Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

us without being all alone. I think we put on a pretty good show. "It's tough to pass around here, so when you come up on those guys, you can't be too anxious to stick it under 'em because it really kills your drive on the straightaway. You have to really pick your lines and get around the guys clean. I got around Kurtis - he slowed down a pretty good bit that one lap - and I noticed he was pointing back on the front straight, pointing to the back to his guys. We came up on about 10 guys, and it made a difference when we hit that pack." With Roberts getting balked in traffic and starting to worry about his rear-tire woes, Ben Bostrom was able to gain significantly, the former World Superbike rider lapping at 1:28.347 while Roberts was slowed to a 1 :30.661. A few laps later, with Roberts still having difficulty with tires, Ben Bostrom was able to take over the spot, crossing the line at the end of 22 laps in fourth. On the 25th lap, things got worse for Roberts when he was forced to pit for a tire change. With a vibrating rear tire and visions of Mladin's Brainerd tire debacle still fresh in his memory, Roberts finally pitted for a new one. He re-joined the race and would ultimately finish 11 tho "It was out of balance, and it would vibrate," Roberts said later. "I thought it was coming apart. It would vibrate so bad we thought it did [come apart]. Right when I got into second that lap when I was closing in on Mat. Then, coming out of four, it started vibrating all the way down the back straightaway so bad that I thought it was coming apart. I kept going for six, seven, eight laps. I just kept pointing at my rear tire. That was as ready [for a tire change] as we're going to be at that point. I was in second, and then it just came like crap, and then I moved back." Mladin was having no such troubles. His was a perfect Saturday ride. No worries, mate. "I had no problems with tires today," Mladin said after winning the 21st AMA Superbike National of his career. "Dunlop's been working hard to rectify some of the problems we've had this year. We've given up a lot of points because of problems with the tires and stuff, but we've got the championship lead back again, and we're going to Ohio, and I really enjoy it there so ... We started off in the low 26s and sort of ran 26s until we got to traffic and then dropped to 27s. It seemed like from lap 10 we come up on at least one guy per lap and sometimes five or six of them. Once you get into traffic, it's hard to get a rhythm going again. I think I had about five or six seconds once I got to the traffic, but I'm not really sure how it played out. You watch the lapboard, but you never know where the other guys are going to get traffic, so it's pretty hard. A few laps, I lost threetenths of a second, so maybe on a few laps I'd get a good break, and then they'd get a few good breaks." Yates was able to top Eric Bostrom, the latter encountering vibrations from his rear tire that had him worried. "I kind of fried the clutch there off the start," Eric Bostrom said. "I was backshifting the bike going into one, and I couldn't get it in the gears, and I let Mat [Mladin] go by, so I was pretty disappointed. I tried to stay with Mat, but we just haven't gotten a lot of laps in with the tires on the rear. The front tire is fantastic, but we've struggled with the rear. I was trying to keep Mat in our sights, and it seemed like for a few laps we were running the same lap times, so I was like, 'Well, he's not getting away.' I thought maybe we had a chance to close it back in on him, and then a lapper crashed right in front of me. [ actually ran like directly into his head, and I thought I might crash, but we were able to stay on it - fortunateIy. I hope he's all right. But about a lap before that, we started picking up a vibration in the rear end, and it turns out we spun a tire on the rim. I thought it was chunking a tire. It was so bad, I was basically crashing in every corner. I put the thing on the fairing a couple of times, and it just decided to come back. After that, I was just trying to make it to the fineN ish. It was frustrating." Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, Califomia Results: July 1Z, Z003 [Round 1Zl SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: I. Mat Mladin (1:25.549): 2. Kurtis Roberts (1:26.228): 3. Eric Bostrom (1:26.314); 4. Aaron Yates (1;26.591); 5. Jason Pridmore (1 :27.369); 6. Miguel DuHamel (1 :27.632); 7. Giovanni Bussei (I :27.633); 8. Ben Bostrom (1:27.981); 9. Jordan Szoke (1:29.120); 10. Josh Hayes (1 :29.257); 11. Shawn Higbee (1:29.706): 12. Michael Bames (1:29.763): 13. James Randolph (1:29.954); 14. Vincent Haskovec (1:30.204); 15. Thomas Montano (I :30.747); 16. Opie Caylor (1:30.773); 17. Mike Ciccotto (1:30.820); 18. Chris Ulrich (1:31.149); 19. Jacob Holden (1:31:300): 20. John Dugan (1:31.340); 21. Jeremy Toye (1:31.654); 22. Ricky Orlando (1:31.694): 23. Chris Voelker (1:3J.717): 24. Mike Sullivan (1:31.829); 25. Dean Mi,dal (1:31:889): 26. Alan Schmidt (1:32.161); 27. John Haner (1:32.367); 28. Brian Stokes (1:32.527): 29. Rob Mesa (I :32.659); 30. Scott Jensen (1:32.777); 31. Shane Turpin (I :33.026); 32. Kim Nakashima (1:33.368); 33. Jeff Bostrom (1:33.513); 34. Marco Martine, (1:33.548); 35. Garry Combs (I :33.602): 36. Robert Christman (1 :33.740); 37. Rich Conicelli (I :33.762): 38. J.J. Roellin (I :33.981); 39. Geoff May (I :34.20 I): 40. Tom Wertman (I :34.506): 4 I. John Scott Wilson (1 :34.599); 42. Alex McElyea (1:34.623); 43. James King (1:34.721): 44. Jason Knupp (1 :34.843); 45. Kevin Hanson (I :34.898). AMA SUPERB IKE NATIONAL: I. Mat Mladin (Suz); 2. Aaron Yates (Suz); 3. Eric Bostrom (Kaw); 4. Ben Bostrom (Hon); 5. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 6. Miguel DuHamel (Hon); 7. Jordan Szoke (Suz); 8. Shawn Higbee (Suz); 9. Michael Barnes (Suz); 10. James Randolph (Suz): 11. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 12. Vincent Haskovec (Suz); 13. Mike Ciccotto (Suz); 14. Opie Caylor (Suz); 15. Geoff May (Suz); 16. Jeremy Toye (Suz); 17. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 18. Mike Sullivan (Suz); 19. Ricky Orlando (Suz); 20. John Dugan (Suz); 21. Jacob Holden (Suz); 22. Thomas Montano (Due); 23. Chris Voelker (Due); 24. Scott Jensen (Suz); 25. Rob Mesa (Suz); 26. Tom Wertman (Suz); 27. Alan Schmidt (Suz); 28. John Haner (Suz); 29. Kim Nakashima (Suz); 30. Jeff Bostrom (Suz); 31. J.J. RoetJin (Suz); 32. James King (Suz); 33. Jason Knupp (Suz); 34. Alex McElyea (Hon). Time: 40 min., 53.590 sec. Distance: 28 laps, 61.6 miles Average speed: 91.9 mph Margin of victory: 8.132 sec. AMA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 12 of 18 rounds): 1. Mat Mladin (356/7 wins); 2. Eric Bostrom (350/2 wins); 3. Aaron Yates (345/2 wins); 4. Kurtis Roberts (321); 5. Ben Bostrom (320); 6. Miguel DuHamel (303/1 win); 7. Shawn Higbee (252): 8. Jason Pridmore (251); 9. Larry Pegram (211); 10. Vincent Haskovec (199); 11. Jordan Szoke (186); 12. Michael Barnes (183); 13. Geoff May (149); 14. Mike Ciccotto (133); 15. (TIE) Anthony Gobert/Scott Jensen (131); 17. Dean Mizdal (109); 18. Jeremy Toye (102); 19. John Dugan (93); 20. Andy Deatherage (82). Upcoming Rounds Rounds 13/14 - Lexington, Ohio, July 26-27 Rounds 15/16 - Axton, Virginia, August 30-31 BRIEFLY••• According to a press release issued by the World Superbike promoters. the three-day attendance total at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was 92,000. Although he said in the postqualifying press conference Ihat he was the wrong guy to ask about tires, Mat Mladin did say there were some new Dunlops to try. "There's different stuff out there now because World Superbike's here. so there's a whole bunch of different tires and stuff." he said. "In the past, tires have never been a problem here. I don't think anybody's ever had tire problems here, so we're hoping that's going to be the case - but we can never say never. We've tried a couple [of new tiresJ. A few. maybe. different ones. So I can almost be assured that the tires that we race on normally - if anyone uses them here, they won't be in the race on Sunday. That's how I think." Mladin also reiterated what he'd said after Road Atlanta's abbreviated. rain-plagued schedule that the race weekend could be a little shorter without much difficulty. "I just believe that we hang around the racetrack too long these days," Mladin said. "I mean. to me, it's ridiculous. The privateers get practice on Thursdays, then we start on Fridays, and to me, you just hang around too long. I mean, personally. I think we're better off getting here on Saturday. doing practice and qualifying, Sunday a couple of races at some venues, one race maybe at another venue, and have it done with. To me, three days - what for? And the thing is, everybody's under the same, if they did it that way, everybody's got the same track time. so it's not like somebody's missing out: everyone's got the same; it's just one day less. To me, it cuts costs for the priva· teers. It means you don't have to live at the racetrack every weekend. That's how I feel. But some people like to do 10 days of practice. I don't." Eric Bostrom's leathers had a Dukes of Hazzard (pictured) theme for the Laguna Seca event. but Bostrom says it was just a one-off deal. "The leathers turned out great. huh?" Bostrom said. "I like them - Dukes of Hazzard-style. The back's General Lee with my number and so on. The front's Boss Hogg - it's all white. My brother and I and Chris Wood. my helmet painter. did the design - Air Trix. I like them a lot. They're just for this race. It's kind of a special race for us anyway because we've done well here in the past. I certainly hope we can win here again. We've got a ton of fans here. I don't think anybody's going to have any trouble identifying who number 32 is. " With most of the top dogs signed up for next year, Aaron Yates is the hottest property in Superbike racing. According to sources close to the scene, Yates is being courted by the Ducati Austin team, and his manager, Cliff Nobles, is also known to have been in some preliminary discussions with Honda. Yates, however, seems happy at Yoshimura Suzuki, and there are obviously negotiations ongOing there as well. According to Ducat;'s Paolo Ciabatti, the company's plans to field a factory-supported team in the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship in the future depends on many complex factors. One of the biggest concerns for the factory. according to Ciabatti, is the current state of the AMA Superbike rulebook. Since Ducati has no plans to race any other bike than the new 999 in future competition, and with the current rules allowing 1000cc four-cylinder machines to compete, Ciabatti said he's not sure if the 999 could be competitive under the current rules - rules he said that don't allow Ducati to tune the bikes to the same level as they do in World Superbike. Ducati plans to wait and see how the final rules are drafted before determining if it will field bikes in either 2004 or 2005. With a huge AMA Superbike field showing up and qualifying at Laguna Seca, there was a' huge disparity between the fast men and the not-so-fast men. In fact. pole sitter Mat Mladin's best lap during qualifying was some nine seconds faster than that of the last rider making the 112-percent cut. That translated into serious traffic issues during practice, qualifying and the race. "Honestly, there are a few guys out there who [ think it's their first time here or maybe their first time ever racing a motorbike," Mladin said. "I don't know how they make the cut-off time. You certainly come up on them pretty quick. but what are you going to do? We complain about it every race, but there's no sense in worrying about it. You just have to deal with it. I just don't think the AMA Superbike race is the place you go to for practice. I think sometimes the blue flags with a lot of those guys makes more problems because they don't know what to do and they panic. In the World Superbike race, it works because those guys are a lot more experienced and there're not more than a few seconds off the pace. The other guys don't know what to do with themselves. They should make the percentage like t 02 percent." Eric Bostrom's opinion on the blue flags differed from Mladin's. "I think blue flags would really help," Bostrom said. "They used them for a little bit at Colorado, and I thought it helped out a lot. I think it could have helped my race a little bit today. The traffic situation is so bad. They.. need to reduce the percentage. Our bike runs really great, but there are some privateers out there with faster bikes than mine." Ben Bostrom and LeeAnn Tweeden, his former girlfriend. reunited for a cover shoot on the August/September issue of American Health & Fitness, a bi-monthly fitness and lifestyle magazine. The handsome couple are each featured in separate articles inside. Bostrom's begins with the headline, "Every year I've been on this earth I've broken a bone." Included in the four-page article is a training regimen that includes a completely fabricated gym workout. "I haven't been in a gym for years." Bostrom said. preferring to keep fit by riding. rock climbing. snowboarding and surfing. Tweeden's eight-page spread is more pictorial than editorial, with one particularly fetching pose in a string bikini aboard Bostrom' s racebike. The host of Fox Sports Net's new show .. 54321 .. answers a variety of questions, including which one body part she would work out. .. Definitely my abs. With my butt a close second." Bruce Transportation Group's Marty Cra9gill made it back to Melboume. Australia, just in time to witness the birth of his first child just days after the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship round at Brainerd. Minnesota. Zac Martin Craggill was born by cesarean section at 2:30 p.m .. July 2, at Werribee Mercy Hospital in Melbourne. jusl hours after Craggill arrived back in his homeland. The healthy boy weighed in at 9 Ibs .. 12 oz. Craggill had left Brainerd. Minnesota. on Monday. June 30, the day after the AMA race. Rying first to Minneapolis then Los Angeles. before boarding a plane for the final leg home to Melbourne. Because of the time difference and the length of the flight from Los Angeles, Craggill arrived in Melbourne at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, just 4 1/2 hours before the birth of his son. He returned to the United States on Wednesday. arriving back in Los Angeles the same day he left Australia, before making the trek 10 Monterey. The next time he gets to see his son. other than bye-mailed photos. will be during the five-week break after the July 26 round of the AMA series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Eric Bostrom's championship aspirations were hinging on the outcome of an MRI exam he was set to undergo on Monday, July 14. Bostrom was involved in a turn-two crash in the first of two World Superbike races at Laguna on Sunday. and the Californian suffered a shoulder injury. No decision would be made on his availability for Mid-Ohio (in two weeks) until the results from the examination were known, Kawasaki team manager Mike Preston said. Bostrom is six points behind Mat Mladin in the AMA Superbike Championship. cue I e nevvs JULY 23,2003 19

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