Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Superbike Race One Results:
1. Nicky Hayden, Honda RC51, 26 laps
2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, +2.775 seconds
3. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, +8.548 seconds
4. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R7, +17.644 seconds
5. Pascal Picotte, Ducati 998RS, +23.432 seconds
6. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R750, +24.835 seconds
7. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R750, +24.846 seconds
8. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki GSX-R750, +41.505 seconds
9. Doug Chandler, Ducati 998RS, +48.191 seconds
10. Brian Parriott, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
11. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
12. Mark Foster, Kawasaki ZX-7R, +1 lap
13. Tom Montano, Ducati 998S, +1 lap
14. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
15. Ed Milhausen, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
16. Brian Livengood, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
17. Robert Mesa, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
18. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
19. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap
20. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R750, +1 lap

Superbike Point Standings (following race one):

1. Hayden, 141 points
2. Gobert, 118 points
3. Bostrom, 87 points
4. Yates, 84 points
5. Hacking, 83 points
6. TIE, Mladin/Picotte/Livengood, 78 points
9. Deatherage, 77 points
10. Chandler, 76 points
11. Parriott, 66 points
12. Conicelli, 63 points
13. Duhamel, 56 points

More, from Mat Mladin’s publicist:

Rounds 4 & 5, 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, California, USA
Final Qualifying and Round 4 Race Report

HAYDEN TAKES SEARS POINT WIN, MLADIN SEVENTH

Sonoma, California, USA – Defending American AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin has finished in seventh place in the first of the double header races that will make up rounds four and five of the 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship being held at Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, California.

With another 26-lap Superbike race scheduled for tomorrow, Mladin lies sixth overall in the championship with 78 points and trails today’s race winner and current points leader, American Honda’s Nicky Hayden by 63 points with four rounds of the championship completed.

Hayden took victory in today’s 26-lap Superbike national by 2.775 seconds from teammate Miguel DuHamel, with Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom third. After taking pole position during qualifying Anthony Gobert (Team Yamaha) had to settle for fourth place ahead of Pascal Picotte (Austin/Bieu Bayou Ducati) and the Blimpie Yoshimura Suzukis of Aaron Yates and Mladin.

Mladin had been holding station with the lead group of riders until he and teammate Yates came together on lap ten. The incident cost Mladin valuable time and as he fought to catch the lead group once more he took the best out of his tyres. The latter half of the race saw Mladin involved in a dice with Gobert and Picotte, with Yates slipping by the Australian on the final turn to relegate him to seventh.

“Things are definitely not going the way we hoped,” said Mladin afterwards. “We are trying a lot of things to get the bike up there, but we seem to be losing out everywhere as well. We seem to have stood still with our development of the bikes since last year, while other teams such as Honda and Yamaha have made very good forward progress. I’m not sure what we have to do, but all I know that whatever it is, it will have to be a big improvement if we are to be competitive for the rest of the year.

“As for the race today, things were going well until about lap ten when I was hit by Aaron (Yates) and lost a lot of time as a result,” added Mladin.

“When the Hondas got past Anthony they just checked out and left the rest of us to dice between ourselves. I’m expecting tomorrow’s race to be just as tough, so we’ll have to sit down with the guys and see what we can come up with for the bike.”

Qualifying for the Superbike races concluded earlier in the day with Gobert taking pole position with a new lap record of 1:31.692. Hayden was second fastest with a 1:32.149, followed by Bostrom (1:32.392) and Yates (1:32.724). After being second fastest in the opening qualifier, Mladin slipped to fifth overall with a best lap of 1:32.882.

“My qualifying lap should have been a lot better than it was. It was good early, but then I messed up and destroyed a good lap. We seem to be having a lot of trouble with getting the bike to steer at the moment and that is the case here. It wants to push the front all of the time and it doesn’t want to turn into the corners. We are working on trying to find a solution to it, but we haven’t found it yet.”

And the official track press release:

Honda’s Hayden Claims First Superbike Victory at
Sears Point in Supercuts Superbike Challenge

SONOMA, Calif. (IMMEDIATE RELEASE) – Honda’s Nicky Hayden captured his first Superbike victory at Sears Point Raceway on Saturday with a decisive win in the AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge, presented by Honda of Milpitas.

Hayden (Honda), who started in fourth position, passed pole-sitter Anthony Gobert (Yamaha) on lap 8 and maintained the lead for the remainder of the 26-lap main event. Teammate Miguel Duhamel placed second with Petaluma native Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki) third.

It was Hayden’s seventh victory in eight U.S. Chevy Trucks Superbike races dating back to last season. It was also Honda’s first Superbike win at Sears Point Raceway since 1998. Hayden was able to make what turned out to be the winning move entering Turn 7 on lap 8.

“Coming out of the Carousel (Turn 6) I had a good run and was able to get by Miguel and I used the draft to get by (leader) Gobert,” said Hayden. “Our win today shows the improvement of the bike, me and the team over last year. The race was awesome.”

Duhamel, a four-time Superbike winner at Sears Point, was never able to challenge Hayden, who won going away.

“The bike’s working really good and the race went well,” Duhamel said. “I tried to stay close to Nicky, but I just didn’t have enough to get by him. I was able to close on him, but closing is one thing and passing another.”

With his win on Saturday, Hayden maintained the lead in the AMA U.S. Chevy Trucks Superbike championship chase over Gobert (Yamaha), who placed fourth on Saturday. Gobert was the defending champion at Sears Point.

Action resumes at Sears Point Raceway on Sunday with the second AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge feature. This marks the first Superbike doubleheader at Sears Point. In addition, there will also be feature races in three other divisions. For ticket information, call 800-870-RACE or visit www.searspoint.com.

More, from HMC Ducati:

HMC Ducati rider Doug Chandler rode a difficult race to finish in ninth position in the first of Sears Point’s weekend doubleheaders. Suspension problems have plagued the Ducati rider from his first outing at Sears yesterday and his normal smooth riding style was spoiled as he battled to keep his bike stable. But the HMC team is determined to find a solution to get Doug back in the fight with the leaders for tomorrow’s race.

“I think there’s something that we’re missing,” said Doug simply. “The changes we made yesterday didn’t seem to make too much of a difference. The forks just don’t seem to be damping, especially when the tire starts going off. I was doing all my slowing down on the brakes, I couldn’t scrub off any speed through the corners and had to keep dabbing the brakes to slow me down.

“It was a very uneventful race. I thought I could stay close to Hacking and maybe gain another place, but once the tires started dropping off a little, the bike got harder to ride.

“At the moment it feels like we’re chasing something that’s not really there but we’ll dedicate the rest of the day to analyzing the data to try and pinpoint the problem.”