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AMAIChevy Trucks U. S. Superbike Series Rounds 4/5: Infineon Raceway m Mat Mladin was unstoppable at Infineon Raceway, and the Australian now leads the Superbike National Championship by 24 points after five of 18 rounds. @@ Own Race - Race 2 Kurtis Roberts 4th Kurtis Roberts enjoyed much better fortune in the second race. He chose a different tire (a medium compound) and also removed the shoulder brace he'd used in race one after discovering that it was hampering his ability to ride the bike. "I took everything off and just went normal," Roberts said. "And I just put my head down, got a better start and worked my way and tried to catch Ben [Bostrom], but he was riding really well, and so was everybody else. So we just did everything we could, especially for the first day back on the bike. I feel happy with it. Of course, we'd like to win. Mat [Mladin] and Suzuki are going really well. We'll have to do our homework and put our head down at Atlanta." 7lf!!d, Larry Pegram 6th Things got better for Dream Team Ducati's Larry Pegram in the second race as he improved his position two places, going from eighth to sixth. "It was much better, but everyone else got faster too," Pegram said. "I actually used a softer tire in the second race than I did in the first. The tires were good. and the bike was good, but I got tired in the second race. I was right there behind Eric [Bostrom] until about halfway, and then I lost him in some lappers. I got tired. I'm a lot better than I was with this Epstein Barr, and the doctor has started to let me work out, but I'm out of shape. The virus is a lot better. It's gone dormant, but I'm out of shape and two races in one day· I just got a little bit tired at halfway. I'm happy. Instead of running of being three-quarters of a second off, I'm running with th.ese guys now until halfway in the race, and then we lose a little time when the tire goes off. We're getting a lot closer, and we're making ground on them." 150. Ben Bostrom is third, with 142 points, with Eric Bostrom and Roberts rounding out the top five, with 138 and 131 points respectively. DuHamel's championship aspirations took a serious hit with his absence from race two, and he now sits sixth in the title chase, with 121 points. The Infineon round turned into a one-day event when first rain and then the track's seepage problems forced the cancellation of any ontrack activity on Friday and Saturday. That meant there was no qualifying, with riders being gridded for the two Nationals based on the championship point standings from the prior three rounds of the series. It also meant that track time was kept to a minimum for all the competitors and made Sunday morning's practice sessions allimportant. For many, the first race would be somewhat of a crapshoot, especially with tire choices. The weather situation produced a first in AMA history as both legs of the Superbike doubleheader were held on the same day, a la World Superbike. In fact, the entire AMA program was run on a single day another first. RACE ONE With dark clouds lingering in the area, the first of the two Superbike Nationals got a very busy Sunday under way at Infineon Raceway at close to 11: 15 a.m. The first race started with DuHamel's blasting off the line to lead the fray up the hill and into turn two. Mladin was tucked in right behind the French Canadian at the end of the first lap with a slight gap back to Eric Bostrom, followed by his brother Ben, Roberts, Yates, Pegram and Pridmore. DuHamel would lead another lap, shadowed closely by Mladin. The Aussie would pounce on the third lap, passing under braking for turn seven. 12 MAY 14, 2003' cue • ... The pass was predictable and easy, but once in front Mladin wasn't able to go anywhere. Instead, DuHamel hung tough, shadowing the Yoshimura Suzuki's every move. At the end of the third lap, Mladin led by .594 of a second over DuHamel, but the lead wouldn't grow. At least not yet. Behind the lead duo, Eric Bostrom held third, 1.6 seconds ahead of a battle that was led by Yates. The Georgian, however, was on the move, and it wouldn't be long before he was hounding the younger Bostrom from behind. Then came a gap to Ben Bostrom, the Honda rider having his hands full with Pegram. Roberts followed, but at a distance. Pridmore was also pretty much alone, ahead of a gaggle of privateers who were giving Gobert all he could handle in the fight over ninth. The man on the move from that group, however, was Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Steve Rapp - and not Gobert. Rapp came from well back to move through that group - then he pulled away. After] 0 laps, the race up front had turned into two groups of two: Mladin and DuHamel, Yates and Eric Bostrom. Behind them there was a gap to Ben Bostrom, the Honda rider 1] 1] c3 Shawn Higbee 1] @1] Jordan Szoke ®f!!d, Eric Bostrom 1] {§3{§3 Ben Bostrom Steve Crevier, Shawn Higbee and Vincent Hasckovec. By the 13th of 28 laps, Pridmore laps. I think we probably missed a little bit on the setup, but we definitely chose the wrong tire - as nearly everybody did except for Suzuki. I saw the cross flags and thought, 'We're in trouble.' The thing just basically started coming apart. Then I just had to soldier around." Behind Roberts came a lonely Pridmore, ahead of an equally lonely had moved right on the back wheel of Pegram, and by the end of the lap he was by and clear. On the 14th lap, the leaders hit heavy traffic for the first time, and Mladin opened up a bit of a gap, leading DuHamel by nearly a second. That lead would grow over the course of the next lap as the Aussie continued to charge through traffic, with Rapp. Gobert had apparently got the DuHamel getting balked a bit. By the S 3rd Ben Bostrom made a myriad of changes to his bike between races, and the work paid off. "It wasn't too bad: Ben Bostrom said. "'t was a lot better than the first race. We took a really big gamble because we couldn't do any worse than we did in the first race. We kinda gambled and changed'the bike, so a big thanks to the guys because it worked out. We changed everything· fork, shock, springs, gearing, tires... It worked out pretty good. We just need a little more speed to beat these guys. The sideburns aren't working; I will have to grow a little bit of scruff here." better of his battle with the privateers: "'" 5th Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom ended the weekend full of frustration after fourth· and fifth-place finishes. '" just couldn't turn the bike," Bostrom said. "We'd just run wide with no comer speed. I was just as slow with the harder tire. I couldn't feel the front - it was weird. It's just a bad deal. It's really disappointing. We needed this one." "The thing came apart about halfway through," Ben said. "And I was milking the thing for the first e 6th Corona Extra Suzuki's Jordan Szoke battled to the very end with Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore for seventh place, the Canadian ultimately losing out to Pridmore in the final laps. The finish was an improvement over his 1lth place result in the first race. "We had a brand-new motor and brand new a lot of stuff this weekend," Szoke said. ·We spent all day Thursday putting the motor in the bike. Because of the weather we didn't even get to put a lap on it until this moming. It's hard to set up new stuff. The first race was a big learning curve for us. And also with having to grid by points, we were on the sixth row. By the time you get free from the slower guys, you've lost touch with the faster guys you need to run with. In race two I got a better start and just did some baJls-out Sluff getting through people. Pridmore didn't get such a great start, so he was behind me, and him and I battled right to the end, and he beat me. But I'm in good company being with Pridmore so we've come a long way." having pulled clear of a battle between Pegram and Roberts - even though he was struggling with ti re woes. n 10th Millennium Technologies Shawn Higbee finished 10th in the second race after finishing 17th in the first. "We made some changes to the bike, and it was all for the better," Higbee said. ·We really didn't have much track time as everyone because of the rain, so setup was kind of a gamble. We missed the mark in the first race, but in the second we got the right tires and the right suspension on there, and it really made it a lot better to ride. The first race wasn't bad. I was up in ninth, but we had some trouble with the bike, and we were lucky to finish. In the second race, my lap times were conSistent, and I was in the low 41s, high 40s. For me it was k.inda nice because I didn't get lapped. I hate that. After being competitive in so many other series and being up front and winning races, coming here and getting lapped is pretty embarrassing. Top 10 is not bad considering the competition." end of the 15th lap, Mladin led by 3.1 seconds, and just like that the race lost most of its suspense. DuHamel had done all he could do with the softer tire. As it turns out, Mladin had gone with a harder tire, and he was confident from the beginning that his decision would payoff. "I went with a reasonably hard one because I didn't iike the idea of a soft one," Mladin explained later. "From what I'd seen when they rolled out of the pits, they all had soft ones on. I went with something hard, and I'm