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2000 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championships presented by Parts Unlimited results
Round 12 of 12: FINAL ROUND
September 29-October 1, 2000
Coca-Cola AMA Superbike Championship Final presented by Suzuki
Willow Springs International Raceway, Rosamond, CA

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Sunday, Oct. 1 | Saturday, Sept. 30 | Friday, Sept. 29

Saturday, Sept. 30

OLIVER ON POLE AGAIN
Rich Oliver again won the pole for Sunday's MBNA 250 Grand Prix final. Riding his factory-backed Yamaha TZ250, Oliver won the second five-lap heat race at an average speed of 108.095 mph - a new 250GP qualifying record. Series leader Chuck Sorensen won the other qualifying race at an average speed of 106.052 mph. He will start second on the grid. Joining Oliver and Sorensen on the front row will be Michael Barnes and Chris Ulrich.

BUCKMASTER TAKES THE RACE, HOPKINS THE TITLE
Saturday Damon Buckmaster won what may well be his last race in the U.S., taking victory in the Lockhart Phillips USA 750 SuperSport final over Jimmy Moore and Grant Lopez. While Buckmaster was cheered for his win, young John Hopkins was celebrating being crowned the new 750 SuperSport champion. Hopkins, 17, of Ramona, Calif., rode to a conservative sixth-place finish, but for a short time was running in a pack that went as far back as tenth place. Had he not been able to break away from that group Hopkins' title could have been in jeopardy.

The final quickly became a four-way battle for the lead between pole winner Buckmaster, Roger Lee Hayden, Moore and Lopez. Hayden led the race briefly before crashing out unhurt on lap 11. At that point Buckmaster pulled away to take the win by 1.515 seconds, his third victory of the year. The victory pulled Bucky to second in the final standings, just three points from Hopkins. Moore came out on top in a tight contest with Lopez for second. 

Hopkins was grinning ear to ear as he answered question for the press after the race. 

"I never dreamed I'd be able to win an AMA championship this early in my career," said Hopkins, who was able to pulled clear of the tightly-packed group in the closing laps. "I knew what I had to do today. I was getting signals from my crew, but I just didn't want to push it at all with the title on the line."

At 17 Hopkins is the youngest AMA road racing national champion since the legendary Freddie Spencer won what is now the AMA 250 Grand Prix championship in 1979 at the age of 16.

ZEMKE BREAKS THROUGH
Jake Zemke has been plugging away for a number of years in a variety of racing class and on Saturday all the years of toil finally led to victory. The 24-year-old Northern Californian won the eSportbike.com Formula Xtreme final on his Bruce Transportation Group Honda CBR929. It marked the first AMA national win for Zemke, now in his eighth-year of professional racing. He finished second in the series standings to Kurtis Roberts, who sat out the Willow Springs round after securing the title at Pikes Peak over a month ago. 

Zemke made an early break from the rest of the field and was never threatened. He cruised to the flag with over a five-second margin of victory in hand. Erion Honda's Josh Hayes took second for the fourth time this season, surviving a close run in with lapped traffic in the late laps. Czech native Vincent Haskovec took third riding a Graves Yamaha. It was the first AMA national podium for the 26-year-old Haskovec. 

RAPP WINS HIS FIRST AMA SUPERBIKE POLE
Steve Rapp had the luxury of being able to sit and watch much of Saturday's final qualifying session for Sunday's AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship season finale. Rapp set such a fast speed (113.882 mph) in Friday's qualifying that no rider was able to better his mark during the hotter and winder session on Saturday. It marked the first AMA Superbike pole for the San Francisco Bay Area native, who now lives in Corona, Calif., and rides for Vance & Hines Ducati. 

"Winning the pole for one of these races is something I've wanted to do for a long time," Rapp said. "Everything fell into place for me yesterday (Friday) and I figured that it would be tough for someone to beat that time. I'm hoping to meet another of my goals tomorrow by winning my first national."  Rapp will share the front row with fellow Ducati rider Ben Bostrom - a World Superbike regular from Granada Hills, Calif., racing in America during a break in the world championship schedule who turned a lap at 113.582 mph; Aaron Yates, the Milledgeville, Georgia rider who has won two AMA Superbike nationals this season on his factory Suzuki and clocked in at an average of 113.444 mph; and Nicky Hayden, the 19-year-old Honda rider from Owensboro, Ky., a three-time winner in the series this year, who managed a speed of 113.225 on his RC51.

And what of defending Superbike champ Mat Mladin? The Aussie native is in championship points-protection mode this weekend and qualified fifth at 113.048 mph. Mladin needs only to finish only 13th or better in Sunday's  final to secure his second AMA Superbike title. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise in qualifying was the disappointing performance of last year's Willow Springs winner Larry Pegram. Pegram was only able to muster an average speed of 111.571 mph, which places him 12th on the starting grid.

The Superbike final starts at 2:00 PM Sunday and will be broadcast live on Speedvision.

MEIRING MAKING AMA PRO ROAD RACING DEBUT
(1:00 PM) - Tony Meiring, a winner of the 1999 AMA Horizon Award, is making his AMA professional road racing debut this weekend. Meiring, of Tracy, Calif., qualified 20th for the Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport final. Meiring was co-winner, with Bryan Smith, of the Horizon Award in July of 1999 at the AMA Dirt Track Grand Championships in Indianapolis. The Horizon Award recognizes the AMA's top amateur rider in road racing, dirt track and motocross.

BOSTROM SMASHES WILLOW SPRINGS 600 SUPERSPORT TRACK RECORD
(12:50 pm) - Eric Bostrom showed that he has no intention of letting go of his Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport Series lead Saturday when he obliterated the old 600 SuperSport track record by over a full second. Bostrom stunned the paddock after he turned a lap of 1:21.939 on his factory Kawasaki ZX6 in the even-numbered qualifying session. The previous record was 1:23.008 set by Nicky Hayden last year. Joining Bostrom on the front row of Sunday's final will be archrival Kurtis Roberts who turned a 1:22.162 on his Erion Honda F4 and Yamaha teammates Jamie Hacking and Tommy Hayden who clocked in at 1:22.416 and 1:22.433 respectively on their R6s. The top nine riders in Saturday's session all qualified under the old track record.

SMITH WINS POLE FOR BUELL PRO THUNDER FINAL
(11:45 AM) - Mike Smith rode his Ducshop/Beaudry Motorsports Ducati 748 to a narrow victory over Australian Craig Connell and his Advance Motorsports Ducati to earn the pole for Sunday's Buell Pro Thunder final. Connell made a last lap draft pass attempt on Smith, but came up just inches short in the closest Pro Thunder heat race of the season. Dale Corser, younger brother of former AMA and World Superbike champion Troy Corser, took the victory in the first heat riding an AGV Sport Ducati. It was a tough day for the Tilley Harley-Davidson/Buell team. Both Tripp Nobles and Shawn Higbee battle for the lead in their respective heat races. Nobles had a huge margin in heat number one before his bike broke on the final lap. Higbee battled Smith for the lead in the second heat before crashing out. Smith's winning  average speed was 105.096 mph (a new qualifying race record for the class) compared to Corser's winning average of 100.595 mph.