Mladin Report

A heavy rainstorm prior to the start of the second AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship race at Road America, brought about a contrasting set of circumstances that saw yesterday’s opening race winner Mat Mladin slip to tenth place in today’s race held in slippery and difficult conditions.

Starting from pole position and with one win already under his belt for the weekend, Mladin chose to run a pair of full wet weather tyres on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, but the choice proved not to be as suited to the conditions that he expected.

With the track conditions changing throughout the race from one that was wet at the start, but provided a dry line at it’s completion of the 16-lap journey.

After struggling in the difficult conditions, Mladin chose to make an unscheduled pit stop to change tyres at the commencement of lap eight. After rejoining the race, the three-times AMA Superbike champion was able to work his way forward before completing the race in tenth place. His decision to pit and change tyres proved to be correct as he recorded the fastest lap of the race with a 2:25.235 on his final circuit.

Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom took victory in today’s event his second for the season, and finished 32.823 seconds clear of Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates, with Larry Pegram (Dream Team Ducati) third.

“I chose the wrong tyres at the start of the race, came in and put the right ones on and got going after that, but I guess it was all too late,” said Mladin, a six times race winner in this years championship. “It was a bad call right from the start. I went out on full wets front and rear and from the start it just wasn’t happening with the wets. I pitted and put on a set of lightly cut slicks which did work and suited the conditions.”

“From what I understand, Eric (Bostrom) used an older version wet tyre than the rest of us and just rode a better race than the rest of us. He handled the conditions well and chose the right tyres while the rest of us did it tough.”

Bostrom’s win today gives him a one point lead over Mladin (294 – 293) as the championship moves into the second half of the season. The battle for third has closed right up after the weekend’s results, with Yates (276) holding a two-point advantage over Ben Bostrom (274) and another couple back to Kurtis Roberts (272) in fifth.

“We arrived here with a ten point championship deficit, but leave here with a win and trail Eric by just one point. It could have been better, but it could also have been worse. It’s been a tough weekend with the changing conditions for all of us.”

The weekend had started off well for Mladin. He extended his record of AMA Pole positions to 28 after setting the fastest time in qualifying, before taking out his sixth race win of the season yesterday afternoon after a thrilling three way battle with Miguel DuHamel and Kurtis Roberts. The win took his AMA Superbike race win tally to 20, equal second on the all-time winners list with multiple AMA and World Superbike champion Fred Merkel and six shy of DuHamel’s all time record of 26.

The championship now heads to Brainerd International Raceway, Minnesota, for round 12 on June 27 – 29.

Round 10, 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship – Top 10

1. Eric Bostrom (Team Kawasaki) 16 laps

2. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) +32.623 seconds

3. Larry Pegram (Dream Team Ducati) +42.818

4. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) +46.090

5. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) +46.588

6. Jason Pridmore (Attack Suzuki) +47.917

7. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki) +51.126

8. Michael Barnes (Hooters Suzuki) +102.022

9. Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda) +122.400

10. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) +122.802

2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship (Points after 10 of 18 Rounds) - 1. E Bostrom (294); 2. M Mladin (293); 3. A Yates (276); 4. B Bostrom (274); 5. K Roberts (272); 6. M DuHamel (246); 7. L Pegram (211); 8. S Higbee (207); 9. J Pridmore (200); 10. V Haskovec (159).

Honda Report

There was no questioning the dominance of the Honda RC-51 on the high-speed four-mile Road America track, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, the machines taking a shadow second, third and fourth on Saturday’s first race of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike doubleheader. American Honda’s Miguel DuHamel was second, just 0.280 seconds behind the winner, with Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts less than half a second behind in third, followed by American Honda’s Ben Bostrom.

On Sunday, the track was half wet and half dry and tyre choice was critical. No one was totally happy with their choice as the track continued to dry out, except DuHamel, whose experience and savvy nearly paid off with a podium finish. DuHamel chose cut slicks front and rear, the choice tenuous in the beginning, but certain at the end. Rushing towards the podium, he finished fourth after turning in most of the fastest laps of the race.

Ben Bostrom and Kurtis Roberts chose full wets, Bostrom taking the spot behind DuHamel with Roberts in ninth.

Sunday’s wet/dry race was won by Ben’s brother Eric on the Kawasaki. Suzuki’s Mat Mladin had won Saturday’s race, held under cool overcast skies.

The trio now stands fourth, fifth, and sixth in the title chase after 10 of 18 laps. Ben Bostrom in third, just four points out of third and only two up on Roberts. DuHamel, almost fully recovered from the broken collarbone he suffered three races ago, is sixth.

Roger Lee Hayden, the youngest brother of Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden, finished just behind his brother Tommy, of the Kawasaki team, in the very wet Pro Honda Oils Supersport race. Roger Lee led most of the race, only to get passed by his more experienced older brother on the penultimate lap of the 10-lap race. Still, it was his best career finish in the class. Teammate Alex Gobert was fourth, tying his best of the year.

Miguel DuHamel, Second Place, Race One
“I just made a few mistakes. I made a mistake going into turn three when I had
0.2 of a lead, which is pretty significant when you’re running at that pace.
And then Mat (Mladin) got on me, then he was all over me and it was pretty tough. It’s kind of strange to say, but I’m still riding a little cautious.
Not a lot. But on the brakes, where you need to be assertive to make a pass, you could see where the lapped riders were, I was cautious. Even passing lapped riders I had trouble. Passing Mat Mladin is a bigger trouble. At the end that was just my plan, that kind of backfired on me because I went so hard for four laps, I burned up a bit of my tyre. It was still good, but I burned it up just enough to give Mat that breathing room that he got at the end and he was able to go out and do that really fast lap there.”

Miguel DuHamel, Fourth Place, Race Two
It was pretty dry out there. I said, ‘OK we’ll take intermediates and go real slow at the beginning.’ Not 500 yards off the start line it started raining. I said on my radio to (crew chief) Al Luddington, “It’s raining here.” For a while it was pretty sad, I was pretty far back. I was getting passed by a lot of guys, but my hat’s off to those guys to be honest with you. They didn’t do nothing crazy around me. I just put my head down when it started drying, but don’t forget there’s a line. And you get off that line, you’re off. A few times I just hit the water and trying to catch Ben (Bostrom) on the last lap when he caught a slower rider in Canada Corner, I went a little wide and I touched the water and I got the thing all sideways. It was a big risk.”

Kurtis Roberts, Third Place, Race One
“Mat (Mladin) and Miguel (DuHamel) and I rode every lap as hard as I think we could. It was definitely a hard race. I just had a few little things that prevented us from winning. But no excuses. The guys were awesome today and we just did the best we could. Just little things that weren’t as good as I’d want them for the race. No excuses. The guys rode really well. I think that just by looking at the race pace we were definitely riding 105% the whole race. The tyres were great. I think the last lap was my fastest lap of the race for me. So they obviously hung in for me.”

Kurtis Roberts, Ninth Place, Race Two
“They (Dunlop) had new rain tyres here that we tried and I actually thought the old ones were a bit better. The new ones were cold when I tried it, so I thought that could be it. With the weather, I didn’t want to go with a gamble on tyre choice. I had to go with what Mat (Mladin) and Aaron (Yates) are running because we all three are close enough in the points. I could have gone with the gamble and who knows? I could have fallen off. We made it through and got a point or so back, not as much as we’d like for the day. The way the thing was working, we did everything we could.”

Ben Bostrom, Fourth Place, Race One
“Just no rear grip. I don’t know if I’m setting the bike up too stiff in the back or what. Somehow the Honda RC-51 doesn’t like it because (last week’s race at Pikes Peak International Raceway) was the same story but worse. This time we shortened the bike up. I thought it was going to be good. After the first couple of laps, I thought this thing was going to be good. Then we started losing grip, losing grip, (Mat) Mladin passed. He went a little bit slower, then he was able to really gas it up and I tried to gas it up and I lost the rear and it broke away a little bit and I started riding a little bit over my head and I just couldn’t make any time.”

Ben Bostrom, Fifth Place, Race Two
Intermediates were the right choice. I chose wets, actually, because someone said it was going to rain. Another storm’s coming. That’s the only reason. Otherwise I would have put on intermediates. We were real tempted to put on a little different rain tyre, which is the one Eric (Bostrom) ran. It’s not so cut up. I’ve never had that little grip in the rain in my life. That’s the worse I’ve ever, ever had it. Only cause the track started to dry out. I couldn’t get enough grip to chew up the tyre. The thing would sit on top and just spin. The best part for my tyre is when it was half wet, half dry and it’d hit those dry lines.”

 

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