American SuperSport 2001 - Final Round - Alton

American SuperSport 2001 - Final Round - Alton - Results
By, Larry Lawrence

Anthony Gobert is feeling close to full strength after recovering from serious injuries suffered at Loudon, N.H., in June and it shows. The 26-year-old Australian Yamaha rider won an exciting Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport Series finale this afternoon at Virginia Int’l. Raceway. Gobert traded the lead with Suzuki’s Aaron Yates and Honda’s Miguel Duhamel throughout much of the 17-lap final. Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom battled up front early in the race, but backed off to finish a safe seventh to secure the 2001 Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport championship.

The race was a thriller with top top-three riders trading the lead numerous times on the 2.25-mile road course, much to the delight of the enthusiast VIR crowd. At one point Yates and Gobert came together hard in turn one and Gobert made a great save to keep from hitting the ground. The race came down to the final lap. Yates led, but Gobert made a late-braking move into turn one to take over the lead. Gobert worked traffic to perfection and opened up a 1.1-second lead (the biggest lead of the day) over Yates by the checkered flag. Duhamel finished a close third.

For Gobert it was his second 600 SuperSport win of the year and he moved to second in the final series standings.

“I had some pretty close moments for sure,” said Gobert, who is signed to race for Yamaha U.S. again next season. “I got through traffic really well on the last lap. It felt really good when I looked back at the end and saw that Aaron and Miguel had fallen back a bit. I’m looking forward to coming back next year to try to win a championship.”

Bostrom’s championship was his fourth AMA national title. The 24-year-old from Temecula, Calif., is a former Formula Xtreme and Harley-Davidson 883 road race and dirt track champ. He is one of the few riders to earn dirt track and road racing national titles.

“After losing the title on a tiebreaker last year it really got me pumped up about coming back to win this thing,” said Bostrom, who gave Kawasaki only its second 600 SuperSport title and first since 1993. “I wanted to get up and race up front today, but it started heating up. As much as I hated to, I figured it was smart just to back off and find a nice easy pace.”