Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Presented " Ii ED didn 't work , and he was sl owed to fifth . He sta nds fourth in points. Thi rd o n Sunda y was Yoshimura S u zu ki ' s Aaro n Yates . Yates had g o tten a b a d t ire o n S a turda y a nd s tru gg led t o e igh th place , o ne b eh in d Van c e £, H ines Du c a ti ' s n ew e s t re c ruit , J ohn Koci ns k i, wh o h e h ad to fend off for mu ch of S un d a y' s race . Koc insk i w a s st r uggl ing with a numb er o f issu es , n in e month s of in a ct ivity , a new machine whic h he had no s et -up info rmation o n, and the switch to Dunl op tire s a fte r a career spent mostly on Michelins . He was e ncoura ged b y h is imp ro vement o n Sunday. "I wa s right there ," Kocins ki sai d afte r c hasing th e Suzu ki GSXR -750 to the finish . Asked if h e th o u gh t th e Suzuk i was fas ter than his Duc ati , Koc in sk i sa id , "I thin k th at th e y 're v ery n imble , a n d th e y stee r reall y we ll. S o th e gu y's a ble to get o n th e throttl e rea lly early , set up th e driv e e a rly, so they look fast. Personally , I think m y bike is faste r, but we've ju st got to be a ble to g et the power to th e g round . The y've go t some things th at they ne ed to wo rk o n. Like I said , I fee l good and I'm looking fo rwa rd to the next race." RACE 1 On e look at qua lifying tim es , both the fa s test and the averag e , poi nted to a do mina nt pe rfor ma nc e by Mladin . He did n't disappoi nt. J ettin g to the fro nt from h is first pole pos ition of th e yea r, Mla din took c o m m a nd a n d c o ntro lle d t he pa c e , ru nning a s fast as he ne eded , when he ne eded , s lowe d onl y by traffic . "The first s ix or e ight laps , we put o u r h ead dow n a nd essen tially g ot out to a bo ut s even seconds b y lap 10 and th en pretty mu ch held it there, " Mlad in s ai d. "J u st ran so me m id fives a nd the n got into a bit of tra ffic a nd ran a couple of high s ixes. I re a lly wasn't that aggressive through traffic , b e cau s e I s ort of di d n 't ne ed to be , and the g uys closed it bac k up to five seco nds or so , p robabl y a bout eig ht laps from the end. So I put m y he a d dow n and ran a fe w m ore high fou rs and go t it ba c k do wn to about seven and sort of he ld it there . Pretty uneventfu l, rea lly." Mladin said his machine was s imi la r to the o ne h e used through last year's struggles h e re , only with a m uch better mot or. "We ' v e a lways s t r ug gle d fo r s pe e d," h e s a id . "I rem em ber la st y e a r, Anthony [G o b er t] a nd Be n [Bostrom] , you just couldn 't keep up wi th them [o n their Van c e £, Hin e s Duc a tis .] It was impossible . And t his year, fortunate ly, we've got one of the faste r bikes." Second pla ce was th e pr ovinc e of t hree d iff e rent r ide rs , Yo s hi m u ra Su z u k i' s J a s on Pr id mo re ea r ly , Ka was a ki's Eric Bostrom for th e bul k of t he rac e , and Am erican Hon d a 's Nicky Hay den at th e e nd . Prid m ore h a d d ama ged a fing e r dur ing morn ing qu a lifying and wasn't sure he wa s goi ng to ra c.e. He did, but in co n s id e ra b le pain a nd wi t h t he th ~ught o f p ullin g o u t, wh ic h he didn't. His perseverance lan ded him a fourth -place finish . "When I saw 1 1 laps left [o ut of 25] , I wa s rea lly wor ried if I wa s going to make it ," Pridmo re sa id . "I was like , ' I do n't k n o w if I' m g oing to mak e thi s . ' I s aid, ' J u s t br ing it home.' I re ally wa nted to fin ish on th e pod ium; I re a lly wa nted to finis h to p five. We accomplished s om e of those goals." Prid mo re h a d ce ded sec o n d t o Bostro m near the end of the fifth la p , Bostrom hard o n the brakes and s liding by into th e pos ition jus t befor e the c hica ne. Pridmore stayed with Bostrom unt il t he 1 5 t h lap wh en Nicky Hayd en c a me by, diving und e r Pridmore in the fina l fast righ t before the finish line . "My b ik e see med good u p o v er t hat h ill, a nd I just go t a good run co m in g up the h ill a nd got u p t he inside." Ha yden s a id . "O nc e yo u get u p the ins id e yo u're kind of okay. I think J a s o n spun kin d of bad getting up there , and I just got unde r him . I'd seen Miguel [DuHa mel] do it once, so I figured I'd try to do it." Ha yden sa id th at h e hadn 't bee n a ble to get to th e front a s q uickly as h e wan t ed be c au s e the hea t ha d mad e th e gas in hi s t a n k exp and , o verflo wing into a ca tch bottle a nd s p ra ying him in th e face. On ce in third , Hayd en c hi p ped a way at Bostrom 's cush ion , closing up on th e 19th lap and pa ssing him on the 23 rd, again in the final turn . "I just kept kind of etching awa y at him , a nd I finall y got up to him ," Hay d en said . "I thought I wo u ld try to m aybe let my tire s cool d own for a la p or tw o and just fo llow him a nd s ee wha t h e wa s doi ng a nd th en tr y to ma ke a pass . We went back and fort h there a co up le of tim es at th e end. I was s p in n in g re a ll y b a d , and I thought m a ybe I shou ld just le t him cue I e go . I kn ow he ju st ke pt digging , a nd I wa s d igg ing, a nd we both wanted that spot re ally bad. " Bos t rom never we nt aw a y, a nd m a d e a banzai attack en tering the ch ica ne on the fina l lap. T ho ugh he went past Ha yde n , he wa s go ing far too fast, and Ha yde n was able to re take the s po t for good . "I got a pretty go od run down th e ba c k stra ight and o n th e b rakes th e re was no way - a nd I guess th e r e a r t ire sta rted t o co me o ff th e ground ," Bostrom said . "I was like, ' O h man , I m ight no t m a ke th is .' I knew if I d idn 't stick the line that Nick wou ld be a ble to reta liat e bec ause he was g etting g ood dr ive s up th ere up th ere under th e bridg e. It just d idn't wo rk out." "T he last la p com ing in th e re o n th e brakes , I coul d fe el him in m y draft, so I knew Eric was goi ng to at lea s t go for it," Ha yd en s a id . "I tr ied to br ake as d e ep as poss ibl e , b ut I was kind o f th in king in th e ba c k o f m y mind tha t if he gets in hot here , I' m goi ng to try to s q ua re h im up and get b a c k a ro und h im be c aus e I was getting a good dr ive down th e hil l. I th o u ght , if not h ing e ls e, m a y b e I could pass him under the bridg e. " The difference at th e flag was 0.3 sec o nd s , wit h Pridmo re a nother s ix ba c k in fou rth and Chandler ga ining . Chandl er was in th e m ix o ff the start, but knew he wouldn't be the re at the end. "I tho ught we had th ings k ind o f iro n e d out a b it , b ut it ju st kind of went ba c kwards in th e race ," he s ai d . "I ju s t don' t th ink I had a g o od s et -up , b ecause I' d los e t h e fron t if I pushed it go ing in, a nd if I flick ed it too ha rd I'd los e the rear." He had plen ty in reserve for Yama ha 's Jamie Ha cking , who battled V£,H Du c ati' s J o h n Ko c in s k i fo r a whil e before putting about fou r seconds on him . Koci nski sa id a nu m ber of fac tors co nspi re d to limi t his perfo rmance. T here were t he n in e m onths of not riding , not knowing the set -up for th e new motorcy cle , and t he Dunl o p tires . "The re 's a com bi nation o n th e bike , a nd we don 't have tim e to get it figured o ut , so we di dn't ha ve time, " he sa id. "So we just had to put someth ing on there whic h , like in '9 6 when I rod e t he b ik e , I t oo k that o ff , b e c aus e I c ouldn' t ride with it. And this m ornin g I cra s h e d with it that way .. .We 'r e g oing to try to g et the c o m b ina tio n more clos e with what I kn o w , and it' s j us t g oing t o take some time to ride th e motorcycle and get a few ra ces under my belt. " Yos h im ura Suzuk i's Aaron Yates was e ighth with a n inst abil ity pr ob lem wh ic h was s o pronounced that he "c ou ld n't ev e n hold it wid e open on the bac k strai ght, a nd it was real ly bad d rivinq up u nd er the bri dge. As s oon a s the thi ng wo u ld s ta rt kind of sl id ing a little it wo uld ge t s na p ping ar o un d li ke it was the t ires n e _ so • JUNE 14. 2000 7

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