Sunday Morning Notes from PPIR

Chris Carr won the Grand National dirt track championship last night at the Sacramento Mile. The former Harley-Davidson VR1000 Superbike pilot is now a two time GNC champ, and still the only man to put a VR on the pole.

Yesterday's Superbike qualifying press conference was a tense affair with the animosity between Mat Mladin and Ben Bostrom so thick you could cleave it with a knife. Mladin feels that Bostrom and Vance and Hines has been afforded certain advantages by the AMA, in letting them test here and letting Bostrom's provisional pole time stand when his transponder fell off on his fast lap (the AMA photocell was used as the back-up).
Beyond that, Mladin feels that the AMA does not want an Australian rider to win the championship and are doing anything they can to help an American rider win.

Is this the case? No. But there is a great deal of pressure heaped upon Mladin right now. This could be Suzuki's first superbike championship since 1989 and the entire team have not been this close in years. Mladin seems fine, at times, but the pressure is evident in situation like yesterday's qualifying session. He's been up against a world championship level bike and team all year, and a gaggle of really good riders, and face it, the Suzuki is not the best bike in the paddock. It's a good Superbike, yet with any other rider in the world on it, it's not been consistently fast. The difference is Mladin. He's a man under pressure.

PACE cats are here this weekend. Late word: eight events in 2000.

Kurtis Roberts won the Formula Extreme championship yesterday in what he termed was the "longest twenty-three laps of my life". Tom Kipp won the 750 Supersport race; and Damon Buckmaster took third, the latter of which certainly made the Chaparral team happy.

Hacking crashed big in qualifying yesterday and banged himself up, and the bike. He received some stitches in his leg but will ride today. Rich Oliver is struggling with arm strength ... and will have the hardware taken out of his arm next week.

Silly season: Al Ludington to Kawasaki, with Medley; Steve Crevier to WSS; Picotte still unsigned; Dave Sadowski is here with his "agent", re-negociating his Speedvision contract.
 

Saturday Images

Ben Bostrom waits for the track to clear

Hooters girls are here

A very tense post qualifying press conference

Mladin waits in the pit lane for Bostrom to leave

Suzuki man watches and reports when Bostrom leaves pit lane

More after Superbike warm-up ...