PPIR post-race Superbike Press Conference

Nicky Hayden

Q: Nicky, this is your first career Superbike podium and you also won the 600 Supersport title earlier here today.
Nicky: Yeah, it's been a really good weekend for us, a really good year, you know and I'm really thankful. There at the beginning I got a good start from the third row. Right before the race Gary Mathers he told me last race of the year, last race for the RC45 and he just pretty much told me to go have fun and bring it back however a truck or whatever. (laughs) That's what I did. You know I just went for it right there at the beginning. I wasn't moving up as fast as I wanted to and then at the end I started finding a place on the brakes for the Turn three and I was really making up a lot of time on the brakes and you know I was just going for it. A lap and a half from the end I was leading and I knew Doug would be coming. He's so good at that. He'll just wait until the end, you know he's really smart and saved his tire. I didn't really save mine much (laughs) guess I should have. It was a fun race. I really enjoyed it. I didn't have nothing to lose. I could just go for it, you know. Pascal, he rode really good. Mat, you know like you said, I think he kind of deserved the championship. He stepped it up when he had to and today he did exactly what he had to do. So I guess it was a good day, a good week, a good year.

Q: Going into Turn four when Doug got up the inside, you did a head gesture. What was going through your mind then?
Nicky: I was just bummed because I mean I tried so hard and then right at the end my tire was, I think I was on a different tire. I think all three of us were all on different tires. I just knew that once Doug got by me he was going to be tough to get back around. I was losing a lot of time down in Turn one and I knew if I didn't stay close to him I wouldn't, if I was going to be close I was going to try him on the brakes in the back for sure. I wasn't close enough to do it and then Pascal got me on the right, so I'll take third I guess. You know it's kind of the last race for the RC45 and a couple of guys at Honda that really worked hard, Al Ludington and Joey, I think are going to be leaving and you know Ray Plum; all three of those guys worked really hard all year. Each race we kind of, on the Superbike, just got a little better and a little better and I figured out some stuff and learned the different tires and whatever. I had a chance to get it on the box at Mid-Ohio and I threw it away there so I'm happy to get on the box.

Q: Do you know if you're going to dirt track next year or not?
Nicky: I don't know. I've kind of given it a lot of thought, I'm kind of weighing my options. I still have two more races this year. Dirt track is just something I really enjoy doing and I've got a great team with TCR. Tom Cummings and Davey, those guys do me a great job. But dirt track, it's really not going anywhere, you know. Every week it's the same stuff. The tracks are bad, they are late. You know, I would like to, but I think if I do it the AMA is going to have to step up and get some new people in there and make it a lot better of a program. You know just last week a good friend of mine, Toby Jorgensen, got hurt at Dallas at a track we shouldn't have really been at and they sent us there anyway. You know like lap eight in the main, he went down. You know he's just another kid, I think he's the same age as me and it's really unfortunate he got hurt and just hopefully we can all keep him in our prayers and he'll be all right.
To answer your question, I don't know yet, I'm thinking about it.

Pascal Picotte

Q: Pascal, tell us about your race.
Pascal: It wasn't easy, of course, but I kind of figured maybe Mat was going to kind of fade a little bit there near the end because he was gambling a championship, he wasn't going to throw it away again, I think, he was starting to slide a bit.   I picked a softer tire and kind of gambled on it because I wasn't comfortable at all with the dual compound. Seems like the VR1000 is pretty good saving the tire so I took the gamble and it seems like it paid off. I had a great race out there, I was having a ton of fun. I was really focused, you know, I couldn't really give up one second because, I mean,  they were all behind me, right there. I could look at my pit board, plus three tenths, two tenths, sometimes zero zero that means he's like right there. I could actually hear Nicky's front tire screaming sometimes. I couldn't give up at all. My rear tire started vibrating like ten laps on from the end so I started kind of thinking about it and changed my line a little bit. I had to be really, really smooth on the throttle not losing the rear so I started trying to carry a little more speed on the front and it was working pretty good. I'm glad to be here again, especially for all the Harley-Davidson fans and especially for all the people who have been behind the program since '94. I mean those guys have been working really hard and they deserve more podiums than they had and hopefully we're going to keep that momentum we had this year. We had some ups and downs, but it seems like the future is looking great so far so I'm really happy to be here today.

Q: Was it tough to make your decision for next year?
Pascal: Not really. Nope I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do. There's two, three opportunities for me. I won't really say it but I don't know, I'll figure it out tonight and probably by Monday or Tuesday I should decide what I'm going to do.

Doug Chandler

This is Doug's third win of the season. Tell us about your race, Doug.

Doug: I tried to go with Mat but you know I just had a tough time getting by Ben so I kind of had to go to plan B and just try to conserve the tire the best I could for the end of the race and hopefully, you know, I was figuring I had a good chance of them coming back to me or me getting back up in there with them and you know as it was, it worked out really good. As the laps wound down, I just started pushing a little bit harder. You know I think from lap twenty on I was just a little bit more, a little bit more just to see what I could give it. The thing just kept taking it, getting better, better and better. We were catching up to Mat, I thought, well this is going to be really good. The three of us, you know, as the laps were winding down, it was going to be a good last couple of laps. I'm just thankful we had enough for them. You know the tires were perfect, you know I told Nicky that thing was as good on the forty fifth lap as what it was on the fifth lap of the race so I was real happy with my choice. The bike was set up perfect and I think it was just easy on the tires. You know all weekend  never had any trouble with the softer tire, you know as far as putting a lot of laps on it and having the thing blister. It never did.

Q: What did the bike do with the dual compound tire on it?
Doug: It just, on my bike, I just couldn't get it into the corner. The confidence wasn't there you know as far as being able to get the thing stopped and turned and accelerate. I just felt I was wasting too much time waiting for the thing to settle in before I could get back on the throttle.

Q: Does it seem like your strength was Turn two, getting a drive out of there heading into the heavy braking was that partly the tire or partly your bike set up?
Doug: I think it was a combination. My bike really worked good there and you know I didn't really want to cook it too much. The only time I tried hard through there was if I really on somebody to try to get a run on them other than that I'd really milk it through there. I was short shifting it and trying to keep the thing in line not really spin the thing up, yeah, just like Nick. Every time I did get up on these guys, it seemed to be a really good spot for me to close up. The thing would just really drive off there so good.

Q: Bike for 2000, any changes?

Doug: I'm not sure.

Pascal: Glad you didn't ask me that.

Doug: It's something, you know, the bikes I think are on their way. I just think it will be more up to spec to the World Superbike bikes. I don't think we'll be as different as what we are this year. You know there's a lot of little things and I think what I'm looking forward to most is just having a good relationship and contact with Japan.

Mat Mladin

Q: Mat, would you tell us about your race?
Mat: Yeah, it essentially went to plan. We got a good start. We got the hole shot and put our heads down. Ran some fast laps  probably for a little more than half of the race and I think with about fifteen to go we had plus eight and half or something on Ben. We were only getting splits to Ben, we weren't getting worried about getting between us or whatever and at that stage I decided that was enough. We slowed it up anywhere between a half a second and a second a lap and everything went well. So that's what we came here to do and we had a strategy this year to be as consistent as possible. Win them if we can win them. Take second or third whenever we have to and it worked this year. Hopefully there won't be too many guys getting too much faster next year and it might work next year again. Who knows?

Q: Were you surprised when these three showed up?

Mat: Yeah, Pascal almost made me shit myself actually. Because I had eight six on Ben and I just assumed Ben was the one that was going to be the one behind me if I was in the lead. Because I thought, you know Ben's been kind of saying it's either win the championship or bust sort of thing.  He sort of wanted to be in front of me or whatever. When I had eight six or something on Ben, I'm like I started slowing down, slowing down and these guys just ran the same pace the whole race, obviously and I was getting a few slides and I was thinking this was no good. I was pushing the front a little bit. Next thing I know, I'm going into Turn two, I thought it was Ben. I had eight point six on the board but I thought maybe I was reading point eight or something you know. All I hear is this big Harley, I thought it was Ben behind me. I look over my shoulder and all I see is this three bike train this wide and I'm like pull over. There you go boys, it's all yours. But no, I didn't put up too much of a fight that's for sure once I knew they were there. A couple of laps I tried to sort of get it going a little bit but I was a little bit too nervous at that stage to just worry about racing for a win.

Q: Was your tire shagged after the first third of the race?

Mat: No, not really. The first three laps were really fast and then I slowed down a couple tenths and from about the fifth lap the tire felt the same all the way to the end. The front was a little bit suspect so I didn't want to be shoving the front end as hard. You know I think when these guys caught me they seen me a couple of times in Turn two and in Turn three I sort of got in there at the same pace and then I just let the brake off and let it run wide because I just wasn't as comfortable with the front. The rear stayed the same pretty much all the way. I would have liked to run a single compound tire like these guys but we couldn't afford the gamble of having a problem.