Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

knew one of the Suzukis was close; I didn't know which one it was. Unfortunately, that happened too. It was really an easy crash. The whole thing was kind of surreal like it didn't really happen. But, unfortunately, this year's not over yet." Also lost in the first portion of the race was Rich Conicelli and Brian Livengood, with Livengood taking Conicelli out of the race on the third lap after getting into turn five too hot. He couldn't get it slowed down and he plowed into Conicelli, taking them both out. Hooter's Suzuki's Michael Barnes had also crashed on the exit of turn two on the fourth lap, ending his day. Once the mess was cleaned up, the field was reg ridded and it was time to do it all over again. This time, Hayden led off the start, but it didn't last long as Bostrom bullied his way past and promptly started to inch away. But then it ended again as Kim Nakashima crashed in Rainey Curve and the race was stopped again - this time with six laps in the books. The Air Fence had deflated in Nakashima's crash, and workers had to be brought out to fix it. It looked like it was going to be a long day. And then Bostrom had more work to do. Again, he was up to the task. With a holeshot off the start, Bostrom was on his way. He led Hayden by .3 of a second after the first lap (actually lap seven), then it went to .5 and .6 of a second. It held there for a few laps, but Bostrom got the better of some traffic and the gap started to gradually increase. After 17 laps, he led by 1.2 seconds, then 1.9, 2.4, 3.2, 3.6, 4.9, 6.2... and it would continue to grow. By the completion of the 28th and final lap, Bostrom was 9.7 seconds ahead of Hayden, the Honda rider admitting that he just couldn't match Bostrom's pace. "I was right there with him earlier on, but 1 couldn't really do much with Brian Parriott (48) was the top privateer once again, the Californian beating Craig Connell (302) for eighth place. him," Hayden said. "I was just hanging on, pretty much. I felt all right, and I just thought maybe I'd keep going and see if I could make up some time once the tires went off a little bit. And I got in traffic, and obviously, you know, they didn't go my way today. But that's how traffic is: Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't. Eric [Bostrom] just rode really good, and was just really smooth and consistent, never really made any mistakes, so he made it hard on me. But he did a great job." With the World Superbike race slated for the following day, Hayden said there was work to do to make the bike better - mainly toward the end of the race, where he seemed to lose touch. "We've got some work to do still," Hayden said. "There's a lot of racing yet to go this weekend, so hopefully we can make some changes and get it going a little better. But for the most part my bike was pretty good early, and then kind of... well, we've got to do something to make it a little better at the end. But the Dunlops were really good, and the pace was fast early. So I'm just looking forward to trying to get things better. There's a few spots that I need to work. I know one corner where I just want to get better. So, hopefully, it'll be better. I just wish I could have got up there and raced Eric and put on a better show for all you great fans. I mean, there are so many fans out there. It's awesome." Both riders admitted that it was difficult to keep their focus due to the start-and-stop nature of the race. In all, it took almost an hour and 20 minutes to run the race to its completion, instead of the normal 40 or so minutes. "The third time was the charm, I guess," Bostrom said. "It was tough. The boys were pushing, and we had to just keep on trying hard, keep our head down. It's tough to keep focused, you know, with that many restarts and everything. I just wasn't able to go quite as fast on that last one, but Nick was just right there, and there was no chance of getting u&J@DJD@&5 U[}u@ W&JwO@ !l3@~(J[J@UiJL) The conversation after the lone qualifying sessIon for Saturday's AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship race was dominated not by how the riders would improve their machines before the race, but rather by how to improve the quality of the field. Too many slow riders on too tight of a track meant that none ofthe front-row qualifiers got the best out of their machinery. They predicted faster times ahead, but a rush-hour traffic jam in the race. Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom (right) earned pole position in Thursday's lone qualifying session on a hot afternoon at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seea. The riders had one morning practice session before the afternoon qualifier and would be off their AMA machinery until a morning practice before Saturday's race. Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin, who qualified fourth fastest, said it was really no different than any other weekend, "except we don't go back out tomorrow. We always have to qualify on Friday afternoon anyway and do some type of a decent lap because we never know if it's going to rain the next day or whatever." Rain wasn't likely in Monterey. The temperature was scorching, in the 90s and relentless. Track temperature was 55 degrees Centigrade. The temperature of the track was less an issue than the temperament of the riders, the ones who had to thread their way through the 56-rider field like slalom.skiers. Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates missed a gate, punting one lapper off the track, unapologetically. "He was in the way, totally," Yates said matter-of factly after qualifying third fastest. "I couldn't do nothing else. I had to let him know he was in the way." Yates said that it was disappointing because he would make changes to the bike, then get blocked on either a fast lap or in the comer he was working on. "I don't understand how half of them guys out there, they're even allowed out there, to tell you the truth." Bostrom's best lap around the ll-tum, 2.2-mile road course was a 1:25.716, off the 1999 mark of 1:25.507 set by Anthony Gobert. Traffic may not have been the reason, but it didn't help. Neither did a track surface, which continues to get bumpier. "It's the definitely the way you want to start the weekend, but I tell you it's real tough for all of us guys out there with the traffic situation," Bostrom said. "Really, I don't think any of us have worked on bike setup to the point where we want to because you go out there and you can't even hit the same line because there's so many bikes in the way." Bostrom said that, by lowering his own time and therefore putting less riders within reach of the field by virtue of the rule whIch requires a rider to be within 115 percent of the fastest time, he'd be able to "take out some of the hazards." American Honda's Nicky Hayden was .604 of a second back in second, with Yoshimura Suzukis filling out the front row - Yates in third and Mladin in fourth. "Not quite as good as I'd like, really," Hayden said. "I went faster here testing than I did yesterday. To be honest, the bike felt good, I was just havIng a hard time getting into a rhythm, a lot of lappers." American Honda chose to set 'up both of Hayden's RC51s In World Superbike trim, making them legal for both AMA and World Superbike. The switch to unleaded fuel cost Hayden a few horsepower, but he said he didn't notice it. Yates said his setup was at about 70 percent, "But we've still got some work to do for sure. Eric (Bostroml, he's really railing around out there, and if we want to get up there and ride with him on Saturday, we definitely got some work to do." Mladin echoed the backmarker theme, saying that he had mechanics at his Suzuki shop back in Australia who were faster than some of the lappers. His problems had less to do with traffic and more to do with his endless summer. "My bike, It still isn't working that well. I'm haVing a few problems and stuff," he said. "I wish I could get something sorted out, but we're struggling with it. It's been one big, long night since Daytona. I haven't woken up yet." Aside from the shortened practice schedule, the riders had to cope with having only one machine. Since AMA rules are slightly different from World Superbike . World Superbike mandates unleaded fuel and different throttle bodies - most of the teams had one machIne set up for World Superbike and one for AMA. Bostrom had one of each, plus one spare. Effectively, It means that riders weren't able to compare setups be.tween two different machines, as they routinely do in AMA racing. "It's a little bit less track time," Mladin said of the loss of about two hours. "In the end, it's going to hurt the guys who haven't done World Superbike more than us. We get to do World Superbike tomorrow. We're going to have heaps of track time." How much time was up in the air until Thursday night. In order to maintain something of a level playing, or at least practice field, the AMA wild cards - Yates, Mladin, Hayden, American Honda's Miguel DuHamel, HMC Ducati's Doug Chandler, and Yamaha's Anthony Gobert· were told they'd be allowed to qualify in the one-hour World Superbike sessions, but would only be allowed to practice for half of each of the two one-hour practice sessions. At the end of the day Thursday, the riders were still in the dark. "I don't know what they've done," Mladin said. "I know they've changed their minds about 30 times in the last week. But I don't know where it's up to now. I'm just going to turn up with my gear and, when they say to go out, I'll go out." Because Bostrom is entered as part of Kawasaki's World Superbike effort, he wasn't a wild card, and therefore theoretically exempt. "I heard that I was kind of exempt, but then I heard maybe not,' Bostrom said. Mladin said that Bostrom should be able to do every World Superbike practice and qualifying session. The decision was made by World Superbike boss Paolo Flammiai on his arrival in Monterey on Thursday night and, as it turned out, Bostrom's World Superbike practice time was shortened, putting him on level ground wIth the other wild cards. Henny Ray Abrams away from him. I don't know if I got a break in traffic or what, but I tried to make the most of it. I saw a cluster here, a cluster there, and finally I saw that I got a little bit of a gap, so I really tried to put my head down, and it cue •• worked out well. I've really got to thank my crew. The Kawasaki ZX-7 Ninja was working great today, and we got a shot at the thing tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. I've got to also congratulate my competin .. _ s • JULv24,2002 19

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