American SuperBike 2001 - Round 12 - Pikes Peak

Eric Bostrom returns to Pikes Peak International Raceway on Aug. 24-26 to compete in round 12 of the 14-race AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championships. Bostrom, 24, of California, is the defending winner of the AMA Superbike race on the tight and twisty 1.34-mile PPIR infield road course, the shortest in the series. He is hoping to close ground on Suzuki ace Mat Mladin who holds a 20-point lead in the Chevy Trucks Superbike standings over Bostrom.

While Bostrom has a great history at Pikes Peak, he'll still need some help from Kawasaki team-mate Doug Chandler (another former Pikes Peak winner) and perhaps some others if he is to have a real shot of catching the super-consistent Mladin.

The fact that Bostrom has renewed hope of winning this year's AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship is something that looked highly unlikely before the last race at Brainerd. That is where Mladin crashed out of the race and lost a major chunk of his huge 45-point series lead.

If Bostrom fans are hoping that lightening might strike Mladin twice, they should consider that his Brainerd crash marked only the second time in five years of racing that the two-time AMA Superbike champ had crashed out of a race.

In theory, even if Bostrom won the final three Superbike races, Mladin could still earn his third-straight championship by finishing runner-up. Bostrom not only needs to win races, but he needs other riders to finish between himself and Mladin.

Of course Mladin has team-mates also -- Jamie Hacking and Aaron Yates to be specific.

Hacking is a proven winner at PPIR, having taken the Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport race there last year. And Yates, returning from a broken arm suffered at Laguna Seca, helped Mladin last year by letting his team-mate past on the last lap so he could take second. Undoubtedly Hacking and Yates could be a big asset for Mladin in his quest for title number three.

Pikes Peak International Raceway's small infield road-racing course is unique and gives fans a great chance to see riders over the entire 10-turn circuit.

Bostrom has won two of the previous four AMA Superbike races at Pikes Peak - 1998 and 2000. His team-mate Chandler won 1999. Honda's Miguel Duhamel is the other former winner at the track, having won the first race there in 1997.

This is also the track where Harley-Davidson's Pascal Picotte nearly shocked the racing world two years ago by leading on the factory Harley VR1000 with a lap to go before being passed by Chandler on the final lap. Picotte finished second; the closest Harley-Davidson has ever come to winning an AMA Superbike race.

Eric Bostrom lost the Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport title on the last lap of the last race last year. Bostrom has carried that painful memory with him all season and has ridden his Kawasaki ZX6R like a man on a mission in the series this year. Bostrom built a solid lead mid-season, but will now have to hold off a resurgent Miguel Duhamel and the always dangerous Anthony Gobert to win his first 600 SuperSport No. 1 plate. Duhamel has won the last two rounds and has closed to within 19 points of Bostrom. The Montreal native is the all-time winningest rider in AMA 600 SuperSport history and would love to chase down Bostrom and win his sixth series title and his first since 1997. Aussie Gobert has fought off injury and still managed to stay in the hunt. Look for a healthy Gobert to finish the season strong.

Another Australian, Damon Buckmaster, has made a strong impact in the Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme. "Bucky", riding a Gravesport Yamaha R1, leads Valvoline Suzuki youngster John Hopkins by 13 points coming into Pikes Peak, but it's been Hopkins finishing ahead of Buckmaster in the last two rounds. Buckmaster, a former 750 SuperSport winner at Pikes, will try to regain the momentum this weekend. Aaron Gobert will also figure strongly and has recently signed to ride for the factory Yamaha squad in 2001 SuperSport and will be loaned to the Chuck Graves Team to continue in American Formula Xtreme once again next year.