Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

American Honda’s Nicky Hayden won an attrition-filled AMA Superbike race Saturday at Virginia International Raceway on a Dunlop-equipped Honda RC51. His 9th win of the season earned Hayden first AMA Superbike Championship; at age 21, Hayden is the youngest AMA Superbike Champion ever.

With Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom leading and Hayden running fourth, Team Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates crashed out of second place, a lowside crash in turn five on lap eight.

Bostrom then crashed out of the lead in turn four on lap nine.

Mat Mladin inherited the lead but ran off the track in turn one and dropped back to third on lap 13.

Running second behind Hayden on lap 16, Hacking broke and dropped out of the race.

Mladin took over second but only until lap 20 when his GSX-R750 also broke.

Hayden steadily moved up with each retirement, took the lead on lap 13 and won the race by eight seconds over HMC Ducati’s Doug Chandler and Honda’s Miguel Duhamel.

AMA Superbike Race One Results:

1. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 28 laps
2. Doug Chandler, Ducati, -8.029 seconds
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -14.717 seconds
4. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -38.442 seconds
5. Pascal Picotte, Ducati, -67.308 seconds
6. Brian Livengood, Suzuki, -75.710 seconds
7. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -1 lap
8. Geoff May, Suzuki, -1 lap
9. Andrew Deatherage, Suzuki, -1 lap
10. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, -1 lap
11. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -1 lap
12. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki, -1 lap
13. John Dugan, Suzuki, -1 lap
14. Justin Blake, Suzuki, -1 lap
15. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki, -1 lap
16. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, -1 lap
17. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -1 lap
18. Thomas Montano, Ducati, -1 lap
19. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, -1 lap
20. Christopher S. Rankin, Suzuki, -1 lap
21. John Jacobi, Suzuki, -1 lap
22. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -1 lap
23. Robert Christman, Suzuki, -1 lap
24. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap
25. Shane Clarke, Suzuki, -2 laps
26. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, -9 laps, DNF, mechanical
27. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki, -12 laps, DNF, mechanical
28. Robert Jensen, Suzuki, -14 laps, DNF
29. Giovanni Rojas, Suzuki, -15 laps, DNF
30. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -18 laps, DNF
31. Eric Bostrom, Suzuki, -20 laps, DNF, mechanical
32. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -21 laps, DNF, crash
33. Chris Rankin of Maryland, -25 laps, DNF
34. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -28 laps, DNF

AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings:

1. Hayden, 488
2. Bostrom, 414
3. Duhamel, 375
4. Picotte, 330
5. Yates, 316
6. Parriott, 284
7. Livengood, 271
8. Mladin, 267
9. Chandler, 267
10. Hacking, 260
11. Deatherage, 231
12. Haskovec, 206
13. Rich Conicelli, 165
14. Anthony Gobert, 163
15. Jason DiSalvo, 148
16. Mizdal, 142
17. Robert Jensen, 138
18. Dugan, 131
19. Roberts, 130
20. Schmidt, 126