Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(1:32,447): 39. Kevin Hanson (1:32.462); 40, Chris Greer (1:32,646); 4 I. Chuck Allen ( I :32,673); 42, Kevin Lehm en ( I :32 .8 4 7); 43. Jame s Kerk er (1:33.094); 44, Mickey Lane (1:33,928); 45, David Bell (1 :34. 189); 46. Jeremiah Johnson (1:34.42 1): 47 . Shane Gonyea ( 1:34. 8 15): 48. James Bonner (1:35,073), RACE ONE: I . Mal Mladin (Suz): 2 . Mi guel Duhamel (Han); 3 . Ben Bostrom (Han): 4 . Giovanni Busse! (Due): 5. Jordan Szoke (Suz): 6. Aaron Yates (SU 7, Shawn Higbee(SU ); 8. Geo May (SOl); 9, l); l ff .Jecc b Holden (Suz); 10. Mike Ciccott o (Suz); 11. (Left) M ladin (6 6 ) t o ok things easy on Monday , finish ing f ifth ahead o f the likes of Jason Pridmore (43), Jordan Szoke (101 ), Shawn Higbee (1 1 4 ) and Steve Rapp (51 ). (Above) Roberts (80) w a s chased throughout Monday's race by Aaron Yates (20). Jeremy Toye (Suz): 12. Andy Deatherage (Suz); 13. Ku rti s Robert s ( Hon); 14. Doug Duane (Suz): 15. Scott Jens en (Suz); 16. Byron Barbour (Suz): 17. Robert Christman (Suz); 18. Dean Mizdal (Suz]: 19. Scott Carpenter (Suz); 20. Kevin Lehman (Suz); 21. Jame s Kerker (Han) ; 22. Monte Nichols (Suz): 23. Marco Martinez (Suz): 24. J.J. Roetlin (SUI): 25. Rick Narup { Sua) : 26 . Anth ony Fem ia (Suz); 27 . Kevin Hanson (S uz): 28. Tom Wertrnen (Suz). TIme: 41 min .• 6.5 19 sec. Distance: 28 laps. 62.3 miles Average speed: 92.36 mph Margin of victory: 2.093 sec. RACE TWO: I. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 2. Aaron Yates (Suz ): 3 . Migu el Duh am el ( Hon) : 4 . Ben Bo strom (Hon) ; 5. Mat Mladin (SUI) ; 6. Giovann i Bussei (Due); 7. Ja son Pridmore (Suz); 8. Shawn Higbee (Suz); 9. Jordan Szoke (Suz); 10. Steve Rapp (Suz); II. Vincent Haskovec (Suz) ; 12. Geoff May (Suz); 13. Jacob Hold en (Suz) ; 14. J eremy Toye (Suz); 15 . Mi chael Barnes { Suz}: 16. Er ic Wood (Sua}: 17, John Haner (Suz); 18. Andy Deatherage (Suz): 19. Scott Jensen (Suz); 20. Chris Ulrich (Suz); 2 1. Marco Martinez (Sua): 22. J.J. Roetlin (SUl) : 23, Robert Christman (Suz): 24. Mike Ciccotto (Suz); 25. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 26. Scott Carpenter (Suz); 27. Byron Barbour (Suz); 28. Anthony Fe mia (Suz): 29. Tom Wertm an (Suz): 30. Jame s Kerk er (Hon); 31. Rick Narup (SUl ): 32 . Kevin Lehm an (Yam) : 33 . Mickey Lane (Suz); 34. Doug Duane (Suz). Time: 28 min.. 56.652 sec. Distance: 20 laps. 44.5 miles Average speed: 93 .698 mph Margin of vict ory: ,772 sec, mate lap , illegally S zo k e th o u ght, th e pass coming n e a r a yell o w flag (s ee M y Own Race) . Va lvo line EMGO Su zu ki ' s Stev e Rapp w as a lonely 10th. eN Virginia International Raceway Alton , Virg inia Results: August 3lI-September I, 2003 lJIounds 15-16l SU PERB I K E QUA LIFY I N G : 1. All to n Yates ( 1:25 .071); 2, Mat Mladin ( 1:25,304); 3. Kurt is Roberts (I :25,702); 4, Miguel Duhamel ( I :25.925); 5 . G iova nni B usse i (I :2 6.64 4) ; 6 . Jason Pridmor e b ack to th em , but t hat l a st t i m e , th e Th e n c a m e Bu s sei , struggl ing w ith la st five l a p s j ust cou ldn ' t d o it. I tried rear c h at te r , but well i n fr on t o f with t h re e la ps t o go ; I trie d t he last l ap and a half, a nd agai n b a d draft , A tta ck Suzuki's Pridmo r e, who'd stuck wi th h i m for the first eight laps . ing, b ecause t h e y c a n get by traffic , Mill ennium Kaufman Su zuki 's I j ust cruised i n . I Sh a wn Higbee got the b etter of hi s thou ght t h a t was a little b etter th an race-long ba ttle wi th Corona Ext ra doing something stu pid ." EB SC O too. T h a t la st l ap Media Suzuk i 's Jordan ( 1:26.650); 7, Ben Bostrom (I :26,758); 8. Jordan Szoke ( 1:27,836); 9, Shawn Higbee ( 1:27,945); 10, Geoff May ( 1:27.992); I I. Steve Repp (1:28,203); AMA SUPERBIK E NATI ONAL C'SH IP POINT STANDINGS (Aft er 16 of 18 rounds): I , Mat Mladin (493 /1 0 wi ns) ; 2 . Aaron Yate s (4 55/2) ; 3. Ben 12. Michael Barn es ( 1:28. 2 12): 13. Vincent Heskc vec ( 1:29.052); 14, Eric Wood ( 1:29,236); 15, Jacob Holde ( 1:29.377); 16. John Haner ( 1:29.440); 17, n Matt Furtek (I :29.782); 18. Chris Caylor (1:29.838); Bostro (432); 4. Kurtis Roberts (40511); 5, Miguel m Duhamel (39311 ); 6. Eric Bos trom (350/2) ; 7_Shawn Higbee (34 6) : 8. Jason Pridmore (339); 9. Jordan Szoke (260) ; 10. Vincent Heskovec (241) ; 11. Geoff 19 . Mik e Clcco tto ( 1:2 9. 9 13); 20. Jeremy Toye ( 1:30, 121); 21. Chris Ulrich (1:30.233); 22, Scott Harwell (1:30.489); 23 . Andy Deatherage (1:30,771 ); May (236 ); 12, Larry Pegram (2 11); 13, Mike Ciccotto (203); 14. Michael Barnes ( 199); 15. Scott Jensen ( 194); 16. Dean Mizdal ( 158 ); 17. Jacob Holden ( 140); 18. Jeremy Toye ( 139): 19. Anthony Gobert (13 1): 20. Giovanni Bussei ( 128). 24. Chris Voelker (1:30 .786 ); 25. De a n Mizdal ( 1:30,888); 26. J,J. Roetlin (I :3 1.286); 27. Brian Stokes (1;31.304); 28. Doug Duane (1:3 1.425); 29. Mar c o M a rt in ez (1 :31 .48 7 ) ; 30 . Byron B arb o ur ( 1:31.618); 31. Monte Nichols (1:3 1.675); 32, Scott B o s t r o m dropped three s e c ond s Szoke. H ig b e e was in front until th e b ehind Duhamel w it h Mladin another 16th lap , wh en S zok e g o t b y. Th en J en sen ( 1:3 1.744); 33 . T om We rtman ( 1:3 1.9 3 1); 3 4 . Scott Carpenter ( 1:3 1.958): 35 . David Duprey seven ba ck in fifth . Hi gbee t o ok i t back on the p enulti - Anth on y Fan ia ( I :3 2 . 120 ) ; 3 8 . Rick Na rup Upcoming Rounds Rou nds 17 - 18 - B ir m ingham , Alabama, September 20-2 1 ( I :32,042); 36, Robert Christman ( I :32,068): 37, BRI EF L Y••• se e up in fro nt o f you [the pr ovi sion al f ront-row qualifiersl. and there on a 1000 around there , I don 't even want to ride a 1000 some of these guys I don 't think sho uld be in Superbike, so it' s frust rating. It' s very diffi cult to pass, and the thing is, is it's a fun track , it's a great trac k. but it' s very diffi cult to pass . And when around Daytona on a Superbike , let alo ne a Superst ock. Yo shimura S uzuk i' s M at Mladin could n 't re si st a few sa rc as t ic jabs at the new S uperbike rule s ma ndating stoc k t hrottle bo dies fo r inline fo ur -cyli nd ers . " Traffic w as traffic. bu t next yea r w he n you c o me up o n gu y s , the re 's such a great cl o sing speed. and W Pridmore is already thinking about his post -racing career, Following VIR , he wa s scheduled to go to the PG A Sc h o o l at La Purisima golf cou rse north of Los Angeles. ' I'm starting to work we have the standard thro ttle bodies, I don 't think there's gOing to be any because they' re all going to be so much faster and clos er to us," he said. 'With standard throttl e bodies , I think there's not going to be traffic - it's not going to be a prob lem because the you 've got throug h the first two sectors fairly well, and you co me up on some body two comers from the end. You gal to figure out a way to get by them, try to keep you r lap going, I did n't hit the guy , I didn't run him off, it jusl spooked him eno ugh to w here he ran off the track and slowed Miguel [Duhamell and I both down . Because whe re I ran him o ff he had to cut back across the trac k. I traffi c is going to be so much closer to the rest of us." Later he said th e new rul e s m eant he'd be compe ting o n a Su per sport b ike was wa it ing fo r him to c ras h. A nd he ju st never d id . and I' m fo rtu nat e for that. I wo uld think that if I' m going that much slower than with diffe rent fork s and brakes , " You callthat a Superbike race?" he asked , " If the prob lem is yo u can't afford it. go race Super. sport , I was a privateer once , It' s not my fault they 're not good everybody else, I'm goi ng to have a couple peeks behind me to ager Chuck M iller said. But he did hold open the po ssibility that they'd race both the RC -51 and the new inline four -cylinder , " If w e have thai model [the RC·51l , maybe we' ll mark et that model, m ak e sure nob od ys comi ng up on me to o quick, so it' s a littl e frus trating . " and th ere ' s a c hance that we'l l hav e an RC -S1 and an inline und er this tent . thai we'll be marketing bolh of them because one thing Pridmore's solution is a practic e he fo llowed w hen ri di ng Super stock in the Superbike sess ions , "I'd get off the track wit h 15, 20 minute s to go , I'd just get off the track, That way the se guys can try to put their laps in. How much faster are they really whatever we can to g et them in front o f the publ ic and show the m going to go w ith th ree minut es , four, fiv e minut e s left in the se s sion. when they'v e already been o ut the re fo r an ho ur? They ' re not g oi ng to go any quicker. Th ey 're just o ut there doing laps." Honda' s M iguel Duhame l. Erion Honda's Kur ti s Robert s, Alex Gobe rt and Roger Lee Hayden and Bruce Transportation Group's M arty Craggill are yet to have their future dete rmined . Who they'l l sign will be determined, in part , by the rules , ' We 're just goi ng to way. but it took a lo t o f jumping up and down and a real bad sea son to get it that way, which it s houldn ' t. " Mladin late r admitt ed the t i m e s w e r e w e ll o ff fro m what he' d done last year and the year before , 'Those Honda guys done a America n Honda won' t decide w ha t they 'll race o r w ho w ill race it until after the Hon d a dealer show in tw o weeks , tea m ma n- is that Wit h all the different brands, we want to make sure we do enough to ge t a ride . " Mledm also said t his year' s Yoshimura S uzu k i G SX-R1 000 was the best Superbike he 'd ridden since coming to the United States In 1996 , far better than last year's GSX -R750 . ' I mean last year I gal a lot of the blame for not perf ormi ng or whatever, bU1 I said at the end of 200 1 thaI the bike was nol gOing anywhere, and we gal so me new tires at the beg inning of 2002 , and the bike performed badly, and I couldn' t ride the bike . Everyone thought I was just having a bad year , I certa inly didn't change from '02 to '03, and I've had the best year I've ever had because I have a motorcycle I can wo rk with . I think the suspensi on's come a long o n my gol f g am e . I'm going to have to shoot even par for four days, I want to see what it' s like when I go so I' m prepared . ' that they' re co mpetitive, and so there's a chance that we 'll have bo th. " Ben Bostrom and Jake Zemke are signed to nde Super. bikes next year. The re st o f t he Honda riders , incl uding A merican Prid m or e ' s take o n the new S u p e r b ik e r ules was si milar to wai t and hopefully g oing to announce ou r product line that we 're many in the paddoc k , frust rati on that t he Pro Rac ing Board doesn 't listen to the road race advisory board and the diminution of the four -cyhnders competi tiveness, ' I'm frustrated WIth things going to have, then that'll help us with our sl rategy on who we 're going to hire , and then it'll come down to do llars and cents and who we can afford . R be cause it's been a problem. and I know for a fac t that at least two of the new rules that they've come out... got voted down by the advisory board. W e had sort of 13 , 14 people in there, and 11 of them are saying the oppos ite of what they've gone and done now , Miller was the d i s sen t i ng v o ice among the te am managers about the new rules and the u sef ul ne ss of t he roa d race advisory board. He pointed out that they'd been racing the RC·5 1 for four years and had one champions hip, ' This year the pendulum swep t [Nicky Hayden! did last year , It makes you wonder If those bikes are so bad compa red to ou rs ." His solutio n to im pro vm q the popu lanty o f m o tor cy cl e racing w a s to rename it N A S BIK E. The Superbik es would run on NASCAR ov als in front o f larg e crowds . " Every on e ' s throw ing beer c ans at An d w hat it does is , it kills teams like us beca use we've shown th is year, as a p riv at eer team . we ca n g o out and compe te. And now it's going to rea lly sc rew us , because a lo t of t he rule s for us , over to Suzuki' s side . and m ay be las t ye ar it was o n o ur side th rough a num b er o f fact o rs - the p ro du ct w as go od , and we had it's not going to [bel the same, Our bike's not gOing to be as good lo t o f complain ing. b u t th ey ' re not even close to wh at th at k id Nick Hayden . and those are two great fact ors to have together as it is this year. I don' t know wh y everybody else ca n 't make t hei r bi ke s be tter and why w e hav e to ma ke o ur bikes w or se . " Pridmor e made the po int that road racing is supposed to progre ss . but next th a t w ill m ake success. " Miller p o int ed o u t th at las t year the team s w ant ed more latitu d e in m o d ify in g t heir rac e bi k es . but Once again t raffic proved to be a prob lem at VIR, a track where year's machinery would be unavoidably slower, ' It's like going to M otoGP next year and saying, 'Okay, all you guys got to knoc k off 40 horsepow er out of yo ur bikes, Wh y? W ell so that the WCM passing com es o nly t hro ugh determination or force, o r both . a s Yamaha back there , fou r seconds o ff the pace , ca n co mpet e. " you, and they'd be happy ,' At tack Suzuki 's J ason Pridmo re discovered in Ihe first Superbike pra cti c e . " The thi ng is, I jus t ran a gu y off the tra ck out t he re in that sessio n. I came up on a guy, and I knew I had to go at the end, It was only sort of five minutes from the end of the sessron . 11 keeps going back to some o f these guys - they want to stay out Ihere that are going eight. nine, 10 seco nds a lap slower when they know guys are trying to put a fast one in at the end . I'm the last guy in the world ... I'm not one of those people who want s to gel into anybody' s face or anythi ng, But people in your way and you're tryi ng to get a fast lap, it' s a living for the se guys that you The new 1OOOcc S u p e r s t o c k c l a s s Will make its debut at Dayt ona next March , but Pridmore won't be in the fie ld, saying, "I refuse 1 gel on a 1000 Superstock bike around Daytona, You 0 will no t see me riding 1000 s. It doesn 't matler if Suzuki paid me M at' s [M ladinJ salary for the day, il wouldn' t happen . It' s already dangerou s on a 750 Superst o c k bike around th ere. You 're c hunking fron t s , y ou ' re c h unk ing rea rs. And it' s not ju st D un lop , it' s everybody, Everyone's got the same problem , and now they're going to throw an ext ra 20 horsep ower on It and tell you to go o ut eye despite not ge tting w hat they wanted, Suzuki has been able to bui ld a d omina nt m o to rcycl e. R The bik es are th e fas test b ike s o n the track right now , And one thing that we're trying to design the rules for is safety and safety within the tracks that we are racing on, Because everyt hing can go 150· 180 mph now these days, I'm no t as worried aboul maybe M iguel

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