Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Rounds 213: California Speedway the draft of a lapped rider. "It was good for me," Gobert said. "As everyone knows, Yamaha sponsored the race and I kind of felt that I had to get at least one win this weekend. We got pole position and I was pretty happy with that and leading the most laps. The track seemed really slippery and I was really worried about crashing a little bit. When I was in front, I sort of slowed the pace down a little bit, trying to keep a little bit on Aaron [Yates]. I'm fortunate today that I got the win. I nearly got taken out by a lapped rider on the last corner and I thought for sure that Aaron was going to pass me. Luckily, I got a good draft and it turned out good for us. I definitely knew [he'd won]. You just sort of sense the guy coming past. To be honest, I knew when I was in the draft of the other guy that if Aaron hadn't come past by then he wasn't going to do it. I had a perfect draft off that other guy." Yates came up short. A scant .014 of a second short in what was the closest finish in the history of California Speedway. "I got a real good start," Yates said. "Mat [Mladin] was trying hard and he started coming back. Mat was holding me up a bit so I had to get by him. I chased down Anthony. It was a good race. The Suzuki was working well and the Dunlops were working well. It was tough seeing for me because it was kind of dark and hazy out there. You had to really look for the brake marker going in to turn one down there. I never really felt as good as I did yesterday on the track at all. I thought I could have done a little better, but we did what we could. In the last turn, I was chasing Anthony. I was thinking that a couple of laps I got a good run on him up to the front straight, so I was thinking, 'Maybe I can get a run on him and get him Nicky Hayden leads the AMA Superbike Championship by 13 points over Anthony Gobert after 3-1 finishes on the weekend. right at the line.' That's what I was working up to. Then, on the last lap, we came up on all those guys. Anthony had to change his lines a couple of times in the last turn and I was thinking, 'Yeah, this is going to work good.' Then Anthony hit a cone and it came up and I was expecting it to come right up between my fender and fairing, but it didn't. I started getting a little draft on Anthony and he was getting a draft on the guy in front of him. Then he slowed down. We came up on that guy so fast, I had to kind of breathe it a little bit, jerk the bars and get back on it. Like Anthony said, he got the draft off the other guy and he just sort of stayed up there. I found another guy to draft and it was real close there at the line." Hayden crossed the line alone in third. Then came Chandler, his race made easier when Hacking crashed on the 26th lap. It was quite a debut for the man who was out of work just a few weeks ago. "It was a good start," Chandler said. "I expected it to be better. I really thought we'd be on the podium. We were at a pretty big disadvantage because of track time. I thought if I got a start and ran with the guys and got in a groove with 'em, we'd be all right. We seemed to do that okay and we were able to make up time in the beginning. We just didn't have things quite right. There were times when you would get hosed [by traffic], but there were other times when you'd look up and they were getting stuck so they'd come back to you. Toward the end, the tires are about done so you're just kind of running the same corners speeds as the lappers. I was really wanting to get that other hour in this morning just to get some more laps in, but all in all I don't think it turned out too bad. The 20 minutes we did get we went pretty good. I was more concerned about the start, just getting that thing off the line, because I'd only gotten to do one practice start. I was kind of skeptical about the start, but I didn't botch it up too bad. The rules now are that you can't roll, you don't move. I started to creep and then I thought, 'You can't do that.' I saw Mat [Mladin] roll and off we went." Hacking wasn't sure why he'd crashed. "It was weird," Hacking said. "There was no warning from it at all. I hadn't had a problem with the front the whole time I've been here. It seems like the later on in the stint, the back starts. to tighten up on me in the rebound. I couldn't tell them what happened until we read the data. All I knew was that it bounced and I went to turn right and it was like someone unbolted the front wheel - it was gone. It bounced in the rear and loaded the front." Fifth place went to new Bleu Bayou Ducati rider Picotte, his first time on Michelins since his early outings on Ducatis back in the Fast By Ferracci days. He had circulated alone for most of the race, finishing off the pace of the leaders. Still, he was pleased considering how quickly the team had been put together. "The race wasn't that bad," Picotte said. "We just put our team together last Wednesday and just bought the bike from Larry Pegram. It's a 2001 Ducati and it had a lot of missing parts when we bought it, so we put the engine together on Friday and we just had four days to put the motor and the team together. Plus, we switched tire brands to Michelin, which is another new adaption. We've had a lot of new things - new crew, new motorcycle, so overall it wasn't that bad for the small amount of time we had to get things together. It was a good start for our team to break the ice. We're definitely looking ahead for tomorrow." RACE TWO Under brighter skies with a hint of sunshine, Hayden was the aggressor as the pack streaked into turn one for the second of the two Superbike races, but his lead didn't last long as 18 APRIL 17, 2002' II: U II: I • n • _ s Yates was headstrong on being up front. The Georgian made his move in turn five and he made it stick. Yates would lead for six laps before Hayden got a run on him out of the final corner and drafted past at the start/finish line. It WdS Hayden's fastest lap thus far, but he would go quicker still, burying the competition with his 1:26.054 on the eighth lap as he pulled over a second clear. That gap would continue to grow, and on the 11 th lap he lost his main competition when Yates' GSX-R750 blew up. By then, the battle for second place was heating up between Mladin and Bostrom, with the latter taking over the spot on the 11 th lap. Hayden, though, was putting on a clinic, and by the 15th lap he was over five seconds ahead. He would win by 6.366 seconds after slowing in the final laps. "I've really got to thank my guys in my team," Hayden said. "It's amazing how much better my bike was today. Last night, in the meeting, you have all these problems you tell them about. Normally, they fix some stuff and maybe compromise on other things. Today, they just fixed everything. The transmission was a lot better. The bike just felt a lot more com· fortable. I could be a lot more aggressive with it today. I could get it turned and it was just a really good race. I think the temperature being warmer today even helped me with the tire a little bit. It was just a really good day. I'm proud of my guys with the improvement we made over yesterday. That's what you're supposed to do - go forward. I was able to get a really good drive on the front straightaway and it was fast." What a difference a day makes. "I just felt better today," Hayden said. "Yesterday, with the rain and sitting around waiting all day. I was nervous and never really relaxed. Today, I just felt better myself. On the warm-up lap, I was excited about going racing. Yesterday, I felt mist on my shield. Today was just a much

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