Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/ C hevy T r uck s S u p e rb ik e C h a m p ions h ip Round 8 /9: M id-oh io Spo res C a r C o urse good here. He p icks up the pace here and even if my bike is perfect it'd be tough to be a t him here." Kocinski was fifth on the Vance £, Hines Duc ati, despite ending the first la p in 11th p lace a fte r sta rting fro m row thr ee . Prid mo re got the better of Pe gr am , who in turn wa s able to hold off Cha ndle r for eig hth pla c e. T h e fa cto ry Harley VR ridden by Pic otte ended up ninth with Hac kin g riding the first of the fa ctory Yamaha s home in 10th. RACE TWO with 'e m," Ha yd e n said. "I s aw that Eric [Bostrom] wa s n 't too far aw a y so I kept pu sh ing to sta y o n the box. Th e n I started catching 'e m and th e y got h ung up b y s ome traffic a n d I made up some time. I got right up on 'e m , but coming in here (the Carousel] I followed a guy . They both ra n it unde r h im . I wante d to go under h im , bu t it' s a toug h s p ot a nd you c a n 't re a ll y t ell if the gu y knows you 're there. I d id n ' t wan t t o get pinched off. I wa sn 't agg ressive and I didn't shove it und e r hi m ." The le a d pair co nti nu e d to wage war, with Du Ham e l le a d ing m o st o f t he time wh ile Yat e s sized h im u p fro m beh ind . O n the final la p it was tim e t o t ry o ne o f th e m ov es h e 'd be e n thinking abou t. He o pte d for the out s ide pass in the tight right at th e end of the ba c kstra ig ht. " Ea rly o n whe n I w a s runn ing behind Miguel, I was trying to fig ure o ut wh e re I could p a ss him ," Ya te s sa id . " He wa s runni n g d ow n the s tra ig hta wa y a good bit faster tha n I wa s a nd he was getting off the ba c k th er e pretty good. Th ere were s even pla c e s wh er e I was thi nk ing I c o uld sti ck it in t here , but it wo ul d ha ve taken a mov e like he tried to pull on m e . It was com ing d own to th e la s t la p a nd he tried to protect the line too much . I had got down the stra ight away good and clean a nd once I re a lized th at I was up th er e , I came over o n him . It was a pretty e asy pass." DuHamel saw it co m ing , and rea lly kne w th er e wa s noth ing he could do a bo ut it. "The front wa s a little too soft , s uspension -wise ," DuHa m el s aid. "I'd like to br ak e de eper but the front wo uld colla pse a nd the tire wou ld sta rt los ing tra ct io n , so I we nt to the ins ide. Aaro n ca me t o t he outside , and I knew it was going to happen, almost. He got a g reat ex it out of ther e and didn 't miss a sh ift. That wa s cool 8 JULY 2 6.2000' e ye I e that was a n okay pass . He c ame down on m e , bu t des erv ingly so." And it wa s n't the last pa ss , though it would be th e la st su cc es sfu l one. He ad ing into t urn 13 , DuHam el tried on e last tim e , c a rry ing wa y too m uc h speed up t he ins ide to mak e the corner. He ran wide , lost the front and crashed. He de se rved better a fte r riding his bes t ra ce of the yea r. S e c o nd pla ce is n't good en o u gh fo r Du Hame l and h e des e rv e s so m e cred it for that. "I was kinda running a little tight a nd he [DuHame l] was ge tting a good dr ive out there ," Ya tes sa id. "I set up a little wide for th e turn to try to c a rry some s peed through th ere . I s a w him o ut of the co rn er of m y ey e . I wa sn 't re a ll y turnin g y e t a n d h e c a m e t h ro ug h a nd I was lik e , ' See ya .' I th o ught ma ybe that he 'd be ab le to finish the turn, so I ke pt go ing pretty g oo d t hrough t h e re and ran t ig h t thr ou gh the Ca rouse l." DuHamel , though, hadn 't made it th roug h the co rne r, and his crash left Yates all a lon e in vic tory - th e fourth of his ca reer. "l follow ed him [Yates ] a rou nd and I knew I wa s s t ro nger th an h e wa s co mi n g t hrough t h is co rner , DuHamel ex p laine d . "I went in th ere, he kind of m iss ed a s h ift o r so me th ing becau s e his bike ba ckfired , so I said , 'Th is is m y time.' Whe n I went by him I wanted to bra ke proba bly a b ike len g th befo reh and , bu t if I di d t hat I th in k I wou ld have b e e n too close a nd ma ybe hit him - so I wen t a little deeper. I knew I was either going to be a he ro or wind up in th e gr avel t ra p - eit he r straig ht u p or s lidi ng. Un fo rt u n at e ly , I co ul d n 't s t o p t h e bike , bu t I was ha ppy I didn 't mess up Aaron bec a use we ha d a good race ." Ha yde n captured a n ea sy second with DuHamel' s m isc ue - putt ing him on the podium for the seventh tim e in eight races as he co ntinues to ride n e vv s Vance & Hines Ducati's Steve Rapp (left) chases teammate John Kocinski (right) in Saturday's race. Rapp rebounded from his Saturday crash to fi nish sixth on Sunday. Kocinski was fifth both days. lik e a c h a m p io n in the mak ing . He was now with in four poi nts of Mladin in the title c has e . "The y got awa y (whe n Hayd en wa s ba lk e d in t he Caro us el] , but I don 't th ink tha t cost me the race," Ha yd en sa id. " I' d caught ' e m , b ut I do n 't know if I wo uld have b e en ab le to pass 'e m and I re a lly d idn't wa nt to ge t up the re . I was watching Migue l a nd I knew th ey both wanted to win reall y bad . I thought som eth ing like th a t c o u ld happ en ov er th ere (th e c rash] a nd I rea lly didn 't want to be in th e m idd le of it. Second is not to o terribly bad. I made up po ints and tha t' s the big th ing . I thoug ht a bo ut that a nd didn 't do anyth ing too stupid. I took a few cha nces an d wa s loose in a few s pots, but we 'll come ba c k to morrow and try agai n - mayb e we can get the setup a little better and ma ke some im p rov e m e nt s and k eep p lugg ing away ." Bo s tr om . m eanwhil e , hel d o n to th ird a nd his fourth podium finish of th e season. He 'd c o m e under som e pressure early on from Rapp, but th e Ducati ride r crashed out of the race in turn one . Later, Mlad in made a run at Bo strom , but he c o u ld n' t g et cl ose e nough to threate n a pa ss, s ettling for w h a t wo ul d u lt im at el y b e fo urt h pla c e. The Yosh im u ra S uzu k i ride r wa s forc ed to rid e h is b a cku p b ik e when he had a mech anica l fa ilure in th e fina l practic e s e ss ion on his num ber-on e b ike . "I don 't kn ow what it is about th is p la c e , bu t I suck here ," Mlad in said . "I rode the s pa re bike a nd the gearbo x a nd stuff wa s wro ng . And I chose th e wro ng t ire as we ll. I st uffed me tires ca tching Er ic [B o s t rom] a n d I couldn't go a ga in. Aa ron [Yates ) goes Du Ha m el look ed d eterm in ed t o m a ke a mend s for th e da y before a s h e s ta rted s eco nd bu t qui c k ly s hot pa st Bostrom on th e run into turn s ix. Then he st a rte d to pu ll awa y, lea ding by over a second by the tim e th e two fac to r y Suzu k is h a d di sp o s e d of Bostrom. The or de r a fter .five c om p lete laps was: DuHam el , Mladin , Ya t es , Bostrom , Nic k y Ha yden , Kocinski , Rapp, Pic otte, Tom m y Ha yden , Russell , Chandle r, Pridmore and Hac king. Mladin had been fo rc eful in his run to th e front in the opening la p s , a turna ro und from the day before. "Yesterday I got a ba d sta rt , " Mladi n said. "We ' re h aving a b it of pr ob lem with t he clut ches . Ev e n tod ay I cou ldn 't ge t a good sta rt , beca use th e m ot or ' s e n g a gi ng in a ve ry small line of the clu tc h, so it sort of all e ngages at on c e . Nor ma lly I'm a good s t art er , .s o th is weeke nd ' s been a bit of a hassle , e s peci a lly from the second row. But ye s te rd ay I got stuffed up the re in tu rn two or wha t e ve r it is , and t h ing s weren 't g o ing rig ht. I lost five s ec o nds in fou r la ps yeste rda y . Toda y I was just go ing to do wha teve r it took to get to the front in the first few la ps , and that's what I did. I think I wa s s eve nth in th e first tu rn, and I went th roug h th ere good ." T h e two Su zu k is sta rt ed t o ch ip aw ay at DuH am e l' s lead un ti l th e y we re on his tw in ta ilp ipe s at the end o f la p n in e . Th e n two la p s later , DuH amel ' s ra c e e nded pr ema tur el y for th e second stra ight da y. This time th e c ra s h c a m e in tu rn 11 , a tricky corner that require s a ride r to miss a s ea m separating the co ncrete from the ta rmac. DuH amel d idn't mi ss it, and he los t the front end, sliding to a stop with his bike ending its wild ride upside down on a tire wall. "The bike wa s just moving around a bit ," DuHame l sa id . "The bike was reall y good fo r th e firs t s even la ps , bu t aft er th a t I th ink the tir es m igh t ha ve been going a way a litt le bit , or th e susp e ns io n or someth ing a little fun ky. Thos e guys reeled me back in a nd I jus t th ou ght, ' I' ll let thes e guys le ad and I'll fo llow th em .' My bik e wa s runn ing wide thro ug h that corner at the tim e a nd I trie d to m a ybe run a little tighter line or some th ing . I don't know what ha pp e ned . It hit the seam , rea lly ha rd , tucked the fro nt a nd th e

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