MBNA Superbikes: Hacking wins his second 600 supersport final
3 August 1999
Jamie Hacking took advantage of a last-turn mistake by Kurtis Roberts to win his second Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport race of the season. Nick Hayden finished a distant third and extended his series lead over his brother Tommy to 14 points going into the final round next month in Colorado. Hacking's average race speed of 105.401 mph shattered the old race record of 103.654 mph set last year by Aaron Yates. In yet another great final-lap showdown, Roberts charged his Erion Honda F4 into the last turn and tried to make the turn at an incredible rate of speed. Robert's bike couldn't hold the line and it broke loose nearly spitting him off. Hacking took advantage and slipped his factory Yamaha R6 underneath to win by two-bike lengths at checkered flag. Tommy Hayden made a spectacular run through the field after being forced off the track early in the race. Hayden fell to 22nd place after an incident in the final turn on the first lap. The Yamaha rider charged through the field and began making his way to the front. On lap 11 Hayden turned the fastest lap of the race with a lap of 1:41.419. On the white flag lap Hayden picked off five riders to finish fifth - two seconds behind Valvoline Suzuki rider Josh Hayes - keeping his championship hopes alive. WOOD TAKES WIN NO. THREE, CONRAD TAKES THE TITLE -- For the second-straight time Eric Wood ruled the Progressive Insurance Pro Thunder final, taking his third victory of the season on his Penguin Racing School Ducati 748. Wood passed early leader Dave Estok on the first lap and pulled away to almost a ten second margin of victory. HMC Racing Ducati rider Shawn Conrad made a bold last-turn move on Estok, despite having the championship on the line, to take second. Conrad's finish enabled him to secure his first AMA Pro Thunder championship. BOSTROM WINS HIS FIRST MBNA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL -- Ben Bostrom seems to like to do things a little backwards. The 25-year-old Californian won the American Motorcyclist Association MBNA Superbike Championship last year without winning a single race; three weeks ago he won the U.S. round of the World Superbike Championship in Monterey, Calif., and Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway Bostrom finally got around to earning his first AMA Superbike win on his Vance & Hine Ducati. Bostrom, the third-year Superbike rider who started from the pole, averaged 110.329 mph during the 63-mile race establishing a new race record. The victory pulls Bostrom to within eight points of series leader Mat Mladin, of Australia, with just one race remaining. Mladin finished second on the Yoshimura Suzuki. After a poor start Australian Anthony Gobert made a late-race charge on his Vance & Hines Ducati to finish third. "I think it's pretty neat that my brother (Eric) won his first AMA Superbike race at Brainerd last year and now I've finally won my first one here," said Bostrom, who was competing in his 31st AMA Superbike race. "Mladin, Gobert, my brother and all these guys were winning Superbike races and I kept wondering when I was finally going to get my first one. I have to credit my team who put me on the best bike out there." Bostrom's 31 Superbike starts before his first victory was the second highest number of starts before a win in the 23-year history of the series. Only one rider had to endure a longer wait before tasting victory. Dale Quarterley, the now retired Rockland, Mass. rider, competed in 70 Superbike races before his first win. Mladin is now in an excellent position to give Suzuki its first AMA Superbike title in ten years. The 27-year-old native of Shellharbour, New South Wales, Australia, can be assured of wrapping up the championship next month if he finishes second or better, something he has been able to do six times this season. Bostrom's win also helped Ducati wrap up the Superbike AMA Manufacturers Championship, breaking Honda's four-year ownership of that title. Ducati also won the Superbike manufacturers title in 1993 and 1994. The series finale is at Pikes Peak International Raceway on September 19. THE SORENSEN DYNASTY -- Over the years the Mazda Truck 250 Grand Prix Series has been one of dominant riders. In the early 1980s Eddie Lawson burst onto the roadracing scene by towering above the 250 competition. By the late 1980s it was John Kocinski who was the one to beat before, like Lawson, moving on to win world championships. In the early '90s it was Jimmy Filice who set the standard. The mid-'90s saw Rich Oliver obliterated all existing 250GP records. Chuck Sorensen is the latest rider to lay claim as the king of the class. Sorensen not only earned his sixth victory of the season at Brainerd Sunday, he also nailed down his first AMA championship. Mike Hale return to racing in the U.S. and finished second in his first 250 race and South Carolina's Derek King continued to show good consistency by finishing third. B.I.R. has been good to Sorensen. It was at this track that he won his first 250 GP race back in 1994. The surprise appearance by Hale this weekend inspired Sorensen. "I knew Mike was going to be on the gas since he's coming off the world championship circuit," said Sorensen, a 26-year-old from Sunnyvale, Calif. "I can't predict the future, but I would like to think that people would someday compare me to some of the great riders who have won this championship in the past." Hale, from Carrollton, Texas, came to Brainerd hoping to return to form before resuming 500cc Grand Prix action for the Modenas team next month. "It felt good to be on podium again," said Hale. "I had never raced this series before so I had no idea what to expect. There are some really good riders here and it was fun to be able to be competitive with these guys in my first time on this kind of bike."