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/128627
AMA,/Ch e vy Truc k s U .S S uperbik e C h a mpion ship R o u n d 1 1 : P ik e s P eak Interna l;ional Raceway so n draws to a close , th is one actual ly consisted of two ra ces in one : The race at the front, a nd the ra c e fo r the Sup erbik e Na tiona l Ch amp io nsh ip . Th is time , for a whil e a t le a s t , they were one in th e sa me . With Mat Mlad in ho ld ing a slender 13-po in t lea d ove r Nicky Hayden h ead in g in t o t od a y ' s S u p e rb ik e Nationa l, there wa s na tura lly a lot of foc us o n th a t battle. And that ba ttle took place right at the front. With Bostrom and Mladin lea d ing the way right off th e bat with Ha yd en in tow , th e battle was on. Ha yd en , who was struggling a ll weekend with tra ction p ro ble ms on th e new RC5 1, had his ra ce face on and wa s s udden ly where he hadn 't been a ll wee ken d on the pac e . On th e 14th lap , Ha yden took the lead and actually pulled a ga p on Bostrom and Mladi n . It wa s a ga p th at wou ldn 't la st. S lo wl y at first , more ra p idly a bit later, the pa ir reeled h im in a nd it was ob vious that he had worn out his re a r tire . O n the 3 2 n d o f the 48 -l ap ra ce , Bo s t rom went by Hayd en. A lap later, Mlad in did likew ise . Th en Yoshimura Suzu ki's Aaron Yates went pa st th e strugg ling Hayd en. Ev entuall y , Ha yd en wou ld e nd up fifth, his ch ampion shi p winning a s pira tio ns gone. With Ha yden going ba ck wa rd , By P AU L C ARRUT HERS P HOT OS BY H EN NY R A Y A BRAMS FOUNTAIN, CO, AUG. 12 e lc o m e b a c k , Eri c . Goo d bye, W title chase. There we re two stories tha t ca me o ut of the Pik e s Pe a k roun d of t he AMA/Che vy Truc ks U. S . Superbike S e rie s : The return of Er ic Bo s t ro m , a nd the tota l demise of all s us pense in this year's tit le chase. Bostrom wa s si m ply s pectac ular on a scorch ing hot day in Colorado . The factory Kawasak i rider was on e of just a few riders who took a gam ble a nd u s e d Du n lop's 501 -c o rnpound rear tire , a tire th at not m any felt would go the distanc e . Us ing heavy re s trai nt with h is right wr ist, Bostrom was not on ly a ble ' to m a ke the tire last , but he did so wh ile leading the pack. It wa s a pa ce he could mainta in to the finis h and he led the fie ld h ome , endi ng a perso n a l tw o year Superbike winless drought in the pr? c ess. Iron ically , Pikes Peak wa s the s ite of Bostrom's last Superbike victory , that o ne c o mi n g aboa rd a Hond a RC45 on S eptember 6 , 199 8 . Back then , Bostrom was a Superbike rook ie fill ing in for th e injured Miguel DuHamel. As is usually th e case as the sea - 6 AUGUST 23, 2000' c ue I e n eVIl's Mladin was more than ha ppy to finish second. He slowed his pa c e , allo wing Bostrom to pu ll a ga p , a nd th en the Au str ali a n c a m e und er a tt a c k from Yates . T he Ge o rg ian had his head down . He stuffed pa st his teammate Mlad in and then tried despe rately to catch Bo strom . T he a ttem pt wa s in vain , a nd Yates event ua lly coa s ted along the fro nt strai g ht e n route to the c h e c k e re d flag, a llo wi n g h is teammate Mladi n t o ge t s e c o nd pla ce , a nd the va lua ble po ints th at go with it. Ya te s finis he d third, on e spot ahe ad of Yamaha 's Jamie Hacking . Nicky Hayden wa s fifth. Jus t like that , the ba ttl e fo r the AMA Sup erbi k e National Champi onshi p was, for a ll pr a ct ical purposes , over. Wit h a 19-point le ad with ju st the Willow Springs rou nd re m ai nin g , a ll Mladin ha s to do is fin ish 1 1th or better an d the crown is h is - fo r a second successive season. Mlad in now leads the series sta nd ings over Hay den, 365-346. Yates is st ill th ird wit h 3 2 1 points , 11 point s cl e a r o f Bo strom ' s 310. Kawasa ki ' s Dou g C ha n dl e r , who was e ig h t h tod a y , lies fifth in th e series standings with 263 po ints . With tire wear of th e ultimate concern on th e tight and twisty Pikes la yout, th e majori ty of the top fa c to ry Eric Bostrom (32) leads Mat Mladin (1). Nicky Hayd en (6 9) and t h e rest of the pa ck at the start of th e pe nultimate round of th e AMAJ Chevy T rucks U.S. Superbike National at Pikes Peak Intematlonal Raceway in Fountain, Co lorado. m en wen t with Dunlo p ' s du al -c om pound tire . Th e tire is hard and ma kes for a c ar eful pace, but it' s a tire that would go t he dista nce . Na tur a lly , there were a fe w wh o cou ld risk the gamble of trying something differ ent a nd c hief a mo ng them wa s Bo strom . With the tra ck temperature rea ch ing 52 degrees Ce ls ius (last year it was o nly 22 deg re es Ce lsius ) , th e race got underway under a scorching s un with Bo strom a nd Mladin e lbow to e lbow in th e fast left- h a nder that make s up turns one a nd two . Ha yden was in tow with Hac k ing fou rth , Com p et iti onA c c e s s o r ie s. com 's Larr y Pe gr am fift h , Yates s ixth , Yo s h' s J a son Pridmor e seventh and Vanc e [, Hines Du c ati ' s Ste ve Ra pp e ig ht h. Koc inski , m e anwh ile , e nded th e first lap in 11th place. The first d ecisive move of th e da y ca me on the s ixth lap when Hayden fle w up the in s ide of Mladin in the ha irp in to tak e o ver seco nd p lac e. What did Mladin think at th e tim e ? "Th a t pa ss made me rea lize that Nicky probab ly had a different tire