American
Flonda
s Mitu€l Dullarnel
flopos€d
to
Conrinued on
poge
45
Yoshimura $-aukl
Bar
Sphr took his second
poh
po6itiofl
in
a ro\a widl
a no^/ Sup€rbike bp
record
d Californa
Spe€d\^ray.
Spies took Fridry's
pro^/bional
pde,
then
b€srne
the
lirst rtler
6rer
in
fle 22s with a hp
of
I
:22.939 late
in Sarrdry's
cool
and oterest
qualifing
s€ssion. Hhdh
hdd
the
previqrs
nErk of I :21.6
I 2. The
lilrle wes
especially
impresrilE lince
Eies
was
batdiB a
h€ad coh
that
to(
into his bon€s,
he
9ij.
'Yesie.-
day
lgue.s $€
did a 23.3 and I Grne
in and
said,
You l(Ito
/ with
the corxftirs d|e vvay
thq erc,
we dont
kto$/ wfiat
dtey're
8oiry
ro
be tornor-
ror,'
"
he
said after
uslrE one of his tvyo qua[ryirE
tir€s. "Should
we throw
this other tir€ in and
to
fester?' They
said,
'No
let's
just
wait.' I
told
them
yesterday
that
22.9 would
be a
pretq.
good
lap." He added that,
as
good
as th€ lap
was, it
mitht have been
better "l made
a slitht
bit of
a mistake in the very
end, but i!
was
proMb,y
a half tenth or a
tenth, but
orhe.
than that,
tlE lap was pretty
tood."
When
Ben
Spie6 e.tded d|e
pol€
streak
of tearn-
rnete Mat
Mladin
4
I
l, lan $/6ek at Barber
Motor+orE
hrk, Yamaha!
la6on
Dlsalyo
b€
Mladin). the Honda
of Duharnel and
the
Kawasaki
of Hayden.
The four
stayed
together
throughout, with
Bosrrom
sliding
around in fronr
for mosr
of it.
on, to
give
way
to both Hodgson
and
Duhamel ar
the
end.
Hodgson
was
*le tastest
of the four
and
he
even made inroads
ro Yates, finishing
iust
a second or
so behind
the Geo€ian at
the
flnish.
Duhamel
wa next,
with Bo*rom
keeping
Hayden
bay
for
seventh.
Behind them,
hidmore got
the betrer
ot
both
Jake
Holden
and Larry Pegram
in
the
final laps,
with Pegram
ending
up
lfth
and
Holden I lth.
Zemke
was
pleased
with rhird,
rhough he
knows
tlrcre's still work
to do to
run with
the two Suzukis. Although
lYladin
$.as hav-
ing issues,
Zemke knew
tlBt catching
him
was a
pipedream.
"Mat
[Mladin]
was
pretq.
far
up there and
I could feel
my front
tire was a bit
gre6y,"
Zemke
said,
"l'm
sure his was,
roo
-
l'm
sure
€fr'erybody's were. I
know he's in
t for a
championship
and l'm not,
aM I'm sure
he
was
iust
backing
off, beirE safe. He had quhe
a
large gap
on me so... The
race
went well
in a way. lt
iust
took me
too long to
get
arolnd
Aaron
[Yates],
and once
I dii, I was
able
to
pull
away ,rom
him a little
bt there.
But Ben and Mat
had
already split at thar
point,
so ir
was
iust
kind of a lonely
crube
home in
third.''
Even though
he'd
been beaten for
the
third
$raight
time for rhe flrst
dme
sin€e
20O2, Mladin
was relatively
upbeat, When
asked abou
takjng anorher
bss. Mladin
deadpanned:
"Well,
it's
over isn't it? I
guess
I
should shoot
myself."
Then
he
got
serious.
stating:
"Ben's
[Spies]
riding good
and today wE
iusr
cho6e
the
wrong
tire and wEnt backward
halfiMay
through the race-
Ben's
putting
the
pressure
on, and
we need
to
get
out and try
and llnd
sornerhing
*lat will help
out a little
bit But it
was a
pretty good
race
today.
We
had some
good pace
and,
uhfortunately,
we couldnt
hold t to
tlre end, but
you
know, rhat's
the
way
it
goes.
I can only
control
what I do and
I can't conrol
the way
Ben rides, and tle's
riding
great
at the moment and
we ha\e
to
try
and llgure something
out."
Sunday's
race
twg came and went,
and
Mladin
$ill hadnt
figured it our.
Spi6 nailed the holeshor
again fiom
pole
position,
with
Mladin
secoad and
Zemke
third. The llrst
miscue carne from
Bcotrom,
who
ran
straight at rhe
end of the
back-
straight, bur sloned in
nicely without
losing
(or
did he
actually
gainl
time.
At
the end
of lap one it
was: SFnes.
Mladin,
Zernke, Yates, Bostrorn,
Duharnel,
Hodgson,
Hayden, Pridmore
and Rapp.
Spies' Iead was
iust
0. I07 of
a second, and
Zemke was doir6
a better
iob
of keeping in
touch wirh
the
Suzukis.
Things
srayed
the same with
rhe
lead
trio
quickly
distancing themselves
from
the
rest,
with Zemke
bravely trying
to stay in touch.
He world
keep them in
sight eady on,
but
even0Jally fade
back. His race would
be run
alcne, well
behind the two up front
and well
ahead of those banling
behind.
Briefly...
h
\,
t
5
/
\
5-
I
{r,
braking for rhe rigtt-hander
at the end of the
backstraighr.
After three laps, he
was
just
o\.er a sec-
ond behind
Mladin. That gap
would shrink
until
the two
were locked together
on
the
lap
six. They would
stay that
way for the
next four laps.
After
ll laps. Mladin had
eked out
a bit more of a lead,
but that
was
short lived, with
Spies ftIaking
up the lost
ground.
When
the
pair
hit heavy traflic for
the fiist
time.
they were rqgether again.
And
on the l4th
lap, Spies made his
move.
The
pass
for the
lead came
on the front
straight,
with Mladin
appearing to
slow dras-
tically,
allowing Spies
to
shoor past.
Though
he would later
say that hed
chosen the
wrong
tire, Mladid
was in fact having
gear-
box troubles on his
GSX-R I 000.
"l just
dought I'd
give
me a couple sec-
onds and see i, I
