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/128346
AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship his second time to VIR and his first race on Michelins. In the second race , Lanzi was running fourth when he dropped out with electrical problems. "I think we had a shot at the pod ium, but unfortunately a switch broke with six laps to go," Lanzi said. "It was good to race with Regis [Laconi) and Ben Bostrom." Laconi finished 5-5 on the day and was never really a factor. From the start, he wasn't comfortable with the short sessions and limited time on the bike and never felt entirely comfortable with the bike/tires/track combination. He left the track qukkly to fly to Italy for a te st on Tuesday (see Briefly ...). Mladin followed up his sixth in the first race with a fourth in race two, after be ing doc ked a stop-and-go penalty for jump ing the start. "I planned on going in that race . I had nothing to lose in that race," Mladin said. Attack Kawasaki's Josh Haye s had a 7-6 day afte r improving his tire choice in race two. Prieto Racing's Geoff May went 9-9 while sliding aro und in both races . Mike Smith rode his salvaged 2003 Suzuki GSX-RJOOO to IOth- and eighthplace finishes. Having ridden for the title in the first race, Mladin was ready to win the second . But the chance to win ended before it began. Blinded by the late afternoon sun, Mladin guessed on when the start light would go gree n. But he guessed wrong. Jumping 20 feet from his spot, he stopped, put his bike into neutral, and was rolling back when the light went gree n and the rest of the 33-rider field went blazing toward tum one (see Briefly...). Not only was he back in 14th, he was due for a stop and go, which he served on the third lap. He dropped from ninth on lap two to 24th on lap three. Then the fun began. Takingriders in packs, Mladin carved his way through the field with a series of fast laps before time ran 16 OCTOBER 20, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary out. As it was, he finishedfourth behind the same trio that took the podium in both races - Duhamel, Yates and Ben Bostrom. The order was the same but the racing was different. In the first race, which was restarted after Larry Pegram caused a red flag on lap two , it was Yatesand Lanzi to the front early on, with Mladin taking over second on the fourth lapand the lead on lapsix. He'd hold it until lap eight, when Duhamel came by with Yates into seco nd on lap nine. Zemke was already in trouble, drop ping from sixth on the 12th lap to 10th on the 13th before pitting for a tire . "I pulled in, the rear tire wasn't working so well. We threw another tire on there and I tried that for a few laps," Zem ke said. He lost a lap in the process then went back out before pulling in after completing 20 laps. "T he second tire was working much better, but came in. We just kind of sat down togethe r and kind of made the mutual decision that it prob ably wasn't a good idea for me to be out the re this weekend ," he said. Mladin dropped slightly back and was in th ird when he ran off the track on the 18th lap, dropp ing from third to sixth. "I just ran off at the end of the back straight," Mla said. "I just got in a little din too hot. These guys we re out front. I was just sitting there. Today it just wasn't worth trying to make the corner, no point trying to push the front that hard, so I just ran off." That put Bostrom in third, Lanzi in fourth , and Laco ni in fifth. Mladin too k back fifth, then lost it, but it didn't matter. He knew Zemke was out, and he knew the title was his. "It was a good season, o bviously. Whenever you can win a championship it's a good season," Mladin said. "Everybody in the team worked hard and Suzuki really stepped up in the end of the year when they