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/128622
(Left) John Kocinski walks away from his crash in the Corkscrew as Aaron Yates z ips past. (Be low) Mladin also had his troubles with the Corkscrew. Th is error came on an unsuccessful attempt to pass Koc inski early in the race. ica l problems. Th e F ren ch C anadi an wa s sti ll cred ite d with fin ishing 12t h . Fast qu ali fi er Koc in sk i was fas t off the st art , bar ely leadi ng Mladin ov er th e hill and into t urn tw o . Nicky Hay de n was th ird wi th t he rest of the 2 6 rid er field stre wn o ut behi nd him . If Ko cin ski had plan s to leave th e pack behin d, th ey weren 't working as Ml adin was locked In on t he Du c at i' s b ac k wh eel , tra ili ng by j u st .3 o f a second after o ne co m plete la p and b y o nly : 1 o f a sec o nd afte r t wo co mp let e lap s. Bu t then the Aust ralian go t a b it i m p at ie n t. On t h e fo u r th la p, Ml adin tried an im po ssi ble pass going int o th e C ork screw , sail ing up th e ins ide of Koci nsk i on th e entra nce to th e l eft - r i g h t comb in ation co rner , sli d ing sideways and then straig htening up and running off the outside of the co rne r a n d into the dirt. That allowed N icky Hayd en to move into second pla c e. " W e g ot a pr et t y g o od start , but Ko c insk i ca me by o ver th e hill and I w as tr ying d esp er ately to g et past him, " Ml ad in e x p la i ne d l a t e r . " I couldn 't, so I tri ed a big one up t here in th e Co rkscr ew and ra n off. The g uy [Koc insk i] is j ust so slow in t he midd le o f the turn it ma k es m e p uke . Wh en yo u get beh ind him , it's slo w s yo ur rh yth m up t ot a ll y . I need ed t o ge t past h im and I co ul d n 't and t hen I mad e t h e m is tak e and le t N i c k y by ." M lad in ' s er ro r n ot o nly a llowe d H a y d e n t o p a s s, bu t i t al s o g a v e Ko ci ns ki a hin t of breath ing room . A t the co m p letion of tha t la p , Koc insk i l ed b y a lmost a fu ll seco nd . A l a p la ter and Hayd en had cl osed sli g ht ly and th en Koc ins ki made his error, a mu ch more p ai nful and cos t ly o ne th an th e ea r l ie r mi sta k e m ad e b y Ml ad in . It w a s i n a lmost th e sam e spot , how ever.' O n th e ex it o f the Co rk sc r ew on th e sixth lap, Kocinsk i li t up t he back t ire an d wa s tossed off th e D uc at i , fo rt una te t o escape not being hit b y th os e b eh ind him . Ha y den had th e best vi ew of t he inci dent. "A t first I was about to go aro un d him." Hayde n said . "T hen I had to get on the br ak es and go to the inside of h is bike . His b ik e was sli ding and it could have got p re tty ugly th e r e . Lu ck il y , I avo ided it an d nobody else got into it. " Wi th Hayden t ak ing evasive action t o avoid the sliding Du cati , Mladin was able t o cl os e ba ck in - brin g ing Bostrom w ith him . Yates wa s al so still in th e pi cture at this poi nt with j us t 2 .5 se conds covering t he top four. B y th e n in th l a p , H a yd e n a nd Ml ad in w er e lo c ked t o g eth er a nd it b e ca m e q uick ly appa r ent wh e r e Ml ad i n wo uld t r y to pass - turn 11. H i s f i rs t a tte m p t on th e 10th l a p fail ed , wi t h Hayden able to draft back pa st befo re the start/finish line in a prel ude of every pass attem pt Ml adin m ad e on h im. Ml ad in ' s second erro r of th e race c ame ag a in in the C orks crew . th i s time on th e 15th lap . Aga in , Mladin wa s up on th e cu rb on th e ru n down th e h ill , but i t d id n ' t sl ow h im that m uc h and the pa ir w ou ld so on be loc ke d in on ea ch oth er once aga in . Bostrom , meanwhile, was c ree p ing forw ar d . thoug h his clim b wou ld end on the 19th la p with h is run through the dirt on t he exit of turn th ree. " I t was a b i g one , actually ," Bostrom sa id of his near crash . "It got th e right side of the bike all scuffed up. I just got lucky, I thi nk. We had a p re t t y p oor start a nd I was s o far ba ck from Ha y den and Mladin and I r eeled t he m in, bu t I think I m ig ht have been just a littl e be too abusive o n th e front t ir e esp ec ia lI y . By th e t im e I got up to 'e m, I was losing a li t tl e t ime o n Mat be c au se he was real Iy , really good in t hree and fou r. I was really good o n the t op of the hill and I th o ught I w o u ld b e abl e t o g et u p th er e and pass him for su re . I ha d to cue. e do it at o ne point and th ere was like seve n laps to go so it was time to do it. I ju st t ail ed hi m g o ing in t o three t he re, h oping t ha t I c o u l d ta il h im through fo ur and I k new I could hold m y o wn a r ou n d t he r e st a n d p ass him. It was a good p lan · it j ust di dn' t wo rk . Fro m th er e I was j u st a li ttl e l e e ry. I w as r ea lly disappo i nte d be caus e I th ou ght we c o u l d ha ve wo n." When Bostrom ran off, Yates was able to scoot past. An d he would hold on to third for the duration. " A s long as th ese tw o g uys keep fin ishing in front of me, I'm not clim bing to o far ." Yate s sa id of his cham p i onsh ip hopes . " B u t I' m h ang ing in t here and I have to st art fi ni shing in fr ont of them t o make any progress . So far th ings ar e going pretty good and I' m ha p p y with the way t h i ng s a re goin g - we' re j u st a co u p le of pos it ions bac k from be ing r e a ll y swee t. I k now ther e are be tte r thi ngs to c ome nex t year fro m Suzu ki and I' m loo k ing fo rw ard to tha t. " Up fr ont, t h ings were st ill hot and heav y with Ml adin stick ing to Hayden n e _ S • JULY 19, 2000 13