Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/ChevyT r-ucka U .S . S u p e ....b ik e Championship Round 1 0 : B r-a ine ....d Inte r-natlona l R aceway "T hat was my only big concern that he m ight lose a bra in cell somewhere and decide t o take me out. It's not really f air to Mat, but that was one th ing I was keeping in the back of m y mind beca us e obv ious ly h i s b i k e d idn 't have the speed." "I got Miguel a c ouple of times o ut of two in to three and I c ou ld easil y pas s h im ," Mladin said . " H e was doing a great job , don 't get me wrong, but I could easily pass there, I could take half track an d still go by him out of there ." M ladin was content to sit and wait for th e last l a p , until two very bad thing s ha ppened. The fir st was th at Hip Rec yc li ng 's Rob B ow erm a n b l ew up hi s GSX " (Left) DuHamel ce lebrates his first Superbike win in 17 m onths" (Ab ove) Eric Bostrom (3 2) ended up fifth ; Pascal Picotte (2 1) slipped to ni nt h; and Aaron Yates fin is hed seventh . ous longest drought In the 90' s was the 13-month span betwee n Freddie Spencer's win at Laguna Seca in May 1995 and Alessandro Gramigni' s win at Elkhart Lake in June of 1996 . A year may BRIEFLY. •• seem like a long time, but it' s nothing to Yamaha which hasn't Ma t Mla d in and Joh n Ko c inski, have occasiona lly been at odds , ever since Kocinski joined Mladin and Doug Chandler on the Cagiva 500 cc GP team in the middle of the 1993 season , after Kocinski had been fired from the Lucky Strike Suzuki 250cc GP team, It wasn 't until this season that the pair renewed their rivalry, now o n differe nt tea ms. Ml adin on Yosh imura S uzuki, Kocinski drafted on to the Vance & Hines Ducati team, They don't so much get along as professionally co-exist. occasionally firing shots across each others bows, with Mladin consistently getti ng the bette r of him on the racetrack, The lates t salvo came from championship leader Mladin whe n he said at Laguna Seca that Kocinski was going so slowly through the corners that it ..almost made him puke . " Kocinski returned the word favor at Brainerd on Saturday after what he perceive d was an intentional bit of low riding in the final qualifying session, "I don't know if it was intentional or if the guy's just a bonehead . but I'm coming down the front straight and Mat Mladin f@#$ing pulls out in front of me, pulls out. and it kind of messe s my line up going into the first turn. " Kocinski said during a press con ference after taking the pole position With a new lap record of 1:35,628, about three tenths better than seco nd-fastest Mladin. "I'm sure I could've went 35.1. I was hopIng for a 34 . But that' s the faste st part of the racet rack. Uke I say. it's quite strange how it all worked out. how I was coming down the straight the same time he pulls out. It could've been my mistake, I'm not saying It'S his fault. but it's kind of a pretty shitty thing, I think. I wouldn't hack somebody up for the fun of it. but that's how it is." Mladin, who had just left the front -row press conference, got word of the slight and ret urned to the press box to find out exactly what was said. Aft er a tape of the remarks was played for Mladin, his response was adamant : "John Kocinski' s a f&*%ing liar. and you can print that. " he said, unequivocaJly stating that he didn't block Kocinski intentionally. The irony is that a similar situation occ urred at the last year's seaso n-finale at Pike 's Peak Internationa l Raceway whe re Mladin was accused of blocking V&H Ducati's Ben Bostrom. In Colorado, Mladin had taken the pole position . but the AMA ruled that he had blocked Bostrom and stripped him of his championship point. won an AMA Superbike race since Scott Russell. riding for Yamaha's World Superbike team, wo n Daytona on March 8. 1998. a span of 32 races , Yamaha's win prior to Daytona '98 was Daytona '97, again with Russell. And before that you 'd have to go back to August 1994 when Colin Edwards won at Sears Point. Erion Racing's K urt is Robe rt s couldn't ride the Honda RC·5 1 at Brainerd due to a lack of spare parts . a situation he was partialiy res ponsib le for . Roberts rode the Honda Superbike at both Road America and Laguna ter ms than e ver be fore , according to Ame rican Honda's G ary Ma the rs. Mathers said that a part s shipment had arrived fr om Japan, but there weren't enough . "We've got enough to re-build one bike, but we need it for a spare," he said. "We've wrecked five of them this yea r," M athers said that they were going to try to put Roberts on the RC·51 for the next round at Pike's Peak International Raceway in two weeks. "W e owe him one more by contract. so we 're going to try the next one, " M athers said. The team may have titanium rods for the engines for that race . The Castrol Honda RC-51s racing at the Suzuka 8·Hour this weekend have already been fitt ed with the lighter rods. Oh deer ! The start of Saturday's Superbi ke practice was briefly delayed when a deer emerged from the woo ds behind the pits, ran through the back of the pits, then onto the racetrack. AM A Ass istant Ch ief Steward Dan Lance briefly gave chase on his BM W and the deer high-tailed it back into the woods . D a n Lance was named the U .S . repre sentative for Airfence Safety Systems Pty Ltd .. the Australian supplier of safety barriers worldwide . Lance, the AMA's assistant chief road race steward . said the AMA owns three of the 30-foot Airfen ce sect ions that are transported to every round of the AMAlChevy Trucks U .S. Super bike Championship. Several tracks have bought. or are interested in acquiring, fencing . Sears Point bought seven sec- tions of the track at $2 500 per section. Road Atlanta is also interes ted . Lance said. Tracks are increasingly becoming more inte r- knew he wasn't going to win. I wasn't wo rried about him. W e 've mile Brainerd circuit. seen what's happened to him since he's been here in At lanta and he's faded and ended up nothing ." Mladin proved he has a sense of humor about his lack of popularity , The Yoshimura Suzuki rider showed up at the post-race press conference wearing an " A nyo ne but Mladin," T -shirt. The shirt, w hich has his name crossed out in a circle on the front, first surfaced at Laguna Seca. It just wasn 't .John Kocinski's day. His crew forg ot an umbrella to shield him from the heat on the starting line. so one of them was sent to the other end of the front row to borrow teammate Steve Happ's. That didn't go over so well with Bapp's crew . understandably, so a mechanic was dispatched back to the transporter to get an umbrella. Then Kocinski blistered a tire , coming in for a rear-tire change befo re re-joining the race to finish 11tho A ft er t he race wa s over , Ko ci nski T-bo ned Kawasaki ' s Eric Bostrom as Bostrom was turning left to leave the track, the colli- ested in alternatives to hay bales since large round bales on many farms are replacing the traditional rectangular bales. There's also the issue of supply, Road America used 2650 bales to protect its four-mile road course, with 650 being placed around the three- The fastest bike at Brainerd? Not what you'd think. The fastest Superbikes at the end of the front straight we re the Vance & Hines Ducati 996's of John Kocinski and Steve Rapp. bot h bikes tripping the lights at 182 mph. Next best was a tie among a handfu l of riders at 178, incl uding the Yoshi mura Suzuki GS XR750 s of Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates , the Kawasaki ZX-7Rs of Doug C handler and Eric Bostrom, and the Honda RC-51 of Nicky Hayden . But th e fastest bike w as th e Erio n Rac ing Ho nda CBR929RR of Kurtis Roberts and the Suzuki Hayabusa of Rad Greaves, topp ing out at 184 mph. Brainerd marked the one-year anniversary of Ducet i's last AMA Superb ike win. Ben Bostro m's first and only AMA win of the season, a week after he broke through with a win in the second leg of the W orld Superbike race at Laguna Seca. Their previ- AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick wanted to clarify what was writt en in Cy cle News about the finish of the Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport race at Mid-Ohio. Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom and American Honda' s Miguel DuHamel crossed the line in a photo finish, with DuHamel taking to the grass on the outside of the track to avoid contact with Bostrom, who was ahead at that point. The AMA ruling was that he'd left the track to gain and advantage and docked him one position. thou gh it was written here that DuHamel was ahead at the finish. Accord ing to Barrick , the AMA loo ked at the finish line on a frame-by-frame basis and they were "absolutely side by side. " with DuHamel completely obscured by Bostrom 's Kawasaki. " I couldn't say with any cer- 8 s sion breaking the inside of Bostrom's farring . 2000' c u e • e n e vv Van ce & H ines D ucati's .Jo hn K oci ns ki insiste d that his succe ss in se tting a new qualifying record was due to getti ng the bikes he raced for Ducati in the World Superbike Championship in 1996. " Basically I go t myoid bikes back . I go t my '96 bikes back." he said, without much clar ificat ion . A fte r his team mate Steve Rapp qualified fourt h, his first front row start this year, he was asked if he, too . got the old bikes back "Yeah. I got them back from '82, I keep asking to put the '88 suspension on it. but they won 't go for it. " he said. Seca. crashing both times, and caus- ing cons iderable damage in the Elkhart Lake spill. In addition, American Honda's Miguel DuHamel and Nicky Hayden have bot h crashed the new superbike . caused more damage in mone tary It didn't get any better after the race, When asked if he saw what happened to Kocinski, who bli stered a ti re and pitte d for a tire change on lap nine. Mladin replied : " I don't care what happened to him. There probably was nothing wrong with his tire. He probably just made an excuse and deci ded to co me in because he A U G U ST 9 . tainty who was ahead at that point. " Though the AMA scrutinized the video , that information wasn' t relayed to the media, " If I had to test ify in court. it was a dead heat. " Barrick said. The Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supers port c lass is in jeopardy of losing some of it s bes t riders . Th er e' s a grow ing movem en t among the riders that riding a 600 and a Superbike in the same weeke nd is too much, espec ially on the Superbike doubleheader weeke nds , three of which were on the 2000 calendar, With the data acqu isit ion on the S upe rbike s, the rider s have to focus intensely on ea ch machine and riding two such different machines become s diff icu lt. At M id -Ohio tw o we ek s ago , so me of t he Superbike riders missed a 600cc-practice session due to de-briefing, Ameri ca n Honda's N icky Hayden doe sn't w ant to ride the 600 next year and it's become a major stumbling blo ck in his negotiations w it h Honda. Erion Raci ng' s Kurti s Robert s also doesn 't want to ride a 600 and Migue l DuHamel, the winningest rider in A MA history , isn't keen on it. The factory 600 s run Showa suspen sion while the Erion Raci ng Hondas ridde n by champi onship leader and two-time winner Robert s use O hlins. Hayden's been struggling all year long , chatte ring at both ends and struggling for control. The cras h at Mid-Ohio was a direct result of a lack of feel. A trend over the past few years has developed where Superbik e-only riders are winning. Of the 12 Superbike races in 1999 , riders withou t 600 commitments wo n 11 - Daytona being the lone except ion w here Mi guel DuH amel won both races on his Hondas. This year Yoshimura Suzuki' s Mat Mladin has won four races . wit h dual class ride rs Nicky Hayden and Yosh 's Aaron Yates winning the rest. The factories still want to em phasize the class with Kawasaki looking to pos sibly add another 600cc Supersport-only rider for 2001 . Yamaha' s Larry Griffis said that the " 600 is important enough that we need the top guys ." Griffi s also said that they realized this year that the • timing and schedule on the Superbike double weeken ds definite ly needs to be re-worked for next year . " Rich O liv er was working from daw n to dusk, and then some , at Brainerd , the second race he 's run as his own crew and the first wher e he was helping his girlfriend Jocelin with her own racing effo rt . Oliver said the pair was exhausted from work ing and that he'd lost weight ov er the course of the we ekend. That should change at Pike's Peak Intemational Raceway , Oliver said he'd be w orking with Todd Silicato , Roland Sands' long-time mechanic on the Performan ce Machines' team while Sands has another racing commitment. Ol iver said he wa s still looking for someone to work for him full-time at his work shop in Fresno for the 2001 season. " I really have to say that lowe my whole season to Yamaha and them sticking with me this seaso n. We 're looking to increase our level of support next year with Yamaha if I can. This year I hope to show them I can do really good again in 250 and then maybe next year build an even bigger team and maybe have a teammate. That' s kind of my goal this year is put on a really good show and work towards a bigger team next year. " Money talk. Miguel DuHamel wo n the 545 00 first place portion of the $35 ,000 Chevy Trucks Superbike purse. Mat Mladin earned $3200 for finishing seco nd wi th Jamie Hacking taking $2 500 in third. The $1000 Intersta te Batteries Superbike Pole Award went to Vance & Hines Ducati' s Jo hn KO Cinski, as did the 55 00 Moto rcycleu sa.com Holeshot Award , The $5 00 top private er qualifier bonus went to Competition A ccessori es.com' s Larry Pegram who also eamed the $700 top Superbike privateer bonus.

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