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
A MAIC hev y Tru c k s U .S . S u p e r b ik e S e r ie s Round s 1 5 -1 6 : V irg in ia In t e r n atio n a l R a c e w a y th e race un til Monday m orn in g. On M ond ay , Ml adin fin ish ed fifth and ieav es for the fina l two ro unds at B arb er Mot orsp o rt s Par k w ith a 37 p o int i e a d ov er t e a mm at e A ar o n Yates . Yates had cl utc h p rob lem s o n Saturday tha t d ro pped him to sixth. On Monday he chased Roberts hom e, finishi ng .77 2 of a seco nd behind. A m er i ca n H on d a ' s M i g u el Duhamel had a pair of pod iu m s, sec o nd o n Saturda y and thir d on Mon d a y . T ea mmat e B e n B o st r o m was third and fourt h, suffe ring from nu m bness in his han ds . Du c at i A us ti n 's Gio v ann i Bu sse i gave up a cert ain seco nd -p lac e fin ish o n Sat urday w hen he m isto ok th e whi te flag for the checkers . T he It al i an sl ow ed t h e n sped u p o nce Duha m el and Bostrom went pa st. On Mon day he had chatte r p rob lem s th at held him to sixt h. B y H EN NY R A Y A BRA M S P HOT O S BY B RIA N J. NELSO N ALTON,VA,AUG. 30· SEPT. 1 wo days afte r a tir e faiiure deni ed h im a cer ta i n v i c t o ry , Er i o n Hon da's Kurti s Roberts ca m e back t o win his first -ever AMA/Chevy Truck s U.S. Superbike race in th e postpone d and short ene d Mon d ay f ina l at Vir ginia Intern at ion al Raceway. "C om ing ac ro ss th e st ripe , I was tu cked in li ke you'd be at Dayt ona," Robert s sai d . " I d idn 't kn ow w he re he 'd be co ming from o r h o w c los e th ey were at th e time and kind of j ust hel d th em off tod ay ." Robert s was enjoying a 10 -second lead w ith five laps to go in Satu rday 's rac e w h en h i s rea r ti re o verh eat ed , sen ding h im t o t he pits . Yos h imura Suzuk i's Mat Ml ad in , w ho ca m e int o th e we eke nd looki ng to so lidify his cham p io nship position and not tak e unnecessary risk s, wo rk ed hi s way up fo r a ca utious sta rt to tak e th e win , his 10th of th e yea r, tyi ng h im with Fred Merk el fo r m o st in a season. Sunda y ' s race w a s p os tp on e d beca use of an un sa f e tr ac k . An o il sp ill during the Superspor t race took f our h o u r s to c lea n w it h pr e ssu re ho ses and o il -d ri. Then heavy rains began to fa ll, and th e oi l and o il-dri m ade th e tra ck unridab le, postp oning T 10 S EPTEM B ER 1 0,2003 • cue RACE ONE I Satu rday 's ra ce began with a sc ar e when A ttack Suzuki 's Jason Pridm ore sta ll ed at t h e sta rt. Prid more , wh o wa s on the second row, put hi s hand up and was lu ck y not to be.h it. O nc e th e fie ld wa s cl ear , he was push -st art ed, but h is rac e ended with a cras h a few tu rns later. O ut fro nt Rob ert s was leading a _ s n Ii! Ii! Honda parade . Duh am el and Bo strom we re j u st be h i nd , B o st rom tak ing ove r sec ond on the second l ap , and th e ord er did not change for t he fi rst ha lf of t he ra ce. Rob erts was n't ab le to shake th e pair until the 13th lap , wh en he had .66 1 of a second th at he str et ched to 1.390 o n th e next lap - the ha lfway mark in th e 28- lap race. "I just pu t my head down , got past the la ppers right," Roberts said . "I just d i dn 't th ink they c o u ld keep up t o that po int." The lead grew qu ick ly afte r t hat, Rob erts adding a second a lap for a str et ch befo re it rea ch ed 9 .973 seco nd s end ing the 2 3rd la p . Th en h e suddenl y slo wed , h is rea r tire having overheated . "It just happened, " Roberts said. " I pi cked a tire out of all of them th at I th ou ght was go in g to be the best of th em . I d id n ' t o ve rri d e. I j u st ke ep chunkin g t he m. W hen I went to br ak e, I fe lt it reall y sta rt to vi b rat e and all of sudde n , and it was so bad . I c oul dn 't eve n lean it over. " With fiv e laps to go Duham el w as in th e lead. But by now Ml ad in , who 'd been m ore tha n 11 seco n d s b ack , had m ad e his way up to th ird. "As soon as Kur ti s [Roberts] went o ut , I said , 'This is a race fo r a wi n now ,' '' Mladin sa id . " It was a t ou gh rac e, but I knew I had a little bit th ere left if I had to go a bit further. " Mladin sai d when the rac e sta rted , he saw that Yat es, his cham pio nshi p challe nge r, had run into proble ms . Th e pr obl em fo r Ya te s w a s t h e cl ut ch . Mladin had taken pains t o be easy on his, k now ing th ere migh t be a p r o bl em . Ya t es was eq ua lly c a u tiou s, but it di dn 't m att er. F ir st gear is so t all th at the cl utch is in fo r a ce rtain amount of abuse, regard less. Th e cl ut ch slipped at th e beg in n in g , and Yates d r o p p ed t o 15t h o n l ap o ne. then to 16th and 17th, wh ere he bot t om e d o u t o n t h e third lap . From there he began t o m ak e th e cl im b up , fi na lly land ing in sixth p lace. " It loo k ed li k e w e w ere go in g t o end u p fifth for a littl e w h ile , and I wa s w i ll i n g t o t ake t h at b e c au se A aro n [Yat es] wou ld hav e been sixth, se ve n t h , eig ht h," M l ad in sai d . " I' m not sure. Ext end the po ints lead j ust a little. " With about 10 laps to go , Mla d in c a u g h t s ig h t o f th e l e ad e r s a n d cha nged hi s stra tegy , getting it back to m in us five sec onds with nin e .laps to go. "I though t , ' Sho ot yo u g uy s, yo u sho u l d g et g oing b ec ause I re all y don' t w an t t o ra c e t o d a y . It ' s too ho t ,' " Ml adin sa i d. " Un fo rt u na t e ly , they got tan g led a littl e bit w ith t raffic and slowed dow n a littl e bit and th at sort of thing ." . Th en he was past Bostro m on the 24th l ap , w ith Bu ssei a nd Duh am el j us t a h e a d. U si n g a d o u b l e d r a f t , Mlad in t ook over the lead on the run do wn th e front stra ig ht. "I tr ied to put my head do wn, run a co uple decen t la ps; looks like I go t a bit of a gap , and th at was it ," Mlad in said . "Lucky to win one . I m ean bad luc k to K u rt is [Roberts ]. He ro d e a grea t rac e, bu t I k no w wh at it feel s like to be in his position . I had a few of those myself. " Bu ssei was sec ond with Duh amel on him as they flew towa rds the wh it e fl ag . Bu s se i m a d e t he m i st a k e of thinking it was th e check ers, g iv in g awa y second t o Duh amel, then thi rd t o Bostrom . Duham el felt tha t Bussei co st him th e rac e b y ho ldin g him up fo r t h e fin al seven laps aft er Bussei had used a slic k in sid e doub le- d ra ft p ass of Duham el and Bostrom going into turn o ne . Duh am el sai d at o ne point he pu ll ed in th e c lut c h a nd revved h is eng i n e , an o l d m oto cross t r i c k t o al ert a r i de r y o u wa nt t o co me by , " an d that didn 't wo rk e it he r. I j us t needed t o get by him. If I got by him, th en it ' s a d i ff e r ent s t o ry , bu t I co u ldn 't, and Mat [Ml adin] co uld." O n f inal l ap , Duha m el c o ul d se e th e w h i te fl a g wav i n g a n d sai d i t w o u l d easy t o m is ta k e i t fo r th e chec k ere d if you had n 't k ep t prop er co unt on yo ur lapboa rd. "I feel tha t he co st m e a win today ,