Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Let'Q WIth a few of the top factory stars having problems, the tight for best prtvateer between Brian Parriott (146) and Rick»' Orlando (12) ended up being for seventh place, a spot ultimately taken by Parriott. (RIght) Mladln (1) had a tire problem that led to him finishing fourth. Hacking (92) held second until being caught and passed on the final lap by Yates. good opportunity to do well this suffered a fuel-pump failure that led weekend." to his demise. Chandler, meanwhile, also had I didn't have much grip on the rear, last few laps it started to vapor lock "I didn't want to try hard and go problems with his Ducati. Just a few with the guys," Chandler explained. "I and then it started vibrating really or something. I was going to come laps after passing Picotte and moving didn't know how I was going to feel. I badly. About halfway through, it in for a tire, but I didn't think it into fifth (which would have likely just set my own pace and started pro- started to chunk. And then in the would start again. We really lost a been fourth), Chandler's HMC mount gressing. I just started to push and BRIEFLY••• The penpatetlc peregrinations of Kawasaki"s Eric Bostrom may continue. then again, they may not. Bostrom may retum to the World Supertlike tour in two rounds' time, at Misano. Italy, on June 23. The deciding factor is the health of Kawasaki"s Hitoyasu Izutsu. who has been injured for much of the season. Izutsu is scheduled to test his fitness some time in the next two weeks. If he's ready. he'll race in Italy. If not. it's Bostrom to the rescue. "They're Interested." Kawasaki team manager Mike Preston said. "It depends on Izutsu." A more immediate question is who will ride the ZX-7RR next week at the Lausitzring in Germany. The team has a contract to supply two riders to the gnd, and Bostrom will be tIed up at Road America. Among the possibilities is Italian Giovanni Bussei. With Kawasaki pulling out of World Supertllke racing next year to concentrate its efforts on the new MotoGP project. rumors are running rampant that Kawasaki will also pull out of AMA Superbike racing at the end of this year. "I guess there is that probability if the AMA doesn't come up with some rules," team manager Mike Preston said. "I really don't know right now. I don't know what our future IS, but I know that we're not happy with the AMA's lackadaisical effort toward changing the ruies. We'd like to see some concessions to make us competitive. ~ Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Aaron Gobert has set a target of the June 28-30 race weekend at Brainerd Intemational Raceway for his retum to racing, according to Sue Gobert, the matriarch of the Gobert clan. "Yesterday [Thursday, May 30l, he had the cast off his bad leg," she said. "It's not fully heaied. He'll be on crutches for three weeks. " After which he'll have a final checkup. Mrs. Gobert said that he'd been doing extensive physiotherapy. both upper and lower body. at his home in Harrington Park. a suburtl of Sydney, in Australia. "The doctor said he's three months ahead of where he should be." Sue Gobert said. Anthony Gobert, meanwhile. is expected to visit Dr. Arthur TIng in the San Francisco Bay area between the races at Pikes Peak and Road America. two weeks after he had his broken leg plated and screwed. There is no time estimate on his retum to racing. The status of Jordans Szoke's continued employment with the Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki team rests with Suzuki. according to team principle TIm Saunders. Saunders said that Szoke's contract is with American Suzuki. and that they would have to make the decision on whether he would remain with the team. The Canadian Szoke hasn't been able to race in the U.S. since trying to enter the country without the proper visa just prior to the Sears Point race a month ago. His visa status hasn't been completely resolved. Meanwhile, the Corona Extra EBSCO Media team has been forced to hire the Australian Adam Fergusson to replace him. Fergusson finished a close second to Arcllght Suzuki"s Lee Acree at Road Atlanta. Saunders said that Steve Rapp, who broke his clavicle and some ribs and punctured a lung in a motocross accident prior to the Sears Point round, was expected to retum to racing next week at Road America. "We want him to be 100 percent," Saunders said. "Any opportunity to win championships is gone. We want him to be on the podium, not in the pack." American Honda's team manager Chuck Miller has heard all the rumors about the future of Nicky Hayden, one from inside his own team. None of them are true, he says, though he understands how they're born. "Everybody wants him: Miller said when asked about the rumor that Hayden might desert to the Marlboro Yamaha MotoGP team. The most recent rumor was that Hayden would race as a wild card In the final two MotoGP rounds, at Phillip Island. Australia and Valencia. Spain, on a factory Honda V-five. "Nothing's confirmed, but anything's possible: Miller said. Because the AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Supertlike season ends early, at Virginia Intemational Raceway on August 1" the originai thought was gelling Hayden to a few World Supertlike rounds. Miller said. But the team is now concentrating on the AMA championship and putllng off post-season decisions until the season ends. Miller also said he expected Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts to be back next week at Road America. "Our biggest concem is doing it at the right time so that we don't hurt him and he comes back healthy." Miller said. Miller has been in constant contact with Roberts and will talk to him Monday, June 3. to make a final determination Although entry lists have him set to compete in the Suzuka 8 Hour along with Doug Polen, Doug Chandler said he is definitely not going to the endurance race in Japan. Chandler said Sam Yamashita contacted him early in the season about the possibility of taking part in the race on a Honda CBR9S4. Since he didn't have a ride at the time. Chandler expressed interest. Now that he has an HMC Ducati ride, Chandler says he definitely won't be racing at Suzuka. "I told him that it was best I didn't do it." Chandler said. "I thought we had this all worked out way back at Fontana, but it keeps coming up. " Doug Chandler showed up at Pikes Peak still banged up from his Road Atianta crash. "It's nothing in particular," Chandler said of his physical woes. "My thumb is sore and I can't brake good. My hip is sore - it just hurts. I can't bend my leg as far as I'd like. It's all lefts here, so it's not so bad. The rights are harder because with my leg against the tank it's the worst. It's not any worse today after riding yesterday. so... " According to AMA road racing manager Ron Barrick, there are nine entries available for AMA Supertlike riders to take part in the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca and everybody but the Yoshimura Suzuki squad has already entered. "And we are expecting Suzuki to enter," Barrick said. "Doug Chandler and his team were the first to request an entry." That's good news for AMA Supertlike fans who were disappointed last year not to see more of their heroes compete against the world's best. Take the already strong World Supertlife field and throw in the likes of Hayden, DuHamel, Gobert, Yates, Mladin, Hacking, Bostrom, Chandler and Picotte and it looks like the Laguna weekend will truly be something special. For the first time all year, Mat Mladin was seemingly getting confident again in the GSX-R7S0. At least he was after qualifying fourth. "Showa has been working hard and to be honest I think we're getting closer: Mladin said. "I can't speak for the other guys, I can only speak for myself, but we're certainly getting to the point where the bike feels somewhat comfortable again. They're working on stuff and it's definitely helping. We've definitely made some improvements on the bike and things couldn't get much worse for me over the last coupie of races.• Almost in unison, the top four riders from Supertlike qualifying complained about the qualifying tires that they've had this year. Mat Mladin said that he's lost all confidence in the qualifiers and the others pretty much echoed his statements. "Certainly that's not the case where I've been [World Supertlike racing]," Eric Bostrom said. "The qualifying tires over there are pretty special. Today, I was just kind of trusting the thing. Definitely, at some of the other places we'd be better off not having them." Dunlop's .11m Allen said that It's really a matter of the factory in England being behind the eight ball as far as trying to produce enough tires for both World Supertlike and Grand Prix, both of which are obviously a priority over the AMA series, where the brand faces more serious competition from the likes of Michelin. "The race tires are 10mm taller than the qualifiers we have now." Allen explained. "We just couldn't get them in the bigger size, so there is a setup difference. The guys basically have to raise the rear. I think now most of them are going with the soft race tire as qualifiers. and I can't say I really blame them. " As for the front tire that caused Tommy Hayden's woes in the Superstock final. Allen said: "He used three of them in practice, and he used another one this moming. He said they were good in practice, but in the race it pushed all race long on him. He ran one this morning [Sunday] and didn't like it again, so he'll use a softer one for today. We cut up yesterday's tire and there was nothing wrong with it. " The perfect road racetrack for dirt trackers or former dirt trackers7 Pikes Peak International Raceway seems to be Just that. "This is definitely a dirt tracker's track." Tommy Hayden said. "It's all lefts - tum one and the tum coming onto the straightaway. I definitely think dirt trackers have an advantage here Last year, dirt trackers were all three on the Supertlike podium. I just think it definitely helps here more than the others." Sunday's Supertlike National, however, saw just one former dirt tracker on the podium - race winner Eric Bostrom. As always, Eric Bostrom was as kind as one can be when talking about taking advantage of Nicky Hayden's crash In the Superbike National. "Obviously, you don't want to see anybody fall off," Bostrom said. "And Nick's a great guy and a great competitor, but it happens to all of us. Look at Jamie's day. He's out there leading the race and having a great race. ThiS track of all tracks really catches you out easily. Obviously, team Kawasaki and I need to close a big points gap and I guess we'll take it anyway we can get it but we'd like to beat him fair and square." The series nearly lost one of its stars on Sunday moming when Jake Zemke ran into a probiem with an over-zealous police officer. "I had just a little problem getting into the track," Zemke said. "They told me my AMA permanent pass was no good. He told me no, I said thanks and just rolled up my wmdow and drove in. He didn't appreciate that much and he came after me, and little did I know he was an off-duty police officer. We settled everything out. After I drove past him into the gate, I drove Into the parking lot and another security guard came up to me in a golf cart, so I stopped and showed him my pass and explained that this was a correct pass and I'm okay. Then the other guy came flying up in a goif cart. He told me to get out of the car and I said no, then he told me to get out of the car again, and I said no. Then he opened my door and started to reach in for me. At that pomt I drove away from him, parked my car and got out of the car and just stood there and waited for him to come over, because I wasn't that keen on somebody trying to pull me out of the car. Then everything settled out after that. He was highly upset. I was just wanting to get to the track. I'm a rider and I get here In just about enough time to get here to do my thing." Zemke ended up in handcuffs. "I was cuffed for probably about 10 minutes. Two hours later, I probably still had the marks from the cuffs on my wrist. He was really upset. He was in my face, yelling at me. He told me to tum around. I said no. He said I'm going to cuff you, tum around. I said no. I said if you calm down, I'll tum around, but you need to calm down, and I don't think he appreciated that much. So then he told me something to the effect that he was going to use force on me. He calmed down and by that time there were six security guards there and the local police. Whim the regular police got there they said does he have the correct passes and all that and he said yes, he does have the correct passes. He told me these guys are doing their job and you have to respect their authority." Zemke was threatened with arrest for what would have been felony assault with a vehicle. cycl. n ... _ S • JUNE 12, 2002 11

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