Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship Round 1 1 : Colonels Brainerd International Raceway Honda's Kurtis Roberts and Gobert, with Valvo line EMGO Suzuki's John Hopkins just behind. Those four had chased DuHamel from the start. When Bostrom moved up, Hopkins was in third with Gobert soon to be leaving Roberts who was battling suspension problems. "The thing just started chattering and it got worse and worse and worse until I backed off," Roberts said. He'd end up fifth, about five seconds back of fourth. Fourth was fought out between Hopkins and Gobert. Hopkins had the faster bike in a straight line, plus, Gobert noted, "he's about 50 pounds lighter than me." But Hopkins had problems of his own. "I mostly had a little too hard of a compound tire coming out in the beginning," Hopkins said. "I was having quite a bit of a hard time getting out of the corners, coming out of the tight corners in the infield." The rear tire eventually came in, then Hopkins realized his front was too soft. "The last couple of laps, mainly in tums four and six, I was really pushing the zone, really, really, kind of tucking it." Hopkins stayed in front of Gobert on the straight, with Gobert closing right up in the infield. That gave him confidence at the end as he planned his final move. "He was holding me up quite a bit on the infield, but I didn't have enough straightaway speed to draft. him down the chute," Gobert said. "I tried to be smart on the last lap and just wait for it, be patient and I knew I could go up the inside somewhere. Because I passed him so much on the infield, he already knew where I was going to pass him so he did a good job of blocking it." Gobert saw his opening in the Bus Stop right and took it. Now he had to protect his line in the final corner. "I went in so deep and he sort of shot past and I went, 'No way he's stopping for the inside.'" Then came the drag to the flag. "I had to take the gamble, either pin it and wish that he wasn't going to get there in time or wait. It was for the podium so I'm taking the risk. The last I saw was him heading toward me and me going across my thing was just dancing mainly across the front of him and apparently he was really loose trying to get on the power as well." As they raced to the final corner, Gobert and Hopkins were side-by-side, Gobert obscuring Hopkins' brake markers. "Right when I saw him get on the brakes that's when I grabbed the brakes," Hopkins said. "But the right side of the tire was so hot that right when I banged down the three gears, the thing just got completely hung out, carried me all the way to the outside of the black patch and then right after had three seconds. The most I had is one and when I had one, I was debating, 'Should I try to go faster or keep saving my tires?' I was doing a lot of thinking out there and trying to make no mistakes, and it's easy to make stupid mistakes. I was kicking myself a few times. Am I going too slow, too fast?" The gap peaked at 1.342 seconds on the seventh lap, then began to shrink as Bostrom moved from fourth to second on the eighth lap after seeing the urgency of the situation. "Miguel started taking off and I was like, 'Dude, it's time,'" he said. "So I put my head down and got a good double draft past Anthony [Gobert) and Kurtis [Roberts]. I thought, 'Well no time like now,' because Miguel was out maybe a second. Put through a pretty good lap on the infield and ran like a 1:40, or something on the clock [Bostrom had qualified second to DuHamel at 1:40.454). Bostrom was on DuHamel by the end of the ninth lap and they'd run it out together. DuHamel was in control of the pace right to the final lap, when Bostrom made his push. First, Bostrom drafted by in turn one with DuHamel immediately getting it back. Then Bostrom took the inside line in tum three with DuHamel taking it back in turn six. Through the final sequence it's difficult to pass, so Bostrom held on for the very end, pushing to the finish, but losing out, and admitting he'd made a few mistakes during the frantic last lap back and forth. "He got a real good drive out of two so I figured, well, I'll have to see what I can do with him in three," Bostrom said. "We were able to get by, but I missed a downshift there and it kind of ruined my rhythm in the infield." DuHamel saw Bostrom's miscue and thought "that shook him up a bit." And then after that he protected coming out of four, which I was getting such a big run to just get at him, but when I saw he went for that, then I knew he recompensated and gave myself a good bolt coming out of five to go into six on the brakes, and then I think he made a little mistake coming out of five on top of it, so I went into six and stuffed inside there, made sure I stayed in tight, and then just got on the gas. "After that there's two places obviously left for him to pass, there's that little tight right Bus Stop - it's a pretty big stuff move, it's been done in the past - and then the last corner too," DuHamel said. "But I got a good drive and I looked back. I gave some room going into the last corner, I braked where I usually do and stayed on my line and figured that might be good enough and it turned out to be good enough." When Bostrom took over second on the eighth lap, he passed Erion 16 AUGUST8,2001 • eye I e n eVIl'S that, didn't see him already shooting up so I thought that I still had a chance, turning low RPM, so I clutched it out of there, just the thing got wild all the way to the finish line." The difference was .24 of a second. Yamaha's Tommy Hayden finished sixth after running there most of the race. There was a flurry just behind him, Bruce Transportation Group's Josh Hayes beating Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Aaron Gobert and Erion Honda's Jake Zemke to the line, the trio covered by 0.70 seconds. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Grant Lopez eN was a close 10th. c.""'s Bni.... IntemaIi_llIM:ew~ Brainerd, Min_ Results: Jaly 29, 2001 Ulaund 8J PRO HONDA OILS 600« SUPERSPORT: I. Miguel DuHamel (Hon); 2. Eric Bostrom (Kaw); 3. Anthony Gobert (Yam); 4. John Hopkins (Suz); 5. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 6. Tommy Hayden (Yam); 7. Josh Hayes (Han); 8. Aaron Gobert (Vam); 9. Jake Zemke (Hon); 10. Grant Lopez (Suz); 11. Jimmy Moore (Suz); 12. Roger Lee Hayden (Han); 13. Jamie Hacking (Suz); 14. Robert Jensen (Suz); 15. David Miguel DuHamel (17) has his head down as he tries to break free from the pursuing pack in the 600cc Supersport final. Although he wasn't able to pull away, DuHamel did beat Eric Bostrom to the line to win his 40th career 600cc Supersport race. Ortega (Suz); 16. Tyler Wadsworth (Yam); 17. Q.,igoro Suzuki (Kaw); 18. Darren Lenzen (Yam); 19. Wes Pogue (Suz); 20. Justin Roetlln (Suz); 21. David Ebben (Yam); 22. David Wappler (Han); 23. Adam MzItthew Jones (Suz). TIme: 22 min., 5.088 sec. Distance: 13 laps, 39 miles. Average speed: 105.956 mph. Margin of vtctory: 0.100 sec. PRO HONDA OILS 600« SUPERSPORT C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 11 rounds): 1. Eric Bostrom (224/2 wins); 2. Miguel Duhamel (205/3); 3. Anthony Gobert (197/1); 4. Tommy Hayden (187); 5. Josh Hayes (168); 6. John Hopkins (152); 7. Jake Zemke (148); 8. Jamie Hacking (133); 9. Kurtis Roberts (129); 10. Aaron Yates (125/1); 11. Aaron Gobert (118); 12. (TIE) Roger Lee Hayden/Jimmy Moore (101); 14. Grant Lopez (94); 15. Daigoro Suzuki (87); 16. David Ortega (77); 17. Nick Hayden (58); 18. Lee Acree (56); 19. Steve Patte"",n (46); 20. Vincent Haskovec (45). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Fountain, Colorado, August 26 Round 10 - Rosamond, California, September 16 AMA/&enuine Suzuki Accessories 750cc Supersport Series Round 8: Colonel's Brainerd IntematiOl8I Rlceway Bv HENNV RAV ABRAMS PHOTO BV BRIAN J. NELSON BRAINERD, MN, JULY 28 immy Moore was offering no apologies. "It was boring as hell, but it worked to our benefit really well," the Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki rider said after his second Genuine Suzuki Accessories 750cc Supersport win in a row, this one a dominant flag-to-flag affair on a cloudy afternoon at the Colonel's Brainerd International Raceway. It was Moore's weekend, and he's making sure it's his season. Starting from the pole position, Moore had a brief spat with teammate Tony Meiring before disappearing. Three laps in and he had nearly four seconds, grad- J ualJy increasing it to 9.475 seconds at the end of the 13-lap, 39-miJe race. The numbers he cares more about are the championship points. By taking the pole position, leading the most laps, and winning the race, Moore scored the maximum, adding six points to his championship lead. With three races remaining, he leads Attack Suzuki's Rich Alexander, runner-up today, 245-196. Brainerd has a way of equalizing machinery. Yes, Moore was on the pole, but Alexander wasn't far back in second, with the top six covered by the same second. Moore knew it was close and expected a drafting war on the nearly mile-long Brainerd front stretch. "The last thing I wanted to do

• Cover