Star rider crashing was the order of the day at Miller Motorsport Park, with Mat Mladin, Troy Corser, Troy Bayliss and Nori Haga topping the list. The commonly heard “explanation” was that competition was unusually vigorous, but I’m not sold—everyone suddenly wakes up one morning in Utah, shouting “I gotta win this!”?
Riders commented that grip was very good at Miller, and both AMA riders and Europeans alike expressed admiration for the track and its facilities—which are clearly first-class.
Why the crashing, then? International riders compared this track with Losail, in Qatar, where the sandy desert is just as close as the dry and dusty soil near the Miller asphalt. Therefore it could be that on the racing line, the inrush of air behind fast-moving tires blew the dust out of the pavement texture, but off the line, dust might make grip vary unpredictably. All is speculation.
When rubber researchers want to eliminate the molecular component of grip (actual surface-to-surface bonding) in friction experiments, they sift fine dust onto the test surface.
Among World Superbikes, the Hondas have the reputation of being easier on front tires. Winner of Superpole and both World Superbike races, Carlos Checa was able to use the softer front that other riders wanted to use but knew wouldn’t finish the race for them. “Goin’ fer it” gets a rider nowhere. The keys to success are skill, experience and a machine set up to go fast at least cost to rider or tires.
Both AMA Superbike races were won by Ben Spies on a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000R, whose contract is up this year. Where is he going? Can he ride a MotoGP bike that is presumably designed to fit the much smaller men coming up from 125 and 250cc GP classes? Salaries in World Superbike may not excite Spies or his managers. In the first race, teammate and prime rival Mat Mladin fell on a high-speed corner entry, his bike leaping, hammering and bounding a long distance. The extremely fit Mladin stood up after his slide and stalked off.
Meanwhile, Jamie Hacking, on what was clearly the fastest thing in the AMA race, a 2008 Kawasaki ZX-10R, ran off the track early in both races, then recovered to advance rapidly to second, where he finished. The order was Spies, Hacking, Hodgson, Yates and Duhamel. In the second AMA Supers, run between the World races on Sunday, Spies again led, seemingly with little effort, while Mladin failed to get away from the usual pursuers. Mladin has been uncomfortable with his bike all season but this is hard to understand, as his Peter Doyle-led crew is the best in the business. Can it all be traceable to “that big fork,” this year’s front-end change that seems to have been non-optional? These things do happen—there are historic examples of races lost when higher-ups dictate equipment choice. Mladin’s Yosh Suzuki contract has a year to run. I wonder what—if anything—he will ride next year?
Something extra was added in the form of Matt Lynn, getting amongst the factory boys on what is mostly a near-Superstock-spec bike (meaning only valve-seat work inside the engine). Lynn shortly tipped over but the point was made: Do we really need $30,000 forks and $12,000 radiators to go fast? Production bikes have been improving for years, driven by intense interbrand competition. They are now so good that a gifted privateer can run this near the front. Hmmm.
Hacking managed to only run off a little bit in this race, and then caught up, again overpowering all in his path—Yates, Mladin, and Hodgson. My goodness, is Hacking catching Spies as well? Yea or nay, there wasn’t time for this question to be resolved. At the post-race briefing winner Spies said, “I was watching the Jumbotrons out there, watching some of the battles that were going on.” Reminds me of Stirling Moss in a long-ago British sports-car race, listening to the event reporting on the car radio and honking at competitors in the corners.
Comparisons between lap times of World and AMA Supers? Didn’t happen—AMA ran on the full course, World on the short course, so that each could honor its particular trackside signage obligations. It’s going to stay that way, too, as U.S. sanctioning bodies have never seen fit to adopt World Superbike rules. Shall I compare apples and oranges? Raisins, anyone?
In AMA Superbike action, Spies kept it upright and took home first place for Suzuki.
Checa’s advantage—whatever it was—was decisive. Eighth on lap one of the second World Superbike race, he came forward as Hacking had done, moving steadily past his competitors.
Riding injured is big this season, with Lorenzo scoring high in MotoGP on two broken ankles. World Supers’ version was Nori Haga, riding with the first broken bone of his career—a collarbone—and finishing fifth in the second race. Earlier, Bayliss had slid off in race one, and was “looking down” in race two at some machine problem. He says this is his last season and he is in any case philosophical about such reverses—try hard when you have good tools, and relax when fate takes them away.
The final order was Checa by an unusual-for-World-Superbike, 4-second margin, with upcoming German Max Neukirchner (Suzuki GSX-R1000) second and Ducati factory man Michel Fabrizio third on his 1098R. Checa’s genuine delight at winning races for the first time in 10 years, combined with his self-deprecating humility won him a lot of friends among the respectably large crowd. It was a very good weekend.
