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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

Roger Lee Hayden Fastest In Sunday Morning AMA Formula Xtreme Practice At VIR

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Sunday Morning AMA Formula Xtreme Practice Times:

1. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 1:26.812
2. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki, 1:27.041
3. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:27.065
4. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:27.190
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 1:27.317
6. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 1:27.903
7. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 1:28.169
8. Mike Hale, Honda, 1:28.412
9. Tom Kipp, Suzuki, 1:28.424
10. Alex Gobert, Honda, 1:28.496
11. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 1:29.099
12. Lance Isaacs, Yamaha, 1:29.156
13. Jason Curtis, Yamaha, 1:30.753
14. James Compton, Suzuki, 1:31.785
15. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, 1:32.929
16. Kenyon Kluge, Suzuki, 1:34.465
17. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, 1:34.874
18. James Kerker, Honda, 1:34.949
19. Rick Narup, Suzuki, 1:35.376
20. Tim Falcone, Suzuki, 1:35.480
21. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 1:35.627
22. Michael McAllister, Yamaha, 1:36.441
23. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:47.901

Tommy Hayden Faster Than Yates, Hacking And Pridmore In Sunday Morning AMA Supersport Practice At VIR

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Sunday Morning AMA Supersport Practice Times:

1. Tommy Hayden , Kawasaki, 1:28.509
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:28.737
3. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki, 1:28.973
4. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:29.051
5. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:29.182
6. Tom Kipp, Suzuki, 1:29.613
7. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 1:29.693
8. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 1:30.047
9. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 1:30.158
10. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 1:30.458
11. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:30.663
12. Mike Hale, Honda, 1:30.748
13. Alex Gobert, Honda, 1:30.776
14. Andrew Nelson, Honda, 1:30.933
15. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 1:30.991
16. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 1:30.999
17. Ty Howard, Suzuki, 1:31.088
18. Michael Hannas, Suzuki, 1:31.877
19. Matt Furtek, Yamaha, 1:31.891
20. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha, 1:31.936
21. Tyler Wadsworth, Yamaha, 1:33.358
22. Andy Caldwell, Suzuki, 1:33.603
23. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki, 1:33.728
24. Chuck Ivey, Suzuki, 1:34.008
25. Jeff Muskopf, Suzuki, 1:34.301
26. Raymond Bowman, Honda, 1:34.538
27. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, 1:35.410
28. Giovanni Rojas, Triumph, 1:36.355
29. Justin Blake, Suzuki, 1:36.511
30. Anthony Cammack, Suzuki, 1:36.864
31. James Kerker, Honda, 1:37.379
32. Marcus Winfree, Suzuki, 1:39.615

Bostrom Beats Mladin By A Wheel In Second AMA Superbike Race At VIR

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

After 28 laps, four starts and one hour and 34 minutes, Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom beat Team Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin by 0.0001-second in Sunday’s AMA Superbike final at Virginia International Raceway.

The race was stopped after six laps when Nicky Hayden crashed and his American Honda RC51 burst into flames. Hayden actually worked with cornerworkers to put out the fire.

The race was stopped a second time on lap 11 when Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts crashed in between turns four and five, and his RC51 Superbike, which remained on the track, also caught on fire.

Aaron Yates ran off the track to avoid hitting Roberts, fell in the run-off area before hitting inflatable safety barriers, got up, went back to the track and laid down on the racing surface. Yates then returned to pit lane where his crew repaired his GSX-R750 in time to make the re-start.

The race was stopped a third time on lap 20 when Michael Fitzpatrick fell exiting turn six and his Suzuki GSX-R750 caught on fire.

Mladin and Bostrom went straight to the front for the final eight-lap sprint. On the final lap, Bostrom drafted past Mladin to a photo-finish win.

Yates recovered for third. HMC Ducati’s Doug Chandler was fourth, well clear of top privateer Jason DiSalvo in fifth.

After the race, Mladin did not attend the podium celebration or post-race press conference.

Sunday’s AMA Superbike Race Results:

1. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 28 laps
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, -0.0001 second
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -4.358 seconds
4. Doug Chandler, Ducati, -9.742 seconds
5. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki, -36.362 seconds
6. Robert Jensen, Suzuki, -41.415 seconds
7. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, -42.978 seconds
8. Brian Livengood, Suzuki, -43.780 seconds
9. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -44.524 seconds
10. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki, -47.936 seconds
11. Thomas Montano, Ducati, -49.579 seconds
12. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki, -49.656 seconds
13. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -53.107 seconds
14. Justin Blake, Suzuki, -53.138 seconds
15. John Dugan, Suzuki, -53.798 seconds
16. John Jacobi, Suzuki, -54.931 seconds
17. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, -55.022 seconds
18. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki, -58.514 seconds
19. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -59.254 seconds
20. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -60.310 seconds
21. Christopher Rankin of Texas, Suzuki, -60.409 seconds
22. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -61.355 seconds
23. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -79.061 seconds
24. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -1 lap
25. Pascal Picotte, Ducati, -1 lap
26. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, -8 laps, DNF, crash
27. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -12 laps, DNF, crash
28. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -17 laps, DNF, crash
29. Chris Rankin of Maryland, Suzuki, -20 laps, DNF
30. Nicky Hayden, Honda, -22 laps, DNF, crash
31. Giovanni Rojas, Suzuki, -22 laps, DNF, crash
32. Robert Christman, Suzuki, -27 laps, DNF

Chuck Sorensen Will Start Today’s AMA 250cc Grand Prix At VIR From Pole Position

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Team Stargel Aprilia’s Chuck Sorensen was the fastest qualifier in Saturday’s 20-minute MBNA 250cc Grand Prix qualifying session. Sorensen’s time of 1:29.196 earned a bonus Championship point, and, as a result, Sorensen now only has to finish 26th or better in today’s 17-lap final to clinch his third AMA 250cc Championship.

27 riders qualified for the race.

Team Oliver Yamaha’s Rich Oliver (1:29.413) was the fastest rider before the red flag flew, but a mechanical problem prevented Oliver from bettering his time in the closing minutes of qualifying.

AMA 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, 1:29.196
2. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 1:29.413
3. Simon Turner, Yamaha, 1:30.882
4. Jason DiSalvo, Honda, 1:30.948
5. Ed Sorbo, Yamaha, 1:32.639
6. Chris Pyles, Yamaha, 1:32.682
7. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 1:32.782
8. Colin Jensen, Aprilia, 1:33.895
9. John France, Honda, 1:35.010
10. Steve Scott, Yamaha, 1:35.499
11. Ty Piz, Yamaha, 1:35.982
12. Greg Esser, Honda, 1:36.819
13. Barrett Long, Yamaha, 1:36.853
14. Jeremy Bonnett, Yamaha, 1:37.043
15. Chad Healy, Yamaha, 1:37.813
16. James Bonner, Yamaha, 1:38.255
17. Stephen Bowline, Honda, 1:38.626
18. Jamie Worthington, Aprilia, 1:39.125
19. Gert Van Der Merwe, Yamaha, 1:39.182
20. Bryan Hoelzer, Honda, 1:39.204
21. Sean Wray, Yamaha, 1:39.632
22. Joji Tokumoto, Honda, 1:40.728
23. Glen Christianson, Yamaha, 1:40.767
24. Michael Deblanco, Yamaha, 1:40.781
25. Richard Merhar, Yamaha, 1:41.843
26. Andrew Edwards, Yamaha, 1:41.929
27. Mark Vanderwerf, Yamaha, 1:44.424

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

Roger Lee Hayden Fastest In Sunday Morning AMA Formula Xtreme Practice At VIR

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Sunday Morning AMA Formula Xtreme Practice Times:

1. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 1:26.812
2. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki, 1:27.041
3. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:27.065
4. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:27.190
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 1:27.317
6. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 1:27.903
7. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 1:28.169
8. Mike Hale, Honda, 1:28.412
9. Tom Kipp, Suzuki, 1:28.424
10. Alex Gobert, Honda, 1:28.496
11. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 1:29.099
12. Lance Isaacs, Yamaha, 1:29.156
13. Jason Curtis, Yamaha, 1:30.753
14. James Compton, Suzuki, 1:31.785
15. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, 1:32.929
16. Kenyon Kluge, Suzuki, 1:34.465
17. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, 1:34.874
18. James Kerker, Honda, 1:34.949
19. Rick Narup, Suzuki, 1:35.376
20. Tim Falcone, Suzuki, 1:35.480
21. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 1:35.627
22. Michael McAllister, Yamaha, 1:36.441
23. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:47.901

Tommy Hayden Faster Than Yates, Hacking And Pridmore In Sunday Morning AMA Supersport Practice At VIR

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Sunday Morning AMA Supersport Practice Times:

1. Tommy Hayden , Kawasaki, 1:28.509
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:28.737
3. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki, 1:28.973
4. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:29.051
5. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:29.182
6. Tom Kipp, Suzuki, 1:29.613
7. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 1:29.693
8. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 1:30.047
9. Josh Hayes, Suzuki, 1:30.158
10. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 1:30.458
11. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:30.663
12. Mike Hale, Honda, 1:30.748
13. Alex Gobert, Honda, 1:30.776
14. Andrew Nelson, Honda, 1:30.933
15. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, 1:30.991
16. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 1:30.999
17. Ty Howard, Suzuki, 1:31.088
18. Michael Hannas, Suzuki, 1:31.877
19. Matt Furtek, Yamaha, 1:31.891
20. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha, 1:31.936
21. Tyler Wadsworth, Yamaha, 1:33.358
22. Andy Caldwell, Suzuki, 1:33.603
23. Michael Garofalo, Suzuki, 1:33.728
24. Chuck Ivey, Suzuki, 1:34.008
25. Jeff Muskopf, Suzuki, 1:34.301
26. Raymond Bowman, Honda, 1:34.538
27. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, 1:35.410
28. Giovanni Rojas, Triumph, 1:36.355
29. Justin Blake, Suzuki, 1:36.511
30. Anthony Cammack, Suzuki, 1:36.864
31. James Kerker, Honda, 1:37.379
32. Marcus Winfree, Suzuki, 1:39.615

Bostrom Beats Mladin By A Wheel In Second AMA Superbike Race At VIR

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

After 28 laps, four starts and one hour and 34 minutes, Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom beat Team Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin by 0.0001-second in Sunday’s AMA Superbike final at Virginia International Raceway.

The race was stopped after six laps when Nicky Hayden crashed and his American Honda RC51 burst into flames. Hayden actually worked with cornerworkers to put out the fire.

The race was stopped a second time on lap 11 when Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts crashed in between turns four and five, and his RC51 Superbike, which remained on the track, also caught on fire.

Aaron Yates ran off the track to avoid hitting Roberts, fell in the run-off area before hitting inflatable safety barriers, got up, went back to the track and laid down on the racing surface. Yates then returned to pit lane where his crew repaired his GSX-R750 in time to make the re-start.

The race was stopped a third time on lap 20 when Michael Fitzpatrick fell exiting turn six and his Suzuki GSX-R750 caught on fire.

Mladin and Bostrom went straight to the front for the final eight-lap sprint. On the final lap, Bostrom drafted past Mladin to a photo-finish win.

Yates recovered for third. HMC Ducati’s Doug Chandler was fourth, well clear of top privateer Jason DiSalvo in fifth.

After the race, Mladin did not attend the podium celebration or post-race press conference.

Sunday’s AMA Superbike Race Results:

1. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 28 laps
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, -0.0001 second
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -4.358 seconds
4. Doug Chandler, Ducati, -9.742 seconds
5. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki, -36.362 seconds
6. Robert Jensen, Suzuki, -41.415 seconds
7. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, -42.978 seconds
8. Brian Livengood, Suzuki, -43.780 seconds
9. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -44.524 seconds
10. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki, -47.936 seconds
11. Thomas Montano, Ducati, -49.579 seconds
12. Jeremy Toye, Suzuki, -49.656 seconds
13. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -53.107 seconds
14. Justin Blake, Suzuki, -53.138 seconds
15. John Dugan, Suzuki, -53.798 seconds
16. John Jacobi, Suzuki, -54.931 seconds
17. Marco Martinez, Suzuki, -55.022 seconds
18. Alan Schmidt, Suzuki, -58.514 seconds
19. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -59.254 seconds
20. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -60.310 seconds
21. Christopher Rankin of Texas, Suzuki, -60.409 seconds
22. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -61.355 seconds
23. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -79.061 seconds
24. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -1 lap
25. Pascal Picotte, Ducati, -1 lap
26. Michael Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, -8 laps, DNF, crash
27. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -12 laps, DNF, crash
28. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -17 laps, DNF, crash
29. Chris Rankin of Maryland, Suzuki, -20 laps, DNF
30. Nicky Hayden, Honda, -22 laps, DNF, crash
31. Giovanni Rojas, Suzuki, -22 laps, DNF, crash
32. Robert Christman, Suzuki, -27 laps, DNF

Chuck Sorensen Will Start Today’s AMA 250cc Grand Prix At VIR From Pole Position

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Team Stargel Aprilia’s Chuck Sorensen was the fastest qualifier in Saturday’s 20-minute MBNA 250cc Grand Prix qualifying session. Sorensen’s time of 1:29.196 earned a bonus Championship point, and, as a result, Sorensen now only has to finish 26th or better in today’s 17-lap final to clinch his third AMA 250cc Championship.

27 riders qualified for the race.

Team Oliver Yamaha’s Rich Oliver (1:29.413) was the fastest rider before the red flag flew, but a mechanical problem prevented Oliver from bettering his time in the closing minutes of qualifying.

AMA 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, 1:29.196
2. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 1:29.413
3. Simon Turner, Yamaha, 1:30.882
4. Jason DiSalvo, Honda, 1:30.948
5. Ed Sorbo, Yamaha, 1:32.639
6. Chris Pyles, Yamaha, 1:32.682
7. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 1:32.782
8. Colin Jensen, Aprilia, 1:33.895
9. John France, Honda, 1:35.010
10. Steve Scott, Yamaha, 1:35.499
11. Ty Piz, Yamaha, 1:35.982
12. Greg Esser, Honda, 1:36.819
13. Barrett Long, Yamaha, 1:36.853
14. Jeremy Bonnett, Yamaha, 1:37.043
15. Chad Healy, Yamaha, 1:37.813
16. James Bonner, Yamaha, 1:38.255
17. Stephen Bowline, Honda, 1:38.626
18. Jamie Worthington, Aprilia, 1:39.125
19. Gert Van Der Merwe, Yamaha, 1:39.182
20. Bryan Hoelzer, Honda, 1:39.204
21. Sean Wray, Yamaha, 1:39.632
22. Joji Tokumoto, Honda, 1:40.728
23. Glen Christianson, Yamaha, 1:40.767
24. Michael Deblanco, Yamaha, 1:40.781
25. Richard Merhar, Yamaha, 1:41.843
26. Andrew Edwards, Yamaha, 1:41.929
27. Mark Vanderwerf, Yamaha, 1:44.424

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