Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

and sent him back out, but Gobert pitted again shortly thereafter and called it a day. The crew later found that the Ducati's rear wheel was bent, the result of Gobert cutting through the fast kink in the back section and slamming the wheel into a hole. Mladin was simply masterful, running the big Suzuki hard into the corners, squaring them off and exiting with aplomb. There was little doubt who was going to win this one. After four laps, Mladin's lead over Yates was 1.1 seconds. After eight laps it was 2.8 seconds. It would continue to grow, sometimes by tenths, other times by a second, sometimes a bit more than that. By lap 16 his that places him in a tie for fourth on the all-time win list with three-time es. Then it was Roberts and his 6-5 and led into the left/right chicane and tally taking what could be called sixth into the infield for the first time. World Champion Wayne Rainey. overall on the course of the weekend. Gobert's run at the front was short- Privateer Shawn Higbee had a con- lead had swelled to 12.4 seconds. Eventually, it got into the IS-second mark, and Mladin backed it down, winning by 14.965 seconds. The victory ended a drought for Mladin and helped put a difficult 2002 season behind him. lived, for it didn't take long for Mladin "It was a good day," Mladin said on Sunday afternoon. "It seems like sistent weekend, finishing 10th and to show his mastery. Second by the we must have jumped the start a little ninth in the two races to put together end of lap one, MJadin led by the end bit there in that leg, and the AMA the best weekend of the nonfactory called me in. It took me a little while men. to come in because I couldn't see my His effort bettered that of Austin number on the board they were show- Ducati's Anthony Gobert. The Aus- ing me because the sun was reflect- tralian was never on pace the entire ing off it. All I could see was a blank weekend, and he was knocked out of board. Then I saw my pit guy waving my pit board at me with the "IN" sign as Gobert began a rearward slide that those years last year when we couldn't get anything to go our way. The motorcycle just didn't want to comply with what I wanted to do, and would eventually see him pit on the before finishing seventh in the second on it, then I figured it must be me. I "Of course it's nice to be back up here," Mladin said. "It was one of of lap two. Yates quickly followed suit race. After three rounds, Gobert's 13th lap with what he thought was a bad tire. The crew checked the tire the first race by a bent rear wheel came in and didn't lose too much championship hopes have already time. I had about minus 12 when I went back out and got it down to been dashed, as he now sits 76 points behind Mladin. minus seven with 17 laps to go. I fig- With three rounds of the series ured I was going to put my head now history, the title chase looks set down and get back up there. Fortunately, we got a red flag, and it made ous contenders other than Gobert the job a little bit easier." have set themselves back. Mladin to be a good one, as none of the seri- With Mladin clearly having the best leads with 100 points, eight better weekend of the Superbike men, the best of the rest was a little less clear, than DuHamel. Ben Bostrom is third and that served the championship separate him from sixth-placed with 87 points, and only seven points well, as things are tight at the top. Roberts, with Yates and Eric Bostrom Both Yates and Eric Bostrom came away from the weekend second best, positioned in between. In all, the top six riders in the title chase are only each scoring 59 points after swap- separated by 20 points. ping second and fourth place finishes. Then it was American Honda's Miguel RACE ONE DuHamel and his fifth and third place The first race got started on Satur- finishes over the course of the week- day afternoon under bright sunshine end. He was followed in consistency by his teammate Ben Bostrom, the Yates holeshot. Gobert was a bit form~r World Superbike man coming determined initially, and the Aus- away with third and sixth place finish- tralian moved around the Georgian and cool temperatures and with a What a difference a few weeks make. Or a different racetrack. While it was the factory Hondas that dominated the Daytona 200, taking the top three finishing positions, it was the Yoshimura Suzuki pairing of Mat M1adin and Aaron Yates who dorninated qualifying at California Speedway. M1adin's best lap came on a cool and cloudy Friday afternoon, his 1:25.123 lap holding up under a barrage of better laps from those chasing him on Saturday moming. In the end, the Australian held on to pole position, the all-time leader in AMA Superbike poles taking the 25th of his career. The biggest challenge to Mladin's effort came from his teammate Aaron Yates, the Suzuki man who gave the Honda trio of Miguel DuHamel, Ben Bostrom and Kurtis Roberts the most trouble at Daytona. Yates' best time came on a sunny but cool Saturday, and his 1:25.679 was over half a second slower than Mladin. Even though he went slower on Saturday, M1adin's Saturday best of 1:25.504 would have put him on pole position regardless. The biggest move in Saturday's final session came from Austin Ducati's Anthony Gobert, the Aussie improving from seventh to third, with a lap time of 1:25.970 that was nearly half a second quicker than what he'd done the previous day. Gobert, though, was still a bit concemed about his fitness; the hand injury he incurred while boxing prior to Daytona left him still not strong enough for him to train hard. "The difference [between Friday and Saturday) is mainly that the guys decided not to test again, like they did before Daytona," Gobert said. "It took me a while to get comfortable at Daytona, and it's the same here. I also haven't been able to do any motocross because of my hand. It's just making it a bit hard for my fitness. it'll be a bit difficult to go the 28 laps. Hopefully, the fitness is good enough, and we can get a good finish here and start working for the rest of the season, The lap times are easy; it's just a matter of stringing them together." Erion Honda's Roberts was fourth. The Californian had improved his time from Friday but not his position, lapping at 1:25.045. Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom would lead the second row, joined there by Dream Team Ducati's Larry Pegram and American Honda's Miguel DuHamel and Ben Bostrom. Though he was slightly slower on Saturday than on Friday, M1adin wasn't concerned, predicting he could run 1:25s all day long. "We were just going through stuff," M1adin said. "We're all right." As for whether anyone else could consistently cut 1:25 laps, M1adin said, "We'll see in about two hours. I hope not. I hope nobody else can do it." Mladin also said that tire wear wouldn't be an issue in the race. There was a tense moment in the final session involving Miguel DuHamel. The Daytona 200 winner crashed into fellow Canadian Clint McBain under braking in tum 12, which is located at the end of the infield straightaway. DuHamel appeared to get into the tum hot, sliding and lifting his rear wheel off the ground as he tried in vain not to collect McBain. McBain, meanwhile, had no idea DuHamel was coming, so he flicked it into the right-hander as normal, and the factory Honda RC51 plowed into him, knocking both riders down. Both were up quickly, and neither suffered injury. "I broke really deep in there, and he wasn't a factory guy or anything, so I thought for sure I was going to outbrake him," DuHamel explained later. "He stood up and went in there pretty deep, and that's what threw me off. I was trying to stop the whole time. He didn't know what was going on, and I was just hanging on for dear life. I was trying because I saw my pitboard said 26.5, and I wasn't even trying. That wasn't the good lap... this was the good lap. I thought I was going to slip myself up to the front row. Unfortunately, the only row I got was the haybales over there. I hit him, and he didn't get hurt, and I didn't get too banged up. There was a big difference in speed." Mladin's best was a new lap record at Califomia Speedway, as the layout has changed slightly since last year's inaugural AMA event. "It was good, you know," Mladin said of his good lap on Friday. "I went back out after we got that red flag and got one lap before another red flag came out, and that was the lap 1went the quickest. It's really hard to get a clear lap because there're a iot of guys out there. It was good, and I'm happy. We've got another session in the moming to try some race stuff and get ready for the race." .. u .. I • n e _:IS • APRIL 16, 2003 21

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