Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

'''''''>-J - - ---..--.-------==-. AMA,/Ch e vyTruck s u.s S uperbi k e Champio n ship Round 1 1 : Pik e s P e a k In t erna tion al R ace w a y , AMAIPro Honda OilsSOUcc Supersport Series Round 8: Pikes Peak Internatio Raceway nal Hacking By A Mile! By P AUL C ARRUTHER S P HOT OS BY HENNY R A Y A B RAMS IAbove) The 600cc Supe rs port ra ce loo ked like it was go ing to be a thriller, w ith Jamie Hack ing (21, Eric Bostrom (3 2 ) a nd Kurtis Roberts (80) a ll fighting for the lead in the early stages of the race. (Left) Jamie Hacking capitalized on the misfortune of Kurtis Roberts and - with Eri c Bostrom rid ing conservatively after Roberts' crash devastated the field, winning by over 10 seconds, the la rg e st margin of victory all year. FOGNTAIN, CO, AGG. 13 t wa s s upposed to be so m uch better tha n this . Ins t ead o f a ra c e-lon g s lu g fes t b e tw e en c ha m p io ns h ip riv a ls Eric Bo s t ro m a n d Kurt is Rob ert s , th e 600cc Supersport final at Pikes Peak Internatio nal Ra c e wa y turned into a J a m ie Ha c k in g romp . The Yam a ha ride r took full adva nta ge of those with c ha m pions h ips on the ir m inds to run aw a y to a 10 .42 -seco nd win - t he la rgest m argin of victor y in the class this seaso n. Be hind him , th ing s un fo lded perfect ly for Bos trom a nd Kawa sa k i. With th e top three - Roberts , Bostrom a nd Ha c k ing - battl ing fe ve rish ly in the e a rly go ing, e veryt hing c ha nged on the s e venth lap when Roberts lost t h e fro nt e n d o n th e b rakes in th e ha irp in. Bostrom sa w the e nt ire inci dent a nd at tha t point he dec ided to "m e llow o ut." He looke d through h is windscr e en a nd s aw the big pic t ure , a n d t h e b ig p ic t ure d idn ' t in cl ud e do ing ba ttle with Hack ing . T hat left Ha ck ing to ride off into the d istan c e , making what on pa per ap pea red to be a thrill er into some wh at of a bo re . Bostrom he ld on for se cond with Ha c kin g 's Ya m aha team m at e Tommy Hay den e arning his first rostrum po s ition of th e season. "I didn't t hi n k I' d b e a bl e to get th at big of a ga p," Ha c kin g said. "But I knew coming into th is race tha t last yea r I ran re a lly we ll. And th is yea r I'm a lot bette r rider than I was last · yea r · a lot more ca lmed down . I was I 10 AUG UST 23, 2 0 00 ' cu e I Kurtis Roberts arrived at Pi ke s Pe a k tied for the championship le ad with Eri c Bostrom . He le ft Co lorado e ight points ba ck, after a crash on lap seven of the 600 Supersport race f orced him to fight his way back t hro ugh the fi e ld, eventually finishi ng seventh. just confid ent - fro m the sta rt of th e Erion Honda CB R600 F4 and contin- race , a ll th e way th rou gh ." ue on . His m ethodic a l m arch e ve ntu- While it appe a red th at a ll was lost for Roberts, that d idn 't end up being the case. He wa s a ble to re m ount his e a lly la n d e d h im seve nt h wh en h is t e amm at e s J o sh Ha y e s a nd J ak e Ze mk e o b lig in gly w a it e d u p for nuwvs Roberts and a llowed him to pass on . the fina l round . Bo st rom 's seco nd com b ined with Robe rts ' se ve nt h t rans lates into a n e ight -poi nt lead for Bost rom with just one ro und - at Willow Springs in Ca lifornia - re m ai n ing . Bostrom ha s 247 p o in t s to Ro be rts ' 239 . Ha cki n g is n o w t ied wit h Aaro n Ya te s, fo urth toda y, with 2 16 points . Tom my Hay den is fifth with 214 po int s . In itia lly, this wa s e ve ryth ing it wa s s up po sed to be . Bo strom and Hack ing battled for th e hol eshot, with the pair ru n ni n g s ide -b y -sid e th rough turns one and two , w ith Robe rts locked in right be hind them . Hacking led into the hairpin, but Bostrom shot past in the same spot a la p later with Roberts following him . It wa s all going a c c ording to plan fo r Hacking . "I dr opped ba c k to thi rd be c au s e I wa nt e d to see wh a t was goi ng o n ," Hacking sai d. "I k ne w Ku rt is was wanting to get away and I knew Eric wasn't wa nti ng h im to get awa y, so I was siz ing th a t u p . I di d n't want to s t a y in th e le a d . I wan ted to dr o p back a little bit. We ll, at first I wanted th a t holeshot a wa rd [th er e is n't one in 600 c c Sup er sp or t] . I s ettl ed in be caus e it' s a long ra ce ." On the third la p , Rob erts to ok over en t erin g t h e h a irp in , with Bost ro m a nd Ha ck ing cont in u ing t heir ba tt le right beh ind him. Just when it looked as th ou g h Roberts was m ak ing a bit of a break fro m the duo beh ind him , he threw it down the road in the ha irp in. "I was just trying to pu ll awa y from those g uys a n d I messed up a bit," Ro be rts sa id . "Unfort un a t e ly it cost us . I h a d to pick th e t hing · ba c k up and m a d e m y wa y b a c k u p t o my te a m m ate s - th e y wer e the ne xt two in line - a nd th ey let m e by. Th e y definitely let me by. The re wa s no way in h e ll I co u ld have beat th e m . That's what hav ing te amma tes is a ll a bo ut a nd it takes a who le team to win a c ha mpio ns h ip a n d tha t's wh y I a lways p ra ise my team. Unfortunately , I le t th e m d own toda y b ut we ' ll ma ke it up at Willow." J u s t as q ui c k ly as Ro berts went d own , Bo strom ' s m ind c lic ked int o c ruise mode . "Go ing into thi s race , I a nt icipate d th a t th e re wo u ld b e seve ral of u s going fa st ," Bo s t rom said . "I got a good start a nd Jamie [Hacking ] c ame by a n d I was n ' t going t o h av e a ny pa rt of that so I pass ed h im ba c k . For a tra c k that is ha rd to pa ss o n, it felt easy out there. When Ku rtis [Rob erts ] c rashe d , I knew that cou ld ha ve ha p pene d to any of the three of us . It wa s a re lief, but obvio usly I was glad th at he got up a nd was oka y. I'm ha ppy to ta ke th e c hamp ions hip lead . J a m ie wa s goi ng rea lly good a nd obvious ly I wo u ld h av e lik ed to h ave b e en up there ra c ing with h im , but I thoug ht I'd bett er ju s t mellow o ut a litt le b it. If

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