfe c t a nd n o o ne co uld touc h h im. Desp it e a n off- track exc ursion that suddenly put him 14 seconds adrift of race leader Miguel DuHamel with nine laps remaining , Gobert was red hot, tearing past Nic ky Hayden and Jamie Hacking an d setti n g out a fte r DuHamel, who m he ga ined on rapid ly. Four la ps later he was jus t three seconds beh ind after lapping five seconds qu icker tha n the French Canadi an. And just as quickly he was past o n that sa me la p - in tu rn 1 1. From there he was ne ver hea de d , emerging from the Roa d America doubleheader with the best combined result - a 2 -1 tall y from the two races . Although it won 't show in the final results , Yosh imura Suzuki 's Jamie Ha c k in g also had an im p r e s s iv e weekend . Fre s h of his first -ever win at Road Atlanta , Hacking e nded up a close third in Saturday's race and was o n e of th e fastest in Sunda y 's wet conditions, though a c rash eventually knocked him ou t of the ra c e . It was his second of the day , with h is first br ing ing out the red flag that saved Mladin 's day . Hacking also made the restart with a rebu ilt ve rs ion of his c ra s h e d b ike , and he im med ia tely we nt on a rampa ge from th e ba c k of By PA UL C A RRUT H ERS PH OT O S BY HEN NY R A Y AB RAM S ElKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 9-10 o be a champion you ha ve to be both lucky and good . On Saturday at Road America, Mat Mladin was good. On S unda y, he was very lucky. Let's start with the good . In dry cond itions on Sa turday, Mladin was untou c h abl e in winni ng his fourt h AMA Superbike National of the season and the 13th of his career. Having already qualified on pole position , Mlad in asserted h imself early in the race , pulled out to a four-second lead, the n held on for the victory completely controlling the rac e from start to finish . As for the lucky... How's this? In a driving ra in on Sunda y , Mlad in crashed h is Yoshimu ra Suzuki , remounte d . then crashed aga in when his throttle stuck. T he good fo rtune came into play when a red flag came out on that very same la p, allowing the Australian to scamper back to the pits , get his back-up bike and make the re st a rt. From there he started fro m th e ba ck row a nd rode conserv atively to finish seventh, losing just two points on the day to his championship rival Eric Bostrom. If Mladin was lucky and good , then Yamaha's Anthony Gobert was jus t p la in g ood . He wasn 't as good as T 6 JUNE 20.2001 • c ue I e ne lN' s