Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Chevy T r u c k AMA S u p e r b ik e Cha m p ionship R o und 7 : L a g u n a S e c a R a c e w a y B Y PAUL C A RRUT H ERS P HOT OS BY H E N NY R AY A BRA MS MONTEREY, CA JULY 8 , ne wa s a two -tim e World Cha m pion ; o ne was t he defendi ng AMA Supe rb ike Na tiona l Cha mp ion . Th e other was a n 18-year-o ld rooki e . The t h ree of t he m were t hrown di rectly into th e pr e s su re cooke r that is a n AMA Su pe rbike Nat io nal. Thi s on e eve n mor e p ressure- packed th an the others , held at Laguna Se c a Rac ewa y O 12 JULv19 ,2000' c ue I e in fron t of th e la rgest c rowd of the season , not to mentio n some of the m ost influe ntia l people in Su pe rbike ra c in g o n a wor ld le ve l. So wh o cracked? Well , everyo ne but th e 18 yea r-o ld rookie . That roo kie is Nick y Ha yde n . Form e r Wor ld S up erbike Cha mpion John Ko ci ns ki le d th e Supe rbi ke Na tio n al a t La g un a Seca Raceway, b u t h e cr as hed o n th e exi t of t he Corks c rew tryi ng to hold on to th at lead. AMA Superbike Nati on a l Cham n eVIl's s uperbike W a rs : Nicky Hayden (69) vs. Mat M ladin (1) - get used t o it . Once a9ain. t he pa ir battled for t he dura ti on in the Superbike Na tional at Laguna Seca with Hayden co ming out on to p. pion Ma t Mla d in , m e an wh ile , h ad al read y made a n er ror in t h e Corks c rew while trying to pa ss Koc inski ea rly in t he race. Ha yd e n h ad cap italize d on Mladin ' s m ist a k e to t a k e ove r seco n d p lace . Th en h e made the most of Ko cin ski's blun de r to take ove r th e lea d . Fr om th e re , Ha yden withstood th e co ns ta nt barrag e o f pu n ch e s th ro wn a t h im by Mladin to race to his th ird vic tory of th e se a s on , putt in g him s q u a re ly ba c k in th e hun t for the AMA S up e rbike crown. Mladin might no t have be en t he be st on this da y , but he was second best , and he conti nues to pr ov e h is mettle ra ce after ra c e. Let' s not forget that the Au stralian has not o nl y finis he d ea ch a n d e ve ry ra c e , but his wo rst re sul t is a four th. In seve n rac es , Mlad in has won four times , finished s econd th re e times a nd fou rth once. But he is being trailed c los e ly by Hayden a nd his three wins, three seconds and a s ixth . It all c om es d own to ni ne po ints with five ra ces left on the s chedule wit h Mlad in lead ing Ha yd e n , 241 23 2. Th ird place toda y went to Mladin 's Yosh im ura Suzu ki teammate Aaron Yates, th e Georgian fina lly showing the co ns iste ncy he n e eds to e a rn a Superbike tit le . But th er e is no a rguing that this is a two -man ra ce for the title . Yates , who wa s o n the pod ium for th e fourth ti me in th e last five ra c es , is th ird in the titl e c ha s e with 195 points , four clear of the everimproving Eric Bostrom on th e fa ct ory Kawasaki. Bostrom was well in th e hunt at Lagun a S ec a. He had closed to within s triking distan ce o f Mlad in in the closi ng stages of the race before running off the racetra c k in turn thre e , lo sin g a c e rt a in pod ium fin ish t o Yates and barely managing to hold on to fourth . Following him by just .7 of a seco n d in fifth pla ce was Yamaha 's Tommy Hayden , who is a lso showing s igns of im provement of late . Hayden had qu a lified s econd on the g rid, but he didn 't get off the line with th e lea d ers and never moved higher than fifth . Va nce [, Hines D u cati's S tev e Rapp wa s six t h , somewha t di s a ppo inted with th e re su lt, though a head of Yamaha 's J a m ie Ha ck ing who had wrecked his num ber -on e bike in the morning wa rm -up a nd was forced to us e h is backup machine. Migu e l DuHame l was eig ht h on the America n Honda RC51 , well clear of the strugg ling Dou g Cha ndle r o n the fac tory Kaw a s a k i and Co mpe t itio n Accessories.com's Larry Pegram. Th e fac to ry Harl ey -Davi ds on of Scott Rus se ll ended up 11th , though his teammate Pa s c al Picotte ra n into mechan-

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