American Superbike - Round 4 /5

Three-time AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Champion Mat Mladin heads up an impressive field of racers coming to Infineon Raceway May 2-4 for the Supercuts Superbike Challenge, presented by Honda of Milpitas, rounds four and five of the 2003 AMA Chevy U.S. Superbike Championship in Sonoma, California. Mladin joins Miguel Duhamel, Aaron Yates and Anthony Gobert as former Superbike winners at Infineon (formerly Sears Point).

Mladin, the 31-year-old Aussie who rides for Suzuki, comes into the doubleheader Superbike weekend leading the series by eight points over Honda’s Duhamel. Ben Bostrom, who is returning to Infineon for the first time since 1999 after three years in the World Superbike Championship, is third in the championship points. Infineon Raceway has a rich tradition of AMA Superbike racing dating back to 1977. The 12-turn, 2.2-mile circuit has recently been reconfigured with an emphasis on making the track safer.

With a doubleheader win last month in Fontana, Calif., Mladin finally broke the winless drought he’d suffered since earning his third AMA Superbike title in 2001. Mladin now looks as if he’s back on form and is aiming to become the first four-time champion in the history of the AMA Superbike Championship. Mladin is riding Suzuki’s new Superbike-spec GSX-R1000, which is proving to be even better than Suzuki might have hoped in its first year in the series. Mladin last won at Infineon in 1999.

Mladin’s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates is another former winner at Infineon. Yates took his very first career AMA Superbike victory at the circuit in 1996 in a race-long battle with Mladin. The race featured the two aggressive riders leaning on each other much of the race with Yates slipping under Mladin on the last lap to take the win -- considered one of the most exciting in the history of the series.

Duhamel, the AMA Superbike all-time wins leader, also is the leading winner at Infineon. The Canadian, who now calls Las Vegas home, first won at the track in 1993 in a last-lap pass on Doug Polen. In all Duhamel has won four AMA Superbike races at Infineon. The 34-year-old racing veteran has turned many miles at Infineon and is happy about the reconfiguration of the circuit.

“I like the changes a lot,” said Duhamel, winner of the 2003 Daytona 200. “I especially like the new section at Turns 8-9. That area is going to be a lot safer but it’s going to be more exciting, too. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Anthony Gobert is another former winner at Infineon. Gobert, who won there in 2001, comes into the doubleheader needing to make up a lot of ground after not finishing two of the three races leading up to Infineon. Look for the Ducati Austin rider to make a big leap up from his current 20th position in the series.

The leading candidates to become first-time Superbike winners at Infineon Raceway are Eric Bostrom and brother Ben, as well as Kurtis Roberts. Eric Bostrom and his factory Kawasaki were fastest at Infineon during recent test sessions at the track. He is fifth in the series standings. Ben has not raced on the track in four years, but hopes to break through to win his first AMA Superbike victory this season. The Bostroms grew up in the Bay Area and consider Infineon a home track. Roberts, from Modesto, Calif., is still looking for his first AMA Superbike victory. He led major portions of two rounds so far this year on his factory Erion Racing Honda, so he feels he’s long overdue for a victory.

Shawn Higbee comes into Infineon as the leading privateer in the championship. Higbee has parlayed three top-10 finishes into a very strong seventh overall in the point standings. Higbee, of Big Bend, Wis., rides a privately entered Suzuki.

Supersport

Infineon Raceway has not been kind to Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking over the years. Hacking has suffered more than his share of misfortune at the challenging Sonoma Valley circuit. Since first racing at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point) in 1997, Hacking has finished only one Supersport race – that was last year when he finished third. Prior to that Hacking crashed out of every Supersport race at the circuit, or sat out the race after crashing earlier in the weekend. The 31-year-old South Carolinian hopes to turn things around this year and is shooting to win at Infineon on Sunday, May 4.

Hacking comes into the AMA Supersport event at Infineon with a 14-point lead over teammate Aaron Gobert. He feels he’s ready to turn around his luck at Infineon.

“It’s definitely not been one of my better tracks, that’s for sure,” Hacking admitted. “It was a track that I really didn’t like before and I don’t think I was concentrating on the proper things there and I crashed a lot. But the track has improved a lot over the last few years and while it’s still probably not one of my favourites, I think I can do well there. Last year I finally was able to finish the race, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t win it this year the way we’ve been going.”

Hacking has put a small gap on the rest of the field after only two rounds. The battle behind Hacking is wide open with seven riders within 10 points of one another.

Perhaps Hacking’s biggest threat at Infineon will be Miguel Duhamel. The Honda rider has won the Supersport race at the track three times and will be the only former winner in the field. He is third in the series standings coming into this race. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of Duhamel’s first AMA Supersport win at Infineon Raceway.

Aaron Gobert is experiencing a strong comeback this year after sitting out most of 2002 while recovering from serious injuries suffered at Daytona last year. Gobert would love to break through and win his first AMA Supersport race at Infineon, a circuit where his older brother Anthony has won both Superbike and Supersport races in recent years.

Damon Buckmaster finished fourth in the race last year. The Aussie veteran is looking to earn his first Infineon Supersport podium finish to keep in the thick of the championship chase. The youngest of the Yamaha factory riders, Jason DiSalvo, comes into the event fifth in the series standings and is hoping to take his first career Supersport podium this weekend. Erion Racing’s Jake Zemke has two top-10 Supersport results at Infineon and he is shooting for a third this year.

Ben Spies, ranked seventh, is the leading Suzuki rider in the series so far. Spies will get some help when Aussie Jamie Stauffer joins the Yoshimura Suzuki team after showing great potential in the first two rounds on a privateer Yamaha. Reigning champion Aaron Yates will not contest the Supersport series for the remainder of the year choosing to focus instead on the Superbike class.

Tommy Hayden is counting on continued improvement to his factory Kawasaki at Infineon. After finishing a disappointing 13th at the season opener in Daytona, Hayden came back strong with a third last month in Fontana. That result moved him into eighth in the series standings and he’ll be looking to improve on that ranking. Hayden was runner-up to Yates in the Supersport series last year.

Ben Spies might be re-thinking his pre-season goals after easily winning the opening round of the Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series in Fontana, Calif., last month. After being hired by Yoshimura Suzuki this winter Spies hoped to get a few podiums and at least be a top challenger in the series, but now he’s thinking championship all the way. Spies, 18, from Longview, Texas, comes into round two of the 10-race Formula Xtreme Series on May 3 at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point Raceway) the heavy favourite.

Spies, a former AMA Horizon Award winner during his amateur racing career, is now in his third year of professional racing and seems to be fulfilling the promise he showed as an amateur. At Fontana he totally dominated – setting the pole by over a half-second faster than second-place qualifier Jamie Hacking and then led every lap of the 17-lap final en route to a 5.5-second margin of victory over Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke.

“My confidence is high right now,” Spies allowed. “I have the best team behind me and the best bike, so all I really need to do is just ride it up to its potential and I should come out okay. I know it’s a long season so I’m not going to get too pumped up about leading the series at this point, but I have to admit that Fontana was a pleasant surprise.”

Spies comes to Infineon seeking his first victory at the Sonoma, Calif., circuit. He finished fifth in the FX race there last year. If he is to win he’ll have to overcome the likes of Damon Buckmaster and Jason Pridmore, both former FX winners at Infineon Raceway.

Both past winners have some catching up to do at Infineon. Buckmaster finished fifth in the season opener on his factory Yamaha R1. The friendly Aussie has to feel that he’s long overdue to win a Formula Xtreme title. Buckmaster led nearly the entire season in 2001, only to lose the championship by one point to John Hopkins in the last race. Last year Buckmaster again led the FX point standings for much of the season only to suffer bad luck mid-season. He is the winningest rider in the series and one of the crowd favourites coming into this round. Expect to see him near the front.

Pridmore’s title defence got off to an even shakier start. His Attack Suzuki blew up at the season opener and he comes into this weekend’s race needing to quickly regroup. Pridmore has always been strong at Infineon, so look for him to be a top runner.

Jake Zemke was runner up to Buckmaster at Infineon last year and he’ll be looking for another strong showing on the Erion Honda CBR954 this Saturday.

Marty Craggill came back strong after having surgery to repair a crushed disk in his neck during the off-season. The Aussie rider took third in the season opener aboard the Bruce Transportation Honda. Craggill was third at Infineon last year, so he has what it takes to be a leading contender.

Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking is expected to be another leading contender this weekend. He crashed out of the season opener while running third.

Superstock

Tommy Hayden is proving that Kawasaki’s ZX636 just might have the perfect combination of handling and speed to outdo the bigger 750cc bikes in the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Series. Hayden is riding a three-race winning streak in the series dating back to last year’s season finale. The eldest of the racing Hayden brothers already has built a solid 18-point lead in the Superstock series over Adam Fergusson of Corona Suzuki. Hayden’s teammate Tony Meiring, from nearby Tracy, Calif., is third in the standings. Hayden will attempt to be the first rider to put a bike smaller than a 750 atop the Infineon Raceway Superstock podium. The large field of Suzuki GSX-R750-mounted riders will do everything they can to prevent that.

Mladin Preview

The early rounds of the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship are beginning to accumulate, with Australia’s Mat Mladin hoping to extend his current points lead in this year’s championship following this weekend’s (May 3 & 4) ‘Double Header’ round at the revised Infineon Raceway (formerly known as Sears Point).

A former race winner at the track in 1999, Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 have been in dominating form this season and will head into this weekend’s fourth and fifth round of the championship holding a seven point lead over Honda’s Miguel DuHamel.

Since taking a double race win at the last round at Fontana, Mladin and his team have been busy undertaking further testing to their new Superbike-spec GSX-R1000’s and arrive at Infineon full of confidence.

“The team has been busy since the last round at Fontana as we have been able to complete two separate test sessions, so I’m looking forward to heading to Infineon and having a good weekend, where hopefully we can come away with an extended points lead,” said three-times American Superbike champion Mladin.

"It’s a crucial stage of the championship where there are still 15 races to go, but we need to push on as hard as we can for the next six or eight races and then see where we are at that point in time.”

Since last year’s corresponding round, the 12-turn circuit has undergone minor changes, which has shortened its overall length from 2.32 miles (3.73km) to its new length of 2.2 miles (3.54km).

“I don’t mind the circuit layout that they have there,” added Mladin. “I haven’t been there since they made the minor circuit changes, but I don’t think that will be a big deal for us. The changes have supposedly made the track safer, so that’s what counts.”

“The track bothers me less, knowing that I’ve got a good motorcycle under me and that it’s working well. It steers how I want it to steer and we’ve made some further improvements with set up as a result of our testing, so as long as the bike feels comfortable, which way the track goes doesn’t really matter.”

Qualifying for round begins on Friday (May 2), before final qualifying and the first of the two 28-lap Superbike races are held on Saturday, followed by the second on Sunday afternoon.