Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Kosto ( I:00.038). SOPERBIKE NATIONAL: I. Eric Bostrom (Kow); 2. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 3. Aaron Yates (Suz); 4. Ben Bostrom (Hon); 5. Anthony Gobert. (Duc); 6. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 7. Miguel DuHamel (Hon): 8. Jordan Szoke (SUI); 9. Mal Mladin (SUI): 10. Steve Rapp (SUZ); 11. Ricky Orlando (Suz); 12. Daniel Turner (YlJIm); 13. Shawn Higbee (Suz): 14. Pascal Picotte (Yam); 15. Mike Sullivan (Suz); 16. Jeffrey Tigert (Suz); 17.l..crry Pegrllm (Duc); 18. Vincent HlIskovec (SU2); 19. Michael Barnes (Suz); 20. Geoff May Margin of victory: 5.257 sec. Anthony Gobert (100); 14. Geoff Moy (94); 15. Mike AMA SOPER BIKE NATIONAL C'SHIP POINT (Suz); 21. Scott Jensen (SUI); 22. Jacob Holden STANDINGS (After 6 of 16 rounds): 1. Aeron Yetes (244); 2. Eric Bostrom (239/1 win); 3. Mat Ml"din (234/5 wins); 4. (TIE) Kurtis Roberts/Ben Bostrom Ciccotto (93); 16. (TIE) Andy Decthercge/John Dugan (82); 18. Steve Crevier (61); 19. Scott Jensen (Suz); 23. Tom Wertman (Suz); 24. Mike Ciccotto (502); 25. Deon Mizdol (SUl); 26. Brion Stokes (SUl); 27. Eric Haugo (SU2); 28. Jeremiah Johnson (Suz). Time: "/a due to red fllIg (221); 6. Miguel DuHomel (187/1 win); 7. Lorry Pegrom (162); 8. Shown Higbee (l59); g. Joson Distance: 40 laps, 52.6 miles Average speed: 85.4 mph (79); 20. Jock Pfiefer (77). Pridmore (150); 10. Vincent Haskovec (140); 11. Micheel Barnes (118); 12. Jordan Szoke (116); 13. BRIEFLY••• Aaron Yates had a collision with a lapped rider on Saturday. "I was just running on that pack of guys, and I ran it up in there and had a good bit of speed," Yates said. "I went by the guy, and he was drifting to the left a little. and right when I got there, he really swung to the left and got into my pipe and stuff. I had to hang on tight and he ended up going over the top. " The timing and scoring debacle on Friday ending up making the AMA look bad. The problem was a technical glitch. but the fact that Mat Mladin didn't find out that his Friday time had been taken away until it was too late was an error. According to the AMA a procedure is now in place to ensure that IT doesn't happen again. "We're not happy about it." said AMA Pro Racing director of competition Merrill Vanderslice. "There is a procedure in place now where on Friday, I believe after morning practice, they will compare the backup and the standard one at that point to see if they are kosher. Saturday will be the same so we're not going through days and days of this. It's the weirdest problem we've come across. We'd take the blame for it if it was us, but it's that equipment. and we intend to get satisfaction from the company somehow. " When Mat Mladin doesn't like something, you hear about it, and Pikes Peak International Raceway doesn't rank among his favorites - mainly because the track is hard on tires and it forces the riders to pace themselves. Mladin likes to race for the entire race distance, and PPIR doesn't allow for that. "This is a race that I classify a little bit like Daytona," Mladin said. "You have to conserve. and I can't ride all out like I like to ride. Or else things won't go that good. It's one of those races that I'm not all that fond of because a lot of times the fastest guy doesn't win here. It's basically the guy who can get to the end who wins. " As for tires for Sunday's race, Mladin said there were three to choose from. "From what I understand, everyone has the same tires," Mladin said. "Whether that's the case or not. I'm not sure. From what I understand, there are three tires to choose from. For me. I've just got to find the one that's got the amount of grip and the amount of longevity that you need. There certainly seems to be one tire that's better than the others. but whether it can go 48 laps - it depends on the pace. Again, I'm not fond of this race, and I never have been. It's like Daytona, and even though everybody makes a big deal out of Daytona, you can't race the whole race. and to me that's not racing." Dunlop's .Jim Allen said his company had "triple compound" tires for Pikes Peak, tires that have been used in World Supemike racing. "The tires have the same compounds on the wings [the outsides] and a softer compound in the center." Allen said. "They were used at the end of last year in World Supemike and so far in the beginning of this year. There are three triple compounds to choose from. Two are really close, and there's one that they [the riders] don't like - that one was a different construction." Allen believed the tires would be good for the 48-lap race, though he was still keeping his fingers crossed. "[Mall Mladln's bike is hard on tires, and so are the Hondas," Allen said. The AMA used a n_ procedure for qualifying in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport and Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock classes. Normally, the two classes get split in half based on riders' numbers - one session for even numbered riders and one for odd. At Pikes, the sessions were split up based on their times from Friday's practice. In other words, the fast guys qualified with the fast guys, and the slow guys with the slow guys. The AMA didn't say if the new process would continue at future rounds. Vincent Haskovec was still grinning two days later on Saturday morning. Thursday he'd gotten the chance to ride the Duc.ati Austin 996, a special machine built for him to test dUring promoters' practice at Pikes Peak_ The deal had been brokered by Jimmy Filice, the former 250cc GP champion who now works for OMS, the management company that has both Haskovec and Ducati Austin as clients. "Ducati Austin was looking for a second rider, not for this year," Alice said. "It was a good opportunity for Vincent. " "It's been all good." Haskovec said in hiS native Czech accent. "We came here on Wednesday night. and I walk around and I see two of Tony Gobert's bikes, number 16, and one with the red cross on it. So I was like, 'Oh, this is probably the bike for me.' They were like, 'Yeah, you're going to ride it.''' Haskovec had ridden a Ducati once before, a 748 in a Pro Thunder race at Laguna Seca. "The only thing was, the bike was pretty hard to make the bike steer going into a corner. After that, once it was in the corner it was beautiful, stable, and I really love it. I enjoy the rldlng. I got pole position by half a second on the first time on the bike." The 996, however, was an entirely different experience. "I jump on, and the first amazing thing for me is, it handled much more easily that the 748_ More power, but right to left was effortless. We did like from 11 to 3 because there was a lot of crashes and a lot of red flags and every practice session was 15 minutes. I did about 50-60 laps. We change a few things on the bike." In his last session, before it was red-flagged, Haskovec turned his best lap time. a 56.4. "I think I did pretty well. Larry [Pegraml. he didn't go that fast. On my 750. I did 56.6, so it was just two-tenths. but I'm used to that bike. I'm riding that bike a whole year. You know what is the first thing is I don't want to do anything foolish. So I just take it easy. I just roll around. I didn't even slide that bike. I just want to really feel like and I'm going to have maybe more opportunities to ride it a Iitlle bit harder." In order to ride it harder Haskovec would need to make adjustments. "It's just that Ihe position of the bike is completely different [from his Hooters Suzuki GSX-R750l. I sit on it. and I'm part of the bike. On the Suzuki, you have so much space between the gas tank and the seat. I can move a lot. and I kind of got used to it, moving my weight. into the comer, out of the comer. The Ducati I find it difficult to really move. It's just from left to right. They put me on a different seat. It was working. If I'm going to ride it again, we'll have to make a little adjustments. Or I'm going to have to get used to it, I guess. I was really exited, and lowe those guys. They're working like pros." For the time being, the test is a one-shot deal. Now he has to concentrate on winning the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstack Championship, a point made to him by team owner Steve De Kamp. "I said, 'No problem. This is what I promise you. I'm going to always stay behind it. I'm always going to try my best, as well as my mechanics.''' AMA TIming and Scoring provided a number of times that riders disowned. Most notable was the 53.780 credited to Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin in Friday Supemike qualifying which they took away at the most inopportune time. The most unlikely time came in Saturday morning's Formula Xtreme practice when No Limit Honda's .Jason Curtis was put to the top of the list with a lap of 4.811 seconds. Starge; Aprilia's Chuck Sorensen came to PPIR with a broken hand and left with a broken foot. Sorensen had dislocated the metacarpal in his right hand, near the wrist. with a fall at Road Atlanta. "It was a violent highside," Sorensen said. "I definitely tumbled. I still have a limited range of movement." Sorensen was practicing on Friday when a radiator hose came loose on his Aprilia RSV-250. coating the rear tire and causing him to highside. The damage was a broken metatarsal leading to the second smallest toe on his left foot. "Ifs a friggin' mess," Sorensen said. The foot was so swollen that he's been forced to wear a si2e 10 boot, 1.5 sizes larger than normal. Sorensen was told that the bone would heal naturally, Without a cast. "Dr. Kieffer said it would be a couple of weeks before it's 100 percent," Sorensen said. The AMA penalized three Honda Supersport riders after their machines were found to be illegal in Saturday's post-qualifying teardown. The most heavily penalized was Bruce Transporta· tion Group's Marty Craggil!. whose CBR600RR was found to have a nonstandard oil pressure relief valve and nonstandard charging system. Craggill, who'd qualified third, was disqualified from the race and fined $2-500. American Honda racing boss Chuck Miller explained how it happened; "Early on, he crashed his bike one time, and we had no parts. There were no parts available so they used their resources and actually went to Japan and got a kit part and put it on so they could continue riding it. Since then, parts have become available, but they never changed out their rotor. and that's really what it was, an ACG rotor. " American Honda's Miguel DuHamel and .Jake Zemke were both fined $2000 and put to the back of the Supersport grid after their machines were found with nonstandard oil pressure relief valves. Miller again; "We thought everything was stock and there wasn't a problem. Our bikes were early production units, and even our liaisons here from Japan said, 'No problem, it's all stock.' They found the pressure-relief valve had a different tension on it and claimed that it was illegal. We argued with them, and we thoLight we were going to be okay. We even took a production bike down there and said, 'Let's pull this one apart and measure it.' When we did pull it apart, we did find it was different. We accept responsibility for what happened. and ultimately it came from preproduction versions versus production versions. We jumped through so many hoops to get the bikes early over here. And during production there were some pieces that obviously changed, and we were unaware of it. We changed them all last night. I'm a little frustrated on the process with how it came about with the AMA, but I understand their position and what they are trying to accomplish. Again, we are accepting responsibility." At Pikes Peak it became public that the AMA had also penalized Ben Spies 20 points and fined him $2000 for running a nonstandard oil pressure relief valve at Road Atlanta. The part was impounded after the Texan had won the Supersport final at Road Atlanta. The joker on the helmet was familiar, as was the number. so what were thay dOing 011 Yamahas? The number "21" joker was back, former Yoshimura Suzuki/Kawasaki/Harley-Davidson/Ducati star Pascal Picotte making his return to the American racing scene as a team owner/rider of the factory Yamaha Canada team at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The recently formed team planned to use the race as a test, but early in Pro Honda Oils Upcoming Rounds: Rounds 9110 - Elkhart Lake, WISCOnSin, June 7-8 Round 11 - Brainerd, Minnesota, June 29 Supersport practice, the former Supersport winner found he was competitive, despite running machines detuned to the 110 horsepower Canadian horsepower limit. "I love it. Ifs really fun," Picotte said after clocking the sixth-fastest time in the second Supersport practice session. less than .4 of a second off the pole position. "The bikes are good; the tires are awesome. It's unbelievable how much grip you can get out of DOTs. The bikes are really forgiving. They're easy to ride. Yamaha did a great job on the R6. Ifs a really, really good package to work with." The Rl Superbike was more of a struggle, the French Canadian finishing 11th fastest after the first qualifying session. The Yamaha Canada mount makes 152 horsepower, just under the class limit of 155 in Canada, but well under the 175-180 that the American Supemikes make. Picotte said he noticed the difference on every exit. the AMA regulars pulling him out off the comers at PPIR. "I'm not really close enough to really see if I had anything for them," Picotte said. "I know that I don't. I'm not comfortable on it so far. It's a little bit of everything - a little bit of the front suspension, a little bit of the brakes. It pitched the weight a little too fast on the front. We just don't have a lot to work with to make it better because we need to be legal for Canada. There's no point to try to make a Supemike for AMA here. Ifs kind of frustrating in a way." With the racing season fast approaching and few prospects on the horizon, Picotte put the team together himself in record time. He got final approval from Yamaha Canada at the end of February and immediately started assembling the crew, which includes two of his mechanics from the Harley-Davidson years. With no race shop and no transporter, Picotte went shopping, buying a motorhome and trailer in the United States. It took a month and a half to get the proper customs clearances to get it into Canada. The team rushed to get it ready for the first race at Shannonville. Ontario, the follOWing weekend. Picotte won the 600cc race and was leading the Supemike race when it was redflagged. A slight change in the rebound upset the front forks. "So I was losing the front. losing the front, so I ended up fourth." The team leaves Colorado for the second round of the Canadian Supemike Championship in Calgary, Alberta, then has a week off after Picotte decided not to contest the Formula USA race at Loudon. Being back in the USA has reminded him how much he misses it. "I would like to be able to get back to the U.S.," said Picotte, who began last season with HMC Ducati and ended it on the Austin/Bleu Bayou Ducati team. "It's not like unfinished business, but I wasn't ready to go back home already. But I do like the big deal of being the team owner and working on it myself. The other side of the fence I never really know. So I find that pretty interesting, and I like it. The ideal would be racing in the States and keep that team going in Canada." As for why he didn't get any offers to race here this year. he's at a loss to explain it. "Don't ask me why." he said. "I can still ride pretty good, and I know I can outride a lot of those riders out there who does have a factory ride, but. hey, life goes on. Everything happens for a reason." More Aussies on the horizon. Once he was disqualified from the Supersport final, Marty Craggill headed back to California on Saturday night to give his wife, who is eight months pregnant and who accompanied him to Pikes in a rented motorhome, a few extra days at their Southern California residence before she leaves on Tuesday for their home in Australia. Mat Mladin's wife, Janine, is also pregnant with the couple's first child, though she is only four months along. Janine will miss the final round of the AMA Supemike Series at Bemer Motorsports Park because she will be heading home to spend the final weeks of her pregnancy in Australia. The Mladins' baby is due in October. So just how confident was Mat Mladin's crew that his Dunlop tires would go the distance in the 48-lap race? The crew was spotted practicing pit stops with tire changes during the Sunday morning warm-up session. As it turns out. it was the right thing to be doing. As the defending class champion, Jason Pridmore wants to win a Formula Xtreme race, but he realizes he's going to have to build a bike to do it. "I want to win a couple of Xtreme races this year, and we're going to try and build an Xtreme bike now," Pridmore said. "We just can't compete with our Supemike. So we'll run Supemike and run Xtreme, and go from there with it. " While Aaron Yates and Miguel DuHamel used the softer of the two triple compound rear Dunlops, Kurtis Roberts was advised against it. "We didn't really have a tire choice." Roberts said. "I actually did 30 some odd laps on the thing, the tire that Aaron ran. I had no overheat problems or anything, but they didn't think it was safe. I had a little front-tire push really early on, but after that the thing was really good. " From watching him from behind, Yates had a clue that Mat Mladin would have tire problems in the National. "I had no Idea [that he'd pitted for a new rear tirel, but I knew he was really hard on the thing early on," Yates said, "He was smoking It up pretty good right there in front of me. I was trytng really hard to not do that because I wanted to stay out there the whole race and try to make a run for a position at the end. That's what we were trying for. " cue I e n e _ S • .JUNE 1 1, 2003 13

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