Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

r!l!l@@J(l[}o@!Jb ~@@[f)@J@@ ©@JGD~@~ [JD@J\!l@@ my Own Race - Race I Larry final lap, forcing him to push his Pegram posted eighth- and sixth- Dream Team Ducati's GSX-R 1000 across the line in ninth place finishes on the day, his Miche- place. Pridmore wasn't as good in the lin-shod Ducati suffering a blown head second race, and he finished seventh gasket in the first race. The next out- after a long fight with Corona Extra ing went better for the Ohioan, but a Suzuki's Jordan Szoke, the Canadian lack of training because of his strug- after finishing 11 th in the first. 7l~ Larry Pegram 8th ~® Jason Pridmore ~@ Aaron Yates Kurtis Roberts . . Larry Pegram was battling with American Honda's Ben Bostrom earll:' I.n the first Superbike National, when his Ducati balked. "I caught Ben [Bostroml, and It Just started sputtering," Pegram said. "After that, I just ~ad to limp it home. I think it blew.the head gasket. It was a brand-new engine, but we ve been havmg some problems WIth blown head gaskets. It did something on the warm-up lap, but It felt fine for the first seven or eight laps." Pegram nursed the bike home in eighth place. 9th If it weren't for bad luck, Jason Pridmore wouldn't have any. After starting on the third row of the grid, Pridmore fought through to fifth place on his Attack Suzuki in the first Superbike National. Then on the last lap it all went wrong when the GSXRl000 ran out of gas. "On the last lap when I came around for the white flag, I felt it sputter, but I didn't think it was gas," Pridmore said. "It didn't feel like gas, but I don't know why. I went up the hill and started short shifting it anyway. Then . . coming out of the tight section, the old turn 10, It would barely run and tned to SpIt me over the bars. Then it died going into the last tum, which is the slowest turn on the whole track. I wanted to get across the line, so I just ran it all the way down the front straightaway. At that point, I just wanted to get a top 10. We were running fifth, and that bike is brand new. The bike is great. We're testing, and that's what this weekend is all about. Every time we go out, we're making big changes to see what it d<;>es to the bike because we just don't know. Before that race we made a bIg change, geanngwlse. In thIS next race, we'll make some front-end changes and see if we can make it a little more compliable. But right out of the box, the bike is unbelievably good." 2nd The start ended up costing Aaron Yates any real chance of victory, but he was able to climb back from the debacle at the line to finish second. "I was just sitting there looking at the light, and it turned green and then I was just sitting there looking at a green light," Yates explained. "1 was like, 'Damn, I gotta go.' Then I dumped the clutch a bit too much, and it bogged and did a little wheelie. Then I was stuck in that mode, and I couldn't really do much-. I just watched everybody drive away." 7th Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts was one of several riders caught out by a bad tire choice. The Californian went with a soft tire because with a lack of practice time he didn't know any better. "We didn't have the luxury of cheating in two classes, and only the AMA would have something like that," Roberts said in regard to the Yoshimura team running Formul.a Xtreme practice for extra track time. "We had only a soft. We only did those laps thIS morning. It's the first day I've ridden since I dislocated my shoulder. I haven'tbeen able to ride because it's only been two and a half weeks. The first race I had the thmg taped up and braced up, and I couldn't ride. I couldn't move around on the bike. It was really tough." finishing eighth in the second race gle with the Epstein Barr virus left him 36th @@ It is no longer called Sears Point Raceway now it's Infineon. But one constant remains: You can't race motorcycles here in the rain or after a rainstorm. For the second time in four years, AMA officials were forced to postpone racing because of water seeping up through the track surface. And for the second day in a row, the AMA was forced to rearrange a schedule, this time cramming a weekend's worth of practice and racing into the daylight hours of Sunday. Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin was one of several riders who surveyed the seepage problems on the road circuit. . . . "There's a bunch of spots," Mladin said on Saturday after retummg from hIS tour WIth an AMA official. "There are two spots that are really bad - three, eight, exiting 10, or 8 A I think it is. There's a lot of seepage there. There's a lot of seepage in three, and they can't dry that up. They just can't dry it up. Also, exiting 10 there are streams of water there it's not damp; there's actually water there. Going up into seven there's dampness on the track right in the braking area. There's actually water on the left side, and there's enough of it purging that it's actually running. Before the Carouse! there's enou.gh of it seeping there that it's running down the racetrack a little bIt. I don t thmk there IS anythmg they can do - unless they can perform miracles. The track is seeping, and there's nothing much you can do. There's no chance of us going out. Damp spots are one thing to ride around by yourself, but with a group of people damp spots aren't good - but water... there's no way." Infineon Raceway president and general manager Steve Page said that the decision to postpone the race was made by the AMA. "We really need to look at the AMA and the riders to know if it's ridable," Page said. He explained that over an inch of rain had fallen in the past day, ,and the ea~ had soaked it up, adding that once the water gets underneath the track "We re m trouble. The earth acts like a big sponge, he said, with the water having to go somewhere. With a better forecast for the overnight and Sunday, Page was optimistic that the races would run on Sunday. "We expect the track to be in fine shape tomorrow morning," he said. American Honda's Miguel DuHamel pointed out that with all the races on Sunday, he'd have to race not only the two Superbike races, but the Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport class as well. "It's going to be a doubleheader, less time to recuperate," DuHamel said. "It's definitely going to be a lot more taxing on the body. It's not only going to be tire and bike wear, they [the riders] could be getting tired." . The grids would be determined by championship points, followed by pre-entnes, and post-entries. Infineon's Page said that the sections of the track that hadn't been recently paved would be repaved in during a three week break in August but that it wouldn't completely eradicate the seepage problem. "With the amount of water we have under the ground with the amount of rain we've had at end of the wet season, there's just a lot of water there," he said. "You're going to have water working to the surface." He also said some consideration had been given to moving the date but that those discussions were preliminary and involved reshuffling their race calendar. Page said that, as a lifelong Northern Californian, the current date should be reliable. "This used to be our Winston Cup weekend," he said. "The first part of May in this part of the country is usually a pretty dependable date." Page added that more work had to be done before they started petitioning for a different date. 1] @ Anthony Gobert Austin Ducati's Anthony Gobert was running 10th when his Ducati's cam belt stretched. "I think it's just a lack of track time," Gobert said. "With the suspension settings we have at the moment, I just can't ride it like I need to. We had no preseason testing, and we're paying the price. Mat [Mladin] is making it look easy because Yoshimura did a lot of preseason testing that's why Mat's out front. I'm trying the best I can." Gobert's crew chief Vic Fasola explained that the Ducati's cam belts stretch when new, and they need readjusting. They can't be readjusted correctly, however, until they cool down. With the lack of track time, the belts didn't get adjusted correctly, and that led to Gobert's problems. According to Fasola, Gobert would use a new engine for the second race. "That one is toast now," Fasola said. tired midway through, and he couldn't fight his way beyond sixth place. Ducati Austin's Anthony Gobert had another uninspired weekend of Gobert simply pulled out of the second race, telling his crew that a poor setup made the bike unridable. Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore racing, the Australian no longer even was ninth and seventh in the two races, but that ninth should have close to being a factor in these races. Gobert's Ducati didn't finish the first While Gobert is at the bottom of his game, Mladin is at the very top. His form is spot on, and his motorcycle is been a fifth. That's where Pridmore race after encountering a problem the best on the racetrack. After win- was when he ran out of gas on the when the cam belt stretched, and ning the 17th and 18th AMA Superbike Nationals of his career, Mladin couldn't hold back his sarcasm when explaining his successful day on his new GSX-RI000. "It's lucky for all the long straights on this track because if it wasn't for that, I couldn't have won," Mladin deadpanned after winning his second race on the day. "I can't go fast around corners, and we rely on the power of the motorcycle, so that's the way it is. It was another good race, and I look forward to Atlanta." Aaron Yates (20) passed early leader Ben Bostrom (155) in the second race to lead the way, though he was quickly relegated to second by his teammate Mladin. eye I e Mladin's win streak is already starting to grind on the competition, even his teammate - the man who has come the closest to matching Mladin. "I haven't lost any sleep over it or anything, but I definitely think a lot about it being Mat's teammate and on the same bikes and stuff," Yates said. "He's beating me every weekend out there, and that's kinda getting to me. Definitely I want to go out there and finish in front of him, but Mat's tough. You have to really do your homework and have it together on race weekends to do that, so that's what we're working on." Ben Bostrom was more forthright. "I definitely worry about it," Bostrom said. "Mat's the benchmark right now at every race, and the second benchmark has been Aaron. Mat has his bike working, Aaron has his bike working, and hopefully Ben gets his bike working." After five of 18 rounds in the series, Mladin leads Yates by 24 points, 174- n e _ 50 MAY 14, 2003 11

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