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On No Limits Racing’s Eye-opening First AMA Season

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From a press release:

Canyon Country, California.

No Limit Motor Sports finished their first full year as an AMA Road Race team in fine fashion. Riding 2002 R-1 Yamahas in the formula Xtreme class, No Limit riders Lance Isaacs and Jason Curtis exceeded expectations of the team owners, Ben and Dianne Curtis.

The final event of the season at VIR resulted in a sixth place finish for South African Lance Isaacs, and an eleventh place finish for Jason. This places the veteran Isaacs in fifth place overall, and Jason in ninth place for his rookie year. The entire No Limit crew worked hard to try and find the right combination of engine and suspension that would make the Yamaha into a racing motorcycle, even without access to factory ‘kit’ parts or technical assistance, the team was able to place both of the R-1s on the top ten listing.

No Limit Motorsports is looking forward to an even better year in 2003, and will be making announcement within the next few weeks about their plans for next season. This first year in the AMA paddock was a treat for No Limit, and both Ben and Dianne Curtis, team owners, enjoyed all the new friends they have made, and appreciate the eye opening introduction to professional road racing, AMA style.

Updated Post: Sorensen Basks In The Glory Of Near-Naked Victory

From a press release issued by Team Stargel Aprilia:

Team Stargel Aprilia Wins Championship And Hearts Of Young Women

Team Stargel Aprilia arrived at Virginia International Raceway with many things on their minds. As always, the prospect of winning the race was at the forefront. Secondly, strategy to safely secure the 2002 AMA 250GP championship was a factor. Lastly, but perhaps the most important to rider Chuck Sorensen, was a strong showing in the inaugural ‘Pit Daddy’ contest to be held Sunday evening.

Practice proved to be both fast and problem free. On Saturday morning, Sorensen dropped into the 1:28s, which was a half second faster than his best race time at VIR from the previous year.

Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session saw Team Stargel Aprilia accomplish something they had not done all year. The team earned its first pole position, by qualifying ahead of Rich Oliver. By earning the single point for pole, the team would only have to finish in 26th place to clinch the championship in Sunday’s race.

By race time on Sunday, the VIR circuit was the hottest it had been all weekend. In the early going of the race, Sorensen was in fourth place in a fairly tight pack from first to fourth. Much to the ulcer inducing effect on his team, Sorensen would pass for the lead. At the beginning of lap four, Rich Oliver passed Sorensen entering turn one. Two corners later, Oliver crashed out of the race. Sorensen went on to ride a smart race securing both the race win as well as the 2002 MBNA 250GP championship.

If Chuck was not happy enough to win the race as well as the championship, there was still one more goal to fulfill, the ‘Pit Daddy’ contest. Sorensen had discussed the strategy for this event with his crew, planning it as they would prepare for a race. Always recognizing the need for top quality ‘equipment’, and keeping with their Italian sponsorship, Team Stargel Aprilia selected a swimsuit that they felt would be both at home on the Italian Riveria, while still capturing the imagination of the young American girl. Also, the music and choreography were painstakingly crafted and rehearsed over and over again. Between the heat, normal mechanical work on the racebike, and having to hear Chuck repeatedly scream, “once more from the top, but with FEELING this time!”, the tension of the crew was at an all time high.

Needless to say, just as on the racetrack, Sorensen’s steely gaze, clenched jaw, and undulating butt cheeks truly captivated the crowd. When the big moment arrived, Robert Pandya announced that indeed, Sorensen had captured the coveted title of 2002 ‘Pit Daddy’. The contest was a huge success as well, raising over $16,000 for charity. All in all, a perfect Sunday for the now three time AMA 250GP champion, Chuck Sorensen.

And now a more serious press release, from AMA Pro Racing:

SORENSEN GIVES APRILIA ITS FIRST AMA CHAMPIONSHIP

Chuck Sorensen won the MBNA 250 Grand Prix Series in the season finale Sunday, Aug. 11, on his Team Stargel Aprilia at Virginia International Raceway. It marks the third AMA 250 Grand Prix title for Sorensen, soon to be 30 years old (Aug. 14) from Sunnyvale, Calif. It is also a milestone for Aprilia, marking its first AMA road racing title. Sorensen beat young Cruise America Honda rider Jason DiSalvo by 40 points in the final standings. Perry Melneciuc was third in the series on a Team Oliver Yamaha.

Sorensen, who won the 250 Grand Prix title in 1999 and 2000, won this year’s championship by building a strong early points lead after he won four of the opening six rounds. Sorensen earned eight podium finishes in the 10-race series, including a series-leading five victories. The only races he finished off the box was at California Speedway and at Mazda Laguna Seca, where his bike’s motor seized on the warm-up lap.

“It’s phenomenal to come out of the last race with a win like that,” said Sorensen, who is fourth on the all-time AMA 250 Grand Prix wins list with 15-career victories. “I was kind of anxious to get the most wins in a season, so I was pretty stoked about that too. The crew did a great job, they treated it like any other weekend. Of course it’s all weighing on my minds about the championship, but through experience you learn that.”

Sorensen becomes the fifth rider to win three AMA 250 Grand Prix Championships. Donnie Greene, John Kocinski, and Jimmy Filice each won three titles in the class. Rich Oliver, who was a mentor to Sorensen early in Sorensen’s career and later became his top rival, has four 250 Grand Prix championship titles.

Schwantz Resigns From AMA Board

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz resigned his position on the AMA Board of Directors, via letter distributed at a Board meeting at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio Monday.

In the letter, Schwantz said that he was resigning because he had moved from North Carolina back to Texas, and now lives outside the Southeast Region. Schwantz was elected to represent the region in January, and won by a 3.5:1 margin over incumbent Carl Reynolds.

After reading a published report that Schwantz had moved his primary residence back to Texas, an AMA member from Georgia filed a formal complaint challenging Schwantz’s continued service on the Board.

Schwantz maintains a second residence in Atlanta, where he stays while conducting Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School sessions at Road Atlanta.

Schwantz will continue to serve on the separate Board of Directors of AMA Pro Racing.

The replacement for Schwantz on the main AMA Board has not be announced.

Szoke Won Canadian Superbike Title Yesterday

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From a press release issued by series organizers:

SZOKE CLINCHES SUPERBIKE TITLE

SHUBENACADIE, NS – Jordan Szoke wrapped up the 2002 Parts Canada Superbike Championship in dramatic fashion Sunday, winning his fifth race in a row.

After running off the track on the opening lap and dropping down to 11th place the Brantford, ON rider charged through the field, taking the lead from Coors Light Racing/Fast Company Suzuki teammate Francis Martin on lap 10 of a scheduled 24.

Szoke was holding a narrow lead over Martin when the race was red flagged on the 18th lap due to a crash by Philip Onisto. Owen Weichel placed third on the Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki.

“I like a challenge and coming through the pack was a lot of fun,” said Szoke, who also won the Canadian crown in 1998. “We’ve got a very talented bunch of riders out there and charging through the pack was very satisfying.”

Szoke earned 52 points for the win and for leading the most laps in the race, giving him 316 points in the Parts Canada Superbike standings.

Weichel was the only rider with a mathematical chance of catching him coming into the weekend, but is 102 points behind at 214 with one round remaining. A maximum of 56 points is available at each event.

Szoke almost saw his bid to clinch the title hit trouble just two turns into the race when Orion Motorsports Honda rider Frank Trombino fell and pushed Szoke off the track. While Martin moved into the lead Szoke recovered and started his charge. He was fifth after only three laps and took second place on lap 7. He grabbed the lead entering turn 1 at the start of lap 10.

The win was Szoke’s fifth in a row and fifth of the year, equalling the marks set by Steve Crevier in 1992.

In other action at AMP, Crevier made a brilliant return to racing by edging Orion Motorsports Honda teammate Kevin Lacombe for victory in a thrilling Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike feature at AMP. Class points leader Clint McBain was fifth for Blackfoot Suzuki and now leads Lacombe by only six points, 219-213, heading to the season finale at Shannonville Motorsport Park Sept. 1.

Jeff Williams led all the way to claim the International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Open Sport Bike win on his Diablo Suzuki. Points leader Martin retired the Coors Light Racing/Fast Company Suzuki halfway through the race and saw his advantage in the standings drop to just 11 points on McBain. McBain was fourth on the Blackfoot Suzuki.


Results of Sunday’s sixth round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, NS, showing finishing position, rider name, hometown and type of motorcycle:

1.Jordan Szoke, Brantford, ON, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 2. Francis Martin, Sherbrooke, QC, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 3. Owen Weichel, Huntington Beach, CA, Kawasaki ZX-7RR; 4. Steve Crevier, Maple Ridge, BC, Honda RC51; 5. Ugo Levert, Lorraine, QC, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 6. Benoit Pilon, St-Jerome, QC, Yamaha YZF-R1; 7. Jean-Francois Cyr, Joliette, QC, Yamaha YZF-R6; 8. Bruce McDonald, Mt. Albert, ON, Yamaha YZF-R6; 9. Gaston Labrie, Montreal, QC, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 10. Philip Onisto, Bolton, ON, Suzuki GSX-R750; NF. Michael Taylor, Toronto, ON, Yamaha YZF-R1; NF. Kevin Lacombe, Granby, QC, Honda RC51; NF. Darryn Wilbur, Maple, ON, Yamaha YZF-R1; NF. Frank Trombino, Kleinburg, ON, Honda RC51

Time of Race: 21:24.000
Margin of Victory: 0.291 secs.
Fastest Lap: Jordan Szoke, 1:08.270 on lap 4

Parts Canada Superbike Championship point standings following the sixth round at Atlantic Motorsport Park Sunday, showing position, rider name and point total:

1.Jordan Szoke, 316; 2. Owen Weichel, 214; 3. Francis Martin, 191; 4. Kevin Lacombe, 145; 5. Frank Trombino 144; 6. Michael Taylor, 138; 7. Jean-Francois Cyr, 132; 8. Benoit Pilon, 127; 9. Philip Onisto, 103; 10. Ugo Levert, 102; 11. Darryn Wilbur, 88; 12. Bruce McDonald 87; 13. Tim Easton, 49; 14. Jeff Williams, 48; 15. Steve Crevier, 36; 16. Gaston Labrie, 35; 17. John Brundl, 29; 18. Geoff May, 29; 19. Dave Young, 27; 20. David Klassen 27; 21. Nick Ienatsch, 21; 22. Michael Leon 21; 23. Matthew McBride 19; 24. Jerome Plourde, 18; 25. Greg Boki, 15; 26. Clint Hines 15; 27. Tony Bouffard, 12; 28. Dave Hodge 12; 29. Mike Desmarais 10; 30. Joel McDonald, 4; 31. Jim Proulx 4; 32. Pauly Sherer, 1

Mladin To Race GSX-R1000 In Australia

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From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist (the part about the GSX-R1000 is at the end):

SECOND FOR MLADIN IN SEASON FINALE AT VIRGINIA

The AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship drew to a close this weekend with the final race of the season producing the closest finish of the 16-race series with Mat Mladin placing second after a photo finish at Virginia International Raceway.

In a dramatic 28-laps, the second Superbike National of the weekend was stopped on three separate occasions due to crashes, the first of which involved newly crowned champion Nicky Hayden.

The final restart saw Mladin and his Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 take the lead position on the track, but was closely followed by Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. The two were inseparable with Mladin leading by the narrowest of margins across the line in the closing laps. At the end though, Bostrom was able to get into Mladin’s slipstream and pulled up alongside to take the win by an amazing 0.0001 of a second, after Mladin had led the field across the line on 17 previous occasions.

The result meant that for the first time since 1996, Mladin had not won a race during the season and concludes one of his most frustrating years of his racing career, where he has suffered personal injury along with suspension and tyre problems.

“It was a disappointing finish because I really did want to win a race, but it really did hit home that we have a lot of work to do to be competitive for next year,” said Mladin. “A lot of people felt that I was disappointed because I came second, but I was more so because of the way that we came second. On that little straight we should never get passed by any bike let alone another four-cylinder 750.

“I’m happy with the way that I rode. I feel that I’ve been riding well all year and I’m glad that I put in a good ride at the last race as it meant a lot to me. The last race was pretty fast. I’m not sure what sort of tyre Eric (Bostrom) had in, but he was certainly a lot quicker than he was in the other one. The suspension parts that we had this weekend were different to what we had all year and it made a big difference, at least for the first half of the race anyway.”

Earlier in the weekend Mladin had set the second fastest time during qualifying and momentarily led the first of the Superbike Nationals on Saturday, before being forced to retire from the race while holding down second place when his rear tyre chunked badly.

American Honda’s Nicky Hayden took the race one victory and in the process wrapped up his first AMA Superbike Championship. The joy of Saturday ‘s result quickly faded as he crashed out oftoday’s race on lap seven.

Today’s result sees Mladin finish in seventh place overall in the championship.

The three times AMA Superbike champion returns to Australia during the week where he will attend the upcoming round of the Formula Xtreme series at Oran Park. While he is in Australia he will also be making a race appearance at the final round of the Formula Xtreme at Eastern Creek Raceway on September 29 where he will ride a Suzuki GSX-R1000 under the Mat Mladin Motorcycles
/Yoshimura/Suzuki banner.

Words Of Advice From A CHP Motorcycle Officer

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

This just in, via e-mail:

To the readers of this magazine:

I’m a CHP motor officer. Yesterday, I had to respond to a motorcycle collision on Glendora Ridge Rd. The dispatcher said it was a motorcycle verses a sheriff’s vehicle. When I arrived, I was painfully greeted with the sight of a totaled Ford Bronco, a broken 955 Daytona, and a dead young man in his full leathers and boots.

He had been video taping himself with front and rear fairing mounted cameras. From the footage, I was able to clearly see that he had been hitting all of his apexes. He was a decent rider who knew the road quite well. He wasn’t riding overly fast and wasn’t stunting. Just out for a ride on a Sunday Morning.

Here lies the fatal mistake. The apexes that he was hitting, were on both the right and left side of the roadway. The last corner he saw was a left hander. It was a blind left hander. Unfortunately for him, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Bronco was coming up the hill in the opposite direction. The Sheriff was as far to the right as he could get before scraping the rock wall next to his right.

According to witness statements, the motorcycle rider was on the wrong side of the road and almost at the apex of this blind left hander, when he saw the Bronco appear. He was headed straight for the hood of the truck. The rider straightened the bike upright and got on the binders hard enough to go into a stoppie. Both he and the bike ended up on the roof of the Bronco and then slid back in front of it and onto the ground when the Sheriff stopped.

The two Sheriffs who were in the Bronco, tried for 15 minutes, until the life flight arrived with a paramedic. They were unsuccessful to save his life. He probably died the instant his chest hit the Bronco’s push bumper. The actual cause of death is still pending the coroner’s report.

Speed was not much of a contributing factor in this collision. The Daytona was probably traveling 40 to 50 mph and the Bronco was 20 to 25 mph. That’s a closing rate of 60 to 75 mph. With only 40 feet of visibility due to the rock wall on the inside of the corner, he did not have a chance to slow or swerve enough to avoid the collision.

It’s a very unfortunate thing that happened and a mistake that alot of us have made (me included). We are still here to talk about it though. Humans tend to learn from mistakes. Let’s learn from other’s mistakes before we have to learn the hard way! Don’t make me respond to the scene of your collision and find you on the ground as I had to yesterday. I’m not trying to tell you to quit having fun with your motorcycle. I get on my 2000 gixer 750 and ride hard too! Just think about the consequences and give yourself plenty of room to react to your mistakes and the mistakes of those you might encounter.

California Highway Patrol Motor Officer,
C. L. Gramm #15980

AMA Team Press Releases From VIR

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From HMC Ducati:

Second for Chandler third for HMC

HMC Ducati rider Doug Chandler took full advantage of the mayhem of today’s race, riding his factory supported Ducati home for a secure second place finish at Virginia International Raceway. A bad start relegated Chandler to tenth place going into the first turn but it took no time for the veteran rider to round up the pack of Duhamel, Roberts and Picotte to claim seventh. Then a multitude of crashes, mistakes and mechanical problems, from the leading group, handed him his third podium for the year.

After a turbulent start to the season this is a perfect result for the close of the season.

“I knew it was going to be a tough race with the weather getting hotter but it worked out for us,” said Chandler. “My main focus on a race set-up is to be as good at the end as in the beginning; if not better. When you get into a situation where you’ve got to push, you’ve still got a bit in reserve. The tires at this place really drop off so you’ve really got to stay focused. My rear tire started to spin towards the end, which took a little of my charge.

“Nicky had a pretty good lead on me and I wasn’t sure who was behind me, so I was just racing my board. I didn’t want to get too involved in aiming for the lead; my main focus was on maintaining my lap time. I was trying to race myself, which allowed me to set a pace and maintain it.

“The bike was working really well. The team put such a good effort into this result it’s a shame that we couldn’t have done more with it this year. The team worked really hard and the Ducati ran really well for me and hopefully we can do as good again tomorrow, if not better.


From a press release issued by Eric Bostrom’s Manager Norm Viano:

VIR Showdown, Take Two

August 10, 2002 – Alton, VA. Although the first AMA Superbike race of the weekend didn’t quite go to plan, Eric Bostrom is looking forward to tomorrow and the final Superbike race of the season. Qualifying on the front row, Eric got one of his trademark starts and led from the first turn. Eric maintained his quick pace and began pulling a gap on the rest of the field. Eight solid laps later, Eric was looking good to win the race. His closest challenger, Aaron Yates, had just crashed out trying to keep up with him.

“I was pleased that things started going our way during the race. We pushed hard for those 8 laps and we were finally starting to put a dent on the rest of the field and get away from them, and I felt that it could have been a cakewalk from there. We had made some changes to the bike this afternoon and the front end was moving pretty well. The whole bike just seemed to be a good package for the race, so I have to thank the crew for that. I was hitting my lines and everything was going well. By that point, it seemed that I could throw down some fast laps if I wanted to, so I was really just trying to conserve my tires. But then the motor tightened up into turn one. I knew there was a problem, but I tried to push to push through it because I really didn’t know what was going on with it and I thought, ‘I don’t care what’s going to happen to the bike, I’m going to win this race!’ But then it finally locked up into turn four and that was it. I couldn’t keep it on the track after it locked, so I rode into the grass and it tipped over. The bike restarted for me, but it was running so bad, I knew my day was done. I rode it halfway down the straightaway to the bridge so I could catch a ride back to the pits, and just parked it.”

The day’s result meant that his rival, Nicky Hayden, won the race and ultimately the 2001 (sic) AMA Superbike Championship. “I’m obviously disappointed about handing away the championship like that. It’s tough to accept defeat. I would have preferred to make Nicky sleep on it and be nervous for another night and then have to race for it tomorrow. But Nick’s a great competitor. We’ve pushed each other really hard all year long and had some fast race paces. It’s been fun racing against him and he deserves the title.”

Eric’s second place in the championship is locked up, no matter what happens tomorrow. This will ensure that tomorrow’s race will be exciting and a proper shootout, with neither rider’s results affecting his standing in the championship. “It’s just a shame. It’s really tough to let a race win go like that. Maybe tomorrow things will go our way, but chances are we’ll have to fight for it a little harder.”


From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist:

Rounds 15 & 16, 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia, USA

Final Qualifying Session and Round 15 Race Report

TYRE FAILURE ROBS MLADIN OF PODIUM RESULT AT VIRGINIA

Alton, Virginia, USA (Saturday, 10 August) – A delaminated rear tyre forced Australian Mat Mladin out of today’s fifteenth round of the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship while he was running in second place at Virginia International Raceway.

The race win went to American Honda’s Nicky Hayden who was also crowned as the new champion after main championship challenger Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki) crashed out of the race lead on lap nine.

Mladin took the race lead after Bostrom’s crash and led threw to lap 13 when he ran wide and momentarily off the circuit. The incident dropped him to third on the track, but he was back up to second on lap 16. At this point of the race however, his Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 began to vibrate as his rear tyre began to fail. He was able to hold second until lap 20 when a large piece of the rear tyre delaminated and he was forced to retire.

“The rear of the bike began to vibrate with about 12-laps to go and then eventually it just blew out a large section of the tyre and that was it,” said Mladin. “We’ll use a different tyre in tomorrow’s race as this one looks like it just overheated in the conditions.

“There were some good improvements with the rear shock this weekend, but unfortunately it seems to last for about 15 minutes before it loses its dampening,” added Mladin. “After that it’s just working off the spring. I was already having problems with the shock when I took the race lead and it didn’t last much longer when all of the dampening had gone out of it.”

Earlier in the day, Mladin qualified second fastest for the meeting after his time was beaten by Nicky Hayden in the final minutes of the session. Mladin’s best time of 1-min 24.856-secs was beaten by less than a tenth of a second by Hayden who produced a 1:24.762 lap. The times were well inside Mladin’s own existing lap record of 1:25.428 and significantly faster than the times from yesterday’s opening session where Mladin was fastest with a 1:25.328.

“We were pipped on the last lap by Nicky, but I’m happy with that,” said Mladin. “I’m just happy that we were in a position to mount a serious challenge for pole position, so starting from second on the grid for the two races was just as good.”

The AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship wraps up tomorrow with the sixteenth and final race of the series. With Hayden already confirmed as the new champion, tomorrow’s race could produce some of the fastest and closest action of the season as all of the top riders will be looking to finish their year off with an all-important race win.

Factory Men Vote To Maintain Supersport Status Quo

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

In an AMA Pro Road Race Advisory Board meeting Friday night at VIR, factory team representatives voted to reverse proposed 2003 Supersport and Superstock rules that would have allowed machining of parts to increase compression.

The proposed rules were designed to give private riders and teams the ability to better compete with factory teams by eliminating the the “fast-enough, legal-enough” guessing game now played out in AMA tech on a race-by-race basis.

Although existing rules ban any machining of parts to raise compression, no competitive machines are actually stock and AMA Pro Racing officials do not publish the deck height specs submitted by manufacturers on AMA homologation forms.

The advantage manufacturers have by virtue of the fact that they supply unpublished deck height figures to AMA Pro Racing can be seen by comparing radar speeds of factory machines versus non-factory machines.

The Kawasaki ZX-6R Supersport racebikes ridden by Tommy Hayden and Tony Meiring have been especially fast when compared to private Kawasakis at most AMA events.

Representatives of the Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha factory teams voted against the proposed rule change.

The Road Race Advisory Board is non-representative of the AMA paddock as a whole, notably lacking any representation of private riders like Brian Livengood, Michael Hannas or Tyler Wadsworth. The majority of riders in the paddock do know not who is on the advisory board; the exact composition of the advisory board has never been published by AMA Pro Racing.

Ducati Riders Rutter And Byrne Split British Superbike Wins At Thruxton

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From a press release issued by Monstermob Ducati:

MONSTERMOB DUCATI BRITISH SUPERBIKE TEAM

Round 9 – 2002 MCN British Superbike Championship, Thruxton

Saturday 10h/Sunday 11th August 2002

Hislop Increases Championship Lead

Monstermob Ducati rider Steve Hislop increased his MCN British Superbike Championship lead to 19 points after another pair of thrillers around the 2.35 mile Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.

The 40 year old Isle of Man rider scored two second places albeit in differing circumstances, edging out main rival Sean Emmett aboard the 1000cc Virgin Mobile Yamaha, in both races.

A rain interrupted first race saw Hislop running inside the top six before leading the restart and taking the chequered flag only for fellow Ducati rider Michael Rutter to take victory on aggregate with Emmett in 3rd.

Race two saw Hislop in command after the threat of Rutter and defending champion John Reynolds had retired only for Ducati’s Shane Byrne to outsprint Hislop to the flag to take victory by 43/1000ths.

“I can’t believe it, he did the same to me last year. I could have done with the win but all credit to Shane, he rode well” said Hislop.

Supersport rider Stuart Easton’s run of wretched luck continued after his race machine developed an electrical fault prior to the race leaving the 18 year old Hawick rider to start on his spare bike from the back of the grid.

Despite having to pass 34 bikes, Easton clawed his way up to 4th, one place behind championship rival Scott Smart to leave Thruxton 26 points in the lead with 4 races left.

“They say bad luck comes in threes and after this and what happened at Rockingham and Knockhill, I hope that’s it for the season” said Easton.

Team owner Paul Bird remained upbeat despite a challenging weekend.

“That’s racing and we’ve got to be happy with Steve increasing his lead and under the circumstances for Stuart to concede 3 points is also a bonus. Hopefully we can have a better run at Cadwell” said the Penrith businessman.

Results:

MCN British Superbike Race One: 1. Michael Rutter (Ducati) 28m31.896s, 2. Steve Hislop (Monstermob Ducati) 28m32.112s, 3. Sean Emmett (Yamaha) 28m32.678s, 4. John Reynolds (Suzuki) 28m40.046s, 5. Simon Crafar (Yamaha) 28m40.564s, 6. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 28m40.695s, 7. Steve Plater (Yamaha) 28m41.793s, 8. Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 28m41.894s, 9. Dean Thomas (Ducati) 28m45.001s, 10. John Crawford (Suzuki) 28m46.478s.

MCN British Superbike Race Two: 1. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 28m15.712s, 2. Steve Hislop (Monstermob Ducati) 28m15.755s, 3. Sean Emmett (Yamaha) 28m17.032s, 4. Steve Plater (Yamaha) 28m18.279s, 5. Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 28m21.819s, 6. Karl Harris (Suzuki) 28m30.506s, 7. Simon Crafar (Yamaha) 28m32.417s, 8. Dean Thomas (Ducati) 28m42.730s, 9. John Crawford (Suzuki) 28m44.111s, 10. Mark Burr (Kawasaki) 28m45.781s.

MCN British Superbike Standings: 1. Steve Hislop (320pts), 2. Sean Emmett (301pts), 3. Michael Rutter (253.5 pts), 4. Shane Byrne (201.5 pts), 5. John Reynolds ( 190.5 pts), 6. Steve Plater (180 pts), 7. Paul Brown (159.5 pts), 8. Simon Crafar (131 pts), 9. Glen Richards (121.5 pts), 10. Dean Thomas (98 pts).

Supersport: 1. Michael Laverty (Honda) 23m59.183s, 2. Simon Andrews (Honda) 24m09.728s, 3. Scott Smart (Honda) 24m15.260s, 4. Stuart Easton (Monstermob Ducati) 24m18.874s, 5. Tom Tunstall (Suzuki) 24m23.496s, 6. Pete Jennings (Kawasaki) 24m23.872s, 7. Chris Bishop (Honda) 24m24.000s, 8. Gary May (Yamaha) 24m24.602s, 9. Callum Ramsay (Suzuki) 24m25.859s, 10. Douglas Cowie (Kawasaki) 24m26.117s.

Supersport Championship Standings: 1. Stuart Easton (183pts), 2, Scott Smart (157pts), 3. Tom Tunstall (91pts), 4. Pete Jennings (87pts), 5. Simon Andrews (80pts), 6. Michael Laverty (79pts), 7. Jeremy Goodall (78pts), 8. Ben Wilson (66pts), 9. Chris Bishop (61pts), 10. Callum Ramsay (49pts).

Mat Mladin Leads Sunday Morning AMA Superbike Warm-up At VIR

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Sunday Morning AMA Superbike Practice Times:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:25.411
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:25.523
3. Nicky Hayden, Honda RC51, 1:25.533
4. Eric Bostorm, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:25.711
5. Doug Chandler, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.053
6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, 1:26.163
7. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:26.265
8. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:26.484
9. Pascal Picotte, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.194
10. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:28.405
11. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.507
12. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.002
13. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.031
14. Brian Livengood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.531
15. Robert Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.552
16. Brian Parriott, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.208
17. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.449
18. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.612
19. John Dugan, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.780
20. Giovanni Rojas, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.838
21. Thomas Montano, Ducati 996S, 1:32.081
22. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.112
23. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.197
24. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.605
25. Marco Martinez, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.734
26. Justin Blake, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.753
27. Christopher Rankin of Texas, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.971
28. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.053
29. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.071
30. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.596
31. Andrew Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:37.045

On No Limits Racing’s Eye-opening First AMA Season

From a press release:

Canyon Country, California.

No Limit Motor Sports finished their first full year as an AMA Road Race team in fine fashion. Riding 2002 R-1 Yamahas in the formula Xtreme class, No Limit riders Lance Isaacs and Jason Curtis exceeded expectations of the team owners, Ben and Dianne Curtis.

The final event of the season at VIR resulted in a sixth place finish for South African Lance Isaacs, and an eleventh place finish for Jason. This places the veteran Isaacs in fifth place overall, and Jason in ninth place for his rookie year. The entire No Limit crew worked hard to try and find the right combination of engine and suspension that would make the Yamaha into a racing motorcycle, even without access to factory ‘kit’ parts or technical assistance, the team was able to place both of the R-1s on the top ten listing.

No Limit Motorsports is looking forward to an even better year in 2003, and will be making announcement within the next few weeks about their plans for next season. This first year in the AMA paddock was a treat for No Limit, and both Ben and Dianne Curtis, team owners, enjoyed all the new friends they have made, and appreciate the eye opening introduction to professional road racing, AMA style.

Updated Post: Sorensen Basks In The Glory Of Near-Naked Victory

From a press release issued by Team Stargel Aprilia:

Team Stargel Aprilia Wins Championship And Hearts Of Young Women

Team Stargel Aprilia arrived at Virginia International Raceway with many things on their minds. As always, the prospect of winning the race was at the forefront. Secondly, strategy to safely secure the 2002 AMA 250GP championship was a factor. Lastly, but perhaps the most important to rider Chuck Sorensen, was a strong showing in the inaugural ‘Pit Daddy’ contest to be held Sunday evening.

Practice proved to be both fast and problem free. On Saturday morning, Sorensen dropped into the 1:28s, which was a half second faster than his best race time at VIR from the previous year.

Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session saw Team Stargel Aprilia accomplish something they had not done all year. The team earned its first pole position, by qualifying ahead of Rich Oliver. By earning the single point for pole, the team would only have to finish in 26th place to clinch the championship in Sunday’s race.

By race time on Sunday, the VIR circuit was the hottest it had been all weekend. In the early going of the race, Sorensen was in fourth place in a fairly tight pack from first to fourth. Much to the ulcer inducing effect on his team, Sorensen would pass for the lead. At the beginning of lap four, Rich Oliver passed Sorensen entering turn one. Two corners later, Oliver crashed out of the race. Sorensen went on to ride a smart race securing both the race win as well as the 2002 MBNA 250GP championship.

If Chuck was not happy enough to win the race as well as the championship, there was still one more goal to fulfill, the ‘Pit Daddy’ contest. Sorensen had discussed the strategy for this event with his crew, planning it as they would prepare for a race. Always recognizing the need for top quality ‘equipment’, and keeping with their Italian sponsorship, Team Stargel Aprilia selected a swimsuit that they felt would be both at home on the Italian Riveria, while still capturing the imagination of the young American girl. Also, the music and choreography were painstakingly crafted and rehearsed over and over again. Between the heat, normal mechanical work on the racebike, and having to hear Chuck repeatedly scream, “once more from the top, but with FEELING this time!”, the tension of the crew was at an all time high.

Needless to say, just as on the racetrack, Sorensen’s steely gaze, clenched jaw, and undulating butt cheeks truly captivated the crowd. When the big moment arrived, Robert Pandya announced that indeed, Sorensen had captured the coveted title of 2002 ‘Pit Daddy’. The contest was a huge success as well, raising over $16,000 for charity. All in all, a perfect Sunday for the now three time AMA 250GP champion, Chuck Sorensen.

And now a more serious press release, from AMA Pro Racing:

SORENSEN GIVES APRILIA ITS FIRST AMA CHAMPIONSHIP

Chuck Sorensen won the MBNA 250 Grand Prix Series in the season finale Sunday, Aug. 11, on his Team Stargel Aprilia at Virginia International Raceway. It marks the third AMA 250 Grand Prix title for Sorensen, soon to be 30 years old (Aug. 14) from Sunnyvale, Calif. It is also a milestone for Aprilia, marking its first AMA road racing title. Sorensen beat young Cruise America Honda rider Jason DiSalvo by 40 points in the final standings. Perry Melneciuc was third in the series on a Team Oliver Yamaha.

Sorensen, who won the 250 Grand Prix title in 1999 and 2000, won this year’s championship by building a strong early points lead after he won four of the opening six rounds. Sorensen earned eight podium finishes in the 10-race series, including a series-leading five victories. The only races he finished off the box was at California Speedway and at Mazda Laguna Seca, where his bike’s motor seized on the warm-up lap.

“It’s phenomenal to come out of the last race with a win like that,” said Sorensen, who is fourth on the all-time AMA 250 Grand Prix wins list with 15-career victories. “I was kind of anxious to get the most wins in a season, so I was pretty stoked about that too. The crew did a great job, they treated it like any other weekend. Of course it’s all weighing on my minds about the championship, but through experience you learn that.”

Sorensen becomes the fifth rider to win three AMA 250 Grand Prix Championships. Donnie Greene, John Kocinski, and Jimmy Filice each won three titles in the class. Rich Oliver, who was a mentor to Sorensen early in Sorensen’s career and later became his top rival, has four 250 Grand Prix championship titles.

Schwantz Resigns From AMA Board

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz resigned his position on the AMA Board of Directors, via letter distributed at a Board meeting at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio Monday.

In the letter, Schwantz said that he was resigning because he had moved from North Carolina back to Texas, and now lives outside the Southeast Region. Schwantz was elected to represent the region in January, and won by a 3.5:1 margin over incumbent Carl Reynolds.

After reading a published report that Schwantz had moved his primary residence back to Texas, an AMA member from Georgia filed a formal complaint challenging Schwantz’s continued service on the Board.

Schwantz maintains a second residence in Atlanta, where he stays while conducting Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School sessions at Road Atlanta.

Schwantz will continue to serve on the separate Board of Directors of AMA Pro Racing.

The replacement for Schwantz on the main AMA Board has not be announced.

Szoke Won Canadian Superbike Title Yesterday

From a press release issued by series organizers:

SZOKE CLINCHES SUPERBIKE TITLE

SHUBENACADIE, NS – Jordan Szoke wrapped up the 2002 Parts Canada Superbike Championship in dramatic fashion Sunday, winning his fifth race in a row.

After running off the track on the opening lap and dropping down to 11th place the Brantford, ON rider charged through the field, taking the lead from Coors Light Racing/Fast Company Suzuki teammate Francis Martin on lap 10 of a scheduled 24.

Szoke was holding a narrow lead over Martin when the race was red flagged on the 18th lap due to a crash by Philip Onisto. Owen Weichel placed third on the Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki.

“I like a challenge and coming through the pack was a lot of fun,” said Szoke, who also won the Canadian crown in 1998. “We’ve got a very talented bunch of riders out there and charging through the pack was very satisfying.”

Szoke earned 52 points for the win and for leading the most laps in the race, giving him 316 points in the Parts Canada Superbike standings.

Weichel was the only rider with a mathematical chance of catching him coming into the weekend, but is 102 points behind at 214 with one round remaining. A maximum of 56 points is available at each event.

Szoke almost saw his bid to clinch the title hit trouble just two turns into the race when Orion Motorsports Honda rider Frank Trombino fell and pushed Szoke off the track. While Martin moved into the lead Szoke recovered and started his charge. He was fifth after only three laps and took second place on lap 7. He grabbed the lead entering turn 1 at the start of lap 10.

The win was Szoke’s fifth in a row and fifth of the year, equalling the marks set by Steve Crevier in 1992.

In other action at AMP, Crevier made a brilliant return to racing by edging Orion Motorsports Honda teammate Kevin Lacombe for victory in a thrilling Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike feature at AMP. Class points leader Clint McBain was fifth for Blackfoot Suzuki and now leads Lacombe by only six points, 219-213, heading to the season finale at Shannonville Motorsport Park Sept. 1.

Jeff Williams led all the way to claim the International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Open Sport Bike win on his Diablo Suzuki. Points leader Martin retired the Coors Light Racing/Fast Company Suzuki halfway through the race and saw his advantage in the standings drop to just 11 points on McBain. McBain was fourth on the Blackfoot Suzuki.


Results of Sunday’s sixth round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, NS, showing finishing position, rider name, hometown and type of motorcycle:

1.Jordan Szoke, Brantford, ON, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 2. Francis Martin, Sherbrooke, QC, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 3. Owen Weichel, Huntington Beach, CA, Kawasaki ZX-7RR; 4. Steve Crevier, Maple Ridge, BC, Honda RC51; 5. Ugo Levert, Lorraine, QC, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 6. Benoit Pilon, St-Jerome, QC, Yamaha YZF-R1; 7. Jean-Francois Cyr, Joliette, QC, Yamaha YZF-R6; 8. Bruce McDonald, Mt. Albert, ON, Yamaha YZF-R6; 9. Gaston Labrie, Montreal, QC, Suzuki GSX-R1000; 10. Philip Onisto, Bolton, ON, Suzuki GSX-R750; NF. Michael Taylor, Toronto, ON, Yamaha YZF-R1; NF. Kevin Lacombe, Granby, QC, Honda RC51; NF. Darryn Wilbur, Maple, ON, Yamaha YZF-R1; NF. Frank Trombino, Kleinburg, ON, Honda RC51

Time of Race: 21:24.000
Margin of Victory: 0.291 secs.
Fastest Lap: Jordan Szoke, 1:08.270 on lap 4

Parts Canada Superbike Championship point standings following the sixth round at Atlantic Motorsport Park Sunday, showing position, rider name and point total:

1.Jordan Szoke, 316; 2. Owen Weichel, 214; 3. Francis Martin, 191; 4. Kevin Lacombe, 145; 5. Frank Trombino 144; 6. Michael Taylor, 138; 7. Jean-Francois Cyr, 132; 8. Benoit Pilon, 127; 9. Philip Onisto, 103; 10. Ugo Levert, 102; 11. Darryn Wilbur, 88; 12. Bruce McDonald 87; 13. Tim Easton, 49; 14. Jeff Williams, 48; 15. Steve Crevier, 36; 16. Gaston Labrie, 35; 17. John Brundl, 29; 18. Geoff May, 29; 19. Dave Young, 27; 20. David Klassen 27; 21. Nick Ienatsch, 21; 22. Michael Leon 21; 23. Matthew McBride 19; 24. Jerome Plourde, 18; 25. Greg Boki, 15; 26. Clint Hines 15; 27. Tony Bouffard, 12; 28. Dave Hodge 12; 29. Mike Desmarais 10; 30. Joel McDonald, 4; 31. Jim Proulx 4; 32. Pauly Sherer, 1

Mladin To Race GSX-R1000 In Australia

From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist (the part about the GSX-R1000 is at the end):

SECOND FOR MLADIN IN SEASON FINALE AT VIRGINIA

The AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship drew to a close this weekend with the final race of the season producing the closest finish of the 16-race series with Mat Mladin placing second after a photo finish at Virginia International Raceway.

In a dramatic 28-laps, the second Superbike National of the weekend was stopped on three separate occasions due to crashes, the first of which involved newly crowned champion Nicky Hayden.

The final restart saw Mladin and his Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 take the lead position on the track, but was closely followed by Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. The two were inseparable with Mladin leading by the narrowest of margins across the line in the closing laps. At the end though, Bostrom was able to get into Mladin’s slipstream and pulled up alongside to take the win by an amazing 0.0001 of a second, after Mladin had led the field across the line on 17 previous occasions.

The result meant that for the first time since 1996, Mladin had not won a race during the season and concludes one of his most frustrating years of his racing career, where he has suffered personal injury along with suspension and tyre problems.

“It was a disappointing finish because I really did want to win a race, but it really did hit home that we have a lot of work to do to be competitive for next year,” said Mladin. “A lot of people felt that I was disappointed because I came second, but I was more so because of the way that we came second. On that little straight we should never get passed by any bike let alone another four-cylinder 750.

“I’m happy with the way that I rode. I feel that I’ve been riding well all year and I’m glad that I put in a good ride at the last race as it meant a lot to me. The last race was pretty fast. I’m not sure what sort of tyre Eric (Bostrom) had in, but he was certainly a lot quicker than he was in the other one. The suspension parts that we had this weekend were different to what we had all year and it made a big difference, at least for the first half of the race anyway.”

Earlier in the weekend Mladin had set the second fastest time during qualifying and momentarily led the first of the Superbike Nationals on Saturday, before being forced to retire from the race while holding down second place when his rear tyre chunked badly.

American Honda’s Nicky Hayden took the race one victory and in the process wrapped up his first AMA Superbike Championship. The joy of Saturday ‘s result quickly faded as he crashed out oftoday’s race on lap seven.

Today’s result sees Mladin finish in seventh place overall in the championship.

The three times AMA Superbike champion returns to Australia during the week where he will attend the upcoming round of the Formula Xtreme series at Oran Park. While he is in Australia he will also be making a race appearance at the final round of the Formula Xtreme at Eastern Creek Raceway on September 29 where he will ride a Suzuki GSX-R1000 under the Mat Mladin Motorcycles
/Yoshimura/Suzuki banner.

Words Of Advice From A CHP Motorcycle Officer

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

This just in, via e-mail:

To the readers of this magazine:

I’m a CHP motor officer. Yesterday, I had to respond to a motorcycle collision on Glendora Ridge Rd. The dispatcher said it was a motorcycle verses a sheriff’s vehicle. When I arrived, I was painfully greeted with the sight of a totaled Ford Bronco, a broken 955 Daytona, and a dead young man in his full leathers and boots.

He had been video taping himself with front and rear fairing mounted cameras. From the footage, I was able to clearly see that he had been hitting all of his apexes. He was a decent rider who knew the road quite well. He wasn’t riding overly fast and wasn’t stunting. Just out for a ride on a Sunday Morning.

Here lies the fatal mistake. The apexes that he was hitting, were on both the right and left side of the roadway. The last corner he saw was a left hander. It was a blind left hander. Unfortunately for him, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Bronco was coming up the hill in the opposite direction. The Sheriff was as far to the right as he could get before scraping the rock wall next to his right.

According to witness statements, the motorcycle rider was on the wrong side of the road and almost at the apex of this blind left hander, when he saw the Bronco appear. He was headed straight for the hood of the truck. The rider straightened the bike upright and got on the binders hard enough to go into a stoppie. Both he and the bike ended up on the roof of the Bronco and then slid back in front of it and onto the ground when the Sheriff stopped.

The two Sheriffs who were in the Bronco, tried for 15 minutes, until the life flight arrived with a paramedic. They were unsuccessful to save his life. He probably died the instant his chest hit the Bronco’s push bumper. The actual cause of death is still pending the coroner’s report.

Speed was not much of a contributing factor in this collision. The Daytona was probably traveling 40 to 50 mph and the Bronco was 20 to 25 mph. That’s a closing rate of 60 to 75 mph. With only 40 feet of visibility due to the rock wall on the inside of the corner, he did not have a chance to slow or swerve enough to avoid the collision.

It’s a very unfortunate thing that happened and a mistake that alot of us have made (me included). We are still here to talk about it though. Humans tend to learn from mistakes. Let’s learn from other’s mistakes before we have to learn the hard way! Don’t make me respond to the scene of your collision and find you on the ground as I had to yesterday. I’m not trying to tell you to quit having fun with your motorcycle. I get on my 2000 gixer 750 and ride hard too! Just think about the consequences and give yourself plenty of room to react to your mistakes and the mistakes of those you might encounter.

California Highway Patrol Motor Officer,
C. L. Gramm #15980

AMA Team Press Releases From VIR

From HMC Ducati:

Second for Chandler third for HMC

HMC Ducati rider Doug Chandler took full advantage of the mayhem of today’s race, riding his factory supported Ducati home for a secure second place finish at Virginia International Raceway. A bad start relegated Chandler to tenth place going into the first turn but it took no time for the veteran rider to round up the pack of Duhamel, Roberts and Picotte to claim seventh. Then a multitude of crashes, mistakes and mechanical problems, from the leading group, handed him his third podium for the year.

After a turbulent start to the season this is a perfect result for the close of the season.

“I knew it was going to be a tough race with the weather getting hotter but it worked out for us,” said Chandler. “My main focus on a race set-up is to be as good at the end as in the beginning; if not better. When you get into a situation where you’ve got to push, you’ve still got a bit in reserve. The tires at this place really drop off so you’ve really got to stay focused. My rear tire started to spin towards the end, which took a little of my charge.

“Nicky had a pretty good lead on me and I wasn’t sure who was behind me, so I was just racing my board. I didn’t want to get too involved in aiming for the lead; my main focus was on maintaining my lap time. I was trying to race myself, which allowed me to set a pace and maintain it.

“The bike was working really well. The team put such a good effort into this result it’s a shame that we couldn’t have done more with it this year. The team worked really hard and the Ducati ran really well for me and hopefully we can do as good again tomorrow, if not better.


From a press release issued by Eric Bostrom’s Manager Norm Viano:

VIR Showdown, Take Two

August 10, 2002 – Alton, VA. Although the first AMA Superbike race of the weekend didn’t quite go to plan, Eric Bostrom is looking forward to tomorrow and the final Superbike race of the season. Qualifying on the front row, Eric got one of his trademark starts and led from the first turn. Eric maintained his quick pace and began pulling a gap on the rest of the field. Eight solid laps later, Eric was looking good to win the race. His closest challenger, Aaron Yates, had just crashed out trying to keep up with him.

“I was pleased that things started going our way during the race. We pushed hard for those 8 laps and we were finally starting to put a dent on the rest of the field and get away from them, and I felt that it could have been a cakewalk from there. We had made some changes to the bike this afternoon and the front end was moving pretty well. The whole bike just seemed to be a good package for the race, so I have to thank the crew for that. I was hitting my lines and everything was going well. By that point, it seemed that I could throw down some fast laps if I wanted to, so I was really just trying to conserve my tires. But then the motor tightened up into turn one. I knew there was a problem, but I tried to push to push through it because I really didn’t know what was going on with it and I thought, ‘I don’t care what’s going to happen to the bike, I’m going to win this race!’ But then it finally locked up into turn four and that was it. I couldn’t keep it on the track after it locked, so I rode into the grass and it tipped over. The bike restarted for me, but it was running so bad, I knew my day was done. I rode it halfway down the straightaway to the bridge so I could catch a ride back to the pits, and just parked it.”

The day’s result meant that his rival, Nicky Hayden, won the race and ultimately the 2001 (sic) AMA Superbike Championship. “I’m obviously disappointed about handing away the championship like that. It’s tough to accept defeat. I would have preferred to make Nicky sleep on it and be nervous for another night and then have to race for it tomorrow. But Nick’s a great competitor. We’ve pushed each other really hard all year long and had some fast race paces. It’s been fun racing against him and he deserves the title.”

Eric’s second place in the championship is locked up, no matter what happens tomorrow. This will ensure that tomorrow’s race will be exciting and a proper shootout, with neither rider’s results affecting his standing in the championship. “It’s just a shame. It’s really tough to let a race win go like that. Maybe tomorrow things will go our way, but chances are we’ll have to fight for it a little harder.”


From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist:

Rounds 15 & 16, 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia, USA

Final Qualifying Session and Round 15 Race Report

TYRE FAILURE ROBS MLADIN OF PODIUM RESULT AT VIRGINIA

Alton, Virginia, USA (Saturday, 10 August) – A delaminated rear tyre forced Australian Mat Mladin out of today’s fifteenth round of the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship while he was running in second place at Virginia International Raceway.

The race win went to American Honda’s Nicky Hayden who was also crowned as the new champion after main championship challenger Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki) crashed out of the race lead on lap nine.

Mladin took the race lead after Bostrom’s crash and led threw to lap 13 when he ran wide and momentarily off the circuit. The incident dropped him to third on the track, but he was back up to second on lap 16. At this point of the race however, his Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 began to vibrate as his rear tyre began to fail. He was able to hold second until lap 20 when a large piece of the rear tyre delaminated and he was forced to retire.

“The rear of the bike began to vibrate with about 12-laps to go and then eventually it just blew out a large section of the tyre and that was it,” said Mladin. “We’ll use a different tyre in tomorrow’s race as this one looks like it just overheated in the conditions.

“There were some good improvements with the rear shock this weekend, but unfortunately it seems to last for about 15 minutes before it loses its dampening,” added Mladin. “After that it’s just working off the spring. I was already having problems with the shock when I took the race lead and it didn’t last much longer when all of the dampening had gone out of it.”

Earlier in the day, Mladin qualified second fastest for the meeting after his time was beaten by Nicky Hayden in the final minutes of the session. Mladin’s best time of 1-min 24.856-secs was beaten by less than a tenth of a second by Hayden who produced a 1:24.762 lap. The times were well inside Mladin’s own existing lap record of 1:25.428 and significantly faster than the times from yesterday’s opening session where Mladin was fastest with a 1:25.328.

“We were pipped on the last lap by Nicky, but I’m happy with that,” said Mladin. “I’m just happy that we were in a position to mount a serious challenge for pole position, so starting from second on the grid for the two races was just as good.”

The AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship wraps up tomorrow with the sixteenth and final race of the series. With Hayden already confirmed as the new champion, tomorrow’s race could produce some of the fastest and closest action of the season as all of the top riders will be looking to finish their year off with an all-important race win.

Factory Men Vote To Maintain Supersport Status Quo

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

In an AMA Pro Road Race Advisory Board meeting Friday night at VIR, factory team representatives voted to reverse proposed 2003 Supersport and Superstock rules that would have allowed machining of parts to increase compression.

The proposed rules were designed to give private riders and teams the ability to better compete with factory teams by eliminating the the “fast-enough, legal-enough” guessing game now played out in AMA tech on a race-by-race basis.

Although existing rules ban any machining of parts to raise compression, no competitive machines are actually stock and AMA Pro Racing officials do not publish the deck height specs submitted by manufacturers on AMA homologation forms.

The advantage manufacturers have by virtue of the fact that they supply unpublished deck height figures to AMA Pro Racing can be seen by comparing radar speeds of factory machines versus non-factory machines.

The Kawasaki ZX-6R Supersport racebikes ridden by Tommy Hayden and Tony Meiring have been especially fast when compared to private Kawasakis at most AMA events.

Representatives of the Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha factory teams voted against the proposed rule change.

The Road Race Advisory Board is non-representative of the AMA paddock as a whole, notably lacking any representation of private riders like Brian Livengood, Michael Hannas or Tyler Wadsworth. The majority of riders in the paddock do know not who is on the advisory board; the exact composition of the advisory board has never been published by AMA Pro Racing.

Ducati Riders Rutter And Byrne Split British Superbike Wins At Thruxton

From a press release issued by Monstermob Ducati:

MONSTERMOB DUCATI BRITISH SUPERBIKE TEAM

Round 9 – 2002 MCN British Superbike Championship, Thruxton

Saturday 10h/Sunday 11th August 2002

Hislop Increases Championship Lead

Monstermob Ducati rider Steve Hislop increased his MCN British Superbike Championship lead to 19 points after another pair of thrillers around the 2.35 mile Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.

The 40 year old Isle of Man rider scored two second places albeit in differing circumstances, edging out main rival Sean Emmett aboard the 1000cc Virgin Mobile Yamaha, in both races.

A rain interrupted first race saw Hislop running inside the top six before leading the restart and taking the chequered flag only for fellow Ducati rider Michael Rutter to take victory on aggregate with Emmett in 3rd.

Race two saw Hislop in command after the threat of Rutter and defending champion John Reynolds had retired only for Ducati’s Shane Byrne to outsprint Hislop to the flag to take victory by 43/1000ths.

“I can’t believe it, he did the same to me last year. I could have done with the win but all credit to Shane, he rode well” said Hislop.

Supersport rider Stuart Easton’s run of wretched luck continued after his race machine developed an electrical fault prior to the race leaving the 18 year old Hawick rider to start on his spare bike from the back of the grid.

Despite having to pass 34 bikes, Easton clawed his way up to 4th, one place behind championship rival Scott Smart to leave Thruxton 26 points in the lead with 4 races left.

“They say bad luck comes in threes and after this and what happened at Rockingham and Knockhill, I hope that’s it for the season” said Easton.

Team owner Paul Bird remained upbeat despite a challenging weekend.

“That’s racing and we’ve got to be happy with Steve increasing his lead and under the circumstances for Stuart to concede 3 points is also a bonus. Hopefully we can have a better run at Cadwell” said the Penrith businessman.

Results:

MCN British Superbike Race One: 1. Michael Rutter (Ducati) 28m31.896s, 2. Steve Hislop (Monstermob Ducati) 28m32.112s, 3. Sean Emmett (Yamaha) 28m32.678s, 4. John Reynolds (Suzuki) 28m40.046s, 5. Simon Crafar (Yamaha) 28m40.564s, 6. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 28m40.695s, 7. Steve Plater (Yamaha) 28m41.793s, 8. Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 28m41.894s, 9. Dean Thomas (Ducati) 28m45.001s, 10. John Crawford (Suzuki) 28m46.478s.

MCN British Superbike Race Two: 1. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 28m15.712s, 2. Steve Hislop (Monstermob Ducati) 28m15.755s, 3. Sean Emmett (Yamaha) 28m17.032s, 4. Steve Plater (Yamaha) 28m18.279s, 5. Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 28m21.819s, 6. Karl Harris (Suzuki) 28m30.506s, 7. Simon Crafar (Yamaha) 28m32.417s, 8. Dean Thomas (Ducati) 28m42.730s, 9. John Crawford (Suzuki) 28m44.111s, 10. Mark Burr (Kawasaki) 28m45.781s.

MCN British Superbike Standings: 1. Steve Hislop (320pts), 2. Sean Emmett (301pts), 3. Michael Rutter (253.5 pts), 4. Shane Byrne (201.5 pts), 5. John Reynolds ( 190.5 pts), 6. Steve Plater (180 pts), 7. Paul Brown (159.5 pts), 8. Simon Crafar (131 pts), 9. Glen Richards (121.5 pts), 10. Dean Thomas (98 pts).

Supersport: 1. Michael Laverty (Honda) 23m59.183s, 2. Simon Andrews (Honda) 24m09.728s, 3. Scott Smart (Honda) 24m15.260s, 4. Stuart Easton (Monstermob Ducati) 24m18.874s, 5. Tom Tunstall (Suzuki) 24m23.496s, 6. Pete Jennings (Kawasaki) 24m23.872s, 7. Chris Bishop (Honda) 24m24.000s, 8. Gary May (Yamaha) 24m24.602s, 9. Callum Ramsay (Suzuki) 24m25.859s, 10. Douglas Cowie (Kawasaki) 24m26.117s.

Supersport Championship Standings: 1. Stuart Easton (183pts), 2, Scott Smart (157pts), 3. Tom Tunstall (91pts), 4. Pete Jennings (87pts), 5. Simon Andrews (80pts), 6. Michael Laverty (79pts), 7. Jeremy Goodall (78pts), 8. Ben Wilson (66pts), 9. Chris Bishop (61pts), 10. Callum Ramsay (49pts).

Mat Mladin Leads Sunday Morning AMA Superbike Warm-up At VIR

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Sunday Morning AMA Superbike Practice Times:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:25.411
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:25.523
3. Nicky Hayden, Honda RC51, 1:25.533
4. Eric Bostorm, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:25.711
5. Doug Chandler, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.053
6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, 1:26.163
7. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:26.265
8. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:26.484
9. Pascal Picotte, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.194
10. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:28.405
11. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:29.507
12. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.002
13. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.031
14. Brian Livengood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.531
15. Robert Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:30.552
16. Brian Parriott, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.208
17. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.449
18. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.612
19. John Dugan, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.780
20. Giovanni Rojas, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:31.838
21. Thomas Montano, Ducati 996S, 1:32.081
22. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.112
23. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.197
24. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.605
25. Marco Martinez, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.734
26. Justin Blake, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.753
27. Christopher Rankin of Texas, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:32.971
28. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.053
29. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.071
30. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:33.596
31. Andrew Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:37.045

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