Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Rounds 13/14: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course pace. I knew that if we couldn't drop Nick, I might be in trouble there in the end, because we kind of chose a softer tire for that one. And sure enough, the thing started slipping around a bit in the end. That was pretty much it. So Nick went by me, and he did a great job. He was pretty much unbeatable today." Mladin crossed the line alone in third place, though Roberts, Chandler, Hacking and DuHamel were closing on the three, time champion in the closing stages. Mladin was surprisingly upbeat, despite not being able to stay with the lead duo. When asked if it was disappointing to lose touch, Mladin said: "Not really, because that's all I did was lose touch. The rest of the year I've been losing a whole lap, nearly. So that's somewhat promising. No, I'm not disappointed at all. Our bike got a little bit better this week. We got BRIEFLY••• There's still no definitive word on the rule changes slated for the Superbike class for 2003. with the original changes put forth by the AMA currently in a comment period. According to AMA Pro Racing .board member Kevin Schwantz. once all the information is gathered it will be given to the Advisory Board. 'They'll go through it and get it back to the Board and we'll vote on it,' Schwantz said. "Right now, it's just a matter of us getting it together for them. Hopefully, we can do that before VIR [Virginia International ~aceway). We should have input from everybody. The trick is if they [the manufacturers) can all agree." "I think all of us are in the same boat: Honda team manager Chuck Miller said of the proposed rule changes. "We're struggling because we don't know where the FIM is going. We'd like to mirror the FIM rules. I think we're shooting ourseives in the foot if we don't follow the FIM rules. When we get their information, we can get things figured out. One thing we don't want is to change the rules and then have to change them again. Everyone has done a lot of calculations on paper, but there hasn't been any physical testing." Kawasaki team manager Mike Preston said that his team has made recommendations that are currently being looked at by Kawasaki officials in Japan. Honda showed up at Mid-Ohio with a hospitality bus. The unit was once used by Honda's Indy Car team, but has been under control of the motorcycle division for the past two years. The bus had been at some supercross rounds and it was also parked on the hill at Laguna Seca for some Honda honchos to use, but for Mid-Ohio the team was actually using it - for both hospitality, rider and crew meetings and a place were the data-acquisition gatherers could set up their computers. One of the changes in this year's program, says team manager Chuck Miller. is that the team now has better communication. All the crew chiefs sit down together," Miller said. "The communication has been really good this year and it's made a difference." As for the bus, Miller said: "We want to help grow the sport and just make everything iook better. We want to give people more stuff to look at. .. some new stuff to try, and it seemed to help a little bit. I'm just trying to get some confidence back in the bike, be.ing able to turn the gas on for once, which I haven't been able to do much this year. So it was reasonably promising, really. Third place isn't certainly something I like to settle for, but I guess you've got to crawl before you can walk, as they say." Again, Mladin's Suzuki got worse as the day wore on, though the reference to his crew chief Merlyn Plumblee. "All year, the second race I've always been faster, and I think one race helps me think about it. but my team just always makes it better the second day. Merlyn, I don't know, he just does his magic. I don't know what he does exactly, but we change a few little things, and I just don't think there's nobody better than those guys. Our Showa guy and our data guy, I really owe a lot of credit to them because obviously Eric [Bostrom) was going faster, but even from the beginning it was just really nice to have improvement the second day... On the verge of taking his first-ever AMA Superbike title, Nicky Hayden spoke briefly about the task ahead. "It would be great, " he said. "It's getting close now, Two more races and I've got a little bit of a gap. But any little mistake and it's out the window. I'm real excited about Virginia, going there. It's a track I like a lot. and, hopefully. I can go in there and just get it done - go get it done. I'm pretty excited about being in this position with two races to go, but I'm not going to let up at all. I'm just going in there to try and get it done." If Nicky Hayden does what's expected and earns the title in Virginia in two weeks, he'll be able to pour himself a cold one - legally - to celebrate. Hayden will tum 21 on July 30. Happy Birthday, Nicky. Canadian Steve Crevier "las at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on the mend and looking for work. The Canada Honda rider injured his right knee in a practice crash at the first race of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship in Shannonville, Ontario, in late May. "It's coming," Crevier said of his progress. "Unfortunately, it's taken time, I've done everything with physiotherapy, but also with a hyperbaric chamber. I have to pay for that and I'm running out of money on that." Crevier said that the knee was still inflamed. "If it's not swollen. I can get my quadriceps working." Crevier passed up the July 21 round at Mosport, Ontario. but expects to ride at the fifth round of the Canadian series, at Shubecenaide, Nova Scotia, the same weekend as the AMA season-ender at Virginia International Raceway. W When it started raining on Saturday morning, it looked as though the first of the two Superbike Nationals would be held in the rain, At that point. many thought Pascal Picotte would be chomping at the bit to have a wet race on his Michelin-shod Ducati. Not so, said Picotte. "Not really," Picotte said after Saturday's dry race. "I do good in the rain, but I don't really like racing in the rain,' New Showa fork and shock internals seemed to help Mat Mladin's BlimpielYoshimura Suzuki, at least in practice and qualifying. "We've got some pieces this week that we haven't had all year: Mladin said. "It's a shame [they showed up so late in the season], because we've had problems all year, and finally some stuff showed up that I guess they've been using with other teams. It's certainly helped out our bike a bit- actually. quite a lot. Right out of the pits yesterday, actually, I was surprised the way it felt. It's the first time for the whole year that the bike actually feels reasonable," Although Mladin was impressed with the new parts from Showa, Aaron Yates wasn't as excited about the difference the new pieces were making. "We got some new little pieces and stuff, but it hasn't made really a whole lot of difference," Yates said after Saturday's race, in which he finished third. "We've got this chronic problem that we just can't really get tuned out of the bike. The harder you try to tum the throttle out of the turns, the thing just. when it steps out. it just does so much movement on the rear, you can't just drive hard and spin and drive forward. The thing just wants to get out of shape and kind of buck you off of it. really. It's hard to be behind some guys, watching them and they're just pulling away from you. You're just trying to hammer it. and the thing wants to spit you off, You've got to be so easy on the acceleration to keep it from doing that. You're just watching these two guys [Bostrom and Hayden) just pull away, and it's kind of... you know, what can I say?" One thing that seems constant in the 2002 season is the fact that. during a doubleheader weekend, you can count on Nicky Hayden's Honda RCS1. Hayden calls it MMerlyn's Magicft in 14 AUGUST 7, 2002' cue' e n The Corona Extra Light team will be in near-constant motion for the next two weeks as they pack up and head for the Suzuka 8-Hours on August 3. The team is flying 15 people, including three spokesmodels, from Columbus, Ohio. to Nagoya, Japan, through Detroit. The return is also through Detroit, landing at Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, two days after the 8-Hours and a few days prior to the final AMA race at Virginia International Raceway. The riders will be Jordan Szoke, who hasn't been able to ride for the team since encountering visa problems prior to Sears Point. and Adam Fergusson, the Australian who replaced him. "I'm definitely looking forward to going to Suzuka: Fergusson said. "I've always wanted to do the 8-Hours for I don't know how many years now. And we've got a competitive bike. We're going to go over there and give it our best shot. I know Suzuka pretty well. I've done a bit of testing there. While Jordan [Szoke] learns the circuit I can get the bike set up, I feel really good about our chance in the Super Production class. It's definitely a good opportunity, but one thing I've got to take into consideration is that the following week I've got VIR [Virginia international Raceway). So I've also got commitments here. The last thing I want to do is go over there and bang myself up." The reserve rider will be Japanese. Jimmy Moore was held back because he's on the verge repeating as the Superstock Champion. and Steve Rapp didn't go because he's been injured and needs to get up to speed. Because they're working in Japan, and want to avoid the sort of visa problems that derailed Szoke's AMA season, the team had to apply for entertainment visas. The team will run on Suzuki GSX-R 1OOOs in the Super Production class. The machines are something of a cross between Supersport and Formula Xtreme. The team members not going to Japan will drive the Corona Extra Light/EBSCO Media Suzuki transporter back to Aiabama after Mid-Ohio, then to VIR for the final AMA race on the weekend of August 10-11 , The town of Owensboro, Kentucky emptied out. hopped on a Greyhound bus, and drove up to Mid-Ohio to watch the city's most famous residents, the Hayden brothers, race. Not the entire town. but 49 piled into the bus for the trip. When they got to the track, Earl Hayden, patriarch of the Hayden family and owner of Second Chance Auto Sales, proVided them with possibly the best of all perches, the fourth floor of the pit tower. The party crowd grew to 120 and they nearly brought the building down, jumping up and down as American Honda's Nicky Hayden came within inches __ s change wasn't as severe as it was the day before. "We may have found something there last night, just with an adjustment and stuff," Mladin said. "We think that we found the problem. So we made a few changes today, and certainly in the first race [prior to the red flag], halfway through the race, it was still performing pretty well. We were essentially right there. I think Nicky was just getting away a little of beating Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom in Saturday's Superbike race. On Sunday, they did likewise, this time with Nicky winning. Long known for his tonsorial innovations, Nicky Hayden showed up at Mid-Ohio with his hair braided into cornrows. The procedure took 90 minutes, Including weaving fake hair into the ends, then burning the tips. His rival. on the track and in the salon, Eric Bostrom, went from the multi-shaded orange of laguna Seca, to an ali-black head in Ohio. Brian Parriott was in transit through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport when he found out his equipment never left San Diego, California. The story began after the previous race at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, when the team transporter had transmission problems on the way back to the team base in San Diego. The truck was taken to a shop for a transmission replacement and was picked up Wednesday at 4 p.m. It would have been a grind to make It to Mid-Ohio on time, but it could have been done. On the way from the repair shop to the team shop, the truck broke again. Attempts were made to rent a truck or find other solutions, but they just ran out of time. Pannott. who came to Ohio sixth in Superbike points, caught a lucky break. John Dugan wouldn't be coming to Mid-Ohio because his wife was expected to give birth. Dugan's bikes did make it. coming in the trailer with Jeff Bostrom. ~ My main focus is to maintain my points in Superbike," Pannott said. "I didn't want to get to thiS point and not show up." Parriott said he only had to make a few minor changes to Dugan's Suzuki to make it comfortable. "All in all. it's rideable." As lucky as finding a machine was, Parrioll's luck would again change. In Friday's final qualifying session, Pannol! crashed in turn seven, follOWing the Suzuki GSX-R7S0 into the hay bales, breaking a rib and damaging his right leg and ankle. In Saturday's Superbike race, Parriol! said he was haVing a "real tough time transitioning from half-distance on," Lexington, Ohio, was the seat of royalty this weekend. -King ft Kenny Roberts, enjoying the summer break in the Grand Prix schedule, had driven his motorhome from his ranch in Hickman, California, to Mid-Ohio for a number of reasons. He wanted to see his son, Kurtis, race the Erion Honda RCSl , but just as importantly, he was making his annual trek to Sturgis, South Dakota, This time, the trip would have an international flavor: He was bringing his MotoGP riders, Ulsterman Jeremy McWilliams and Japan's Nobuatsu Aoki, the pair making their first pilgrimage to the biking mecca. Roberts wasn't the only SOCcc World Champion in attendance. Freddie Spencer was there to lend advice and guidance to American Hondas Nicky Hayden and Cruise Americas Jason Disalvo. And Kevin Schwantz, the 1993 SOOcc World Champion, was there, as always, helping the BlimpielYoshimura Suzuki squad. Saturday's Superbike race was delayed for about half an hour because of water seeping up through the track in turn one. The water was bubbling up through a seam on the edge of the concrete patch at the apex of the left-hander. This wasn't a new problem. The seepage had occurred in the past and a channel was drilled to drain the water, then the edges of the patch were sealed with tar. Nearly two inches of rain feli in the early afternoon and the pressure of the water in the ground caused it seep up through the edges of the tar. Some thought was given to removing the tar but. in the end, the track was swept dry and the riders were warned about water in the first tum (right). The Superbike purse at Mid-Ohio was $82,000, with the purse being split between the two races. Nicky Hayden and Eric Bostrom earned $17,BOO for finishing first and second in the two races.

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