Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Round 13/14: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Pridmore, meanwhile, was just 2.5 seconds behind Mladin, and Bostrom was 6.7 seconds behind, having shaken off the advances of Yates, and Szoke was still holding off Bussei as those two stayed glued together. Pridmore lost touch on the 16th lap when he caught a neutral and ran off the track, dropping nearly four seconds from the lap before. This was also the first lap in more than two days in which someone held a lead of over a second - it was Mladin a second over Roberts. Pridmore's miscue allowed Bostrom to inch closer, but Bostrom also had to contend with traffic. By the completion of lap 18, it looked as though Roberts was out of contention. Mladin was pulling away ever so slightly, and he led by more than two seconds after 18 completed laps. Pridmore had also lost touch and trailed Roberts by some five seconds. Although it seemed hard to believe, traffic appeared worse than the day before. It was taking its toll on the top riders. With a four-second lead on the 20th lap, this one was allover but the shouting. Mladin doesn't blow foursecond leads, and he wasn't going to in this one. Roberts looked as though he would hold on for a relatively peaceful second, having done his best to match the best. Pridmore also had things easy at this point. Not so, however, for Bostrom, who now had a resurgent Yates allover his tailpipes. Just when it looked like the race would end without any drama, Roberts' Re51 suffered a mechanical failure, and he was coasting around the track on the 23rd lap. "Early on when I was in the lead, in the beginning, it started to skip gears again," Roberts said. "I thought Mat was going to run into me a few times, and it finally just disintegrated. It started on the third lap ... that's what it was doing yesterday. It wasn't quite as bad [on Saturday], but today it just came completely apart at the end. It would skip, too. It was doing all kinds of weird stuff." CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 Given the fact that he's had more tire problems than anyone else this year, it was a no-brainer that Mladin wasn't going to use a softer tire for Saturday's restart - even though it amounted to just a sprint race to the finish. "No, it wasn't a choice," Mladin said. "There's a softer one that definitely gives uS lap times. and it's what everybody used to qualify. But I knew the race tire that I had. for an eight- or nine- or 10-lap sprint, if I really went hard, I could drop into the 26s, no problem. And that's what I did, I didn't know if Kurtis [Roberts] was going to be able to keep up with me, Personally, I'd say that Kurtis may have run the softer one [he did ... Editor] because I haven't seen any lap times close to that for him without being on the softer tire all weekend. But he may have been on the harder one. He was determined to win that race. And like I said. he put in a good race. and it's a shame that he crashed because he rode good. He busted my balls the whole race· that's for sure." When asked how finishing second in an AMA Superbike National compared to winning last year's Formula Xtreme title. Jason Pridmore said: "Winning the championship last year was at a different level. Being second today in Superbike. and being only maybe five or six or eight seconds behind the leaders. even at the red flag. tha!"s really special to me because I consider Mat [MladinJ one of the best riders in the world. I think if he went MotoGPing, I think he'd surprise a lot of people over there, for sure... _01-11"'•. impossible to get through a weekend without some sort of wisecrack from Miguel DuHamel, Naturally, DuHamel was his jovial self after finishing third in Saturday's Superbike final. He described his one scare of the race in typical Miguel fashion. "The only thing I did that was particular to me was when I passed Ben [BostromJ." DuHamel said. "I came out of the Keyhole, and I tried to get a good drive. and I was riding the white line. and then I went off into the grass wide open. And I thought. 'Tha!"s not good,' So I rode off the track and came back on. I knew Ben could handle it because he's a big motocross fan and all that. He rides a lot. That was one thing I did that I wasn't too proud of. My momentum jus.t carried me to the white line... and the track. the guy that paved it. actually made a mistake and just came in a little bit. Actually, if I could make a mention to whoever cuts the grass to cut it a little shorter because it was actually floating onto the white line - and it cost me a few tenths. probably." Sunday was hot and humid, making it tough going for the Super· That left Mladin, already alone, to finish the deed. "I didn't get a really good start, but I made my way up behind him [Roberts] to see what he was doing," Mladin explained later. "He wasn't doing too much, so I went by him and picked up the pace a little bit and started to pull a bit more of a gap on everybody. Then I let him back by because I couldn't get away from him. When I let him back by, he dropped straight back low to mid28s, and Jason [pridmore] was catching us. In about five or six laps, Jason got it back to about two seconds. I wasn't sure who was behind Jason. I just knew that when I was in second, it was good, because I got my pluses back to the next guy. So I knew he was catching us, and so I'd better go back past Kurtis and pick it up a little bit - and that's what we did. And when we did that, it seemed to put Kurtis into a bit of trouble. And then, I don't know, I guess he had some problems or whatever. But knowing Kurtis, he'll tell you he had problems Oliver said, ''I'm not going to be able to do this any more so I try to take a mental snapshot of my race wins so when I'm an old crotchety guy talking about how great I used to be. I can kind of remember what it felt like," Even though he came away with a win on Saturday, Mat Mladin still made changes to his bike for Sunday's race. What he wanted came to him on Saturday night, and his crew chief Peter Doyle was just a phone call away. "We made quite a few changes." Mladin said on Sunday afternoon. "The front end was very different today. Geometry and the forks and front tire were different. I studied the tape last night quite a bit. the tape of the race. and I seen where Kurtis [Roberts] was quite a bit faster than me, It was turn 5-6. or 6-7-a. or whatever it is. where he crashed there. The next turn after that. he was quite a bit quicker than me, and I could see why. I could see what problem I was having on my bike, And I knew during the race it would be a problem, but I didn't realize he was catching me so much there. because a lot of laps I actually had quite a big gap on him in the middle of the turn at the end of back straight, but by the time we come out of the corner where we crashed . he was right back on the back of me. So I wanted to try a few things. I rang Pete [DoyleJ late last night. and I said, 'Let's do this.' and this morning I knew straightaway we had a better motorbike in that part of the racetrack, And I knew if I could get it better there, I could make him struggle a bit more. I think that's what happened." removed fOl" future events but that the team wouldn't be fined or penalized at Mid-Ohio. According to AMA road race manager Ron Barrick, the AMA will create rules language to address the issue in future events. "That's the first time we've come across that particular item." he said. "This one obviously was in tech. We were looking at it. This is not what we want to see on the bikes." As to why they weren't penalized. Barrick said, "From time to time there will be new technologies that people will employ that are not speCifically laid out in the rule book." He said the Attack Suzuki team believed they had a clear replacement for the stock item, That wasn't the answer that at least one rival team was looking for, and it was viewed as yet another example of the AMA selectively enforcing the rules. At least twice during Superbike practice and qualifying, crashed motorcycles were allowed to sit dangerously close to the track while corner workers did nothing. American Honda's Miguel DuHamel noticed it in Friday's practice session, "There was a bike in the tum one impact zone, right off the track," he Bostrom said he hadn't spoken to his brother, Eric, since he'd departed the facility. "I'll give him a call tonight," Ben said, "He's just hanging out. waiting for surgery on Monday. He probably watched the race on TV. calling me every name in the book, so it's cool." Rich Oliver is enjoying every moment of his final run in the 250cc Grand Prix class. "You want to enjoy something like this." 24 AUGUST 6, 2003' eye I e and some car-friendly." he said. "Car people at certain stations couldn't come to grips with it: they weren't comfortable with going out to get things, I think we got it squared away for today." The Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki team is 23 strong. including five riders. for the Suzuka a-Hours on Monday. The majority of the team is flying from Columbus, through Detroit. and on to Nagoya, Japan, The riders are coming from all over. Adam Fergusson and Jordan Szoke from Mid-Ohio. Anthony Gobert from his home outside of Sydney, Australia, Paul Young from the UK. and reserve rider Shaun Giles from Australia. The team's three Suzuki GSX-Rl000s arrived in Japan more than a week before the race, part of a five container freight shipment that weighed 6700 Ibs. "We don't take anything from the AMA team." Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki's, Landers Sevier said. "We have duplicate tools. duplicate everything, We have 50 sets of wheels. 25 here and 25 in Japan." As to what happens to the bikes after the a·Hours, Sevier said it wasn't decided, "Sell 'em, keep 'em, use 'em for something here." Ducati Austin's Giovanni Bussei got a taste of shopping American style after British Airways lost his, and lot of other people's, luggage, Bussei returned to his home in Colina, Italy, northwest of Milan. after Laguna Seca. He set out on Tuesday from Milan. arriving in Boston, where he had to clear U.S, Customs, without his bag. An entire container of luggage went miss- When the AMA inspected Josh Hayes' Formula Xtremewinning Attack Suzuki GSX-R1000, it found it to have an aftermarket display with a unit that could show information from a lambda sensor on the dash, While the AMA rules don't specifically address that issue, it's not the direction the AMA wants to see the class heading. Hayes' team was told the display had to be bike men. Ben Bostrom's main form of training is rock climb- ing .. , not something that necessarily helps him in these situations. "This is a different situation," Bostrom said, "In rock climbing, you're trying not to sweat. If you sweat. you fall right off the rock, and you're always in the chalk bag." from the first lap, and that's how someone else won. But honestly, it • was a good race. It's nice to get some more points with Aaron [Yates] back there in fourth. As everyone knows, we had our share of problems this year, and we need to get through the next four races without any problems, and we should be all right." Roberts' demise handed Pridmore second - againl Pridmore was quite pleased with himself. "You can look at my two podiums in Superbike and third in [Formula] Xtreme, and that isn't even the highlight of my weekend," Pridmore said. "The highlight is when I started running Mat [Mladin] and Kurtis [Roberts] down. I finally thought to myself, 'You're getting somewhere now. You're starting to catch the guys that are setting the pace in the series.' That part of it was really fun for me. I caught a false neutral, and it sent me off the track, and that was the end of that. I came back on and put my head down; that's what tired me out so much before the Xtreme race. It said. adding that he pulled into the pits to inform AMA officials "I stopped doing my job and came in to help the AMA do their job, I rode four or five laps, and the bike never got touched." The sec~ and incident was in turn 11 on Saturday. "The bike just stayed there." DuHamel said. "If one bike can make it there, another bike can end up there." The AMA's Ron Barrick said it was the difference between corners workers with car or motorcycle back- grounds, "They got a mix of corner workers, some bike-friendly nevvs ing somewhere during the flights from Milan to London. then to Boston's Logan International Ainport. He arrived in Columbus on Wednesday with the clothes on his back. secure in the knowledge that t-shirts wouldn't be a problem. Pants. socks. and underwear were another issue. so it was off to the department store. The clothes were meant to arrive at JFK in New York before the transfer to Columbus. The bag was meant to arrive Sunday. The team was leaVing Monday for Birmingham for a three-day test at Barber Motorsports Park. On the Monday prior to the race. Bussei came to an agreement with the Ducati factory to finish the season with the Ducati Austin team. He'd also like the team to contest the final two rounds of the World Superbike Championship at Imola and Magny·Cours, Ducati Austin team owner Terry Gregoricka said no decision had been made, "He CBussell wanted to. but that's as far as we've gotten," he said, The cost of freight is prohibitive. but since the Ducati Austin ggaRS's have to be returned to the factory at the season's end, that cost would be borne by the fac· tory, Prieto Racing's Michael Barnes sprained his left ankle in a crash in the first Formula Xtreme practice. "We had a counter· shaft seal corne out that was improperly installed back home. It was a fresh motor, and it showed itself right away I highsided coming out of six entering seven, just on the transition and it spit me right into the haybales. It's a zero run·off area: I hit and then hit. It happened so fast that I don't know what hit what. But I think I landed on my feet and then hit my head and then went into the haybales, It's just a really bad sprain. Nothing showed up on the preliminary X-rays. We'll see when I get home," The gritty Floridian said he expected to be race-ready at VIR in three weeks, i

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