Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

m Mat Mladln wheelies his Yoshimura Suzuki en route to victory. Own Race - Race 2 m ~ 'lllJ Steve Crevier 12th After finishing ninth on Saturday, Steve Crevier ran into some problems in the second race on Sunday • mainly running straight at the start of the race. "I got off to a bad start. I got this really hot line. and when the light goes off I just go blazing up on the banking and just go by everybody as they file in for the tum three, left into the infield. It's just a big traffic jam, so I just shoot around the outside. But I got a little overconfident, and I ran wide and ran off. I caught back up and got to 15th, and thank goodness for the red flag. But I ended up getting run off once, so I may get penalized [he did... editor]. I was going really good, but I had a shock problem. It just got too hot, and I went into preserve mode. I couldn't keep up with Jordan's [Szoke) Corona bike, but I tried really hard. With a new bike, I'm pretty happy with the end result." m~@ Aaron Yates 4th Aaron Yates had an up and down race - literally. The Yoshimura Suzuki rider crashed. remounted and was saved by the red flag. He very nearly finished third, being beaten to the line by Miguel DuHamel. "I was running the 587 front tire, and it was hooked up good everywhere," Yates said. "It never gave me any problems, and it never gave me any warn· ing. I was already turned pretty much, and it just slid out. It didn't tear the bike up too bad, but it cracked the side cover and dumped a bunch of oil out. Fortunately, I didn't crash again. We changed the front tire during the red flag, and 1tried to get Miguel. I was in front of him and running the draft, and he (DuHamelj just went right by. It was a decent weekend, and I'm looking forward to Sears to run with Mat [Mladinj." bike that wasn't put together until the 12th hour, and he'd also missed the sighting lap since Formula Xtreme practiced ended just prior to the start of the race. Diablo's Steve Crevier ended up ninth, with Shawn Higbee 10th. Michael Barnes was credited with 13th, though he'd finished higher than that on the racetrack. Like Eric Bostrom, he was penalized for cutting a chicane. RACE TWO This one had a bit more to it. For the second straight day, Gobert was the fastest starter. And for the second straight day, he faded rather quickly. This time he would finish, but it would be seventh - the Australian still fighting to gain full strength in his injured hand. Yates was the one taking over from Gobert, though the others quickly followed suit. At the end of the first lap, Yates led Roberts, Gobert, Eric Bostrom and Mladin. But there was bad news on the horizon for Mladin. His number was on the black flag sign, even though he couldn't see it. Eventually, his crew got word to him that the black flag was indeed for him. He would pit on the fourth lap for a stop-and-go penalty for jumping the start. By that point, Roberts was on Yates, and he would continue to hound him until the ninth lap, the Honda rider going deeper than the Suzuki rider into turn one to take over the lead. Later that lap, Eric Bostrom also found a way around Yates to take over second place. But the stopwatches were fixated on the charging Mladin. At the end of the 11 th lap, he was already up to fourth and 7.8 seconds behind Roberts. The race would be on. Or would it? The red flag came out later that lap when Pegram crashed in the same spot that had claimed Yates a lap earlier. Everyone pitted, Roberts and Eric Bostrom's hard work negated, Mladin and Yates given a fresh start. On that fresh start, it was Eric Bostrom charging to the front and trying to pull away. He managed to do so, getting. 7 of a second on Roberts by the third lap of the restarted race. On the fourth lap, Mladin got past Roberts after the latter got himself into a tank slapper of epic proportions, the consequences of which were devastating to his race. Along the way, Mladin recorded the fastest lap of the race - a 1:24.400, just .3 of a second slower than what he'd qualified on pole position with. "The tank-slapper pushed the pads back, and when I went to get on the brakes, there was nothing there," Roberts explained later. "Mat [Mladin] was on the outside of me, and I was just bowling balling those guys. I just pumped the brakes and moved to the far outside trying to get it stopped. I knew I was going to, so I just tried my best to slow it down. I saw the opening there, and I made sure I slowed down. I let Aaron [Yates] by and pulled out just in front of Miguel [DuHamel]. I didn't want to gain any positions or again any ground, but they still felt it was viable to dock me. I didn't pass anybody - I let them go. If that's what they want to do, then that's what they want to do. If that's the rules, then we'll play by them and move on. I think we had a good package, but once I ran off there and let those guys go so much, I just sat there racing similar lap times. The bike was phenomenal today." The rules he spoke of would lead to his getting a 10-second penalty. It would cost him third place, dropping him to fifth. With Mladin in the lead, it looked to be much of the same as the day prior. Eric Bostrom, however, wasn't throwing in the towel, and he was able to keep pace with Mladin for a while. Ever so gradually, Mladin was able to pull away until Bostrom finally did realize he was beaten. By the finish, Mladin had 6.3 seconds in hand. And he figured he would have won even without the red flag. m @lJ lJ Jordan Szoke 8th Corona Extra Suzuki's Jordan Szoke had his best ride of the weekend in the second Superbike National . after finishing 30th on Saturday when he was forced to change tires dUring the race. The Canadian ended up eighth after getting passed by Anthony Gobelt on the last lap. "I was running really well," Szoke said. "It's the first weekend on the new bike. and we're just sorting out a lot of problems. Just normal stuff, and it's coming around really good. I'm a little pissed off because my lap timer was working all weekend, and when the race stalted, it stopped working. I wasn't using a pit board this weekend. because I just wanted to go ride and try to finish well. I was just going to pace myself with my lap timer. I was going at it with [Anthony] Gobert for a few laps, and he dropped off. I thought maybe he had a tire problem. On the last lap, I looked over my shoulder, and there he was. I put my head down, but I just wanted to finish one. Unfortunately, he got me at the line. We finished eighth, but that's a huge improvement. and it's good for Suzuki and the team." "Being a racer, you need to calculate many things while you're going around," Mladin said. "I came back on the track with about 24 laps to go, and I was minus 13. With 17 to go, I was minus seven on the leader. I'm not the smartest guy in the world and I'm certainly not Einstein, but I figured out that I was catching quick enough to at least get there and challenge for the lead. If I'd gotten there, I think I could have done it." Eric Bostrom was semi-pleased, his second place making him look forward to the next round at Infineon Raceway in Northern California. "It was so-so," Bostrom said. "We haven't been quite quick enough to win all weekend. I guess we just need to get a little things better with the Kawasaki, but the guys have been working real hard. We've had some changes in personnel over the offseason, and we still have to catch up with that. Overall, I kinda had fun, especially after the restart because it was kinda fun to have a clear track ahead of me. But it was also fun racing with Kurtis and Aaron in the first part. I'm looking forward to getting on a tighter track like Infineon." Behind Bostrom came Roberts, but it was a mirage, as the penalty had yet to be applied. That mean the race for third was between DuHamel and Yates. The spot looked like it was a lock for DuHamel, but the French Canadian had a nasty moment that allowed Yates to get back into the cucle fight. Yates got around DuHamel, and it wasn't until the final run down the front straight that DuHamel was able to get him back, finishing third in the process. "It really went well for us," DuHamel said later. "We qualified soso and fell down, and in 600 we had a qualifying mishap and fell down... the asphalt is nice and smooth here, so that was nice. It didn't hurt too bad. I'm happy about everything, considering we hit the ground. My guys put the bike back together, and they did a really good job. I'm happy with third. I kinda got it because Kurtis [Roberts] was penalized 10 seconds. We were having a good race. I was putting in a good charge out there, cutting some good laps, and I thought I could catch Kurtis. Then I had a really big scare, actually, I'm still scared ... the front end slid really bad, and then I backed it off and fight off [Aaronj Yates. I've had two podiums in three starts, so I'm happy for my team. The Honda ReSl is working really great, and I've liked that bike from the first day I tested it. And there are better things to come, for sure." Yates had an easy fourth, with Roberts relegated to fifth. Well behind came Ben Bostrom, the American Honda rider struggling with his setup. The team had gambled on some things in an effort to make up ground on Mladin, but it backfired badly. The bike was worse, and so was Bostrom's finishing position. n e _ s • APRIL 16, 2003 23

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