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
Round 4 /5: Road Am erica (Ri ght ) Jason P ridmore (43) d ices w ith Jamie Hacking (92) during race two o n Sunday. Pridmore ended up seventh with Hacking eighth. (Below) Although H ayde n (6 9) got the holeshot i n the second Superbike Nation a l, it was agai n K o cin s k i (4 6) l eadin g the way early on. Mladi n (1 ), Bostrom (3 2) a n d Scott Russell (4 ) g iv e c hase. was holdi ng h im up a little bit. I followed hi m, and we s t art e d to ru n down John. I got by Aaron, a nd my bik e was e no ugh fas ter th at I co uld pass him o n t he s t rai g ht away . Our ho rsepower was a big ad vantag e for m e. He stayed with me , and I d idn 't th ink I was going to get awa y. With five laps to go , I put m y he ad down and was able to go a little bit faster. " Yates had ridd en a so lid ra ce , his Suzuk i lacki ng the horse powe r of th e Honda RC51 and Kocinski 's Van ce & Hines Du cati, but h e was a ble t o mak e up for som e of it wit h som e hard riding . He e nded up with a so lid se cond , h is best of the yaung se ason . He 'd a lso m ad e it through some a nxious moments prior to the race when his c rew ha d to fix his clu tch in tim e to m a ke th e re st a rt whe n he discove re d th e p robl em a fter the red fla g was th rown . "I ra n behind J ohn [Kocinski] fo r a while a nd he pull ed m e a lo ng, but it S uzuk i D R-Z4 00 w hile prepa ring for his upcoming Aust ralian Safari race , injuring his left shoulder . He said the injury wo uldn 't affec t his plans to take part in the race across the Australian outback. A superbike career that many expect will be highly successful got underway at Road America on Frid ay morn ing wi th Kurtis Roberts ending the first practice sess ion wi th the third -quickest time. It was a fairly remarka ble beginning from a you ng man who many feel is on the brink of being the hottest pro perty in AMA Superbike racing. He is also the firs t of the famous Robert s family to ever try his hand at AMA Superb ike racing. "It's differe nt, for sure," Roberts said after his first spin on the Honda RC51 on Friday morning - his first -ever out ing on a four-stroke twin . "It's really skinny and the slipper clutc h is good - it feels like a two-s troke . It' s like any other motorcycle, I just tell the guys what it' s doing. II's a big combi ned effort right now ." Harley -Davidson' s Pascal Picotte was fined $3500 on Saturday afte rnoo n fo llowing the first of two A MA Superbik e Nationals for making an o bscene gestu re at A M A offici als w he n th ey attempted to pull him in for a sto p-and-go penalty for jumping the start. Picotte finally pulled in and went on to finish 11thoPicott e' s fine was origi nally set at $10.000 , but the fine w as negotiated down to $3500. Picot te said he knew he' d j umpe d the start at Road Atlanta last week, but was co nvinced that he hadn't done so this week . Roberts was slated to make his AMA Superbike debut on Saturday afte rnoon, but a crash during the final qualifying session on Saturday dam aged his bike too badly for his crew to fix in time. Roberts, who had qualified on the front row , was naturally disappointed. His tuner, M ike Velasco, explained the damage. "There were rocks everywhere... in the airbox. just lying around every where ," he said. "The pipes took the worst hit. It just doesn't pay to"nush and get out there and have it suck a rock or somethi ng. " Aaron Yates was the closest to being involved in the Steve Rapp crash and resulting melee in the first Superbi ke Nationa l on Saturday. Yates grabbed enough front brake to do a prolonged sto ppie, then had his foot down as he aimed between the fallen Rapp and the edge of the track. The Georg ian ended up making it through about a two -foot gap to escape what could have been an even uglier incident. " I got a bad jump at the start so I figured I'd go aro und the outside of everybody." Yates said. "I was all the wayan the left and the n this motorcycle comes tumbling over there. That was a pretty wild ride." Team Oliver Yamaha's Rich O liver gave everyone a scare wit h his high-speed crash in turn one during Friday 's 250cc Grand Prix session. Fortunately, Oliver escaped injury despite crashing at we ll over 100 mph. " I just couldn't stop, " Olive r said, "We had a little whoopsy." After his w in on Saturday, Nic k y Hayd en had nothing but good things to say abou t Joh n K o cinski , "At the beginni ng I was watching him," Hay den said of the former 250cc and World Superbike Champion. "He's got a lot of talent , and the whole time I was behind him he never made a mistake . He is defi nitely somebody I can learn from - for sure . ' Former 500cc Wo rld Champion Kevin S c hwantz showe d up at Road America with a broken shoulder . The Texan crashed his c ue I e n e vv Competlt tcnaccessones.corn's Larry Pegram didn' t have the bes t of weekends . The O hioan was forced to pit fo r a new rear tire during Saturday' s Nat ional and ended up finishing 15th. On Sunday , Peqrarn finished 11tho Alt houg h Kurtis Robert s pu t himself at t he forefront of A MA Superbike racing with his periormance during practice and qualifying, Mat M ladin was n't ove rly co ncerned - especially since Robert s w ill only race the RC51 part time in 2000. " Kurti s seems a Iitlte out of con tro l. but he really doesn' t crash that much and he' s doing a great job on the superbike . But he's not our problem since he' s not in the champions hip chase . ' Noted tuner M ike Velasco got the call from American Honda a few wee ks ago asking if he' d be willing to head up the crew for Kurtis Robert s' Superbike debut on the RC5 1. Velasco jumped at the opport unity. "We're doing this one. Laguna and Brainerd , " Velasco said. " Ray [Plumb - the team's crew chief] called and asked if I wo uld do it. This Is what I like - I enjoy racing." Velasco currently has a race shop In Bremerton, Was hington, and he last worked in the AMA Sup erbike Serie s back in 1992 w hen Two Brothers Racing ran Freddie Spencer on a Honda RC30. As for wo rking with the yo ungest of the Roberts clan. Velasco said: "Kurtis is goo d, He can explain stuff really we ll and it's really straightforwar d for him." Velasco is also mightily impressed with the new RC51 . "This bike is beautiful." he said. " Honda made it simple." JUNE 7, 2000' Hayden's win on Saturday moved him to w ithin four point s of seaso n-long points leader Mat Mladin . " I needed that ," Hayden said. " M aybe now we can put a litt le pressure on him and it' ll help me out. but I' m sure tomorrow he'll be right up front." Would the Ducati streak be broken? The Italian brand has pretty much ow ned the Superbike National at Road A merica of late. wi nning six of the last 10 AMA Superbike Nationals (and four In a row) at the Wisconsin facility. Nicky Hayden wen t out and bro ke that four-race win st reak on Satu rday. giving Honda its first victory at Road America since M iguel DuHamel won in 1995. It was Honda' s seve nth victory in the 20-year AMA Su perbike history of Road America . BRIEFLY••• 10 got to whe re he was ho lding m e up in the turns ," Yates said. "I was trying to work o ut so me s tra tegy, a nd th e n dec ided to go. Nicky [Ha yd en] c a me a long a nd g ot by J ohn , so I had to chase him down. Once I lost th e tow on Nick y I co uldn' t m ak e it up in the tu rn s . I was pu sh ing th e front a lot a nd couldn 't t urn like I wanted to . I'm happy to be sec ond." Altho ugh Kocinski loo ke d to have third place in the bag after his be st perform ance since his return, things weren't a s they seemed. Th e Ducat i started to falter five lap s from the end , a rock ha ving punc hed a hole in the ra dia tor causing it to lose water, overheat and slow . Even so , the forme r World Ch ampion said that was n't a ll of his prob lems . He e xp e c ts to win , and he won 't be happy until he doe s . " Rig ht n ow we h av e s om ething wrong with th e ma chin e , and we' re tryi ng to find o ut wha t th e prob lem So American Honda' s Gary Mathers has seen a lot of to p-notch road racers in his long career, He ranks Nicky Hayd en right near the top. " I think all-around he' s a good package." M athers said. " He look s good, he's inte lligent, has good manners and he rides good . I think he sneaks up on it. kind of like M iguel [DuHamel!. He does n't let everybody know he's going good until the main event. I think his dirt track backg round helps him a lot. He know s how to race. I'd put him right up there with [Wayne] Rainey and [Eddie] Lawso n in the riders that I've worked wit h. " Mat Mladin said his strategy for the y ear of simply trying to win races doesn't change just because Nic ky Hayden has moved to within a point of the Au stralian in the championship. "My st rategy was to win races this year," Mladin said. "And the championship hop ef ully would co me. If it didn't then hopefully we' d have all those win s. My strategy is not going to change, and next week we will go fo r the win - and every race from here on in. N o doubt about It. " The fact ory Harley-Davidson's of Scott Russell and Pascal Picotte finished 10th and 11th on Saturday, with Russell not finishing Sunday' s race while Picott e managed a 12th. "The races were about the same, " Picotte said. "The bike is just too slow. They accelerate way better than our bike. I jus t can't w in the battle wi th them, I can batt le. I just can't win the batt le. But we fin- . ished and that's five in a row. That's a positi ve for us so it 's not that bad ." Picotte is pleased wi th t he Brembo brakes that the team used for the first time last week at Road Atlanta. "Th ey' re really co nsistent," he said. The factory Yamaha team didn't fare well at Road America . On Saturday, T o m m y Hayden finis hed ninth and he followed that up wi th a 13th on Sunday. J amie H ack ing was a non-finisher on Saturday, but he improved to eighth on Sunday . Both riders were able to bring a little levity to the situation wit h impressive third- and fourth -place finishes in the 600cc Supe rsport final on their R6s.