AMA: Chandler Back on Form, Mladin Extend Point Lead at Mid-Ohio Superbike Tour
19 July 1999
LEXINGTON, Ohio--Riding a safe, smooth race while others faded back or found themselves with mechanical troubles, Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler powered to the win at Sundays' American Motorcyclist Association MBNA Superbike Series event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Though pole-sitter and Vance & Hines Ducati ace Ben Bostrom, of Granada Hills, Calif., grabbed the lead from the first turn, and in the early laps put as much as 2.8 seconds on the field, an oil leak brought him into the pits for a quick fix and gave the lead to second-place Chandler. "It's good when things go your way," Chandler, of Salinas, Calif., said after the win, which comes after a season of struggling. "I'm really working hard out there, and then to finally get the payoff is one of the better feelings you can experience in racing." Sunday's race shuffled the order in the MBNA Superbike Series points, extending Suzuki's Mat Mladin's lead to 14 points, while giving new second-place rider Bostrom a single-point edge over teammate Anthony Gobert. Two races remain on the MBNA Superbike Tour schedule. Mladin said he was glad to gain an extra edge in the points, but said the margin is anything but comfortable. "That 14 points is nice, but it's not much--there's still two races to go, and there are two riders out there who can win World Championship-level races," he said of Bostrom and Gobert. "It's going to be tough." Also Sunday at Mid-Ohio, Honda's Nicky Hayden, of Owensboro, Ky., took top honors in a hard-fought Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport race, besting his brother, Yamaha's Tommy Hayden, after a masterful last-lap pass around the outside on a fast set of corners. "I knew if I could get with him, I could probably get by him, so with three laps to go, I said, 'I gotta do it,'" Nicky Hayden said. "But it took me three laps to put the pass together." "He just broke a little bit deeper," Tommy Hayden said. "He got me." Other winners Sunday included Eric Wood in the Progressive Insurance Pro Thunder class, and Chuck Sorensen in the Mazda Truck 250 Grand Prix. Full Superbike quotes follow: Doug Chandler (1st place) Its good when things go your way. Its good to have a good motorcycle, if we were to go again in an hour, I wouldn't change a thing. (Were you kind of auditioning for a new boss?) That's irrelevant. I'm out there to please myself. I'm really working hard out there and then to finally get the payoff is one of the better feelings you can experience in racing. Mat Aladdin (2nd place) (You picked up 10 points for a 15-point lead) Its nice, but it's not much. There's still two races to go and two riders who can win world championship races. When you get on a Ducat you know you're expected to win races, but you're also going to have a lot of problems. But this year they haven't really had that many problems, so I think they should count their blessings. (Could you have caught Ben?) He was running about 1.2 and then 2 (seconds). I think about 6 or 7 laps in I started to carve back a couple tenths a lap, and that was while the oil (from Bistro's bike) had already started. It started that early, and I was thinking this is no good, he's going to have to come in. (What happened to give you second place in the final corners?) Jason had a bad moment and I caught him. (15 points enough with two races to go?) Not at all. That's not much, and the way everyone is going, all these guys are good and if one of those guys (Bostrom, Gobert) wins both races I'm going to have to finish third. Jason Pridmore (3rd place) (First podium this year) I had one last year on a different brand, and this year has been a bit of a struggle. We had a test about a month and a half ago, and we've been trying things to suit my style, trying to get some of my confidence back. When you finish back as far as I have in some places this year, you tend to start to losing faith in yourself. I talk to Matt a lot and my Dad and they kind of straightened me out, and here I am on the podium. PRO HONDA OILS 600 SUPERSPORT It was a pass they'll be talking about for years. Honda-mounted Nicky Hayden, on the final lap of the 600 race, had been shadowing his brother, Yamaha's Tommy Hayden, for most of the race. Coming into the sweepers on the back of the course, Nicky stuffed inside of Tommy, and, with both bikes on the ragged edge, managed to pull even before the next corner. With both bikes at their limit, the brothers held their lines, with Nicky pulling ahead to take the lead through the following corner. Nicky hung on for the win. Amazing. Full 600 SuperSport quotes: Nicky Hayden (1st place) (You've said in the past you've always try to give your brother some space) Not today! What a race! It was one of those things, I was right there behind him, and I knew he was struggling a little bit, it looked like with his grip, but I could tell he was kind of blocking his line in a few places so I knew he was kind of worried a little bit. I knew if I could get with him, I might be able to get by, so with about 3 laps to go, I said "I gotta do it," and I wanted to pass him in the keyhole, but there was some waving yellows so I couldn't do it. On the last lap, I tried to take him on the keyhole and I got a good run coming out and drafted by him, and then I just tried to pinch him off. (Could you've made that move on someone you hadn't been watching all these years) Yea! I think so. It was kind of funny on that last lap it was kind of like we were in the backyard on (Honda XR100s). There was more pressure back home, really. But with no one watching, just me and him, we probably would have taken each other out. Tommy Hayden (2nd place) (Referring to Nicky) I was looking for him, but I didn't see him for most of the race, so I didn't really know where he was strong or weak. I didn't really know where he was going to pass me, and there are only a few places where he could pass me. I was really surprised when he passed me on the keyhole. I thought he would pass on the back straight, but I didn't think it would be on the outside. I could feel him sucking on me, so I knew he was there. I tried to hang on, but he broke a little deeper, and he was on the outside of me so I thought I'd be all right because the track is really rough there and you really have to be on your line and then on the left turn I was kind of pinched off. Kurtis Roberts (3RD place) I don't know what corner it was coming out they both got around me. I actually downshifted accidentally. I don't know what I was thinking. They both probably thought I was going to take both of them out because they were going to run into the back of me. They both avoided me and it took me awhile to get it back into gear, and that allowed the gap, then I missed another shift and then it was even worse. I caught Aaron with about 2-3 laps to go. I was pulling (a minute) .31's, catching them, and that what these guys were running while Aaron was pulling 32's MAZDA TRUCK 250 GRAND PRIX Putting together the right setup on his Yamaha, Himmelsback Racing's Chuck Sorensen ran away and hid from Honda-mounted Randy Renfrow, who came out of semi-retirement for this race. Full quotes follow: Chuck Sorensen (1st place) (Bounced back pretty good from Loudon, you must have hit it just right.) Yeah, we have a decent setup here for Mid Ohio. I really like this track, its as close to a MX track as you can get on asphalt. (You seemed to be having fun with the hump in the back.) Yeah. Yeah, I get along with that really good. I knew that Randy had a fast bike, so I thought that if I could line up with him I'd be able to get better drive out of the corners and get by. Randy Renfrow (2nd place) (You knew he was back there, could you feel the pressure?) Yeah. I got it up to plus-4 at one point, then plus 3, then 2, then 1, then 0. I didn't know who it was, and I seldom look back. I didn't look back the whole race. I figured it was Chris Ulrich, but it really didn't matter who it was I wasn't slowing down and actually the lap times got a little quicker for me. The way I had to ride the bike was just a little slower in the corners and get a little better drives coming out. I knew the bike was fast, so by the end of the race if anyone did catch me they'd have a real tough time at Mid-Ohio they way I tend to ride, with real fast exit times. I knew that if anyone caught me, they'd have a hell of a time passing me. I thought I'd finish second--unfortunately, I didn't think I'd finish 1st. ( You're semi-retired. What made you come back here at Mid-Ohio?) Just the facility, it's a wonderful place to be, with great spectator turnout. It's great to have fans come up to you and say I remember when you were here in 1983 or 86 or 89. Derek King (3rd place) ( It was a good day, it looked like you were working awful hard and couldn't quite get around.) No! Randy is still riding really, really good. I couldn't believe it, for someone who is coming out of semi-retirement. My start was pretty poor, where I should've gotten up front and made a run with him early on. I could get close to Randy and he would square off a couple of the corners, and I was trying to carry my speed through the corners. (Powerband issue?) Yeah! He's got incredible top end with his machine, but it's the same on the bottom. I don't happen to have any transmission gears to change, so I'm always looking at the powerband, either over-revving or under-revving, so that makes it a little difficult, but he rode a good race. (Seemed like you struggled toward the end, was it tires?) I lost the front end with about 4 laps to go. PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE PRO THUNDER Eric Wood, who knows Mid-Ohio well from years of teaching road-racing schools at the Ohio track, earned a sizable lead on the field from the second lap. On the closing laps, initial reports from cornerworkers had Eric Wood passing under a waving yellow flag, but upon review it was determined that the overtaken rider was off-line, and it was safer for Wood to pass, rather than brake hard enough to remain behind the lapper. Full quotes follow: Eric Wood (1st place) I was aware of the incident they were talking about right from the get go, but after talking to the corner worker it was a pretty clear-cut case of the leader overtaking a back-marker at such a rate of speed, over the crest in the keyhole, and he sort of freaked out and stood it up wide and missed the corner a little, and I'm on-line carrying about 10mph on him, so over a hill while the front end's light you can't grab the brakes, so I just rolled off the throttle. The cornerworkers did their job and called it in, and after review everyone agreed that he went wide and I was gaining on him awfully fast. I was just happy to get the win, I was injured early in the season, so it was good to get a win for my sponsors. Shawn Conrad (2nd place) The race was great at first--Estok and Nash were right on me. I got a good start, luckily. I was behind Dave and Jeff must have been right behind me, and I drafted by Dave went on the brakes, I think in turn 5, it's a hard-braking area. I kept trying to put a couple of good laps together. I kept making mistake after mistake, so I'm, like, OK. I'm just going to run a smooth race. We were running really hard. I kept making mistakes trying to catch Eric, so I decided to just try and run a smooth race. I don't care if I win another race all year I just want the number 1 plate, we'll go for wins next year. Jeffrey Nash (3rd place) It was a great race. I decided that after crashing at Loudon, my main focus at this race was to finish on the box and put in some good finishes for the rest of the year. I missed a couple of rounds early on. I got behind Dave and Shawn and was really pacing with them. And felt that what I needed to do at the end of the race was try to pick off Shawn and Dave. Dave lost the front end when I was passing him on the inside of Thunder alley and thankfully he's all right.
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