Mladin Report

The second of the double-header AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship races was run early on Monday morning with Australian Mat Mladin emerging from the rain affected weekend with an extended points lead in the championship with just two races remaining.

In his attempt to become the first rider in the American AMA series to have won four national Superbike titles, Mladin heads to the final double-header round of the season at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama (September 21 & 21) holding a 38-point lead over Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates (493 - 455), after finishing fifth in today’s race.

Today’s rain delayed and shortened Superbike national (reduced from the original 28 laps to 20) saw Mladin adopt the same tactics as he did on Saturday for the first of the weekend’s Superbike races where he sat patiently behind the lead group and waited for an opportunity to present itself. It did on Saturday as he was able to make his way forward and claim his tenth race win of the series.

Today Mladin again dropped to the rear of the lead group of riders in the opening laps of the race with Honda’s of Kurtis Roberts, Miguel DuHamel and Ben Bostrom battling close with championship contender Yates. Rather than risk being involved in any unnecessary incidents, Mladin elected to play it safe and by race end had increased his overall point’s margin at the top of the table by an additional five points over the course of the weekend.

“The boys were really going at it out front, so I was quite happy to sit in behind them and wait and see what would happen,” said Mladin. “They were really chopping each other up and having a big go at it and I didn’t want to be part of it, so I decided to sit there and wait to see if they came back to me like they did on Saturday that would be good, but if they didn’t it wasn’t that bad either.”

“It’s not the time of the year when I need to push hard and risk crashing or breaking things on the bike to win races when all we have to do is bring it home. For the first ten laps I was right with them, but then just slipped off the pace a little and at the end I just brought it home.”

“We came into the weekend holding a 33-point lead in the championship and left with a 38-point margin, so it’s good. We’re not the ones chasing, so that’s the position that we want to be in heading to the final at Alabama.”

Victory in today’s race went to Roberts who held out Yates by just 0.772 of a second at the end of 20 laps, while DuHamel held out Bostrom for the final podium position.

“Overall it was a successful weekend for us,” added Mladin. “It was good to get the win on Saturday as it was a little bit unexpected. Kurtis had it in the bag, but then he had a tyre problem late in the race that cost him the win. I know how he feels as that has cost us a few races this year. Today we were just happy to get through the reworked race schedule and complete the meeting.”

The championship contenders will enjoy a three-week break before the final round of the championship makes its first appearance to the new Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Mladin returns home to continue his training program and will also make an appearance at the upcoming Suzuki Dealer Conference in Las Vegas.

HRC Report

Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts fulfilled a lifelong dream by winning his first ever AMA Superbike race in the rain-delayed Monday final at Virginia International Raceway, round 16 of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship.

“Coming across the stripe I was tucked in like you’d be at Daytona,” Roberts, the youngest son of three-time 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts, said. “I didn’t know where he’d be coming from or how close they were at the time and kind of just held them off today.”

The win capped an impressive weekend for Roberts. He was clearly the class of the field on Saturday, jetting into the lead from the start and never to be headed. Teammates Bostrom and Duhamel had gone out with him, only to lose touch near the halfway point when Roberts turned up the pace.

“Just put my head down got past the lappers right,” Roberts said. “I just didn’t think they could keep up to that point. I just kept going, wouldn’t stop.”

He was holding a nearly 10 second lead, with the checkered flag less than five laps away, when his rear tire overheated. After a quick pit stop, he re-joined the track to finish 13th.

Teammate Miguel Duhamel took over the lead when Roberts went out, then was passed by Mat Mladin (Suzuki). Soon Duhamel got stuck behind former World Superbike rider Giovanni Bussei late in the race. It was only after Bussei misread the flagman that the Duhamel and Bostrom were able to move up to second and third. In American Superbike racing, the flagger waves a white flag to signal the final lap. Bussei thought it was the checkered flag, and slowed down, allowing both Duhamel and Bostrom past.

Saturday’s race was won by Mat Mladin (Suzuki), who passed Duhamel and Bostrom on the 25th of 28 laps.

Sunday’s race was delayed for several hours after a rider in an earlier race dropped oil over a large section of pavement. Race officials spent hours cleaning it and one race was run. Torrential rains hit soon after and the residue from the oil slick made the track unsafe and the decision was made to come back on Monday morning.

Monday’s race was green-lighted at 9:20 a.m., Roberts speeding to the front and leading most of the laps, only giving way mid-race to Suzuki’s Aaron Yates. Then Roberts took it back on lap 12 and fought Yates to the end, holding him off by 0.772 seconds.

Third went to American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel with Ben Bostrom fourth, for the second day in a row slowed by a loss of feeling in his hands.

Kurtis Roberts, 1st Place, Monday
After this year, it’s kind of like ‘What’s next? You’re going the last three laps, who knows what’s going to happen. I wanted to win one real bad all year. We’ve been so close so many times the last few for reasons keeping us away from it. Especially Saturday, 10 seconds with four to go. I was thinking ‘Don’t crash, don’t crash,’ the next thing you know the thing feels like it’s got a speed bump in the tire. I was pretty motivated. I just didn’t want to lose at all.

Miguel Duhamel, 3rd Place, Monday
It was just a hell of a race. It was a sprint, 20 laps. I got dropped with about four or five laps to go a little bit. I kept believing I could get back up there but then I hit some traffic again. The whole race actually I was really comfortable, I was saving my tires. I was hoping they’d get too excited and use too much of their tires and I’d have something for them at the end. I was really banking on that. But like I said I got caught back a little bit. A couple of times I bridged it back to them, but that last time, the last five laps just couldn’t’ do it.

Ben Bostrom, Fourth Place, Sunday
The bike and tires were perfect. I had the same tire I had yesterday. My hands fell asleep. Fortunately they shortened the race because I was about to get a hell of a lot slower. Obviously I don’t know what it is. I’ve got to fly back to Dr. Ting to find out what. I talked to (Repsol Honda’s) Nicky Hayden and he said he had the problem when he rode the Superbike.

Miguel Duhamel, Second Place, Saturday
When Kurtis (Roberts) had his problem, that was unfortunate for him. But I’m like hey, we’re racing for a win. And I couldn’t get by Giovanni Bussei and I kind of said, well, you know I can draft by him. I was able to get more speed to the start-finish line that he was on is Ducati,. My Honda was faster. So I said you know, worst case scenario, I’m just going to pass him at the line and everything was beautiful until Mat (Mladin) came around and passed us both. And I was like, ‘Oh god.’ That’s just unfortunate. But yeah, I had a plan for Bussei, didn’t have a plan for Mat (Mladin). I just needed to get by him. If I got by him then it’s a different story, but I couldn’t and Mat (Mladin) could.

Ben Bostrom, Third Place, Saturday
Not much to tell. It wasn’t too good. the first half of the race was quite fun. I haven’t really run up front the whole season. So it felt good to be up there. My hands actually went to sleep. I was still giving it all I got. When you can’t feel the handlebars it’s a bit scary. I was still pushing hard and trying and these guys just outrode us today and had things working, so it was pretty cool for them and a bummer for Giovanni (Bussei). These boys (Mladin and Duhamel) were coming up behind us pretty quick and the door was right there, so just kept my head down. And this track’s great when it’s hot. It’s like riding on grease full time. You’re sliding around. It’s fantastic.

Kurtis Roberts, 13th Place, Saturday
I picked a tire out of all of them that I thought was going to be the best of that. I didn’t override it. I just keep chunking them. It gave no warning. When I went to brake I felt it really start to vibrate and all of sudden and it was so bad I couldn’t even lean it over. I knew straight away what happened. It wasn’t blistering at all. I was pulling away easily, even slowing down I was still pulling away quite a bit.

Corona Ebsco Suzuki Report

The weather Gods that have tormented the 2003 AMA season returned with a vengeance this past weekend, delaying the final Superbike race until today, Memorial Day. In between torrential rain and 60 MPH gales, Corona Extra Suzuki riders Jordan Szoke and Adam Fergusson both garnered fifth places in their classes.

In the Superbike class Szoke started on the second row, 8th, his best qualifying position of the season so far. In the race he got a good start and quickly settled down to a solid sixth position. Towards the end of the race, when fifth place rider went out he inherited the spot, holding it to the finish. Jordan now has two fine fifth places to his credit this season against very tough opposition.

In the Superstock event, Fergusson, who qualified in third, got a good start and was holding down second when a vicious high side had him waaaay out of the saddle. Adam saved it but unbeknownst to everyone had aggravated an old injury - dislocating his hip. He was able to finish the race but lost three positions, ending up with fifth, an amazing feat considering the pain he must have been in. The joint went back after the race but Adam was unable to make the Formula Extreme event. Fergusson is 4th in the Suzuki Genuine Accessories Superstock championship. Jimmy Moore got back on his bike at VIR but found that his left arm, broken at the Brainerd round, did not have enough strength under breaking so opted not to race. Moore is 12th in the championship.

Torrential rain and gale force winds late Saturday afternoon which came seemingly from nowhere, nearly destroyed the Corona Suzuki Team Canopy and damaged a number of the team's hospitality tents. Afterwards the paddock looked as if a tornado had gone through it! The rains continued through Sunday forcing the second Superbike race to be run on Monday. Jordan started again form the second row and put his head down in a very fast paced race. He was holding down eighth right up until the end when he slowed for a yellow flag and was passed. Track officials did not see or penalize the other rider, leaving Jordan with ninth. This weekends results puts Szoke 9th in the Superbike championship.

Both Fergusson and Moore were unable to start the FX race. Fergusson holds 5th in the Championship with Moore 12th.

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