Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I AMAlChevy T,..ucks Finsl Round: Vi.-.ginis Int road race ALTON,VA,SEPT.30 T he inaugural AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike event at Virginia International Raceway produced a slew of winners. American Honda's Nicky Hayden won his fourth Superbike race in a row, beating Yamaha's Anthony Gobert in a straight-up showdown. Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin won his third consecutive AMA Superbike Championship, recovering from a morning practice crash and burn to ride to a distracted and conservative 12th. But possibly the greatest winner was the event itself, a thoroughly well run and safe race that immediately put to shame a number of the so-called established venues. The beneficiaries were the fans, who saw a number of good races at a scenic and well-kept facility, and the teams, whose every need were met, most in advance. The announced crowd was 15,000, which was not bad for a race that had a small promotions' budget and was run just weeks after one of the greatest tragedies in American history. The feeling was that this would be a signature event before long, disproving the notion that a new track couldn't be successful. To the raCing. Hondas dominated early, first Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts, then American Honda's Nicky Hayden as Roberts' tire began to fade. Yamaha's Gobert had botched the start - he was 11th after the first lap - but pressed ahead, joining the fight for the lead by the 15th lap. From then on, it was those two, though pit stops produced a few riders who hadn't seen the front OCTOBER 10, 2001 • a U a Supe,..bike Chempionship stionsl Rscewsy for a while, or ever. HMC Ducati's Steve Rapp led for two laps, and Kawasaki's Doug Chandler led for seven while putting off his pit stop until the 33rd of 42 laps. Even before Chandler pitted, it was clear the race would be a Hayden-Gobert showdown, not unlike Sears Point, only this time Hayden would prevail, by 2.090 seconds. "It feels pretty good to win four in a row," Hayden said. "It's really great after the way the season was going for a little while and I'd have never thought I'd have been able to do this good at the end, so I'm really happy about that. " Gobert, who'd come out on top at Sears Point, was gracious in defeat. "Nicky, I think, probably had the better, he was a little bit fa.ster I think when it counted and I gave it every- By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON e u.s. (Topi Kurtis Roberts (SOiled Erlc Bostrom (321 and Nicky Hayden (Se) earty In the ANA Supertllke Series finale at Virginia Internatlo...1 Raceway. (Right) In the end, It came down to Nicky Hayden lIS. Anthony Gobert, with Hayden taking the victory • his fourth In succ...lon. I _ n __ • thing I had and just didn't quite have enough," Gobert said. "Fortunately for me, I won the 600, so I did get a win and I came from a long way back, about 14th [actually 11th] on the first lap. For me, I'm satisfied. It would've been nice to steal one off him, but it was nice for me." Roberts came home third, with Chandler fourth. "I tried running Kurtis [Roberts] down, but ran out of time," Chandler said. Fifth was an infuriated Miguel DuHamel. The American Honda rider was given erroneous pit signals about his position during the race and was livid afterward. "We had 42 laps to get it right and we never did," the always goodhumored French-Canadian said. Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates was sixth after trying to go the whole race without a full pit stop. Yates could have pulled into pit lane and stopped on the final lap, then rolled across the line. But his tires didn't last and he was forced to pit. Austrian Andy Meklau was seventh on the HMC Ducati, his strategy of being the first rider to pit a successful one. Yamaha's Tommy Hayden was eighth in front of HMC Ducati's Steve Rapp. Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom was 10th, two spots in front of Mladin, not enough to steal the title. Bostrom was never confident in the front end of his Kawasaki ZX- 7 and ran off the track twice in the race. "I just had a bad setup," Bostrom said. "I just couldn't tip it in." Mladin was aware of Bostrom's troubles and knew he just had to circulate to win the title. That presented its own problems. "As soon as Eric [Bostrom) run off the track [on the 17th lapl, that was a long race for me because then I had that much time," Mladin said. "It was unbelievable. So much time. I'm just riding out going 'He's there, I'm here, let's get it over and done with.'" Mladin paid tribute to the victims of the World Trade Center attack by wearing a black helmet adorned with American flags. He also had a new set of leathers in green and gold, the sporting colors of his Australian homeland. "The helmet was just a tribute to the people for the things that happened a few weeks ago," he said. "I couldn't believe what happened that day. I was glued to the television for three days. I couldn't train. It happened in America, but it happened to the whole world. It's something that we all have to feel lucky to do what we do. It really put things in to perspective for me. I ceme here this weekend and I said to the guys 'If I win, I win, if I don't win, then too bad.' The helmet was just a little bit

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