Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship Rounds 9/10: Road America By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON £, TOM RILES ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 8 he results of the second AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike race on a rapidly changing Road America surface left the pundits shaking their heads and looking for answers. No one could remember a margin of victory as large as the 32second plus that Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom enjoyed in winning Sunday's race, held on a wet, but rapidly drying track. "Any time you hit double digits, you're like, 'I'm doing something right,''' Bostrom said after his second T win of the season. "It's a weird feeling actually. It kind of felt like it was my race to give away, but all the same I just didn't know." And the final race of last season, at Virginia International Raceway, was the last Superbike doubleheader when the podium was completely different on both days. Bostrom led home Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates and Dream Team Ducati's Larry Pegram on Sunday. A day earlier Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin had edged out American Honda's Miguel DuHamel by .280 of a second with Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts another half a second adrift. "We've had a few problems in the n e vv s last couple of weeks, and it's good to get them somewhat rectified and come out on top today," Mladin said after his sixth win of the year and 20th of his AMA career, tying him for second overall with Fred Merkel, only five behind all-time leader Miguel DuHamel. There were constants just off the podium with American Honda's Ben Bostrom struggling with various rear grip issues to finish fourth on both days; Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore was sixth in both races; and Millennium Kaufman Suzuki's Shawn Higbee took seventh both times out at the racetrack closest to his Big Bend, Wisconsin home. Neither Eric Bostrom nor Mladin could come close to his weekend best. On Saturday, a lack of grip on the left side of the tire dropped a disappointed Bostrom to 13th. Traction was Mladin's problem on Sunday, the Australian trying a new setup on rain tires, the combination dropping him well back in the field before he pitted to change to intermediates on the eighth of 16 laps. He recovered to finish 10th, turning the fastest lap of the race on his final trip around the four-plus mile circuit. Another spot forward and Mladin would've been able to hold onto the championship lead. As it was, the six-time winner dropped a point behind Bostrom, 294-293, after 10 of 18 races, as the season entered its second half. Yates, who went out of Saturday's race on the first lap with a clutch problem, is third with 276, two in front of Ben Bostrom. "I'd really like to go out and try to The first of two AMA Superbike Nationals gets under way at Road America with Eric Bostrom (32) leading Mat Mladin (66), Miguel DuHamel (17), Kurtis Roberts (80), Ben Bostrom (155), Anthony Gobert (16) and the rest of the pack as they charge toward tum one. win some races, really looking forward to Laguna coming up, but I know that Brainerd is going to be difficult, n Eric Bostrom said of his championship hopes. "The way these guys have got their program going, there's going to be a lot of tough races coming up because they've got their bikes working well, and they've just got a good package altogether. It's going to take a lot for myself and my team to overcome that, and we're aware of that." Pegram credited his Michelin rain tires with his second on Sunday, but the dry ones had let him down on Saturday when he faded to 11th. Ducat; Austin's Anthony Gobert complained of a lack of power en route to finishing fifth on Saturday, but too much power and the wrong rear tire spelled an early retirement on Sunday. Against the advice of his crew chief, Gobert went with the softer of the Dunlop rain tires. He retired on the 11 th lap with the tread well worn. The faster of the two races was Mladin's, run in cool temperatures on a dry track. He completed the 16-lap race in 36 minutes, 21.570 seconds, at an average speed of 105.612 mph. Because of the addition to the "bend," not long after the exit to the Carousel, the time and speed stand as new records. On the wet/dry track, Eric Bostrom needed another five