American SuperBike 2001 - Round 13 - Willow Springs

The hottest rider in the latter stages of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championships has been Honda factory rider Nicky Hayden. The 20-year-old is riding a three-race winning streak coming into this weekend's event Sept. 14-16, at Willow Springs International Raceway.

Hayden is ranked third behind two-time defending AMA Superbike champ Mat Mladin, and Eric Bostrom. With just two rounds remaining in the championship four riders still have a shot at the title. Mladin, Bostrom, Hayden and three-time AMA Superbike champ Doug Chandler.

Hayden, a former AMA/Speedvison Athlete of the Year, was expected to be one of the riders to give Mladin a serious challenge in this year's title race. Unfortunately for Hayden, the early part of his season was plagued by hard luck. A crash at Road Atlanta dropped him down in the series standings. He worked his way back up in the points chase only to crash again at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and fall to seventh in the standings. Since Laguna, Hayden has gone on to win three of the four races to get himself back in the title hunt.

"The championship still looks like a long shot," said Hayden, who is 56 points down to Mladin. "I'm just going to concentrate on keeping my momentum going. I gained a lot of confidence after winning the pole and the race at Pikes Peak, a track that normally hasn't favoured my Honda RC51. I know the bike goes well at Willow. All I need to do is put in a good ride and I feel I have a really good shot at winning there again."

While Hayden's recent surge has brought him all the way back to third in the series, the real battle for the championship is between Mladin and Bostrom.

Mladin is attempting to become the first rider to win three AMA Superbike championships in a row since Fred Merkel pulled off the feat in 1986. Mladin's 15-point lead over Bostrom doesn't make him comfortable by any means. Mladin had a huge points lead cut in half after crashing out of the race at Brainerd in July. It was only the second time in his six-year AMA Superbike racing career that he'd crashed out of a race.

Bostrom, whose won two races to Mladin's four this year, feels he still has a fighting chance at catching Mladin in the championship. "It's real simple for me right now -- I have to win the last two races," said Bostrom.

Surprisingly Willow Springs has not been a very good track for either Mladin or Bostrom. Mladin finished eighth there last year, protecting a points lead. Before that he was fourth in 1999 and third in 1998. Bostrom's record at the high-desert circuit is even worse, a fifth last year and ninth in 1999. Kawasaki has not won a Superbike race at Willow Springs since 1983 when Wayne Rainey was victorious on a green machine. It's been 1985, with Kevin Schwantz, since Suzuki has won there. Both riders hope to improve on their record at Willow this Sunday.

The Ducati Superbike could be a factor at Willow. Larry Pegram took his only Superbike victory at the track in 1999 and Steve Rapp won the pole last year, setting a track record in the process.

Besides Superbike, Bostrom will also have the Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport Championship on his mind. It was at Willow Springs where Bostrom lost the title to Kurtis Roberts in heartbreaking fashion. Since that race Bostrom has been a man on a mission in the 600 class. Bostrom could forget all about his disastrous 600 race last year by winning this year and securing the 2001 title but Anthony Gobert could have something to say about that.

Anthony is fairly much over the injury that has plagued him for much of the season and will be a force to be reckoned with at Willow. A circuit which rewards those who are not scared to push things to the limit at high speed, especially at the infamous turn 8-9, which is the fastest turn on the AMA SuperBike calendar. When the wind is strong things get even more hairy.

The Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Series is all knotted up with John Hopkins and Damon Buckmaster tied coming into this race. Buckmaster may have a slight advantage over 'Hopper' as the Australian won the 750 SuperSport race at Willow last year. Hopkins tested Yamaha's YZR 500 at Estoril earlier this week and may have things such as a GP contract on his mind.... Aaron Gobert looked likely to be a threat for the Formula Xtreme championship but unfortunately a rare DNF cost him a chance at the major prize. That is no reason for him not to be right up the front at Willow this weekend though.

This weekend is vitally important for all concerned as we only have one more round remaining after this one. Imagine if the 3 big championships go to Aussies; Mladin - SuperBike, Gobert - SuperSport, Buckmaster - Xtreme. It is long odds for all that to happen but it is possible....