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/128116
,.------- -,-" I "': ! j - ~ ~ , ... l '- .c ~ ' ; rJ AMAIChevy Trucks U,S, Superbike Championship - ' Round 1 1 : Colonels BraInerd International Raceway -----road race ~ KurtIlJ Rail I rta (8OJ ..... III IMI; _ 1M 1IoIIda RC111 to off .... p ........ cIIa11 .... ..................... DuHanIaI (17), ........ ......... (nI, Ertc ..... IIapp (82) during • wild AlIA SUp Irblb at ~Race . 8ub_"'" .lIinenI would be condensed into a short sprint, fittingly on the drag strip portion of the track, the two making contact as they drag-raced to the flag, Roberts w~bbling viciously while Hayden, with the better line out of the final corner, rode on rails to his second win in a row, this one by the narrowest of margins - officially 0.005 of a second, No sooner had they finished then American Honda's Miguel DuHamel flashed across the line in a photo finish for third over Yoshimura Suzuki's Jamie Hacking, Originally, timing and scoring gave the spot to Hacking, but only because the transponders were read just down the track before the actual finish line. First to fourth was covered by half a second. "Tomorrow's my birthday, my 20th," Hayden said. "No better way to win a Superbike race than virtually on your birthday." "It's real frustrating," said Roberts, 22, who's still seeking his first Superbike. "No one likes to lose, and coming that close just pisses you off I guess." If there was someone with a right to be angry it was Mladin. Following a not great start, Mladin was in sixth when he tucked the front end in front of Roberts on the first lap. There was no saving it and the bike skittled off the course, cartwheeling and destroying itself. "I made a mistake," Mladin said . "That's all 1 can say. I don't know what happened." The only possibility, he thought, was that he might have By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON BRAINERD, "IN, JULY 29 he AMA/Chevy Trucks U,S. Superbike race at the Colonel's Brainerd International Raceway was the finest of the year, a classic showcasing the strength of the Honda RCS1 s, as well as Honda's future, and it might have been even better had Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin not crashed, That's right, the two-time defending AMA Superbike Champion and runaway points leader crashed out of his first race in five years when he tucked the front in the eighth turn of the very first lap, That not only threw the race wide open - Mladin had set a new lap record in qualifying - but breathed life into the fading championship hopes of Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom. More on that later. As befits a race of this stature, the race came down to the last lap, last corner, The final lap was scintillating, four wide through the harrowing sixth-gear turn one, Nicky Hayden emerging at the point from Kurtis Roberts, the two lead Hondas swapping the spot a few more times on the run to the stripe, The 21-lap race T 12 AUGUST 8.2001 • cue I • .. ......... Ie...... DuHamaI (17), Rallarta (8OJ'" HacIdntl (8211.......... n e _ III: ~.