Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A M A/Chevy T rucks U .S . Sup e r bik e C h a m p io n s hip R o u n d 1 0 : B r a in erd In t e r n a t io n a l R a c e w a y ta ki ng t u rns at th e fro n t , t ho ug h Bo s t rom woul d le a d the m o st lap s , a nd t ake the all im p o rt a nt champi ons hip po int that goes with it. "1 was just putting my he ad down a nd th e s e g uys were do ing a reall y good jo b ," Bostro m sai d . "1 was like , 'Ma n , we 're go ing .' " Roberts h a d g otten a b a d sta rt, either be c aus e he was o n th e wro ng part of th e dra g s trip o r bec a us e he wa sn 't go ing th rough the gear s pro p er ly . Eith er wa y , it mean t h e was s ixth at t he e nd of th e firs t la p and work ing har d to catc h up. "To c a tc h up to th ese g uys afte r co ming through fie ld ju s t m e lted m y tire ," Rob erts s a id . "Like when I caug ht up to them , th e th ing was just s p inning s o m uch I couldn't get on the thrott le wh e n I ne e de d to a nd ju st p ro blems like that. I kne w we were in trouble." It wa s in t he se co nd h al f o f t he ra c e tha t m os t of th e c ha ngi ng wa s takin g pl a c e , with Bo s tr o m usin g a doub le sli ng s hot to get back to t he front afte r fa lling ba c k to th ird on th e eighth la p. Th en it wa s up to him a nd Rob ert s , Ha ck in g just b ehin d a n d Tommy Ha yd en lu rk ing , bu t soon to be a non -fa cto r. "1 was righ t the re e ve n to the wh ite fla g ," Ha yd en s a id. "Whe n we got the whit e flag m y bik e re a lly s lowed a nd I don 't know wha t it was . I co uldn 't do any last -la p charge." Ha yden s a id he was mostly wa tc hing the action in front , not looking to get involve d until the ve ry e nd . "It was a pr etty hot pace ," he sai d . "1 wa s just in it to do what I could . I wasn 't rea l anxious to battle a round, bang aro u nd in turn one and t wo . Tow ard th e e nd I was wanting to do s omething, but I just k ind of held m y po s it ion th e w ho le tim e , I j u s t couldn 't make any move s ." Lap s eig ht, nine , and 10 e a ch ha d di ff er e nt lead e r s - Ha c k in g , t h e n Bo st rom , th en Ro be rts and so on Bostrom aga in . "1 was definite ly tr y ing to be tire conscious t he who le ra c e ," Bos tro m s a id . "The last thr e e la ps I wa s like okay, it 's time to go , m a n . Defin itel y, I d id n' t care a bo ut a nythi ng e lse a t th at poin t. I sta rte d ha m m e ring it." Bost rom took h is turn again e nding la p 11 a nd wo u ldn 't be headed , despite the best efforts of Roberts and Hac king . "Wh a t I pla nned o n do ing a t th e end of th e race was letting Eric get a little b it of a lead the last la p or so , th e la st two laps , then on th at la st two just catc h up to him , bec ause I kn ew I was a lot fas ter tha n him in turn two , beca use I sort of ha d I had that tu rn dow n ," Roberts said. "1figur ed I cou ld get h im aga in like I d id a co uple of laps earlier. Jamie t ried to p a ss me and just kind of held that up a little b it in the ch ican e because I s lowed down a little to o muc h , just a llo wed Eri c to get th at littl e gap on u s . I almost m ade it up a nd then we ran 10 AUGUST 9 ,2000' cue I into lappers o n the la st lap th a t jus t completely did tha t scena rio in als o ." It did n't he lp that Roberts had bliste red his re ar tire . "The g uys ha ve been working hard es pecia lly with th e m ot o r and it 's rea lly p a y in g of f fo r u s , " Bo s t ro m said . "We definitely got to keep th e pre ssu re on beca use Kurtis ha s been goi ng fast , and Ja mie and a ll these guys . Seems li k e it ' s a t wo - ra c e shooto ut now." In fac t, Bostrom and Ro be rt s a re tie d in po int s , both hold ing 2 15 a nd both ha ving two wins a fte r s e ven of nine ra ces. "We ' re sec on d he re a nd ti ed fo r the ch ampions hip, so we just ha ve to go to the next two an d do a little bit better ," Rob erts sa id. Ha cking would also like to do a little better , eve n th ou gh he d idn 't ha ve co mplete co ntrol of hi s d e s ti n y in Brainerd . Hacki ng sai d Ro be rts was closi ng on Bostrom , "the n it looked like he had ti re pr ob lem s o r so m e th ing an d he couldn 't get some go od dr ives on this turn nine over her e a nd kind of gapped us away from Eric a nd th a t wa s b a si c al ly a bo ut th e ra ce . I was just fight ing for s econd a nd th ird . J ust cou ldn 't ma ke up t hat g round ." Ha c k in g wa s . 2 2 7 o f a s ec o nd be hind Roberts , with Tommy Hay den 2 .4 fa rthe r ba ck. Am er ic an Hond a ' s Mig u el DuHam el was a so lita ry fifth , a bo ut 6 .4 se conds behind. "Th e 6 0 0 wa s workin g good ," he sa id. "Ma ybe a little so ft in the rea r. My confidence wasn't high enoug h to p ush it. I j us t cou ldn ' t ma k e it up th er e." His teamma te Nicky Hayden , th e re ign ing cla ss c ha m pion who 's s uffe ring th rou gh a t o ug h 600 cc Su p e rs po rt ye a r, wa s an ot her seve n sec onds ba c k . "The 600 , th e first fe w laps I ju st rod e poo rly , I wasn 't aggres siv e and I let the boys get away fro m m e a nd I jus t d idn 't c at ch o nto the d raf t," he sa id afte r jus t holding off the rapidly c los ing J ake Zemke of Bru ce Tra ns portat ion Grou p a nd Yos himu ra Suzu ki's Aar on Yate s . Er ion Ra c in g 's Jos h Ha y e s was ne xt across with some room to s pare o v e r Mazda Ch ap arr a l Suzuk i' s eN Damon Buc kma ste r. Bostrom (3 2) used a top-speed advantage to take the w in over Roberts (8 0). Ha c k ing (2) was third. Hay es ( Ha n ); 10 . Dam on Bu ck ma st er Mark Miller ( Yam ) ; 12 . J ason Pridmore Roger Lee Hay den ( Suz); 14 . Ric hard ( Yam ); 15 . M i c ha el Han n as_1I ( Ya m ) ; (S uz) ; 11. (Suz ); 13. A l exa nd er 16 . Kev in Lacombe (Han ); 17 . J oseph Gill (Ya m) ; 18 . Ro bert J ensen ( Yam ): 19. A lan Schm idt (Yam ): 20 . Sco tt Gooch (Ya m ); 2 1. David Orteg a (Kaw); 22 . J effrey Brain erd Internat ional Raceway Brainerd , Minnesota Results: July 3D, 2000 [Round 7 of 91 Purk (Ya m ) ; 23 . Kurt Mar m or (Han ); 24 . Andrew Bohlig (Yam) ; 25 . Ju st in Bl ak e ( He n ) ; 26 . Eric Dooyema (Yam): 27. Frank Cesna (Han). Tim e: 22 mi n., 3.020 sec. Dist ance: 13 laps. 39 m iles. Average speed: 106. 122 mph . M. rg in of vict ory: 0.216 sec. a PRO HO NDA O ILS 60 0c c S(JPERSPORT C' SHIP POINT STANDINGS (Af t er 7 of 9 rounds) : I. (TIE) Eric Bo strom / Kurtis Robert s (2 15/ 2 wins); 3. Miguel Duhamel (194/1) : 4 . Aaro n Yates (189 /1) ; 5. Tomm y Hayden ( 185); 6. Jamie Hack ing ( 179/1 ); 7. Richard Alexander ( 138) ; 8. J ason Pri dm ore (1 37) ; 9. Ja ke Zemke ( 134 ): 10. Josh Hayes ( 133): 1I. Nlck Hayden (129 ); 12. Damon Buckm aster (12 6) ; 13. Roger Lee Hayden (122 ); 14. Mark Mll1er (97 ); 15. Kevin Lacombe (81) : 16. M;chael Hennas II (65) : 17. David Ortega (47): 18. Brian Parriott (37) : 19. Clint Bratz (35); 20. (TIE) Doug Chandler/C hristopher Rankin (32) . PRO HONDA OILS 600cc S(JPERSPORT: I. Eri c Bostrom (Kaw ); 2 . Kurt is Roberts ( Ho n ) ; 3 . J am ie Hacking (Yam) ; 4 . Tom my Hayd en (Yam); 5. Migu el Duha me l (Hen ); 6 . Nick Hayd en (Han ) ; 7 . Jake Zem ke (Hon ); 8. A aron Yates (Suz) ; 9. Jo sh Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 . Fountain, Colorado, August 13 Round 9 - Rosamond, California, October 1 AMA/Lockhart-PhillipsUSA 75Dcc Supersport Round 7: Brainerd International Raceway B Y H EN NY R A Y ABR AM S PH OTO BY B RIA N J . NELSON Grant Lopez (1 5) won the 750cc Supersport race after holding off John Ho p kin s (2 1) and Damon Buckmaster (h i d d e n ). e ne""s BRAINERD, MN, JGlY 29 ~ ran t Lo pez won th e Lo c kh art V Phil lip s US A 750cc S u p er s p o rt race because he was in the right plac e at the right time, but he 'd worked ha rd to ge t there. Les s than two la ps from the end of the 13-lap race , th e Valvoline EMGO Suzuk i rider libe ra ted h im s e lf from a three -way dog fight by forcin g his way th rough som e backmarkers who balked his closest followers . Free of the struggle, Lopez s ped away while his tea mmate John Hopkins batt led with Mazda Chaparra l Suzuki's Damon Buckmaster. Th at c ut-and -chop battle slowed the pa ir down a nd Lopez was able to speed away to his second win in a row, this

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