Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128231
AM AIChevy T ru c k s U .S. Supe rb ik e S e r ie s R o u n d s 1 5 -16 : Vi r ginia Int e r n a t io n a l R a c e way my Own Race 1] i§3i§3 Ben Bostrom monda 4t h America n Honda's Ben Bostrom was runn ing with the . leaders when, for the second race in a row. his hands fell asleep, and he doesn't know why . "The bik e and tire were perfect ," he said. "I had the same tire I had yesterday . My hands fell asleep. Fortunately they shortened the race because I was about to get a hell of a lot slower. Obviously, I don't know what it is. I've got to fly back to Dr. Ting to find out what. I talk ed to Nicky Hayden, and he said he had the same probl em when he rode the Superbik e." @@ Mat Ml adin 5th Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin is a racer: He loves to race; he gets paid to race. Today he couldn't race. Instead, he had to think about the championship, where he holds a 27 -point lead over teamm ate Aaron Yates with two races to go. "I hate this tim e of the year; it sucks: he said. He could've raced, "if you want to be stupid, if you want to give up everything that all these guys and we've all worked for the whole year to try to win a race." 1] 1] i§3 Giovanni Bussei 6th A few changes to the Ducati Austin 998 and it wasn't the same m achine Giovanni Bussei nearly took second with two days earlier. "We had a few changes on the bike, and they didn't work : Bussei said . "On lap tim e it was better, but if I had to say. on the group I had to work a lit tle more. Then I came out with a little problem of chattering. A few littl e things that came . I lost my time . I thought I could catch Mat IMladin] , but after some slow riders were in the midd le and I lost him . And I thought, 'Let's end the race." Bussei said the track was more green because of Sunday's rains. and it caused him tire troubles. "We had a big problem, not so much with sliding. but with traction." ~® Jason Pridmore 7th Sha wn Higbee J ordan Szoke lap and le d t eammates Bostrom an d Du h amel as well as Yates across the li ne to en d the fir st " A b o ut fift h o r Aa ron [Yat es] wa s was reall y th e last of 20 laps. sixt h la p I th ou ght in second , an d he g uy I wa nted to be a long race; beca use he d o esn 't give th eir lead and , w ith s ix laps to go , w as fo ur sec onds b ehind Duhamel for a lap , th en b a c k ed o ff, re a liz ing he needed to fin is h safely. It was down to Roberts an d Yates for th e fi n a l six la ps. Yates closed in 9th th at Roberts rebuffed . Th en Ya tes tried aga in sta rt in g t h e rea ll y wan t be h ind you: Yates h ad m oved up to second o n th e fifth lap th en into th e lead o n t he 8th wi t h four la p s t o go an d made a m o ve like me. Him and Migue l [Duha m el] so there's two guys behind you don 't "I'm seein g a wavin g yello w, I' m braking a littl e earlie r because there mi ght be an incident and [Shawn] Higbee goes by me," an irate Jordan Szoke said after talking to an AMA officia l. "So to me, that's not right. They 're all, 'We 18 t h lap , a ba ckma rk er g ett ing in h is wa y w h il e Ro ber t s tried to edge away . Yates ke pt hi m honest to t he en d , si xth , B ostrom in th i rd in f r o nt o f D uh amel , with M lad in a bo ut tw o seco nds ba ck in six th . Then ca m e B ussei b u t Robert s was able to pull ou t and Prid m o re. br i dg e ; I w as k i n d of g ett i ng h im t h roug h t he left at th e top o f th e hill sat b a ck in fi f t h . Bu t t h e ga p re ma ine d co nstan t for t he n e x t fe w try ing to g et a ru n o n h im in th at next la ps , right a ro u nd ha lf a second , .477 at t he hal fw ay ma rk . tu rn , b ut he w as kin d o f swinging his bike and bl oc k in g his t urns, an d I w as Behi nd th e lea de rs B u sse i bro k e fr ee o f Pridmore o n la p n in e, settling in to sixth a di st ance back of M ladi n . t ry ing to fi g u re o ut how I was going to g et up th e insi de, " Yates sa id . " We finish.' So it' s like, okay, the rules don't count because we have to get the show on the road." ended up 13 seconds behind B u ssei. O n th e 11 th la p Rob erts p a sse d Yates in to three after Yat es' le ad had i§3 sh r u nk to . I 77 of a se co n d a t th e 10th Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Steve Rapp spent the race testi ng a rear tire for Michelin. He was well behind Jordan Szoke and well in front of Vincent Haskovec. "I was racin g, but it was lik e a big gap in front and a big gap in back, so I just tried to stay consistent and see what I could learn from the tire. It was an improvement from what we raced on at the Superstock race, so m aybe at the next race at Barber it'll help us." eno ug h for a sec ure w in , hi s first ev er in h is third year o f try ing. "T hat last la p I was rea ll y t ry in g t o ge t a run o n him g oi n g up t o th e Ya tes t r ied t o c hec k o ut , up p in g hi s lead to .556 o f a second in f ro nt of th e chasi n g Honda s, w h il e M la d in Prid more wo uld d rop b a c k as h e lost fee ling in his ha nds , t he resid ua l e ffects of a n ea r lie r acci de nt. H e got to get this show on the road : we 're under pressure to Steve Rapp leaders with five laps to go. Mlad in wasn 't threatening the leaders, but h e did ta k e some t ime out of up much u n less he falls off - k in d o f Shawn Higbee's Millennium Kaufman Suzuki GSX·RIOOOwas mu ch im proved this weekend. with the bugs from Saturday's race ironed out today . "Our pace was definit ely faster today: he said . They fixed a problem with the new Nissin brakes and repaired the electric shifter. There was also more tim e to dial in the new Showa fork, and the tire pressure was too high on Saturday. "And all th ree of those problems we had yesterday, we fixed today , and we had a good solid race," Higbee said, thanking team owner Kevin Hunt and m echanics Justin Cyr and Shane Martinson. Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki 's Jordan Szoke thought Higbee had passed him under a waving yellow, but Higbee saw it differently. "We came up under the bridge there, and I was already up in inside, and we were kind of neck and neck going into there, and when I first saw the flag, it was hanging down, and it seemed lik e when I went by, I saw it waving at the end or moving , but you're coming in on the brakes, and I looked up the flag was hanging flat, and I finished the pass." 1] @1] 13th lap and over two seconds back a lap later. Bostrom was also being he ld up , down two seconds to the in second today : Roberts sa id . " For some reason I knew if he w as going to be in se cond , t his w as goi ng to be "I had an accide nt a couple of days ago, and I ma y have pin ched some thing because m y whole right side went num b. th en it m ade my left ha nd go numb ," Atta ck Suzuki' s Jason Pridm ore said. "I just couldn't hold onto the bike. It's a littl e frustrat ing because we were right there at the start. At least I would've been racing with Giovanni [Bussei] the whole race if I could've held on. It j ust got to the poi nt where it felt lik e it was getting unsafe to me. I j ust didn't want to run underneath him somewhere and not have any feel." 1] 1] eB D u ha me l g ot th e h o l e sh ot , but Ro berts to ok ove r th e lea d o n th e fi rs t line . " I got ba c k by Aaron [Yates ] and and t he fas t r ight through th ere a n d we nt up th roug h t h at sect io n , a n d I flicke d it right and a cou ple of ti m es prev iously the t hi ng ste p pe d ou t p re tt y b ig , and I ca ught it back . Th at last la p it went wa y up there. Right at t he top, w ent over the t op o f t h at t h ing in th e a i r , t ryi ng t o g et it all ba ck and ab o ut ran off th e trac k . A nd then h e was just g on e . Th ere was n o w ay ran it off into seve n into so me la p p ers maybe try to put a m ove o n h im a n yw ay ." a nd about took all o f th em about. It Duh am e l m a d e hi s wa y p as t was reall y cl o se," Robe rt s sa id . When th ey crossed t he lin e en d ing th e 12th la p , Ro berts was st i ll in th e Bo stro m o n th e 17 t h lap for third . B os trom f inish ed fo u rth , w it h Mladin fifth . Rob e rt s' rear ti re had gone wi th less th an five laps to go o n Saturday , so fo r M on d ay , h e f itted a slig htl y n ar row e r r im , a 6.0 rat he r t ha n a 6 .25 , l e ad w i t h th e t op fo ur - Ro be r ts, Yates , Bo strom a nd Duhame l - co vere d by .7 0 2 of a second . Th en they were h eavil y into traffic , " I w as ho p in g th ey 'd g et to o ex cited an d us e to o much of th ei r tires and I'd have so met h i n g for th em at th e e n d , " Duham el sai d o f Roberts and a nd upp ed t he a i r pre ssure t o h el p and th e front pack beg an to sep arate , Yat e s. " I was rea lly ba nk in g on that. D u h a m el dr opp in g wa s a heat-exhau st ed eig hth . redu c e heat. Th at th e race wa s seven la p s sho rte r a lso he lp ed. But like I sa id , I g ot ca u ght back a lit ~ tIe bit. A c ouple o f t imes I bridged it 12 S EPTEMB ER 10,2003' e y e I e B eh i n d Bu s s e i cam e RACE TWO J or d a n Szoke, fi fth for th e seco nd ra ce in a r ow , th e Ca n adian six seco nd s in front o f Yates. Shawn Hi gbee w as sev ent h , p a ssing Geoff M ay an th e 2 3rd la p . Ma y n eVIls 1 .4 seco n d s beh in d th e lea d e r b y th e end o f t he