Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin earned the 42nd pole of his career, fifth in a row this year, and third career at PPIR. But none of those have propelled him to victory. "I've sucked in the races here," Mladin said of the one track where he's never won. "I've finished that lap, they had the meatball flag out and the 17," Duhamel said. "I've never seen them react that quickly in my entire life about nothing." AMA road race manager Ron Barrick didn't see the video but said the grid official saw that Duhamel crept over the line. "There wasn't any doubt in their minds," Barrick said. Not long after, Hodgson was slipping around, his bike leaking enough to draw the attention of AMA officials. He pitted on the ninth lap and lost five laps while repairs were made. Out front, Bostrom was oblivious. He was at home and running away. The lead peaked at 3.596 seconds on the 13th lap before gradually diminishing. "I think I got a great start and jumped out there and was doing good lap times and low 55s, and I thought, 'Okay, I'll do this for as long as I can: and I did:' Bostrom said. ''And it seemed like the gap was opening up, and I thought 'Okay, now my bike's sliding around quite a bit, everyone else is going to start going backwards, too.' Aaron [Yates] didn't. He just kept coming. I was doing high 55s, high to mid. And he was doing low 55s, and I was like 'Wow, I'm in big trouble here. He's coming fast.''' Yates cut the lead below one second on the 25th lap. The race was on. For the next nine laps he probed, finally finding an opening on the 35th lap as they came onto the front straight. Yates led the next 12 laps, though never by much - by less than half a second for the three laps leading up to the white flag. Bostrom watched Yates break the rear tire loose as he went into the final turn before the white flag, "and it gave me just the right chance to kind of get the bike upright on the middle of the tire," Bostrom said. The infield was Yates' strength, especially the right-hand horseshoe, the only true right-hander on the course. Bostrom knew he had to protect the line on the final lap, "so I did kind of have to close his line:' Bostrom said. "I apologize for that. But, man, I wanted this so bad." Yates thought he was going to win the last two laps. On the final lap, he spun heading up to the turn-four right. "Run up in there and kind of blocked me out," Yates said. '~nd he kind of went straight to the inside; for the next turn, I had to breathe it a little bit. I've been pretty strong in getting into that turn, the right-hander, and I guess he figured that out running behind me." 5pies was the most patient rider on the track. This was never going to be one of his better races, but he took what the track would give him. When Zemke's tire began to go on the 36th lap, 5pies moved into third. "To be on the podium every race this year except for one isn't bad for me," 5pies said after finishing 23 seconds behind the winner. "I just didn't have anything for Eric [Bostrom] today. I think he can win on a scooter around this place." Mladin fell from fourth to 10th with his tire change. Then came the recovery, all the way back to fourth. "I got off the start really bad, and by the time I got through behind Aaron [Yates], Eric [Bostrom] was already three or four in front," Mladin said. "But again, it's just we struggle at this racetrack." made more pit stops here [including in last year's race] than I've made at Daytona." The problem is the preponderance of lefthanded corners and the 48 laps that conspire to burn up the dual-compound tires. To improve tire life, Mladin and his crew tried a radically different setup. '~you all know, I was pretty keen on trying to do better here, and the setup is aggressively different to what I normally run, and the bike doesn't feel very nice to me," he said. "But the tire's running a lot cooler, and that's what we have to do, so that's what we have to do." Mladin added, "The bike's capable of going a lot faster than that, but not for 48 laps." And it wasn't record fast for one lap. Jake Zemke's 2004 pole time of 53.775 was never in doubt. Mladin's best was a lap of 54.433. Tire choice was simple. Dunlop brought three, but everyone chose the hardest. "Go with the hardest one that's running the coolest, that's what we'll be racing on," Mladin said. "It's a hard one around here because things get greasy from about lap three. So for about 45 laps, it's pretty greasy. It's the same for everybody. Just hang in there and try to be there at the end, which I haven't managed to do for about 10 years around this place." AMA Superbike road race manager Ron Barrick addressed the problems of lapped riders during Saturday's riders' meeting at PPIR. Last year, Eric Bostrom lapped all but the top six riders. The next 13 were lapped once, six were lapped twice, and one rider, Keith Hanson, was lapped three times. Barrick said that if a rider was lapped twice, or in danger of being lapped twice at a critical point, they'd consider bring him in. "If you're lapped once, if you're going to be lapped twice it should be time to come in," Mladin, who didn't attend the riders' meeting, said. "But you know, the lapped riders are lapped riders, and they're there, and we've got to deal with them, and that's the way it goes. To me, it just seems strange that Cliff Nobles to help in the search for an AMA ride next year. Nobles, who manages Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates, will share the worldwide work load with Hodgson's longtime manager, Roger Burnett. "Not that I've got two managers, but Cliff's going to try and help and work and see what deals are around and be my eyes and ears over here," Hodgson said. Hodgson was introduced to Nobles at the Las Vegas Supercross two weeks ago. "Roger's [Burnett] still my European man, eyes and ears. That's basically how it's going to work, really. I've spoken to Roger, and there's no problems. Roger [who's been Hodgson's manager since 1992] wants the best for me, my best interest." Hodgson said Nobles' task is "to exhaust every opportunity over here and see what's going on, what opportunities there are, what's about so come two months from now; I'll have more information to make a good decision. Around Laguna time [July 10], I should be able to say, 'I've got them offers; they're good offers in World Superbikes. I've got them offers; they're good offers over here.' I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket. With Roger being in England, he knows people over there; it's not as easy, and if someone's here - like, Cliff's here at most of the events, and people know him." PPIR was the first track Hodgson hadn't previously seen. One word seemed to sum it up. "It's weird - obviously, it is a weird track," he said after his first hour of practice when he placed II tho "The infield bit's pretty straightforward and the lap time all comes from getting onto the start and finish straight to going into turn three, which is obviously one long corner really, isn't it? Yeah, it's weird, it's weird." Mallory Park, in England, has a shorter lap time, but it's a totally different track. And they don't run Ioo-kilometer races. "'t's short, it's actually a shorter lap time than this, but it's still nothing like this. Because it's just such a one long corner, then that's nearly all the lap, isn't it? It isn't far off from doing oval racing." The morning hour was a busy one. ''I'm trying to learn the track, get comfortable, be critical of the setting, try three dif- there's guys out there that are out there and ferent rear tires, try a front tire: It is a lot they don't mind being lapped twice. I'd be embarrassed. The fact that they're out there, we all have to deal with them, and that's the way it goes. If that's the way the AMA have put it, then that's the way it is. If they cut the purse down to the top 12, we'd have a lot less people out there." to ask," he said, "So I beat myself up, then I thought, 'No don't beat yourself up.''' Hodgson improved from his morning I Ith to finish the day on the front row, fourth in Superbike qualifying. "Normally, I'm Mr. Race, but I really want to be on the front row because it's so difficult to pass here," he said. "I was really pleased because after Ducati Austin had some of the coolest fuel in the paddock. "We have to cool it down," Gary Medley, Eric Bostrom's crew chief, said of the freezer behind the pit lane pop-up, where they keep the race gas. "It keeps the engine cooler, it keeps the fuel tanks cooler." Medley said the elevation of PPIR made it necessary. less than the ambient tempera- ture of 90 degrees. Ducati Austin's Neil Hodgson took a step toward staying in the U.S. for 2006. The fonmer World Superbike Champion retained this morning, I was a bit worried because I realized I was going to need more time to learn the place. It's easy to learn, but to understand, I didn't feel comfortable at all. I had a good session really. We made some sessions and just improved and improved. and at the end, we put a softer race tire in." Being in the front means that with a good start, he'll be able to watch the leaders, "because I'm going to be needing to follow around here more than most tracks I've been to so far." Continued on page 27 CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 1,2005 2S

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