Great Expectations

Is a great book, I've been told. Great expectations is also what I had for this season of AMA Superbike racing. As did we all, right? With the Chandler versus DuHamel versus Gobert versus Mladin border wars, all one had to do is buy a ticket and watch the fireworks erupt. Sorry to say, it's been a misfire. Largely, anyway.

First, Miguel crashed his way (we thought) out of the championship at Daytona. After dusting himself off, DuHamel unleashed a comeback of near unprecedented strength, he won races and chased down Doug Chandler and Anthony Gobert. Right when the whole shebang was coming on strong, DuHamel drills a unprotected barrier at Loudon, pushes his femur through his flesh and is out for the season.

Gobert wins the first round at Phoenix, limps home at Daytona and then puts on a stirring performance at Road America in one of the most exciting finishes ever seen in the series. He goes to Loudon, and after a cautionary chat from his teammate Tom Stevens, Gobert has the sense to hold back and finish third. Suddenly, he's the man for the championship. Then of course he has a bit of a smoke and is too out until Vegas.

Chandler put in solid performances in the first third of the season, then started crashing a bit and then some more and then he went to Laguna Seca and crashed at the top of the corkscrew and nearly put himself out for the season. He's been limping since then, and was still trying to draw it all together at Colorado. Chandler was obviously going to start riding to win just about the time he started crashing. Chandler is still in it, but he has yet to win a race this season (which is not to say he can't win races, he's done so in the past, obviously). If Chandler doesn't pull one out at Vegas, and he beats Bostrom, he'll be the first guy to win the Superbike title without having won a race since Reg Pridmore in the seventies. And Gobert's coming to Vegas.

Mat Mladin has been threatening all season long, but a rash of engine failures cost him the title long ago, yet he has six poles to remind him of this season. He challenged for the championship early but now has little chance of nailing it unless several bikes are struck by lightning at Vegas.

Aaron Yates is another guy who could have won the title, but circumstances took that shot away. Consider this: if Yates has just finished fifth in each race he missed because of his training accident, the guy would have already won the damn title, wrapped it up.

So now, here we are, going into he final race of the season with the top five guys in points not having won yet this season (expertly pointed out to us by amasuperbike consultant Tracy Hagen in an Email from China, where he is currently on business) . What if Gobert wins at Vegas? Then the top four or five guys in the championship will have finished the season without winning a race.

Great expectations indeed.
--Dean Adams