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With just three events left on the American Motorcyclists Association (AMA) U.S. Superbike Tour, championship points are as scarce as ever. Hosting a Wiseco
Superbike 100 doubleheader as well as Supersport, Superstock, 250 Grand Prix and Formula Xtreme races, the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire will determine the fate of a number of
racers at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, July 25-27.
Mid-Ohio will host rounds 13 and 14 of the 18-round AMA U.S. Superbike Tour, and if the first 12 event are any indication, the competition will
be fierce throughout the weekend. Just 36 points separate first through fifth place positions and a scant 6 points separate leader Mat Mladin from Eric Bostrom, his closest competitor.
Mladin, a
three-time U.S. Superbike champion, has managed to take the checkered flag in 7 races thus far. Those seven races make up the bulk of the Australian's 356 championship points, with no other top-5
finishes in the 2003 season.
"(I) Can't wait to get to Mid-Ohio," said Mladin. "We got the points lead back which was good and we're now looking forward to the double-header weekend there. We
need to try and win a couple more races and work on increasing that points gap."
Eric Bostrom, the series' most consistent rider in 2003 with 12 top-5 finishes and wins at Pikes Peak and Road
America, has had success at Mid-Ohio before. Bostrom capitalized on a fast start in last year's first Wiseco Superbike 100 to hang on for the win, and is hoping for more of the same at this year's
event.
Third-place Aaron Yates is searching for his first AMA Superbike title after capturing the Supersport class crown in 2002, and a pair of wins at Mid-Ohio would help that goal
tremendously.
"This is something I've been working towards my whole career," said Yates, whose best finish in AMA Superbike was third in 2000. "Mid-Ohio is a track I like a lot and if I could
manage another sweep of the doubleheader there like I did in 2000 then I have a good chance of leaving with the series lead."
Three Honda riders remain very much in the hunt at fourth, fifth and
sixth place in the points chase. Miguel Duhamel, whose season was slowed early in the year with a broken collarbone following a spill at Infineon Raceway, lies in sixth place. Duhamel started the year
with a win in the prestigious Daytona 200 before the accident, and comes to Mid-Ohio with seven career wins on the 2.4-mile circuit.
Ben Bostrom is a former AMA Superbike champion who has
returned from competition in World Superbike to compete for the U.S. title for Honda in 2003. With 320 points and ten top-10 finishes, a win or two at Mid-Ohio would vault the elder Bostrom brother back
into the thick of the championship fight as well.
The Honda rider with perhaps the most to prove is Kurtis Roberts. Roberts, still searching for that elusive first career Superbike win, currently
sits in fourth place and is climbing in the standings. Roberts has won at Mid-Ohio before, on a Formula Xtreme bike in 2000 and in the 1998 250 Grand Prix race.
Many of the support series
championships could be influenced at the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire as well. With four wins this season, including a recent win at Laguna Seca, Jamie Hacking leads the AMA
Supersport class with 252 points. Teammate Damon Buckmaster is looking for his first win of the 2003 season and a way to inch closer to Hacking in the standings.
The Superstock class provides
the closest action at the top of the championship, with just two points separating leader Josh Hayes and third-place Vincent Haskovec. Tommy Hayden, brother of 2002 AMA Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden,
sits just between the two riders with three wins this season. Hayden won the 1999 Superstock race (then called 750 SuperSport) at Mid-Ohio. Steve Rapp, who has won two of the last three races, is trying
to climb back into the hunt after missing three early-season races.
The battle in the final season of 250 Grand Prix competition is only for second place, as Rich Oliver has captured all 8 races
run so far in 2003 and can mathematically clinch the championship this weekend at Mid-Ohio. The only question remaining is whether the four-time 250 GP champion can sweep the entire season.
19-year-old Texan Ben Spies is currently on top of what has been a back-and-forth battle for the Formula Xtreme championship after a win at Laguna Seca propelled the youngster to a seven point lead over
Damon Buckmaster, last year's Formula Xtreme winner at Mid-Ohio. The battle is far from a two-man race, however, with Josh Hayes, Jake Zemke and Adam Fergusson all within striking distance of the
championship.
Supersport Preview
AMA Supersport racing star Jamie Hacking comes to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for round nine of the 11-race Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport Championship
presented by Shoei on Sunday, July 27, looking to accomplish something he’s never done at Mid-Ohio -- earn a victory at the circuit. Hacking has been racing professionally at Mid-Ohio for six years and
he’s led races there, including the Supersport race in 2001, but to this point he’s yet to taste victory at the noted Lexington, Ohio track. Despite his lack of success at Mid-Ohio, the South Carolinian
is considered the pre-race favorite to win the ultra-competitive AMA Supersport race during this week’s Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop.
Hacking leads the 2003 Supersport
championship by 26 points over Yamaha teammate Damon Buckmaster. A victory in the series is worth 37 points. Hacking and Buckmaster have separated themselves from the rest of the talent-laden Supersport
field. Erion Honda’s Alex Gobert, the youngest of the three racing Gobert brothers, is a distant third in the points chase and is leading a very tight group of riders that are in all likelihood battling
for third in the series. A mere 23-points separate third-place Gobert from Jason DiSalvo, who is ranked tenth in the standings.
The fact that Hacking has never won at Mid-Ohio does not bother
him. “I’ve grown as a rider and I have a great team behind me,” said Hacking, who is tied for fourth with the legendary Doug Polen on the all-time AMA Supersport wins list. “There’s been a few tracks
where I’ve had a tough time in the past, but was able to do well at this year. Sears Point (Infineon Raceway) comes to mind. I look forward to racing at Mid-Ohio and I’m going to do my best to get a win
there.”
Hacking is looking for his fifth victory in the AMA Supersport Championship this season. He’s coming off a victory in the last round of the series in Monterey, Calif. Hacking is one of
five winners in the series this year and is the only rider who has managed to win more than one race. He’s made the podium in all but two rounds. If Hacking wins Mid-Ohio it would mark the first
Supersport victory for Yamaha at the track since another Jamie, Jamie James, won the race in 1994.
Hacking’s rival and teammate Buckmaster, last year’s Mid-Ohio Formula Xtreme winner, has turned
in one of his typical consistent season’s in Supersport. He’s scored a top-10 finish in every round including three podium appearances, yet he’s still trying to earn his first career victory in
Supersport. “Bucky” is good at Mid-Ohio. He was runner-up in the Supersport race there last year to series champion Aaron Yates. One disadvantage for Buckmaster may be that he is splitting his energies
between two classes. In addition to being in the Supersport title chase he’s also in a heated battle for No. 1 in Formula Xtreme.
A rider who can never be counted out at Mid-Ohio is Honda’s
Miguel Duhamel. Duhamel has more Supersport wins at Mid-Ohio than any other rider with five victories in the race dating back to 1991. Duhamel scored a win earlier this year in Brainerd, Minn. The
Canadian racing veteran is 11th in the standings coming into this race, mainly due to missing races after breaking his collarbone earlier this season.
Others to watch for Sunday include
Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden. Hayden has scored podium finishes in four of the last five years of Supersport racing at Mid-Ohio. He was involved in one of the best motorcycle races ever at Mid-Ohio when his
brother Nicky made a daring last-lap pass on him in the 1999 Supersport race. Suzuki’s Ben Spies also may be a factor in the race. He won the prestigious AMA Horizon Award at Mid-Ohio as an amateur and
is considered perhaps the leading up-and-coming rider in the series. Both Hayden and Spies have won Supersport races this year.
FX Preview
The AMA Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series has been a back-and-forth battle all season with three different riders trading the lead in the
standings. Texan Ben Spies, 19, has worked his way back atop the championship as the series comes to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, July 12 for round eight of the 10. Spies hopes to get another
winning streak underway during the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop, the finale of Mid-Ohio’s Cycle-Fest, which also features the AMA Road Race Grand Championships and AMA Vintage
Motorcycle Days.
Spies and his Yoshimura Suzuki looked to be the combo to beat early in the season. The first-year factory rider easily won the first two rounds and opened up a solid lead in the
series. But no one seems to want to keep hold of the Formula Xtreme lead. A crash on a wet Road Atlanta circuit cost Spies the series lead. From that point Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke took over the series
lead. Zemke, who actually tied last year’s champ Jason Pridmore in the championship and lost in a tiebreaker, appeared to have control of the series until he uncharacteristically crashed at Road
America. It was then Graves Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster, a perennial contender for the Formula Xtreme title and last year’s Mid-Ohio winner, who took over the point in the series. But even the Aussie
racing veteran Buckmaster found the Formula Xtreme lead a slippery proposition to hold on to. Buckmaster jumped the start of the last round in Monterey, Calif., and was forced to take a stop-and-go
penalty. He minimized his losses by coming back to finish eighth in that race, yet he too lost the series lead, which was recaptured by Laguna Seca winner Spies.
Spies returns to Mid-Ohio, the
track where he raced his first race as a professional when he turned 16 back in 2000. Just days before his pro debut he was named AMA Horizon Award winner at Mid-Ohio that year, signifying him as the
nation’s leading amateur rider.
With just three rounds remaining, the Formula Xtreme Series should be heating up. The top five riders in the series are very much in the thick of the championship.
Spies leads Buckmaster by just seven points and following closely behind are Attack Suzuki’s Josh Hayes, Erion Honda’s Zemke and Corona Extra Suzuki’s Adam Fergusson.
Superstock Preview
The competition is even hotter in the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Series. Two points separate series leader Josh Hayes from third place Vincent
Haskovec with former Mid-Ohio Superstock winner Tommy Hayden in between in second. Hayes has gotten stronger as the season’s progressed and took over the lead after winning the last round at Laguna Seca
on his Attack Suzuki. It marked his first Superstock victory in four years. Tommy Hayden is trying to become the first rider on a machine smaller than 750ccs to win the Superstock championship. So far
Hayden has three victories under his belt on the nimble-handling factory Kawasaki ZX636. Hayden could be the pre-race favorite. He won the Mid-Ohio Superstock race in 1999 on a 600cc machine. Valvoline
Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich is the defending winner of the race. Ulrich comes into Mid-Ohio ranked 12th in the series and is nursing a sore shoulder.
250 Grand Prix Series
Pressure is mounting for Rich Oliver in the MBNA 250 Grand Prix Series. It’s not the championship that he’s concerned with, he almost has that clinched,
it’s the fact that Oliver is just three races away from completing a perfect season that might be causing the veteran some sleepless nights as of late. Oliver is the defending and six-time Mid-Ohio
250GP winner. He is working toward his fifth title in the class. This could be the final chance for Mid-Ohio fans to get to see Oliver race. He has suggested he may be hanging up his racing leathers
after this season.
Mladin Preview
Just three Double-Header rounds of the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Champion remain, with Australian Mat Mladin heading to next weekend’s round at
Ohio holding a six-point lead in the title chase.
The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course hosts rounds 13 & 14 next weekend (July 26 & 27) and is a circuit that Mladin has tasted success on, winning there in 2001
and where he is also the existing lap record holder for the 3.86km (2.40 miles) circuit claiming the record with a time of 1-min 26.498-seconds on his way to taking pole position for the same race in
2001.
Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki team arrive at Mid-Ohio leading the championship after a mixed bag of results of late. Tyre problems at Brainerd saw the
three-times American Superbike champion finish seventh, before he responded by taking a resounding race victory at Laguna Seca last weekend.
Last weekend’s victory has put Mladin in a very positive frame of mind as he prepares for the trip to Ohio and then onto the final two circuits of this
years championship at Virginia International Raceway (August 29 - 31) and the all-new Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama (September 19 - 21).
“Can’t wait to get to Mid-Ohio,” said Mladin. “We got the points lead back which was good and we’re now looking forward to the double-header weekend there.
We need to try and win a couple more races and work on increasing that points gap.”
“After winning the AMA race at Laguna Seca last weekend, I feel that if I can win there, then I can win anywhere,” added Mladin. “It was my most disliked
circuit in the world. I don’t enjoy racing there, I don’t really like the layout, but we did manage to win the AMA race by about 10 seconds. That has given me a great confidence boost for the remainder
of the season and I now look forward to Mid-Ohio.”
Mladin arrives at Mid-Ohio with a total of 356 championship points, courtesy of seven race wins and five pole positions this year and leads Team Kawasaki’s
Eric Bostrom by six-points. Team-mate Aaron Yates currently lies third with 345 after finishing second to Mladin at Laguna Seca last weekend.
After Mid-Ohio the championship contenders head to the final two circuits of the season, VIR and Barber Motorsports Park. Mladin has sat on pole on VIR and
was narrowly beaten there last year, while the Alabama circuit is new to the series in 2003 and will present itself with a whole new range of challenges for the title contenders.
“I was fast at Virginia, but got pipped on the line. I like the place, it’s a nice little racetrack. Alabama on the other hand, we haven’t been to yet, but
will be there testing in a few weeks. From what I’ve heard it will be hard on the tyres because you spend so much time on the side of them. It is a brand new race track, still very green, but we’ll see
how it is when we get there.”
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