Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Prieto Racing Suzuki GSX-R 1000 to a fifth on Saturday and a seventh on Sunday. May is starting to turn some heads with his performances, and he was both fast and clean on both days, despite racing the same bike in Superbike and Superstock. American Honda's Ben Bostrom finished fifth on Sunday, but a silly crash on Saturday put him out of the race. Believe it or not, after just three races in an IBrace season, the elder Bostrom sits 86 points behind the so-far-perfect Mladin. Let's just say that Ben is in for a tough haul if he still retains any championship aspirations . Canadian Steve Crevier came south of the border to get some pre-Canadian Superbike Championship testing under his belt, and he went home with a pair of sixth-place finishes to show for it. Crevier battled in both races with May, and he came away impressed with both the youngster's riding and his determination. With just five factory riders in the field because of Aaron Yates' suspension, it was open season for privateers at California Speedway in the Superbike class. After May and Crevier, the best of the rest was Larry Pegram, the Ohioan riding his own Yamaha R I to a seventh on Saturday and an eighth on Sunday. The top 10 were filled by Corona Extra Suzuki's Marty Craggill, Hooters Suzuki's John Haner and Empire Racing's Opie Caylor on Saturday and Empire Racing's Lee Acree and Hooter's Eric Wood on Sunday. With the exception of not earning pole position at Daytona, Mladin is flawless thus far in 2004, and his points tally shows that with I 12 points. Zemke is second with 88 points, just three better than his California Speedway sparring partner Duhamel. The consistent Pegram is fourth with 74 points, four better than Eric Bostrom. My OWN RACE RACE I 98 Jake Zemke RAce ONe This was a no-doubter. A Mladin runaway. From start to finish. Mladin got the jump off the start, and he led every lap, pulling away at a clip of a half-second here, a half-second there. Once he got the lead to the three-second range over Eric Bostrom, he steadied the pace, then picked it up again later, eventually winning by a tad over nine seconds. Despite making the race extremely boring by completely dominating, Mladin wasn't 4th Jake Zemke ended up shadowing Miguel Duhamel across the line in their battle for third place, the Erion Racing rider using a tire he wasn't particularly fond of. He was also a bit upset that the AHA didn't stop the race when it started raining. "We had a harder tire on there," Zemke said. "It was the only thing I could get to work earlier - yesterday and stuff. The softer tires I just couldn't get to work, and with the temperatures dropping, the one that I had, it wouldn't work as well. It started sprinklingon us about the sixth lap or so, well before halfway, and it started getting worse and worse and worse. I was going by start/finish line pointing at the sky. I was waiting for them to stop it. It was dangerous to be out there, and I'm really, really surprised the AHA didn't stop the race . I'm not quite sure what they were thinking. It was dangerous . The bikes are so fast. I think they clocked us doing IBO at the start/finish line, and we still have a long way to go to the first turn there, and we 're looking at a solid concrete wall. It's the same old thing. If they come to a track and say they're not going to race in the rain, why would they leave us out there on slicktires when it starts to rain?I just don't get it. I'm pretty upset with the whole situation." 199 Geoff May 5th Prieto Racing's Geoff Mayrecorded his best-ever AHA Superbike finish on Saturday, the Floridian racing hard to a fifth-place finish on his Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-RIOOO. "I got a pretty good start," Maysaid ,~III!!'~" whileworking on his own bikes under his small awning in a comer of the paddock. "But then somebody got all stupid up the inside, and I was forced back. Igot caught up behind [Larry] Pegram and [Steve]Crevier, and their bikes were reallyfast. I just stayed behind them and smoothed out and saved my tires. Then I dropped the hammer. I was set up to run good at the end because the chatter would go away with haifa tank of gas." 47 that impressed with his performance. " Eve ryt hing went pretty well ," Mladin said, postrace. "It was a little bit of an untidy race. I made a couple of little mistakes and stuff, but in the end it was okay. We got the win, but it wasn't tidy. It wasn't the way I want to do it." One of his few mistakes came on the 14th lap when he almost blew the chicane at the end of the back straight. "I got in there, and the clutch sort of jammed up a little bit; it was my mistake because I did it right the rest of the 27 laps, but that one lap it just went sideways on me on the way in," Mladin explained. "I braked and braked and got it around, got it around, and just before I had to complete the left, I was like, 'Whoa.' And I sort of jumped the inside of the curb there. It wasn't too bad. But, like I said before, it was an untidy race. From the start of the race, I picked up my helmet with the wrong visor on it, and I didn't realize until the start of the race that it had this really dark screen on it. Going into the first turn off the start, I thought, 'Jeez, this is going to be a long race because I can hardly see anything.' It was okay. It didn't really slow me down; it was Opie Cay lor 10th Empire Racing Suzuki's Opie Caylor finished 10th, despite crashing on the final lap - just as a steady rain started to fall. Luckily, Mat Mladin had already taken the checkered flag. '1"\t the start, it got real tight down in tum three, which is par for the course for this place" said Caylor. "I lost a few positions because a bunch of guys went bonzai-ing in there. I almost ran Shawn [Higbee] over when he crashed - I really had to check up. I really started to go after that, turning low 29s, then I thought, 'It's a 28-lap race, and obviously I'm not gonna win the thing.' Uohn] Haner started to come back to us pretty quick, then Clint [McBain] got around Haner, and I didn't get around him so quick because Haner is really good on the brakes . I finally got around Haner, then I was able to pass Clint. I tried to slow the pace down because I was actually starting to spin quite a bit. I think catching those guys took a toll on the tire . At the end, they had readied the checkered flag for [Mat] Mladin, and they showed it to me. But I assumed I had another lap, and I said, 'Hey, Igotta keep going, because Haner and McBain are still behind me.' Just to make sure, I was gonna put in one last decent lap. I just rolled through [turn] nine and lust started to get on the gas, and it slid, and I caught it, and Igot up on top of the bike, and I was like, 'I got it, Igot it,' but I was too far over the front tire , and it just kind of rolled over and slid. I jumped up to get going again, but obviouslythat didn't happen ." 41 Josh Hayes 2 1st Attack Kawasaki'sJosh Hayes had a fairlyeventful race on Saturday. For starters, he ran off the track in turn three right off the bat. '1"\fter that I was pretty much last," Hayes said. "I got up to about 12th, and I could see Opie [Caylor] and a few other guys. Then I got a little excited and got into a big swapper in the chicane, and it put the chain off. I had to pull over and put it on, and I lost a lap there." 714 Steve Crevier 6th Steve Crevier brought his DXS Diablo Suzukiteam down from Canada to get a little pre-Canadian Superb ike season testing in. And he turned that into a sixth-place finish in the first race . " I got off to a pretty jumpy start ," Crevier said. "We've been havinga few clutch problems , and I ended up moving over on my teammate Jeff [Williams], so I had to buy him dinner. I went through the first kink pretty good and had [Larry] Pegram up there behind the factory guys. I really got www.cyclenEWs.com Ca lifornia S peedway 21 turns/2,36 miles just a lot more focus, and I really had to pay attention to what was going on to make sure I hit the lines and stuff. It certainly wasn't the prettiest win, but it was a win nonetheless." Even when a mist turned into a light rain, Mladin kept up the pressure, not giving an inch to his rivals. "I saw just a really fine, fine mist about halfway through the race," Mladin said. "But really with five to go, it was getting to the point where it was hitting the screen and running up the screen . If somebody was right there pushing hard for the lead, it would have been a hairy fight for sure. I don't know how much it slowed the track down, but in the second race of an 18race season, you don't want to throw it tired pretty quick, and without makingexcuses, I had knee surgery 16 weeks ago, and I just haven't been riding. I was holding Pegram up a bit, and I ended up makinga mistake, and [Geoff] Maygot me and left me stone cold with three laps to go. I'm pleased with sixth, but I expect better for the next one. I'll be a little more refreshed. " 155 Ben Bostrom DNF American Honda's Ben Bostrom crashed out of the first Superbike National while catching up to his brother, Eric. Bostrom clipped the curb on the inside of tum two , failing to score points for the second race in a row. " I was paying attention to what was in front of me and not watching my own line:' Ben Bostrom said. "I think it was two other guys. It's called looking ahead, not lookingwhere you were going. We just started figuring something out. I realized something that they'd done to me down there that was costing half a second a lap. I was thinking, 'What the hell, am I that strong on the brakes?' And I realized, 'No - they put a couple of extra banners there, and I'm braking way early.' And as soon as I figured that out, we were like two laps right up on Eric, and I was like, 'Oh, we're going fast now.' I crashed one third into the race, but I was really praying for it to spray rain the whole time. I love that. I'm like, I wish it was spitting rain." 72 Larry Pegram 7th Privateer Yamahaman Pegram rode his RI to seventh in race one . "I screwed up at the end with lappers, and then it started raininga little too much for my liking:' Pegram said. "[Steve] Crevier's bike was really fast, and I caught lappers, and he got by,and then I caught more, and Maygot by. Then the rain came, and I wasn't prepared to go any harder in those conditions." 134 Marty Craggill 8th In his first outing on the Corona Extra Suzuki,Australian Many Craggill ended up eighth after battling with Crevier, Pegram and May early on. "I was going all right, and then it started to rain:' Craggill said. "I didn't want to falloff, and I got eighth." CYCLE NEWS • APRil 14 , 2004 17

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