Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates finds himself in uncharted territory coming into round eight of the 18-race AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship May 31 through June 1 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colorado – he’s leading the series.

This is the first time in the eight years since Yates began competing in AMA Superbike that he’s led the series standings. Four podium finishes in the seven rounds leading up to Pikes Peak, including a victory in the first leg of the Road Atlanta Superbike doubleheader, has been Yates’ path to the series lead. Luck has helped Yates as well. His teammate, three-time AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin, has been dominant so far this year, winning five races. But a tire failure at 170 mph at Road Atlanta sidelined Mladin and cost him the large points lead he’d built. Now the two Suzuki teammates are running nearly head-to-head in the middle of the championship season. Mladin’s woes in the first Road Atlanta race acted to tighten up the race for the title with the top five riders now within 25 points of one another.

Pikes Peak is a tight and twisty road course that favors a quick handling machine. It will be interesting to see how the big Suzuki GSX-Rs handle the small 1.3-mile circuit. “We’ve tested there and turned fast laps,” Yates said. “The GSX-R1000 accelerates so well that it should make it easier to pass on the short straights in Colorado.”

One rider who has mastered the course over the years is Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. Bostrom has won three AMA Superbike races at Pikes and is the only rider to earn multiple wins there. Bostrom comes into this Sunday’s race third in the standings. Another victory at PPIR would move Bostrom even closer to the goal of an AMA Superbike title he’s been trying to reach for five years.

Mladin didn’t waste anytime regrouping after his harrowing ride at Road Atlanta. The determined Australian came back the very next day and won the second leg of the doubleheader weekend and pulled back to within two points of Yates. Pikes Peak is one of the few tracks that Mladin has not been victorious. He was twice runner-up, in 1998 and again in 2000, but finished fourth in each of the other four races there since 1997. He’s hoping to break through with his first victory on Sunday.

For series leader Yates, Pikes Peak has been a mixed bag. Like Mladin, Yates has never won the Superbike race there. He finished second to Eric Bostrom last year and earned a third in 2000 after running second and letting teammate Mladin past him on the final lap to help Mladin’s bid at that year’s championship.

Is Yates feeling any added pressure from leading the championship for the first time in his career? “I’ve dealt with pressure before in the Supersport championship,” said Yates, the 2002 Pro Honda Oils Supersport champ. “There are still a lot of races left and the only pressure on me is to finish in front of Mat (Mladin).”

This will be Ben Bostrom’s first visit back to Pikes Peak since 1999. The Honda rider has never finished better than fifth at the circuit. His teammates have not fared much better. Kurtis Roberts’ only start came in 2001, where he finished sixth. Miguel Duhamel won the very first AMA Superbike race held at Pikes Peak in 1997, but hasn’t been close to the podium at the track since then. The gutsy Duhamel is recovering from a broken collarbone sustained at Infineon Raceway and the technical Pikes Peak course will be a real test. Duhamel sits sixth in the points and needs to stay close if he hopes to challenge for the championship.

Supersport

The Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship presented by Shoei at Pikes Peak International Raceway on June 1, might be one of the best races of the year. Traditionally Supersport has been one of the closest racing series in all of AMA racing. Throw in the fact that the nimble handling Supersport machines and their determined riders will be duking it out on the twisty 1.3-mile bullring circuit that is Pikes Peak and that the top seven riders are within 20 points in the championship as the season draws to the midway point, and you have the ingredients of an instant classic.

Yamaha team-mates Jamie Hacking and Damon Buckmaster are tied atop the standings. Hacking had a commanding lead in the series before a crash at the most recent round at Road Atlanta caused him to finish 21st. Until that point Hacking had won two straight and was looking nearly invincible. Now the South Carolinian will have to regroup and see if he can rally to stay in front of the series. Hacking won at Pikes Peak, on a Yamaha, in 2000.

Buckmaster is still waiting to win his first AMA Supersport race. The one thing the Aussie rider has been in the series this year is consistent. He’s taken two runner-up finishes, a fourth and a sixth. That consistency has paid off with a share of the series lead – the first time he’s ever led this series. Look for Buckmaster who won a Superstock race at Pikes in 2000, to make a serious run at taking his first Supersport victory.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in Supersport racing this season has been the performance of young Ben Spies. The 18-year-old former AMA Horizon Award winner has gotten better with each outing on his factory Suzuki and at Road Atlanta he broke through to earn his first career AMA Supersport win. All of this has been on a machine that many called outdated compared to the newly designed Supersport bikes put out by the other three manufacturers this year. That victory moved him to within five points of Hacking and Buckmaster. Spies’ Yoshimura Suzuki is best known for its quick handling, so the twisty PPIR course could play right into his hand.

Look for Tommy Hayden to move up the ladder in the standings after Pikes Peak. The Kawasaki pilot loves this type of racetrack and he is the defending winner. The same can be said for Honda’s Miguel Duhamel. He’s still recovering from a collarbone injury suffered early in May at Infineon Raceway, but Duhamel has come back strong from injury before and he’s a proven winner at Pikes Peak.

Doug Chandler is ninth in the standings coming into this weekend’s race, but the veteran rider from Salinas, Calif., has long been a favorite at this track. He won his last AMA Superbike race here in 1999. If he manages to break through with a victory this week it would mark his first AMA Supersport win since 1998. Yamaha’s Aaron Gobert and Jason Disalvo and Honda-mounted Jake Zemke all are within striking distance of the championship, too, and will be doing everything possible to move up in the points in this pivotal race.

Alex Gobert too is improving steadily and just missed out on a podium finish at the previous round. Alex will be keen to back that up with a good result this weekend to further boost his confidence.

FX

Last season Jake Zemke tied champion Jason Pridmore in the final point standings of the 2002 Lockhart-Phillips Formula Xtreme Series, but lost the title in a tiebreaker. Pridmore had won more races than Zemke. Fast-forward to the middle of the 2003 season and Zemke once again finds himself atop the Formula Xtreme standings, but if he is to avoid a similar scenario to last year he knows he’ll have to start winning races. The Californian dirt tracker turned road racer will be looking to do exactly that this Saturday, May 31, in round four of the 10-race Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.

Zemke has played second fiddle to other riders in the three rounds leading up to Pikes Peak, but Zemke’s steady trio of second-place finishes on his Erion Racing Honda has paid off with the series lead. Pikes Peak has been good for Zemke. He’s made the podium in Formula Xtreme each of the last three years at PPIR, the only rider to accomplish that feat. Yet he’s still looking to earn his first win at the twisty, 1.3-mile circuit.

“We should be right there again,” Zemke said. “The first race of the year we were pretty far behind, then at Sears Point (Infineon Raceway) we got a bit closer, you know we were able to hang with him (Spies) for about half the race and put a little pressure on him. Then at Atlanta I was actually able to pass him. We’ve definitely been getting closer and closer. Pikes is a good track for me. I’ve always done well there. I think it should turn out to be a good result.”

The only former winner in the field Saturday will be Jason Pridmore, who is the defending two-time winner at Pikes Peak. Pridmore had a tough start to his season and finds himself way back in 15th in the series standings. While the championship may be slipping out of reach for Pridmore, look for the defending No. 1 rider of the series to turn in a good performance at Pikes Peak. He certainly wants to salvage some race wins on his Attack Suzuki before the season is over. Many feel it will happen for the affable Pridmore.

Young Yoshimura Suzuki rider Ben Spies looks to be the class of the Formula Xtreme field. The 18-year-old Texan won the first two rounds in dominating fashion, but a tip over at Road Atlanta cost him the series lead. He now trails Zemke by seven points. Spies finished eight in the Pikes Peak Formula Xtreme race last year, but despite that unspectacular finish he does know how to win at the circuit. He won the Superstock race there in 2001. It was his first AMA professional victory.

Attack Suzuki’s second rider Josh Hayes is third in the standings and is hoping to close the gap on Zemke and Spies at Pikes Peak. Hayes was runner-up in the 1999 race to Nicky Hayden.

One other rider to watch for at PPIR will be Road Atlanta winner Jamie Hacking. Hacking is down in 12th in the point standings after crashing in the first round, but he could get on a roll and make a serious move up in the rankings. Hacking won the Supersport race at Pikes in 2000. Hacking’s teammate, Damon Buckmaster sits fourth in the points and a strong finish at Pikes Peak will keep his championship hopes alive.

Mladin Preview

The 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship heads to the high altitudes of the Colorado mountains this weekend as the short and twisty Pikes Peak International Raceway plays host to the eighth round of this years series.

After a weekend of misfortune at the previous round of the championship at Road Atlanta, Australia’s Mat Mladin finds himself second in the championship, trailing Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates by just two points.

A dramatic high-speed tyre failure while leading the opening race at Road Atlanta, was followed a day later by his fifth Superbike race win of the season. The loss of valuable championship points left Mladin feeling uneasy, but in the style of a true champion, he will direct his energies towards regaining the valuable points lead that he had held prior to the Georgian round.

“We arrive here this weekend with the same race plan that we’ve had all year and that’s to win races,” said Mladin. “I’m not in a position in the championship that I want to be in, so after the problems that we encountered Road Atlanta, we need to get a few more wins starting this weekend.”

“We tested here in April and were happy with the results. After Daytona we knew there were areas with the new bike that needed attention, so while everyone else headed to Alabama to test, we came here. It was an important test and we gained a lot from it.”

“As for the circuit itself, it’s always hard doing 48 laps around here. Dealing with the effects of the higher altitude is one thing, but you also find yourself mixing with the backmarkers more often as the track is so short. You could find yourself lapping guys up to six times during the race. It’s something that we have to deal with here, so hopefully we can negotiate them with no disruption to the race.”

The Pikes Peak circuit is one that Mladin has failed to score any of his 20 career AMA Superbike race wins at. He will be aiming to better the two second place finishes that he has recorded there in 1998 and 2000.

Qualifying for this weekend’s round commences on Friday afternoon, before the Superbike competitors endure 48-laps of the 2.12km (1.315miles) circuit on Sunday.

Mat Mladin on the K3 model GSX-R1000