Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Rounds 213: California Speedway and I had a real good race, and Aaron Naturally, Eric Bostrom wasn't [Yates] was always just sitting out happy with the penalty that cost him there five seconds in front of us. At a podium finish. He said he really had least we had a rabbit to go out there and chase. In the end it was a pretty no choice but to cut the chicane. It was either that or plow into lapped fun race. Eric [Bostrom] got by me traffic. towards the end there, and he should "Kurtis [Roberts] did the same probably be up here in third because I thing in the chicane at Daytona, and don't think he made any time through there's no penalty," Eric Bostrom that cone. We'll take third, but it's not said. "There were two riders in front quite the right way. The racetrack of me - parked in front of me in the was a lot more fun during the race than I thought it would be. In prac- chicane. It seemed like I had 50 mph on them, and I had to go left." tice, I was having some trouble get- Following Roberts across the line ting the flow, and I wasn't really was Pegram, his hard tires not offer- enjoying the racetrack. Then we got ing enough traction to allow him to out there in the race, and it ended up go any faster. Attack Suzuki's Prid- being quite fun. I found a few new Iy long race to me. There wasn't much to it. I was just riding around, Aaron Yates (201 tries to make a break for it In Sunday's final. He's beIng chased by Gobert (161. Roberts (801. Eric Bostrom (321 and Mladin (661. Mladin would undergo a stop-and-go penalty for jumping the start, but a red-flag would later negate that. and that's how it goes sometimes. I was just watching my lapboard and my pit board, watching the gap on the guy behind me and just bringing it home. There were two Suzukis out front, and I just wanted to keep it that way." Roberts' Honda RC51, meanwhile, was vibrating at the rear after his rear halfway through the season it was just one of those things of keep crashing or just back it off and get through the year. Suzuki has been tire spun on the rim. He held on for working really hard this year, and Showa have been working hard. The sixth but couldn't hold back the Bostroms or fellow Honda man bike feels more like the bike I won my first two championships on in '99 and DuHamel. The Bostrom battle went to the bit· 2000. I really loved that bike. When you've got a motorcycle that feels ter end, with Eric passing Ben on the entrance to turn 12 on the 26th lap. "It was just a good pass," Ben comfortable, you can do the job you were meant to do." Though Yates rode mostly alone to second place, he was constantly pressured from behind by the Bostroms, both of whom had dis· posed of Roberts. Yates knew early said. "I didn't know he was there because I couldn't see my pitboard. There was just a green streak going by me. I tried to make a charge on him on the last lap, but I came up short." on he didn't have enough to match Eric Bostrom held third to the finish then lost it when the AMA docked Mladin's pace. "Mat [Mladin] really had it hooked up," Yates said. "We tried to run there with him for a little while, and then I him 10 seconds for cutting through the turn-one chicane. "There was a lot of struggling," Ben Bostrom said. "The boys were eased up, just trying to keep a nice little gap there on him, hoping that maybe he'd come back to me. We got into traffic, and it really didn't go setting a real fast pace, and Mat [Mladin] just kind of took off, so I waved goodbye to him and just set out after Kurtis [Roberts]. My brother too well for me. It seemed like a real- The brothers Bostrom, Eric (left) and Ben (rlghtl. discuss the situation after Saturday's race when Eric was penalized 10 seconds. giving third place to Ben. 22 APRIL 16, 2003' more was eighth, 22 seconds behind spots to pass lappers and stuff like Pegram. Pridmore was using the race that, and I had a pretty good time." as a test on his 2003 GSX-R1000, a m m {l 1] Own Race - Race I Miguel DuHamel 5th DuHamel had a tough morning on Saturday, crashing into Clint McBain on his Superbike and then being collected by another rider in 600cc Supersport qualifying. Both times he hit the deck. Then he had a wrong tire mounted prior to the Superbike National and had to borrow one from Kurtis Roberts. The problem. however, was that the palr use different rim widths, so the bike handled a bit differently. Still, DuHamel ended up fifth. "The race went okay," DuHamel said. "I thought Ben was going to have tire problems, and I should have stayed with him. He didn't have any tire problems. Maybe I was thinking a little too much instead of riding harder. Tomorrow I think I just need to get by a couple of these guys. Kurtis had a problem with his tire spinning on the rim, and he was riding good, so it was hard to get by him. The Dunlop guys have assured me that the tires will be good for tomorrow, so I will attack a little harder tomorrow. And the bike was a little soft today. I also had the wrong tire at the start of the race, and we had to borrow Kurtis' tire, and he uses a different rim width than I do, so it made the bike handle a little different You put all those things together, and it's not so bad. I think tomorrow will be podium for sure." (JJ{lf!J Larry Pegram 7th The only top man in the Superbike class to run Michelin tires, Dream Team Racing's Larry Pegram is suffering from a lack of testing time with the tires, and the result is that he has to run a hard tire in the race. With the harder tire, he finds it impossible to match his qualifying times. "We chose too hard a tire." Pegram said. "We have to choose a hard tire to make it last, and it's not as grippy as what the other guys are getting to run. We're leaming. It's our second race, and we're in the middle of the mix, so to speak. We're just not doing as well as we should, but for a new team in its second race, we're close. Midway through the season we are supposed to get the new stuff, so right now we're running around on what you would consider the old stuff. It's good tires, but part of the problem is that Michelin hasn't really had anyone on the tires for a few years, so we went through like 12 different tires to try. We're struggling a bit, but we'll get a good base setup sooner or later with the tires, and then we'll be a lot better." m® 1) Anthony Gobert DNF Ducati Austin's Anthony Gobert didn't finish the first race after bending his rear wheel in the early laps. "There's a bit hole there lin the fast kink] now from everybody going through there," Gobert said. "The other guys cut through it quite a bit, and I've kinda been going around it. I figured I had to do it. I hit it a bit wrong, and it bent the wheel a bit I thought it was a tire at first It's a bit of a shame. I knew it just wasn't right. I felt all right. The fitness isn't really that good. The injury happened right before Daytona, and I was all right because I had the fitness down. But between there and here, I haven't been able to motocross or my normal training schedule, so I haven't felt 100 percent here. I just tried to salvage what I COUld. I dropped back and bit and then got right back on the back of the boys again. Then the wheel thing happened, and that was all she wrote." m@@ Kurtis Roberts 6th Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts was in the thick of things early on in the first of the two Superbike Nationals, then his RC51 developed a vibration. Roberts' initial reaction was to think that the tire was coming apart. But it didn't. "I thought the tire was coming part, like fifth or sixth lap," Roberts said. "It just started vibrating so bad and moving around a bit. I've had enough bad problems here, especially with tire things. I just put it on cruise control, and I was just waiting to figure out when I was going to have to pull into the pits. It was vibrating so bad. It just kept getting worse and worse and worse, but it never got bad enough to pull into the pits. That's about it." eye I e n e vv s

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