American Formula Xtreme 2001 - Final Round

American Formula Xtreme 2001 - Final Round - Alton
By, Larry Lawrence

Aaron Gobert, following in the footsteps of his older brother Anthony, won his first AMA national, the Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme final, Saturday at VIR. Gobert, 20, riding the Graves Yamaha R1, passed early leader John Hopkins on lap five and pulled out to a 2.788-second margin of victory over Grant Lopez, team-mate of Hopkins on the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team. It matched the best finish of the season for Lopez, who was second in round one of the series at Sears Point Raceway. Bruce Transportation Honda’s Josh Hayes was third.

Hopkins held on to fourth despite having steering problems with his bike late in the race. Damon Buckmaster, who led the series most of the season and was tied with Hopkins coming into this weekend’s race, finished fifth. That meant that Hopkins won the 2001 Lockhart Formula Xtreme title by a single point. It was Hopkins’ second straight AMA national title. The 18-year-old Californian won the AMA 750 SuperSport championship last year, ironically by just three points over Buckmaster.

Gobert won the race with his patented sliding riding style.

“I told my brother that I was going to give the television cameras some good footage,” said Gobert. “It’s great to finally win my first national. I just didn’t think it would take so long.”

For Hopkins his second straight national title marked an appropriate ending to his relationship with the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team.

“This championship is as much theirs as it is mine,” said Hopkins, who said he is close to signing with the Red Bull Yamaha team to race in the World Championships. “I felt comfortable racing so close with Aaron early in the race. Something broke in the steering head of my bike so I had to back it off there at the end.”

Pole winner Jason Pridmore broke his collarbone in a practice crash Saturday morning and was unable to race.