The 2003 AMA Superbike season dawned with great expectations for both Miguel Duhamel and Anthony Gobert. While things haven’t quite worked out as hoped for either rider, on June 6-8 both are hoping to find a mid-season boost at the Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader, rounds nine and 10 of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship, at the picturesque four-mile Road America course in the resort town of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Road America is counted among the favorite racing circuits by many of the AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike stars, but it’s Duhamel and Gobert who are most familiar with victory there; the two are tied with the most AMA Superbike wins at the circuit with three apiece.

For Duhamel, the all-time wins leader in AMA Superbike, the season started with great promise after winning the all-important Daytona 200 in March. Duhamel was squarely in contention for his second AMA Superbike Championship until a crash in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race at Infineon Raceway on May 4 broke Duhamel’s collarbone and caused him to miss a round of the series. The gritty and determined Canadian came back and raced just two weeks later in Braselton, Ga., despite having surgery on the collarbone. Now, only a month after his surgery, Duhamel is coming back to form and could be a serious factor at Road America, where he swept the doubleheader last year. While Duhamel, who is ranked sixth in the series, is considered a long shot at winning this year’s championship, he knows that two wins aboard his factory Honda this weekend could put him right back in the thick of the title chase.

Gobert comes to Road America looking to earn his first Superbike win in over a year. The 28-year-old Australian has been let down this year with numerous mechanical problems with his Ducati Austin 998R Superbike. Gobert’s luck might be changing however. He’s earned top-five finishes in two of the last three rounds and led the race early last week in Colorado. Gobert hopes to build on his recent momentum with good results in this weekend’s doubleheader.

“Road America is a classic road racing circuit,” said Gobert, who won at the track in 1998, 1999 and 2001. “It reminds me a lot of the circuits in Europe where I raced World Superbike and GPs. I won two Superbike races at Road America on Ducatis and I think the track suits my style as well as the Ducati’s. For me the championship is no longer a possibility, but I still have a goal of winning some races this season.”

Gobert hopes to give Ducati its first AMA Superbike race victory in nearly four years.

While Duhamel and Gobert are looking to Road America to salvage their season, the race for the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship coming into this event is the most intense in years. Four riders have won in eight races and a mere 23 points separate the top five riders in the series. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates leads the series by five points over Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. Mat Mladin finds himself third in the standings after being forced to pit for a tire in last week’s race, which dropped him to a ninth-place finish. The Honda pair of Ben Bostrom and Kurtis Roberts are tied for fourth in the standings. Any of these five riders could easily leave Road America’s doubleheader with the series lead.

If history is any indication look for Ben Bostrom and Kurtis Roberts to move up in the rankings this week. Honda riders have won 10 of the 26 AMA Superbike races held at Road America; nearly double the winning rate of any other brand of motorcycle. Conversely, Eric Bostrom, hot off his win last weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway, could have his work cut out for him. A Kawasaki-mounted rider has not won at Road America in 13 years.

Mladin joins Duhamel and Gobert as a former winner at Elkhart Lake. The Suzuki ace dominated much of the first half of the season, but tire problems in two of the last three races have put at least a temporary detour in Mladin’s quest of becoming the first four-time AMA Superbike champ. He will be eager to get his season back on track at Road America.

Wisconsin racing fans will have a local hero to cheer for at Road America. Shawn Higbee, of Big Bend, Wis., is having an outstanding season in his return to the series. The veteran racer is a solid eighth in the point standings and is the top-ranked privateer in the championship.

Supersport

Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking could join an elite club of riders this Sunday, June 8, in the Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport presented by Shoei race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc. Miguel Duhamel, Doug Polen and Aaron Yates are the only three riders in the history of the series to win multiple AMA Supersport races in Elkhart Lake. This weekend Hacking hopes to join that club. The 1999 Road America Supersport winner comes to Elkhart Lake with the series lead, three race wins to his credit, and is determined to earn his first AMA Championship.

There have been three winners in this year’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport series, but Hacking is the only rider to have more than a single victory and as a result he’s leading the series. Hacking is the leading man in blue with Yamaha’s domination of the series standings. His teammates Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert and Jason DiSalvo are ranked second, third and fourth respectively. The first non-Yamaha rider is Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden, who is fifth in the series standings coming into Elkhart Lake. The points chase is close at mid-season with the top six riders essentially within a race win of each other in the championship standings.

Hacking comes into this Sunday’s race with the reassurance of being the most successful Supersport rider at Road America in recent years. Over the last four outings in Elkhart Lake, Hacking has earned three podium finishes including his 1999 victory, which came on a Yamaha – the maker’s last victory at the well-known track. “Elkhart Lake has been a good track for me,” said 31-year-old Hacking, who is in his seventh year of AMA professional racing. “It’s one of those places that the draft comes into play on the long straights, but there are enough technical parts of the track to separate the riders who really have their bike set-up well. I predict a good race with a bunch of Yamahas up front again.”

Hacking is referring to the race last week at Pikes Peak where the top four Supersport finishers were riding Yamahas. The last time a single brand took the top four spots in the ultra-competitive Supersport series was in October of 1997, when Suzuki riders took the top four spots in Las Vegas.

Damon Buckmaster shared a brief lead in the championship points with Hacking, but dropped 10 points adrift after finishing fourth at Pikes Peak International Raceway last Sunday. Buckmaster is a former Formula Xtreme winner at Road America so he has the know how to win at the high-speed circuit. He was runner-up to Aaron Yates in last year’s Supersport race.

Aaron Gobert continues his strong comeback from injuries that kept him out of most of the 2002 season. He comes into this race ranked a close third in the series. The middle of the three racing Gobert brothers, Aaron, will make only his second appearance in a Supersport race at Road America. The Aussie finished eighth there in 2001.

Another rider to watch at Road America is Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden. The eldest of the three racing Hayden brothers, Tommy has four-straight top-five Supersport finishes at Road America under his belt, so he obviously has the experience to be a major contender at the Wisconsin circuit.

Suzuki is riding a two-year Supersport winning streak at Road America with rider Aaron Yates. Yates is not competing in the Supersport this year, instead concentrating on Superbike where he leads that championship. Stepping ably into his shoes is young Texan Ben Spies, who won the Supersport race at Road Atlanta and is looking to take home his second victory of the season.

The all-time leading AMA Supersport rider is Miguel Duhamel. With five Road America Supersport wins dating back to 1991, Duhamel leads that category as well. It’s not known if Duhamel will race Supersport at Road America. The well-liked veteran broke his collarbone in a Supersport racing accident a month ago in Sonoma, Calif., and has been concentrating his efforts in the Superbike series. If he elects to ride his factory Honda at Road America he will certainly be a top contender.

Doug Chandler is another former Supersport winner at Road America. Chandler would love to break through with a victory this Sunday. Chandlers’ best finish so far this season on the No Limit Honda is sixth at Fontana, Calif., in April. He is ranked ninth coming into this race.

Mladin Preview

The return to what Mat Mladin calls a ‘proper race track’ could be the inspiration that sees the Australian make a return to the top step on the winners podium when the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship heads to Road America in Wisconsin for rounds nine and ten of this years championship.

“It’s nice to head back to a race track where there is a bit of length about it,” said Mladin. “Road America is definitely one of my favourite tracks in the championship and one I look forward to coming to, as I do with Brainerd for the following round. They are good flowing tracks, nice length and nice speed.”

The three-times American Superbike champion knows what is required to win at the ultra fast 6.44km (4.00miles) having taken home two trophies from the circuit in 1997 and 2001.

He has the form on the board to add to his win tally at Road America as he has taken his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to five race wins from eight starts this year, but tyre problems during the other three races while holding down strong track position leaves him lying third on the championship points table, ten points adrift of teammate and current leader Aaron Yates.

“It wasn’t the best weekend for us last weekend, but that’s how it goes sometimes. We’ve just got to keep going. We’ve had eight races so far, I’ve won five of those and the other three we’ve had tyre problems. The appropriate people are looking into those problems now, but at the moment our attention is focussed on the coming rounds of the championship.

“As opposed to Pikes Peak, Road America presents itself with different range of characteristics. At Colorado we were loading up the side of the tyre, but this weekend we will be more upright, with longer and faster straights that you’re doing about 300kph (185mph) on and therefore loading the middle of the tyre. I don’t think it will be as much of a problem as with some of the other places we’ve been to this year.

Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki team have worked extremely hard in getting their new GSX-R1000 Superbike up to a level that they are happy with since the model was allowed entry into the championship at the start of the season.

He has shown the potential of the new bike already this season, but knows that there is still sufficient work to be carried out to make it an even better race and championship-winning package.

Qualifying for this weekend’s round begins on Friday, June 6, with the first of the double-header Superbike races being held on Saturday afternoon, with the second 16-lapper scheduled for Sunday afternoon.