Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

strong second for his first podium of the season and his first since he won both races at the season-ending Virginia International Raceway event in 2004. If they gave away overall victories at the Superbike doubleheaders, it would go to Bostrom, the Ducati rider going 3-1 over the two days for a haul of 66 points. That's five more points than Spies scored, the Texan having also finished on the podium both times out to earn 61 points over the course of the weekend. While Sunday's race was a disaster for Mladin, Saturday was completely different, as the Australian proved that his loss at Laguna Seca was just a hiccup. On Saturday he was dominant, beating Spies by almost 12 seconds for what was his 40th career victory and Suzuki's 7Sth in AMA Superbike racing. In that one, Mladin took off from the start and was never headed, lapping at least a half-second quicker per lap until he was comfortably out front. From there, it was a cruise to that aforementioned 37-point lead. "It was a good race for us," Mladin said on Saturday afternoon. "This morning, the bike felt amazing, and the lap times we did this morning and in qualifying were on the harder race tire. I knew we had a good bike. Even yesterday morning, in the first session, I felt the bike was the best I've ever had here. I felt reasonably comfortable on the track, so we were pretty confident that we could have a good race, but getting a good race was important so we wouldn't get caught up in somebody else's pace. We got a good start and put our heads down and jumped down to so-low 26s and got a bit of a gap, got it out to about six, 6 1/2 seconds. Then Aaron [Yates] went out, and then it was about 10 seconds, and we just held it there for the rest of the race. We're still struggling a little bit with a mystery illness on the motorbike, and it showed up a little bit in the race. Fortunately, [it was] not as bad as what we've seen before, and it didn't hamper us too much - but it's certainly something that's always in the back of your mind." Behind him, it was Spies taking the runner-up spot, some three seconds clear of Bostrom. Both of them had taken advantage of the first of two Yates miscues on the weekend - in the same corner. With second place seemingly in the bag, Yates crashed in the Carousel on Saturday - a simple frontend lowside that knocked him out of the race. That helped Spies' and Bostrom's cause, putting them second and third, respectively. "Hitting Jake [Zemke] kinds of stands out," Spies said of his one on-track incident on Saturday. "We've been struggling with some stuff all year long, but it seems like we're going in a better direction. We made a wrong front-tire choice, for sure, and the bike was really good for the first 10 laps, and then I had to struggle for the rest of the race. The team is working good, and the bike is getting better and better. Hopefully, we can get the right tire choice tomorrow and be a little closer to the front." Bostrom knew he'd sort of lucked into third place when Yates threw it down the road, but he'd take it. "I kind of lucked into this one, but Iguess that's the way it goes sometimes," Bostrom said. "It's good to be here, and I'll take it. The race pace, Mat's [Mladin] race pace, was really impressive, especially with the heat in the track. I thought we'd see some high 26s, low 27s, but it seems Mat went past that. That's pretty quick. Things for me were a little bit strange. I didn't have the bike I thought I was going to have in the race, but it was a pretty good bike. The lap times were a little bit of a disappointment; I wanted to be a little bit quicker, but that being said, I think the extra heat in the track just slowed the track down a little bit. These guys were on it. Going to the race, I got a real good start and was up there where I wanted to be, follOWing these guys. There's not too much to tell. Ben [Spies] came around me, and I was able to follow his pace, and he took me back up to Jake [Zemke]." Duhamel, meanwhile, battled front-endgrip woes to finish fourth, barely besting Neil Hodgson and his Ducati Austin, the Mid-Ohio first-timer struggling to find his form on a track that rewards those who have cut their teeth here. Duhamel's teammate Jake Zemke had a miserable weekend. And it started early in Saturday's race. On the start of the ninth lap, he went from third to fifth, thanks to a bit of bump-and-run by Spies in turn one. "Jake [Zemke] was spinning everywhere, and I really wanted to get around him," Spies explained of the get-together. "I got up to him coming into one, and I didn't think I was going to be able to make the pass, but I was there, so I was going to show him a wheel. He went in pretty hot, and I went in wherever he did. I started tipping it in, and I was pretty much behind and the bike went sideways. It got to about full lock, and there's nothing you can do. You can't brake hard, because it will keep coming around. The bike was pretty much on a path to go straight to him, and I couldn't do anything about it. I tried to keep it leaned over so at least when we hit, it wouldn't take us off track. I did as best as I could. I apologize for hitting him, but it wasn't one of those things where Iwas going in there to hit him. I got sideways and couldn't stop." Zemke's race would end shortly thereafter, his Honda "cutting out" on him on the 13th lap, forcing him to pit (see My Own Race). The following day would see more misery for the Honda rider, and he would end up with his second none-scoring doubleheader weekend of the season. With the finishing order appearing to be set, Yates went down in the Carousel, ruining what certainly appeared to be a shoo-in second place. "The front just slid out without any warning at all:' Yates said. "The tire was getting a bit greasy, and I guess I should have eased up a little. I just went through there the same as my laps before. Right at the apex... it didn't give me a chance to hold it up or anything. It was going really good. I got held up behind Jake [Zemke] at the start. It would have been nice to be a little closer to him [Mladin], but we'll make some small adjustments, I guess. I'd like to find a half a second somewhere." Duhamel barely bested Hodgson by.04I of a second for fifth, and Attack Kawasaki's Josh Hayes finished a lonely sixth. Kurtis Roberts, Jason Pridmore, Jacob Holden and Marty Craggill would fill out the top 10 positions. So Saturday ended with Mladin flying high. But what a difference a day makes. The follOwing day, it was the exact opposite, with Yates' miscue costing his teammate dearly. "I could have tried to keep turning the corner, but I would have crashed, and I would have crashed right into him," Mladin explained of the incident on the 12th lap. "I just tried to miss him. That's racing; that's why I keep trying to get the [points] lead. The cap was missing off the reservoir [brake], and all the fluid was gone, so I figured it was best to come in rather than ride like that. The brake was still working, so Briefly... Mat Mladin set the tone early in Superbike qualifying, and this race was his to lose. The AustraJian lapped under Jake Zemke's lap record on Saturday morning, tuming a I:25.058 to best Zemke's I:26.37S from last year The pole was Mladin's seventh of the season, keeping him perfect in Superbike qualifying thus far. It was also the 44th AHA Superbike pole position of his career. If his rivals needed any more discouragemen~ it came in the post-qualifying press conference, when Mladin said the bike was as good as it's been all season long. "It was a good session for us," Mladin said. We just didn't make any changes to the bike last night. The bike felt neally good; we just didn't qUite get in the groove yesterday. Today we got in a good groove. The bike just feels awesome - the best the bike has ever felt on a racetrack this year. For me to be able to feel like that is good, becaUse the different pavement changes and this and that certainly make it a little bit harder. I feel neally comfortable, and Dunlop did a gneat job with the tires here. I tried a couple of different race tires in that session and put in some good laps. We're ready to go." For the third time this season, the Yoshimura Suzukis qualified one-two-three, with Mladin's teammates Aaron Yates and Ben Spies second and third, respectively, on their GSX-Rs. Yates's best lap came right at the end of the Saturday session, and it eclipsed Spies' best. "I feel good," Yates said. "It's going good. We've come up with some good settings with the GSX-Rs, and they're getting around here good. The two bikes [his Superbike and Superstock GSXRIOOOs] are so different,linkages and forks and stuff, but I guess we've got it narrowed down to what we'll race. We were pretty consistent there (or a few laps. We put a softer tire on the rear and made a couple of adjustments to the rear, but it was a little stiff in the rear and pushing the front, so it was a little sketchy in a few areas. But it was good enough for second, and we're on the front row. It was pretty decent. We had perfect grip on the rear, but it was pushing around a little bit - too high in the rear and too low in the front The thing is skipping and bouncing in a few bits, and that takes a few tenths off when you're cautious in those areas." Yates was asked if he was capable of making it a race with Mladin, especially since Mid-Ohio is one of his favorite tracks. "I don't know," Yates said. "I've seen he [Mladin1has done some prefty quick times. I don't know what he's got for tires, but I'm working up there to it, and hopefully we can get close to him. Mid-Ohio is a lot of fun. It just takes a little between the two bikes to get adjusted to. There's such a different feel between the Superstock and the Superbike, so it's almost like a different track out there between the two, but it's always been good fun." Spies ended up third on the grid, though he's still suffering the front-end blues with his GSX-RIOOO. "It wasn't anything speciaJ," Spies said of his quick lap, a I :26.602. "We just put on some new tires and went as quick as we could. It wasn't as good as what we wanted, but it's the front row. We've been making some headway with the bike. The whole year we've been struggling with the front end a little bit. It [the bike's progress] is not going as fast as I'd like it to. but it's getting better Hopefully, by the next couple of races we'll be fighting for the win, if not today. It's never perfect. It's still struggling right now with the front-end feel and stuff like that. I'm just not feeling it right now. We're making headway, and we'll keep going in that direction." If either one or both of the Superbike races were run in the rain at Mid-Ohio, they'd do so without Mat Miadin, the Australian making it perfectly clear that he thought the track was unsafe for racing in the rain. And he was prepared to put his money where his mouth was, saying he'd definitely not take to the track in the rain. "From what I understand, they say we're going to be racing here in the rain," Mladin said on Friday. ''That's a neal shame, because I won't be riding. Continued on page 37 CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 3, 2005 3S

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