Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Spies (111 put together consistent 2-3 finishes for the two races. Combined with Mladin's II'oUbIe on Sunday, it moved him to a '"""' nine points behind MIaclin in the swies title race. Briefly..• Continued from page 35 So I'll probably give the lead up in the championship if that's the case, if it rains tomorrow and the next day, because we shouldn't be racing on this track in the rain." Mladin said there were... "just way too many surfaces with way too many sealer patches and all that sort of stuff. There's other racetracks that we don't race at in the rain, and if we don't race at a couple of the others, then we certainly shouldn't be racing here." Mladin pointed out that last year's races were delayed by rain and not run until the track partly dried. "I would certainly hope the same would [apply] this year, because nothing's changed, really," he said. The track did make changes to two areas, one of they just filled it up and put a cap on it and we went back out. The handlebar was bent right in and stuff like that. The bike was a bit of a mess, but it was all right, and we did 28s again right after that." Yates was in disbelief that he'd crashed in nearly the same spot, though the circumstances were a bit different. "It was a lot earlier in the tum," Yates said of his second crash in the Carousel. "Yesterday, it was kind of after the apex. This time we got in there, and Eric [Bostrom] got a bit wide, and I guess I tried tuming a little tighter to roll up the inside of him. I wasn't even really on the brakes or anything, and it felt like the rear stepped around. I'm not sure, it just happened fast. Unfortunately, I guess Mat followed me off in there, and he had to run off. I hate it, for him, the way it tumed out. It's just a bad deal." A bad deal for the Yosh team, but not a bad deal for Bostrom. With those two out of the race, he was able to focus entirely on the task at hand - winning his third race of the season. "It's exhilarating," Bostrom said. "I definitely had a little bit of help - what a crazy race! There were a lot of strange events, and that's kind of how this season has gone, with people dropping out, including me. The pace was pretty strong, and that's why Iwas so pumped today. Iwanted to win, but I was just so happy to be doing 26s that that was good enough for me. That was my goal going into the race. I figured if I left the race doing some 26s for a while, then no matter what place I finished, I'd be happy with it. Then the events unfolded. It would have been a really flOWing race except for the lappers. It just breaks it up. Every time we're in this press room, which hasn't been too much for me, we complain about this, and it's a shame because it does take something out of the racing. These guys were pushing hard, and that was everything I had. It's always an honor to beat Miguel Duhamel and the other boys. It's great to be back up here again. A big thanks to my crew for making it possible." Bostrom had gone with the same compound Dunlop tires as the day before, but some setup changes made them perform better. "The tires were really amazing to me," he said. "We went with the same tires as yesterday, because we changed some things this morning. The things were much better than this moming. I knew that was pretty much alii had, getting toward the end ofthe II laps [and the crash], it started spinning a lot more, but I figured, 'Hey, if I'm spinning, they're spinning.' I was curious as to what point Mladin or somebody like that might come by and set off, but then again it seems like once the tires do take a dive, it's hard for anybody to go fast." Bostrom won the race, with Duhamel second and Spies third. "I felt pretty good until you said, 'First podium in a year,''' Duhamel said after doing exactily that. "It feels great. We've been working hard, struggling a bit here and there, as everybody well knows. The bike was really good. It was pretty decent yesterday besides the front-end problem we had a bit. Today we corrected that. We had a little bit of... the bike was just solid. I really felt I could slowly bring myself up to the leaders. I got behind Jake [Zemke], and I think he had a problem, and then Ben seemed to be struggling, too, but I was struggling to get by him. Finally I got by him; he went wide in the Keyhole [and] I got inside. Just tried to put my head down and get some good laps, crack down in the 27s a bit." Behind Duhamel came Spies - another podium for the youngster in his rookie season of Superbike racing. Still, he's not completely satisfied, as he continues to struggle with getting the GSX-R I000 set up the way he'd like it. "We were going in a good direction," Spies said. "I think we made a couple of wrong choices for the race. I'm blaming nobody but myself. It's the whole first-year thing. The bike is an awesome bike. I know the potential that it has, and I can feel the potential that it has. I know what it should do, but we can't get it to where I'm comfortable yet. It's not a matter of running someone's setup... we just have to put some more laps in and do littie bitty changes and just a couple of clicks here and there, and it could be right on. I feel bad for my team. I'm kind of letting them down in the setup department, but I don't have much knowledge. As soon as I can get the bike where I'm comfortable with it, we'll be fighting at the front." Hodgson was an ever-improving fourth, and Erion Honda's Roberts had his best outing of the season in fifth. The Michael Jordan Motorsports pairing of Rapp and Pridmore ended up seventh and eighth, respectively. Uon Racing's Holden finished eighth, with Yates, fortunate enough to have not suffered any bike damage in his crash, remounting to finish ninth. Larry Pegram rode his Hotbodies Racing Honda to 10th, despite an off-track excursion early in the race. Attack Kawasaki's Hayes dropped out of sixth on the 20th lap with mechanical problems. eN MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR CouRsE WoNGroN, OHIO Ibsuus: JULY 23-24, 2005 (ROUNDS 12-13) SUPERBIKE QUAUFYlNG, I. Mat Mladm (1,26.058); 2. AMoo Vates (1;26.541); 3. Ben sp;es (1;26.603); 4. Jake Zemke (1;26.717); 5. Miguel Duhamel (1;26.789); 6. Eric Ilo>trom (I ;26.910); 7. Nell Hodgson (I ,27.759); 8.J"'" Hayes (1;28.420); 9. jacob Holden (1;28.449); 10. l=y Pegram (1;28.494); II. Many c:r.gg;1I (1;28.748); 12. Kum. Robens (1;28.952); 13. Steve Raw (1;29.013); 14. John H..,.,(1;29.102); 15. Jason Pridmoggill (5uz); I I.l=y PegrMn (Han); 12. Jeremy Toye (Han); 13. Scott Jensen (Suz); 14. Lee hree (SUI); IS. Jason perez (y",,); 16. Brent Geocge (Suz); 17. Eric Wood (Suz); 18. 5t... Raw (Suz); 19. CoI'y Dentan We>< (5uz); 20. Matt Lynn (Suz); 21. Jason Cum. (Suz); 22. Heath Small (y",,); 23. Dean M~doJ (Suz); 24. Brian Stokes (y",,); 25. Jomes Keri<..- (Han); 26. Doug Duane (Suz); 27. Davkl Weber (Suz); 28. Da~d Bel (Suz); 29. 5t... Scott (y""); 30. CR GItt.... (5uz); 31. Scott Caggill (Suz); 12. Jeremy Toye (Han); 13. CoI'y Dentan West (Suz); 14. Lee ~ (Suz); 15. Scott Jensen (Suz); 16. Eric Wood (Suz); 17. Davkl Webec (Suz); 18. Tony Meiring (Suz); 19. Jimmy Moono (Suz); 20. J.J. Roedln (Suz); 21. Jason Pere, (Suz); 22. J""" Cum. (Suz); 23. Doug Duane (Suz); 24. Brian Stokes (y",,); 25. Jomes Keri<..(Suz); 26. Dean M~doJ (Suz); 27. Davkl Bel (Suz); 28. Scott Cacpenter (Suz); 29. CR GItt.... (Suz); 30. Mat M~dln (So,); 31. Anthony Fanla J' (Suz); 32. Steve Scott (Suz). Tme: 38 min., 09.380 sec. Distance: 26 laps, 62.4 mites Average speed: 98.123 mph Margin of victory: 3.084 sec. AHA SUPERBIKE C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 13 of 17 rounds), I. Mat Mladln (397/8 wins); 2. Ben sp;es (388/1 win); 3. Eric Ilo>trom (334/3 wins); 4. AMoo Yates (316); 5. Neil Hodgson (302/1 win); 6. Miguel Duhamel (288); 7. Many Cr.>ggill (247); B. (TlE) 5t... RaWlee ~ (226); IO.l=y Pegram (219); II. Jake Zemke (212); 12. J"'" Hayes (203); 13. Eric Wood (185); 14. Scott Jensen (175); 15. Kum. Roberts (I 73). UPCOMING ROUNDS Rounds 14·15: Axlon, Virginio, Augusl23-24 Rounds 16-17: Brasellon, Georgia, September 3-4 which had troubled riders for some time. But the changes were made to the wrong part of at least one tlIm, Mladin said. "The improvements are in a spot -I don't want to harp on it, because I'm glad that they made some improvements - but the improvements... haven't been made in the right area of the comer. It's far too late where the wall's been moved back or started to move back. Certainly at the bottom of the hill, towards tum eight, there's quite a lot of run·off room. But I know, for me, that's certainly not an area of impact. The wall needed to be moved back a lot earlier than that. And, yeah, they've moved the wall on the ex~ of the double right before you come back this Wirf, which has certainly helped out there. But I know in testing last year, where Jamie Hacking broke his shoulder or collarbone, was aetually the middle of the right, he h~ that walt after jumping off the curb there." What bothered Mladin about the changes was that the top riders weren't consulted. "It comes back to the same thing," he said. "Some of the top guys who really care about track safety and other peopte's safety are not asked about making the impra;ements that need to be made. Because I know the whole year, I haven't been spoken to about any." Mladin was consulted on two racetracks not on the AMA calendar. New Hampshire International Speedway, which hopes to rejoin the championship; and the Miller Motorspor13 Park outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, which hopes to be on the 2006 schedule. T<>rn!f1tial rains early Friday morning doused the track and soaked the ground. As late as 2: I0 p.m., when the Superbikes began to qualify, there was still water seeping up through cracks in the track. Making matt~ worse was that the seepages were in highspeed areas. That prevented Mladin from matching the lap record on Friday. His best of I:26.670, done halfway into the SO-minute session and not challenged until the very end, was short ofJake Zemke's qualifying record of I:26.375 from last year. 'l>\ctuaIly, it dried up a lot, but there were certainly a couple of spots that certainly got your attention," Mladin said, "like coming onto the straight here, on the very side of the tire, there's a big crack in the track with water coming out of it. And then in the middle of the kink on the back straight, wide open in top gear, there's a big round thing of wet weather out there - certainly not real nice. A couple of spots where you have to be a little b~ careful." Although Mladin was steadfast in saying that he wouldn't race in me rain, the other riders were less so. "I think it's pretty sketchy because there are so many variations on the surface," Aaron Yates said. "It would be really hard to try and go out there and be consistent or go too well. It's tough. It's tough enough in the dry. The surface changes so much in the tums, ~ would be pretty hard to go out there and do a 2S-1ap race without throwing the thing aWirf·" Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies and Jake Zemke had a dose call In tum one of Saturday's Superbike National, when the two made contact. "I think you can pull some Dunlop rubber off these leathers, maybe," Zemke said later. "It was dose for sure, it Continued on page 41 CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 3, 2005 37

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