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/128618
A MA/ ChevyTrucks U.S . S u p e r b ik e S e r ie s Rou n d 4 / 5 : Road Americ a By PAU L C ARR UT HERS PH OT OS BY H E NN Y R A Y ABR AMS E RT LAKE, W JaNE 11-12 I, h e loo k on Nicky Ha yden's fac e a fte r la s t week 's AMA Superbike Na t io n a l at Ro ad Atl ant a t o ld th e sto ry . De s p ite th e fact th a t th e two Roa d Atlanta races wer e just the sixth a nd se ve nth AMA Su perbike Nationals of his career, he ex pected to be winning . Finis hing second wa s getting old. At Roa d America th a t a ll changed. Hay den won the first AMA Su perbike National of his ca reer o n a sunny S at urday in Wis c o ns in 's d a iryland . An d he must ha ve enjoyed it, be c a use he ca me ba c k just 24 hou rs later to win the s ec on d AMA Super bike National of his ca reer, vaulting himself to within one po int of cham pionship points lea der Mat Mladi n in the process. S imp ly pu t , the kid is hot. Red hot. In h is la st six ra ces, Hayd en ha s fin ishe d th ird, second , second , second , first a nd first. And he ' s only ra ced a S up e rb ike nine ti mes . Did we m e n tion that he 's a lso only 18 ? And th a t this is just the RC5 1's fifth ra c e , and th at m ore parts are certai nly on the ir way th at will m ak e th e n e w V-twi n even faster? Will a ll of th is open the floo dgates , a nd will we s ee a s uccession of vic to ries fro m th e yo un gste r and his fast RC51 ? 6 JUNE 21, 2000' c u e I e "I s ure ho pe so bec a us e th at wou ld be n ice , but the bike is getting bett er a ll the time and we 've sti ll got mor e powe r t ha t' s co m in g, " Ha yd e n s a id . "It's goi ng to keep getting fa st e r. But I don 't think it's go ing to get a ny easier now th at I'v e wo n. " The th ought of both Ha yd en a nd th e Hon d a getti ng bett er toge t her does n 't bode well for the competit ion, b ut let' s not fo rge t th a t Mlad in is a pre tty tough customer, a nd this thing is fa r fro m over. In fa ct , the Aus t rali a n pr ob abl y le ft Road Ame rica fe eling pretty da m n go od a fte r post ing a fifth and a s ec ond fro m the two races - cons id ering tha t Road Ameri c a is a fas t ra c etra ck and his Suzuki was ove rm atc he d . To m a ke m atte rs wo rs e , Mla din d id n ' t eve n h a v e a goo d S uzuk i on Sa tu rday , as a s low engin e h a m p e re d hi s pe rforma nce . Th ing s we re much be tter on Sunday, . howe ve r, a nd with his new eng ine he was able to lead the ra c e a nd al most win it - co m ing up just .457 of a second s hort a t the finis h line . Th e Yoshim u ra s q uad ha d a good weeke nd in a ll. Aaron Yates was a ble to tussle with Ha yde n to th e b itter e nd on S aturda y , and he did th e s ame on Sun d a y , eve n t ua lly fini sh in g th ird be hind Ha yden a nd Mladin. It was a h ig h ly su c c e s s ful we e k end for t h e Georg ian , who now lie s thi rd in t he serie s s ta nd ings - 3 2 points beh ind n e uv s (Above) John Kocinski (46) leads Nicky Hayden (69), Aaron Yates (20), Mat Mladin (hidden), Doug Chandler (10) and t he rest of the AMA Superbike field In race one of the Superbike doubleheader at Road America. (Below) The battle In race one came down to one between Hayden and Yates, with Hayden pulling away in the final laps to win the tirs1 AMA Superbike National of his young career.