Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

5. Ni~k~'H~~d;~~'#69'" Age: 18 Hometown: Owensboro, Kentucky Team: American Honda Best result in 1999: First (in 600cc Supersport at Phoenix, Sears Point, Road Atlanta Loudon and Mid-Ohio) , Ranking in 1999: AMA 600cc Supersport Champion the ability to win, but ~h:e~h~a:s:n~'~t-~~::::::::::::=--:-----------------------------.. shown that he can put together a consistent enough season to challenge for the crown. He will fare better this year than last because he's been reunited with Suzuki, a team with which he is familiar and comfortable. Last year's switch to Muzzy Kawasaki proved to be a mistake - for both parties. For his sake, we hope he rebounds in 2000. Although Yates is still young, we all know that patience isn't much of a virtue for factory teams. Yates needs to step to the plate and prove that he's the kind of rider who can bring a manufacturer a superbike crown. 7 . L~~r~'p~~;~~'~'i;i2"" his kid is the real deal. Make no mistake about it. Think back to Pikes Peak, the final AMA Superbike round of the season, where Hayden is thrown into the fire on an RC45. He responds, racing for the lead with the likes of Doug Chandler, Pascal Picotte and Mat Mladin. T He almost won. But more Age: 28 Hometown: Baltimore, Ohio Team: Competition Accessories Ducati Best result in 1999: First (Willow Springs) Overall ranking in 1999: 5th in AMA Superbike ChampIonship impor~ tantly, he learned. He watched Chandler and he knew that while he was going sideways and burning up his rear tire in the fast left-hander, Chandler wasn't. Chandler ultimately had more left at the end of the race and that was the difference: old age and guile vs. youth and enthusiasm, with old age winning out. But Hayden is old beyond his years when it comes to riding a motorcycle. He doesn't make the same mistake twice and the next time he's racing for the lead in an AMA Superbike race, you know he'll be thinking of his rear tire much more than he was that day in Colorado. I believe Hayden will win an AMA Superbike race this season. I just don't believe he will be consistent enough in his first full season to battle for the title, though he is very capable of proving me wrong. 6. A~;~~'y~'i~'-"i20"'''' Age: 26 Hometown: Milledgeville, Georgia Team: Yoshimura Suzuki Best result in 1999: Fourth (Sears Point, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta) Overall ranking in 1999: 8th in AMA Superbike Championship t is very easy to dismiss Larry I Pegram as a non-factor until you look at his results. Last year, Pegram finished each and every race on the Fast By Ferracci Ducati. And along the way he won his first AMA Superbike National at Willow Springs, a win many credited to the fact that he was using Michelin tires. So if he only won at Willow because he was using Michelins, did he lose at all the other places because he wasn't using Dunlops? I think both statements are a bit naive. Pegram goes into the 2000 season with a new team, Competition Accessories, but with the same bike - a Ducati. He will also have the same Dunlop tires as everyone else, making that a non-issue for the coming season. Pegram will be interesting to watch in 2000. He goes into the season with lofty goals - now we just have to see if he can achieve those goals. He will be aided in the fact that Eraldo Ferracci will build his Ducati's motors, and that his former dirt track tuner, Skip Eaken, will maintain them and his bikes at the racetrack. D Age: 28 Hometown: Spartanburg, South Carolina Team: Yamaha Best result in 1999: 3rd (Willow Springs, Road Atlanta, Road America) Overall ranking in 1999: 9th in AMA Superbike National Championship ever, I still have my doubts. What I have seen is speed in small doses, and mistakes in larger ones. Still, the jury is out on Rapp, and his will be an interesting season to observe. He is on the right team and he has the right bike, now it's just up to him. One person who could throw a wrench into all of this is Kurtis Roberts. The young Califomian is expected to get a crack at a superbike five times in the coming season. If some of those rides come at rounds in which there is a doubleheader, Roberts could come away with a big chunk of championship points and he could easily end up somewhere in the top 10. Age: 22 Hometown: Owensboro, Ken· tucky Team: Yamaha Best result in 1999: First (in 600cc Supers port at Willow Springs, Laguna Seca [twice)) Ranking in 1999: 2nd in AMA 600cc Supersport Championship he only reason Jamie Hacking is this low in my pre-season predic"tions is because he crashes too much. Plain and simple. If pure speed were all that mattered, Hacking would be close to, or at, the top of the points table at the end of the year. But he crashes often, and he crashes spectacularly - and he can't continue to do that and still perform at the highest level week in and week out. Admittedly, Hacking's crashes aren't always in the races themselves, but whenever he does crash it can't help but put him and his team behind the eight ball over the course of the race weekend. Stuff gets wrecked and stuff has to be fixed. It takes time, not to mention wear and tear on Hacking's body. If Hacking suddenly loses his uncanny ability to fall off, he could be a contender. But first of all, he has to prove that he can do that. T 9. J~~~"P;id~~;~"""" 8. J~~'i~H~~ki~~'"'''''' espite the fact that it seems like he's been around for ages, Aaron Yates is still an unknown quantity. He still has 10 :T~~;;;y'H~~d~~"" Age: 30 Hometown: Ventura, California Team: Yoshimura Suzuki Best result in 1999: 3rd (MidOhio) Overall ranking in 1999: 6th in AMA Superbike National Championship I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE Once again, I wasn't the only one who failed in successfully picking the series champion last year. Henny Ray Abrams has a better overall record than I do since he came onboard as a fearless predictor of this championship, but over the past two seasons he has failed miserably. In 1998, he picked Mike Hale to be champion. In 1999, he chose Eric Bostrom. Now his two-season win streak from 1996-1997 is nothing but a fading memory. Abrams' picks for 2000 are listed below. ommy Hayden raced a Superbike for Rob Muzzy in 1997 and 1998, but never with the confidence or bravado with which he raced his Yamaha R6 in last year's AMA 600cc Supersport Series. Hayden and his younger brother Nicky battled for the title all year, and Tommy T had some races where he was simply unbeatable. Now we have to wait and see if he can carry that pure speed over to the R7 and to slick racing tires. I expect him to start slowly, but I also anticipate that he'll find success on the Superbike by mid-season. When he does, he will be a factor. THEY KNOW IT ALL Last year we presented the opportunity for the riders themselves to have a crack at picking a top 10. They did so and when the votes were tallied up they proved that they knew what they were talking about. They picked Mat Mladin to win the title last year. And he did, making them smarter than us (like that's difficult). This year we again gave the riders a list of 14 to choose from. Kurtis Roberts was left off the list because he isn't going to be a full-time Superbike rider in 2000, and Larry Pegram didn't get to fill out a form because he wasn't at the tire test at Daytona in December - and that's where the forms were filled out. He was, however, on the list. Two riders didn't want to take part in picking the top 10 - Troy Bayliss because he didn't feel that he knew his competition well enough to make intelligent decisions, and one other factory rider because he chooses annually not to take part. The riders' picks for the top lOin the coming season are also listed below. eN WILDCARDS As always, there are some quality riders who aren't in my top 10. Leading the way is Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom, the one person I really struggled with when making my picks. Bostrom stormed onto the scene in 1998 instantly winning AMA Super: bike races despite his inexperience. In 1999, he got some experience but it wasn't good. J ason Pridmore is at the putup or shut-up stage of his career. While he has shown that he has the speed to compete in every class in which he's ridden he's also had a lot of bad luck along the way. Without a doubt one of the nicest guys in AMA racing, Pridmore needs to step it up this season to show that he's worthy of having a factory ride. I believe he will. Pridmore returns for another stint on the Yoshjmura Suzuki GSX-R750 Superbike and he'll also face the uphill battle of trying to contend in the 600cc Supers port class on a GSXR600. His teammate Mladin has proven that th~ Suzuki Superbike is capable of running at the front at every race track on the AMA schedule, now Pridmore needs to follow in his footsteps. If he races like he did at Mid-Ohio last year, he'll finish higher than this in the overall standings. He found himself on the ground for the first time and that, coupled with seeing his brother Ben injured during pre-season testing, hurt his confidence. If he gets that back, there's no question that he can win again. A change of scenery should do him some good at this stage of his career, and he's fortunate to have former DuHamel tuner AI Ludington helping him find his way with the Kawasaki. If anyone is going to make me look worse than I already do, this is the pairing that could do that. The others left in the wake are Harley-Davidson's Pascal Picotte and Scott Russell. Picotte deserves to be in the top 10, Russell. .. well, based on a lackluster 1999, who knows what to expect from the former AMA and World Superbike Champion. Picotte could bust into the top 10 - well into the top 10 - if the Harley shows any kind of consistency at all. So far it hasn't and that's why we've put him where we have. And then there is Vance £, Hines' Steve Rapp. Some truly believe that Rapp can be a champion (among them, Terry Vance - obviously). So far, how- cue I e n _ Henny Roy Abfams Cycl£ NeUJS Contributor 1. Miguel DuHamel 2. Troy Bayliss 3. Mat Mladin 4. Doug Chandler 5. Aaron Yates 6. Nicky Hayden 7. Eric Bostrom 8. Tommy Hayden 9. Larry Pegram 10. Jason Pridmore The Racers' T'!P HI!-_ _ I. Doug Chandler 2. Mat Mladin 3. Miguel DuHamel 4. Troy Bayliss 5. Nicky Hayden 6. Aaron Yates 7. Jamie Hacking 8. Jason Pridmore 9. Tommy Hayden 10. Eric Bostrom vv s MARCH 1. 2000 19

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