AMA's Sunday Notes

SUNDAY NOTES FROM THE MBNA SUPERBIKE TOUR RACES AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Course length and characteristics: 2.48 miles, 18 turn, oval/infield road course
Conditions: sunny, windy, with temperatures in the mid-eighties

Complete results for today's races and qualifying sessions are available on the Pro Racing pages of AMADirectlink at www.ama-cycle.org

MBNA SUPERBIKE
Ben Bostrom took second-place today at LVMS today and captured the MBNA Superbike series championship title. Bostrom entered the race tied with Muzzy Kawasaki rider Doug Chandler, and the two riders stuck close to each other through the first half of the race, until Chandler developed an oil leak on lap 14. Bostrom gave the following account of the on-track action. "He (Doug) made a really good pass on me," said Bostrom," and then I followed him around for a couple laps and I noticed this light sprinkle happening on my lens, and I was like, you know, I think he has a bit of a problem. I don't want to follow him to ruin my windshield so, I just used my Honda to power by him down the straightaway. I tried to signal Doug to show him he's got a bit of a problem, because I noticed the left side of his tire starting to slick up a little bit and I didn't want him to crash. He was still right behind me, so I was thinking maybe his problem went away and this is going to be a great race, you know, both of us trying to preserve our tires and the last 10 laps is just going to be the race of the season for the title, I hope. It just didn't pan out unfortunately for Doug. He had trouble. It's not really the way I wanted to win the thing but I'll take it anyway I can get it."

Mat Mladin won today's race for the Yoshimura Suzuki team. Mladin had the pole for today's race, and led every lap. "It went just about the way we wanted it to, said Mladin. "The plan was to get out off the start and try to get five or six seconds and we got it to six seconds on about lap 10 and basically held it there." The victory is Mladin's first in 1998, but he has been on the podium six times. Mladin finishes the season ranked in series third-place.

Eric Bostrom was on the MBNA Superbike podium for the third time in as many races. Bostrom took third-place today, and shadowed brother Ben for much of the race. "Actually, I wasn't really doing that much following, I was riding hard every lap, said Eric. "I didn't get off to quite the start I wanted to and man, those guys put their heads down and really went. I was thinking that I don't know how they're going to hold this pace. I didn't know how the tires and all that could handle it. I mean, they just had better days than I did today. I rode hard every lap and my brother got by and I almost went off the race track over in that corner. But, Ben made a really nice pass on me and then Doug came by too and I was thinking, man, I'd better get my a** in gear here. Doug was oiling Ben and I down pretty bad, kind of ruined my shield."

PRO HONDA OILS 600 SUPERSPORT
Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Crevier wrapped up the series championship today at LVMS. Crevier's eighth-place finish was enough to finish the season with 366 points, a 13-point lead over series second-place rider Doug Chandler. The title is Crevier's first AMA national championship. Chandler finished the race aboard the Muzzy Kawasaki in fifth-place.

Aaron Yates took the race win today aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki. Yates dueled with Team Suzuki Sport rider Nicky Hayden throughout the second half of the race. After repeated attempts to pass Hayden, Yates captured the lead on the last lap, and held on despite a last-second front straight draft-pass attempt by Hayden. In the post-race press conference Yates described his efforts to catch Hayden: "I was back a little ways and it took me a couple laps to catch up to Eric and then once I got there, I figured out when I was going to pass him, and got by him and chased down Nicky and from there on it was just, I knew it was be a pretty good battle between the two of us," said Yates.

The win is Yates second in the series this year. Yates won the Brainerd round, and has an additional three podium finishes. Nicky Hayden took second-place in today's race. Hayden won the Willow Springs race, has two additional 1998 series podium finishes to his credit. Yoshimura Suzuki's Larry Pegram took third-place today. Pegram won the last race at Pike's Peak.

ELF RACE FUELS AND LUBRICANTS GRAND PRIX
Kurtis Roberts and the Erion Honda team took their third Elf Race Fuels and Lubricants Grand Prix victory of the season. Roberts diced for the lead with World Sports Yamaha's Chuck Sorensen, but Sorensen crashed and relinquished the lead on lap 14. Sorensen returned to the track to finish fourth. "The race was actually kind of fun, said Roberts. " I've never been able to pass anybody on the straightaway. Thursday we seized in both sessions. We put in Randy's (Renfrow) motor. The chassis was good. The thing had been perfect until the heat race, and then we got this chatter. We got most of the chatter out, and the bike was perfect. I hate to say it, but I was playing with Chuck. I kept the pressure on him. We knew we were going to get him before the checker." With the three wins and an additional five podium finishes, Roberts finishes the season as the runner-up for the series championship.

Elf Race Fuels and Lubricants Grand Prix series Champion Roland Sands put his Performance Machine Yamaha on the box with a second-place finish at LVMS today. "I'm pretty happy to be at the podium, said Sands. "I had some problems this weekend; broke a fork. Today I was looking for a red flag, but it never came. I just went out and rode as hard as I could. I tried to get as many people as I could on the first lap, but it wasn't enough to hang with Kurtis and Chuck. I'm happy to get second. I crashed in the heat race yesterday and broke both fork legs, and I didn't get a chance to test the new forks.

Sands locked up the championship at the last race at Pikes Peak, and completes the season with five wins, and six more podium finishes. Sands never finished outside the top-four the whole season.

Takahito Mori added a third podium finish to the season tally for the Moto Liberty Honda team. Mori won the Daytona round -- making history as the first Japanese citizen to win an AMA national at Daytona. Mori will finish the season ranked in series eight-place. Mori missed three late-season races due to injury.

PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE PRO THUNDER
Orange County Triumph Paul Harrell wrapped up the Progressive Insurance Pro Thunder championship title with a second-place finish at LVMS. Harrell has two wins and eight podium finishes on record in the 1998 series. Harrell was racing with a broken wrist incurred while riding in the British 600 SuperSport series a few weeks ago. "There was good racing earlier this year, said Harrell. (Earlier) I didn't pay much attention (to the standings). Towards the end, I've been working hard to win some races. I've been stressed the whole weekend. It was fun today. I'm just so happy to get (the championship). I knew coming off my injury that I would ride. I've ridden' with two broken legs before (speaking of the wrist injury).

Shawn Higbee won today's race aboard the Tilley's Buell. Higbee has had four wins and six additional podium finishes in the 1998 season, and will finish the series in second-place overall. "Interesting race, said Higbee. " Hard to say what Paul was gonna do. The first part of the race was slow for me. I was watching what Paul was going to do. I wanted to figure out where he was slow. I don't think I've crashed so many times and finished. I wanted to finish strong. I wanted to say that Paul did a good job and was a great competitor."

Mark Foster made his Pirelli Formula Xtreme debut today aboard the Corbin/Motorcycle Online Buell, and Foster put it on the box with a third-place finish. Foster regularly rides in Elf Race Fuels Grand Prix for the Performance Machine team, where he has had five, top-five finishes.