AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship
Round 1 1 : Brainerd International Racewey
steaming day on the bump-filled and
greasy Brainerd International Raceway. Hayden against Kawasaki's Eric
Bostrom, the pair swapping fast laps,
fighting their own race from before
the halfway point, and taking it to the
flag. Hayden, who'd taken over the
lead for good on the 17th of 21 laps,
prevailed by .188 of a second at the
end of the 63-mile race. Having not
won any of the past three races, Hayden was relieved.
"Definitely, it's nice to get a win,"
said Hayden, who'd won five in a row
before the three-race drought. "I kind
of needed that. You get used to that.
Starting to lose isn't fun."
"I really put my head down on the
last lap," Bostrom said. "I just
couldn't find a safe place to pass
him."
Doug Chandler scored a very popular third place, the HMC Ducati rider
nearly recovered from the leg injury
he suffered at Road Atlanta. Chandler
was involved in a three-way dice with
DuHamel and Erion Honda's Kurtis
Roberts, in his first race since injuring
lLefQ Nic~ Ibyden 169) stalked Eric
Bostrom 132) for most of the
Superblke race at Brainerd - he was
able to get by and then hold Bostrom
off for his seventh win of the season.
IRIghtl Last year Mat Mladin 11)
crashed out of the Superblke race at
Brainerd; this year It was mechanical
gremlins keeping him out of the mIL
Pascal Picotte 121) and Doug Chandler
110) renewed their inter-brand rivalry,
with Chandler taking his first podium
of the year In third. Jamie Hacking
192) finished sixth, the best of the
struggling Suzukls.
By HENNY RAY ABRAMS
PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON
BRAINERD, MN, JUNE 30
ow we're getting into history.
Now that the 20-year-old from
Owensboro, Kentucky, has won his
15th Superbike race, he moves into
a tie for fourth place on the all-time
list with Freddie Spencer, one of his
mentors, and past Mat Mladin, one
of his rivals. In the pursuit of the
2002 AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S.
Superbike Championship, Nicky
Hayden has passed Wes Cooley,
Kevin Schwantz, Mike Baldwin,
Anthony Gobert, Doug Chandler,
Doug Polen, Scott Russell, Eddie
Lawson, and now Mladin. Ahead of
him are Wayne Rainey with 16, then
Fred Merkel at 20 and teammate
Miguel DuHamel with 25. Hayden
will probably never reach that
plateau, because if he rides the year
out like he did today, he'll certainly
be moving to the world stage. He
may not be alone.
The two brightest hopes for continuing the great American tradition in
the world arena faced off on a fetid,
e
JULY
10, 2002'
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