Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Above) Andy Meklau (103) tries to hold off his teammate Steve Rapp (82) and Eric Bostrom (32) near the end of the race. MekJau ended up seventh with Rapp ninth and Bostrom 10th. to pay some respect and some remembrance to the all those people who were lost in the tragedy." Mladin became only the third rider in AMA Superbike history to win three titles in a row and the first to do it on a Suzuki. He ended the season with 380 points, 15 more than Bostrom. Nicky Hayden finished third with 340. Mladin had also crashed hard coming onto the front straight on Sunday morning's warm-up, his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 catching fire. "I was pushing hard," Mladin said after both wheels slid off the edge of the track, sending him and the motorcycle tumbling. "I hit the seam there going too hard. Just run like 1:26.5. I was pushing and obviously I couldn't go that hard in that corner. I didn't know what had happened. I knew I lost the front, but I didn't know what I hit to lose the front. So on the warm-up I seen just what happened." From the first time the teams tested at the 2.25-mile VIR circuit, they've been full of praise. Yes, it's a bit narrow in some spots and hard to pass, but it's a proper racetrack with a variety of challenging corners, elevation changes, and plenty of runoff, a welcome antidote to the current trend of sterile mazes slapped into the middle of speedways. What impressed the teams as much as the facility was the responsive attitude of the track management. They were partners, not adversaries like some track owners, and everyone was willing to do what was needed to make this a successful event. Next year promises to be better, with the possibility of a Superbike doubleheader. Pit stops made this race unique, but didn't really affect the outcome. Most teams re-fueled and changed both tires, though Kawasaki and Competition Accessories Ducati only changed rears. Roberts led off the start, Bostrom and Hayden going with him, Mladin settling into a comfortable fourth, with DuHamel just behind. DuHamel made his move on the front straight on lap seven, passing Mladin just beyond the finish line. Mladin lost another spot when fellow Australian Gobert passed him on the eighth lap. Gobert was the fastest rider on the track. After finishing the first lap in 11 th place, Gobert, who earlier in the day won the 600cc Supersport race, began to move ahead. Once he was by Mladin, and into fifth, he briefly stalled, unable to make up any ground on the leaders. But soon he was back on the move and challenged DuHamel on the 13th lap. Hayden was past Bostrom on the 11th lap, Roberts still out front, DuHamel still fourth. But Hayden wasn't done. In the esses on lap 13 he took the lead, holding it despite Roberts counterpunching in turn one beginning the next lap. "The beginning of the race kind of gave us a false confidence," Roberts said. "We've been trying to hard to lead and I was really trying to conserve my tire and just be there at the end. It was a long race. I wasn't pushing too hard, but a couple of laps before Nicky [Hayden] and them got me I really started to spin up a lot and not much more that I could do." Meanwhile, Gobert continued his push, moving into third on the 13th lap as Mladin fell to seventh behind Steve Rapp, then up to second on the 15th lap. Hayden held the biggest lead of the race on the 15th, 1.492 seconds over Gobert. The next lap was telling. Gobert closed the gap to under a second and was visibly closing, taking a tenth of a second out each of the next few laps, getting it under half a second on the 19th. The pair had pulled over four seconds on Roberts in third, with DuHamel a close fourth. Ending the 17th lap, Bostrom came around in 10th place. Now he was four spots behind Mladin with little hope that he'd earn the point for leading the most laps. He'd run off the track twice, never able to get up to speed. "I was worried before the race started," Bostrom said. "Things were halfway okay when the pace was pretty slow." Bostrom explained that the front end buckled on the brakes and he ran off into the grass. "I ran off once under the bridge," Bostrom said. "I was on an uphill. It was a mess trying to get back up on the grass. I was climbing the hill, spinning out, having little highsides. Then I went off in turn one." Chandler passed Mladin on the 20th laps, but Mladin was still well in control. "I sort of hung around there for six or eight or 10 laps, maybe, and I could see Eric [Bostrom) on about lap eight or so, he started to get really sideways and the thing was backing in so I don't know, but I'm gueSSing he ran an 881 tire, which is pretty soft. [Bostrom ran the Dunlop 587, same as Mladin.] I'm guessing he run a soft tire because the thing started going. I mean he had to take the chance because he had to go and win and hopefully I had a problem or something. Then when he ran off, I guess they'd already pulled about four or five seconds, then he ran off. At that stage I think was in sixth or seventh maybe. I was pretty con:fortable cruising around there. Doug [Chandler) was sort of right there. When Doug came by I'm like, I'll stick behind Doug because you can watch the guy all day, he never misses a line. "As it turned out, Eric run off the track. Before the race started, it was like, if this was the first race of the year, we were fast enough to win the race. At the start of the race I said to Pete [Doyle - his tuner] in the truck, I said, 'We should try to go out and win this thing,' and he looked at me funny. I didn't mean it, but boy it's hard to let them get away. Mate, everyone's worked so hard all year, for me to go out there and make a mistake and cost these guys a championship after working so hard, I couldn't bear that, so I cruised around." There was a flurry of action at the halfway flags, Roberts and Gobert both pitted, with Hayden holding a 6.581-second lead. Roberts' pit stop wasn't great and it cost him a few seconds. Hayden was in the next lap handing the lead to DuHamel with Rapp second'in front of Chandler and Mladin. On the next lap, DuHamel was in. The team had a small problem with the fuel coupler, but he was quickly out after handing the lead to DUD. _ n (Above) The VIR race featured a mandatory pit stop In the Superblke National. Mat Mladln pulls In for his stop at the Yoshimura pit. Rapp, the first time the HMC Ducati rider had led an AMA Superbike National. He wasn't aware he was in the lead and it wouldn't last. On the 25th lap, Rapp had an offtrack excursion in turn one, handing the lead to Chandler, another rider who hasn't seen much of the front of the field for a while. Chandler led Mladin and Yates, none of whom had pitted. The preview of what was to come was right behind, Hayden in front of Gobert. Mladin was the first of the lead three to pit, stopping on the 27th lap for tires and gas, the 13.5-second stop showing a lack of urgency. On the 29th lap, Gobert stuffed his way past Nicky Hayden for third. Essentially, it was for the lead since neither Chandler nor Yates had pitted. At the end of the lap, both Gobert and Hayden went by Yates and were sure to pass Chandler when he pitted. "When I got past him I got some good traffic and I pulled away a little bit and I told me, I said, 'Right I'm going to go now,' and I spent two laps and those two laps I kind of whipped myself," Gobert said. "I was pushing hard after the 600. I kind of wore out a little bit. And I just slowed down a little bit and as soon as I slowed down Nicky was right on me and pressing and then he got past me and he got a couple on the straightaway. I was going to try to hang on and got some good distance with some lapped traffic and got a gap and I kind of eased away for a couple laps, got another slow guy, right there with two laps to go." Hayden said that after his stop he wasn't sure where he was, third he thought, with Chandler still out front. "I was sure he hadn't pitted yet, but I was hoping there was somebody way out there," he said. Bostrom was the first of the Kawasaki riders to pit, a very quick stop at the end of the 30th lap. Ending the 31 st lap, Bostrom was in 10th, only one spot in front of Mladin, and he wouldn't earn the point for leading the most laps. The race was between Gobert and Hayden now. Chandler would pit at __ • • OCTOBER 10,2001 7

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