Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128617
AMA/Ch e vyTru c k s U .S . Sup e rb ik e Cha mpi onship R o u n d s 2 & 3 : Roa d A t lanta Mlad in had us ed a qualifying tire to take the pole with a tim e of 1:23 .782 . T h a t mark wasn't in jeop ardy , b ut th e y we re n' t fa r off. More impressive Iy, th e y were cons iste ntly in th e low 24 s for th e e ntire ra ce. Yates hung tough for a number of lap s , bu t grad ua lly fe ll back int o a s pot whe re Koc ins ki woul d h ound him , a nd th e y began a ra c elong battle for th ird . Me anwhi le up front , Ha yd en had passed Mladin in the ultra -fa st ba ckstraight kink, Mladin taking it ba c k on the br ak e s int o the c h ic a ne. So it went, Mla din a ble to ho ld Hayden off, bu t not by m uc h, the m a rgi n sometimes dete rm ined by ba c kmarker s . At t he h a lfway m a rk Mlad in had 0. 83 2 s e c onds , and it grew , adding up to 1 .90 2 o n th e 17th a fter h e 'd turne d a la p time of 1:24 .05 1. Th en it be ga n to inc remen ta lly s h rink, dr opp ing to a low of 0.444 m ovin g around und er it. I was tr ying to be go od with th e tir e o n the sta rt , a nd do right, a nd as s oon a s it started m o v in g it w a s j u s t wigglin g around ev er ywhere . I c ou ldn 't finish the turns . It was re all y bad under th e bridge. I could n't turn com ing up the hil l. " Yama ha's Tomm y Ha y d en was ninth , with Ha rle y -Da vids on 's Pascal Pico tte 10th after surv iving a collision w ith a b a c km a r k er . Th e im p a c t kno ck ed one of the p ipes off Picotte 's VR-1000. E le ve nt h w e nt to Am e r ica n Ho nd a ' s Migu e l DuHam e l, who h a d t he sa me fue l-o ve rflo w pro blems as teamma te Ha yden , then had to p it to c ha nge a c hu nked re ar tire . DuH a m e l wa s wid e-op.e n in s ixt h gear on the back s tra ight, "proba b ly do ing a bo ut 17 0 , c lose to 180. Th e rear t ire ju st we nt p op , re a lly lo ud , a nd blew, and I just go t in a big slid e - ri g h t - h ander slid e - all th e wa y down th e hill. I wa s luc ky to be a ble to sto p in time to make th e ch ica ne . I k n e w th e t ire j us t c a me a pa rt. I th oug ht it we nt fla t , but fro m wh a t I've he a rd it didn 't flat, a nd it's p rob a bly a pr oblem with rubber stic king to eac h othe r a nd go t a lot of he at in it. I did n 't fee l it go aw a y. It' s not like I wa s a b us ing it. I wa s rid in g re a lly soft. I was try ing to be conse rva tive o n th e tire be cause I knew that co m ing through the pa c k like I was , peo ple thin k I was ridin g th at hard, but m y la p times were just low 2 5s . I'd 8 JUNE 14, 2 0 0 0 ' cu e I e (Above) Vance & Hines Duc a ti 's John Kocinski wheelies on his w ay t o fourth place in Sunday's Supe r b ike race. Ko cinski had finis he d sevent h on Saturday in his first ri de for t he team. (Right) Suzuk i's Aaron Ya te s (20) leads the Sunday Superbike rac e through the esses, w ith Eric Bo st rom (3 2 ), double-winner Mat Mladin (1 ) and Harley-Davidson's Pascal Picotte (21 ) fo llowing. bee n d o in g low 24s on ra ce co mpo un d , so I thoug ht e ve ryth ing wa s good . It's dis a pp ointing , but I than ked God im m e d ia t e ly t h a t I d idn 't g e t th ro wn over a t a to n- 7 0. I cou ld 've go t really hurt. " RACE 2 "I got a lot bette r start than I did ye s te rday , and m y firs t few laps we re pretty good," Hay den sa id of the S un da y race. "I g ot ag g re s s iv e , a n d tha t's wha t I didn't do yesterd ay ." And bec ause of that , Mladi n ha d a ra ce on his han ds . Yates had gotten th e lea d and held it for three lap s before Mladin went by him in turn s ix fo r t h e le a d . At th e t im e th er e was a le a d quart e t Mladin , Yates , Hayde n , a nd Bostrom wit h Ch a nd le r c lose b y in fift h a nd Koci nsk i on th e move. Ha yden was restl es s and us e d the RC-5 1's powe r to m otor by Yates on the ba c ks tr a igh t of la p five . He wa s on Mlad in , a nd the la p times wo u ld qu ic kly come down. n e vv s e nd ing the 22nd of 2 5 laps . Hayden wa s p o ised to strike , but yo u could see that h is tire wa s fa d ing a nd th at he wou ldn 't have the d rives he needed to mount a c ha llenge . On the final lap he c once ded the win, taking sec ond, his third in three races . "O n ly one of th e lappers hurt me a little b it , and th o s e la st fo ur o r five la ps , th e y actuall y help ed me , and I was a ble to c a tch ba ck up to h im a litt le bit ," Ha yd en s aid. "T his is four podiums in a row on Superbike, a nd n o rm all y I'm kind of 'h app y abo u t that, but I wa nt to get o n the top s po t. I know right now Ma t' s rea lly got that th ing goi ng , a nd he's mak ing it ha rd on th e rest of us ." Mladi n said that he expecte d Ha yden to hang with him , but didn't wan t Yates to catch back up beca us e of the kind of race it m ight turn into . "Ess entiall y, I think I just go t it out to a po int where Nic ky jus t c o uldn' t