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/128115
A M AICh e vy Trucks U . S. Superbike Ser ies Round 9 - 1 0 : Mid-Ohio Spo r t s Car Cours e I By P AU L C ARRUTH E RS P HOT OS BY HEN NY R A Y A B RA MS LEXINGTON. OH. JULY 21 ·22 S o m uch for m om entu m . (Topl Eric Bostrom 1321 got the jump on the fi el d in both legs of the AMA Superb ike doubleheader at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In the first race, It was Jam ie Hacking Ig21 1 di ng the chasing pack of Mat Mladln 11 1, Nic ky Ha yd en 1691 and the ea rest of the field. IAbovel Bostrom 1321 tries to hold off Mladln 111 In Saturday's Superblk e Natio nal. Mladin went to the front earty and then held Bostrom a1 ba y t o w in his fo urth National of the season. Hacking 1921 ended up f"1fth w ith Hayde n 16 91 mo ving up to finish th ird. 6 A UGUST 1 . 2001 • cue I e neVIl' s Kawasaki 's Eri c Bostrom c am e to Mid -O hio riding the wave of m om en tum from two str aight AMA Superb ik e victories. He was hot, Mat Ml adin was not. But it all changed du ring the dou b lehead er weekend at the Mid- O hio Sp orts Car Co urse as the pe nd ul um swung awa y from Bostrom 's corner and straight over to Mladin's. After a vic tory and a seco nd pla ce over the cou rse of th e weekend in centra l Ohio, Ml ad in has taken a massive st ep toward earni ng his th ird successive AMA Superbike Nationa l Cha mpionsh ip . Bo strom, meanwhile, the only real ho pe of giving Mladin a fight to th e end . had h is chances of a t i t le da shed when a chunked rear tire cos t him a chance at a podium fin ish and any aspirations of inching closer to th e Australian in the title chase. Th e cham pio nsh ip may not b e over. with fo ur races left to go, but it wo uld b e a bra ve m an in d eed wh o wo ul d wager any bets ag ainst Mladin earn ing his thi rd stra igh t title . M ladin c ame out of t he we eke nd w it h wh at yo u would c all an over all victory if you were co unting the two races a s motos , ala a m o t oc r oss National. The Australian was domi nant on Satu rda y , b eating a determ ined Bostrom by 1.8 seco nds after m ainta ining a three - to fo ur -se cond lead throughout th e r ace . On Sunda y , M ladin was second - either a lucky seco nd or an unlucky sec ond . depend ing on how yo u look at it . Ml adin led nearl y the entire Natio na l until A meric a n Ho nd a 's Nicky Ha yden m ade a pass on the Suzuki rider in the closing laps. Mladin , however, foug ht back , surprising ly repassin g the Kentucki an on th e fo llo w ing lap - in spi te of the fac t that he knew th at Bost rom had pitted w ith tire woes. Hayden wasn 't to be de n ied , th ou gh, as he forc ed his way throug h onc e agai n - but th is time th e r e w a s n o co u n t e r a tt ac k f ro m Mladin as hi s engine fail ed him , leaving him to basically co ast ac ross the finish lin e in second p lace. Hayd en 's weekend was a revival of sorts , as last ye ar's phenom returned to the form th at ea rne d him a cl ose second in last yea r's tit le chase . Hayden and crew had his RCS1 wo rking well over the course of the tw o days, th e youngster fini shin g third in the first ra ce before making more improve ments to the bike to win race two. Bostrom's saga wa sn 't as good. A sol id seco nd in rac e one. he had it all unravel in rac e tw o. Bostro m was soldi er ing on in th ird pl ac e with a bad rear tire in Sund ay 's N ation al whe n the ti re let go through th e fast k in k on the b ack st ra ig ht away . The Cali forn ian wa s fo rtunate to get things under control , bu t all he co ul d do was putt back to th e p its fo r a new tire. He ca rr ied on from there to fin ish 13th , but he was b it te rl y d isappointed at see ing his