VOL. 50 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
2003 – THE OLD MAN AND XAUS
(Top) Pier-Francesco Chili won the first race in
2003 – at the age of 39.
(bottom) Ruben Xaus bounced back from a crash
in race one to dominate race two and celebrate
with a burnout at the top of the Corkscrew.
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>>The oldest man in the race – Pier-Francesco Chili
– won his first-ever race at Laguna Seca, the 39-year-old
Italian winning the first race. The second race, meanwhile,
was won by one of the young guns – the inconsistent
Ruben Xaus (he crashed out of race one and dominated
race two).
>>Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates crashed in the first
corner, taking down Chili, Troy Corser and Eric Bostrom
in the process. The race was red-flagged and won by Chili
on the restart.
>>Championship leader Neil Hodgson finished second
in both races.
>>Mat Mladin became the first wild card rider to qualify
on pole position. The Australian finished fourth in the first
race, but elected not to start race two. The Yoshimura
Suzuki rider was doing double duty with the AMA
Superbike races on the same weekend.
>>The first talk of the series going to spec tires was
addressed by the Flammini Brothers, the thenpromoters of the series.
