Cycle News

I Round 6 June 6 , 2004 AMA SUPERBIKE ~ Pro Honda Oils Supersport the igue l Duhame l and Tomm y Hayd en shared one thing in co mmon at Road America: Each man won every race he entered . For Hayden, the IO-Iap Pro Honda Oils Supersport final marked his second win of the day, following his ear lier victory in the Repsol Superstock race. The 25-year-old Team Kawasaki rider matched his 10th career victoryin that classwith a 10th career victory in Supersport. He even managed to match Duhamel's margin of victory in Saturday's FX race, a scant .30 of a second en route to netting his third Supersport win of the season and Kawasaki's 33rd in the classall-time. It was also the brand's third win in as many rounds, Tommy Hayden's back-to-back wins in Colorado and here coming on the heels of brother Roger Lee's first career Supersport win in Alabama. TeamYamaha's Aaron Gobert led the field through tum one , onlyto be passed by teammate Jason DiSalvo, Aaron Gobert (96). Jason DiSalvo (40). with reigning class champion Jamie Jamie Hacking (1) and Blake Young (59) Hacking coming off the pole to run lead the 5upersport charge on the open- third, ahead of the two Kawasakis of inglap . Roger Lee Hayden and Tommy Hayden. Both DiSalvo and Roger Lee would drop from the front group early Tommy Hayden slotting into , third, where he watched Gobert and By SCOTT R O USSEAU Hackingtrade the lead for a few laps P HOTO S BY B RIAN J . N ELSO N before starting his own bid on lap eight by getting under Gobert for second in tum eight. He then drafted by Hacking on the run to tum fove, only to succumb to a late-braking move by Hacking into tum one on the last lap. Tommy made another pass to retake the point before tum fove. He would lead it the rest of the way, fending off a draft attempt by Hacking up the front straightthe final time. "They [Hacking and Gobert] were setting a pretty good pace, and it seemed like the race came to me a litde bit towards the end," Tommy Hayden said. "I knew it was going to be tough. I knew Jamie was going to be good in the last section because I had been following M Rnd l'iaUJi gets third s t rai g ht u ict o r y 20 JUNE 16.2004 ��� CYC LE N EWS 40th Anniversary him the whole race. I just tried to put it together." A key to hissuccess may havecome when he managed to hold off the determined Hacking on the brakes in the run under the BillyMitchell Bridge, tum 13A, though it may not have mattered much, as Hacking tells it. When asked by AMA:s road race PR man Donnie Smith how much he thought he had for a final draft pass at the line, Hacking responded, "Probablyabout as much as you did. "In my head I thought I could do it," Hacking continued, "but I didn't know if the 01' blue bike could do it. We just didn't have enough steam on the top end , and that was about it, you know? I was riding that thingas hard as I could ride it, and Tommy rode a great race, and so did Aaron. That was all I could ask for. Itwould be nice to have won it after sitting on the pole. As fast as I went in qualifying, it would have been nice to win it for sure. I know my guys have been aching for a win as bad as I am. Icome in under the Billy Mitchell Bridge... Well, going into fove, we both come in there really hot. I didn't think that Iwas goingto make it, and I'm sure that Tommy didn't, because he was in there hot, too. I had a chance to go up underneath him, and I thought, 'I don't know if I've got enough to hold him off.' He was strong through the Canada Comer. His bike was just accelerating through there . I just sat on him there , and we came into Canada Comer, and I was on himpretty good. Under the Billy Mitchell bridge he didn't seem that good . I had a really good one . I thought maybe I shouldjustsquirt inside of him,and Ididn't do it. I thought I'd save it for here [finish line I ]. thought I had enoughto get dose to him, and maybe... but it wasn't good enough." Hayden said that he tried to get the best drives he could once he got into the lead. "The last comer, I didn't really get inthere real hot and do it too good because the last race [Superstock], I almost gave that one away," Hayden said. "I didn't want to get beat. Ididn't want to beat myself there . I just kindofgot inthere, and squared it up and got the best drive I could, then tucked in tight and barely squeaked it out. Ifelt liketoward the end I had a litde bit better tire. I found I was running a harder one than them [Hacking and Gobert] after the race, and it seemed like I could drive a litde bit harder toward the end, whereas at the beginning I was just barely holding on." If hisbike may have been a bit off, Hacking himsel was luckynot to be in the same boat f after he pitched it away in rum one dUring the Superstock race. He said he felt no ill

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