Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Phoenix Internation.al Raceway AMAIPRO HONDA OILS 600cc SUPERSPORT SERIES were going to get away. I just put my head down and tried to go. My bike was really good and lappers treated me really good. I'm just really happy. Right at the end, Jamie closed back up, but I think I did an 03.1 (1:03.1) with three laps to go. With a few laps to go, I looked up at the board and saw number 22 (his brother Tommy) was third, so I was pretty happy about that." Once he got into the lead, icky Hayden was never headed. He turned the fastest lap of the race on the 23rd of 25 laps, a 1:03.095, polishing off any hopes Hacking had of a late-race attack. Two years ago, Hacking was in a similar position and he toasted his tires trying to keep pace; that was in the back of his mind during this one. "That's why, when I was out front, I was kinda being cautious," Hacking said. "Maybe I conserved a little bit too much, but I'd rather finish the race on AMAIPro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series Round 2: Phoenix International Raceway Hayden just a bit better By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Ab~ms GOODYEAR, AZ., MAR. 21 onsidering how good the 600cc Supersport race was at Phoenix International Raceway, it wasn't very·good. With 12 guys qualifying on the same second, expectations for a classic were high. As it turned out, the problem was twofold: Nicky Hayden and Jamie Hacking. Those two were able to separate themselves from the masses on a brilliantly sunny day in the Sonora Desert. Then, with Hacking unable to quite match Hayden's pace, the race at the front lacked any real suspense. The two stayed separated by a second or so for the entire distance, but there wasn't any passing and the outcome never seemed to be in doubt. "I didn't get as good of a start as I would have liked to," Hacking said. "I made a pretty hard charge: I tried to keep a medium pace just to try to keep the tires under the bike, because with it getting warmer, I figured tires would be a pretty big problem. I was holding a pretty good lead, but next thing I know, here comes Nicky (Hayden). He was on rails when he came by me. I tried to hang with him and keep right there. He rode a hell of a race and I can't take it away from him. He deserved to win." Behind them, things were a tad more interesting. Third place featured a battle between five riders, though only three of them ever held the position. Ultimately, it was Tommy Hayden and his factory Yamaha R6 topping the Chaparral/ Mazda Suzuki of Richard Alexander Jr., the Muzzy Kawasaki of Aaron Yates, the Yoshimura Suzuki bf Steve Crevier and the Yamaha of Rich Oliver. Then came a gap to the Yoshimura Suzuki of Jason Pridmore, who was followed by Graves Motorsports' Paul Harrell and 4&6 Cycles' Todd Harrington, who rounded out the top 10. With Tommy Hayden finishing third, that put two of the Hayden boys on the podium - and no one could remember the last time two brothers shared the C rum c;; ..c 2 ... ~ 12 (Above) Nicky Hayden (69) leads Jamie Hacking (2) in their battle during the 600cc Supersport final. Hayden took the win with Hacking second. (Right) Tommy Hayden (22) and Richard Alexander Jr. (5) were locked in battle throughout the race. Hayden ended up third with Alexander a career-best fourth. podium in an AMA road race. Nicky Hayden's second career victory in the 600cc Supersport class gives him the lead in the championship point standings after two of 13 rounds. Hayden, who was fourth at Daytona, leads the way with 65 points, four more than Hacking. Yates is third with 52 points, one clear of Tommy Hayden and Rich Oliver, the Yamaha pairing that is tied for fifth. Notably missing from the top of the charts was American Honda's Miguel DuHamel, the winner of the opening event at Daytona two weeks ago. DuHamel started the race slowly but was Climbing through the field when he crashed on the 14th lap in the bus-stop corner. DuHamel hobbled to his CBR600F4, remounted and eventually finished 21st - turning in the fourthquickest lap' of the race in the process. It was the second time on the weekend that the French Canadian had banged his injured leg, and he wasn't feeling particularly good after the ride. The miscue also dropped the five-time series champion to seventh in the point standings. "The bike was working pretty good," DuHamel said. "1 thought for sure I could get top five, maybe top three. It was hard from where I started because it's hard to pass here. I just didn't want to get too excited. On the third lap, 1 was yanking on the handlebar when it wheelied and the right handlebar came in. It tooY. me a couple of laps to get used to it. I had to use a whole different style. There was a waving yellow out. I went in there easy, but maybe a bit wide. It's a shame, because I thought I could go through that pack ahead of me. It just caught me off guard." Also missing from the final resul ts was Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin. After electing not to ride the bike at Daytona, Mladin was back in the class for Phoenix. He was running eighth when he elected to pit and concentrate his efforts on the Superbike National that would be run later in the day. '1 just wanted to run around and see how it's going," Mladin explained. "We're trying to develop the 600 into something better. r wanted to save myself for the superbike race because we've got a good shot at that championship." The 25-lap final started with an Aaron Yates holeshot, with Alexander tucked in behind. Alexander's hold on second didn't last for the entire lap, as Hacking shot under the New Yorker in turn 11. As they crossed the line for the first time, the order read: Yates, Hacking, Alexander, Tommy Hayden, Mat Mladin, Steve Crevier and then Nicky Hayden. DuHamel, meanwhile, was 15th. Yates had his head down and he quickly opened up an advantage over his pursuers. It didn't last. The first to pounce was Hacking, the Yamaha powering past the Kawasaki on the front straight after getting a great drive off the banked oval. Nicky Hayden, meanwhile, was also charging, and he moved around Alexander on the fourth lap to take over third. A lap later he was second, and on the eighth lap he took over the lead with a pass on Hacking going into the bus-stop comer. "I kinda got boxed down off the start there," Hayden said. "The first couple of laps, some guys were going around me and I guess I dropped back to about P-7 (seventh place). I just said, 'I gotta go: A few laps later, 1 started picking those guys off one at a time. Once in turn one, I think (Steve) Crevier tried to stuff (Mat) Mladin and they both ran wide, so I got under both of them. I saw Aaron (Yates) and Jamie (Hacking) up there and I knew those guys had been really quick all weekend and I thought they the podium and take the points, and go on and finish out the season - and maybe get a championship - than bum up a tire and drop out of the top five." Alexander, meanwhile, was using superior cornering speed on the banked oval to hold off the better-accelerating Yamaha of Tommy Hayden and the Kawasaki of Yates, but he could only do it for so long. Tommy Hayden eventually worked his way around Alexander in the best 600cc Supersport ride of his career to take third place on the 17th lap. 'The race went pretty good," Tommy Hayden said. '1 knew it was tough to pass and, starting on the second row, I knew to get on the podium I'd have to get a good start. There's only so much passing you can do out here. I was fourth the first lap and just kinda hooked up with 'em to see what the pace was going to be. I just kinda latched on to 'em for a while. ick (Hayden) came around and I could tell he was on rails, he was the fastest guy out there, and I could tell as soon as he went past. I tried to hook up with him, qut he was able to get through Richie (Alexander) and Aaron (Yates) way before I could. He got away, and then I just started working on Richie and Aaron. Richie was riding awesome and it was really hard for me to get by him. He was really good in the bowl and was making a lot of time on me there. I got him on the brakes for the hairpin." Alexander kept Hayden in sight, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the spot back. Instead, he had to be content with holding off the advances of Yat~ and Oliver, who ended up getting passed by Crevier on the final lap for sixth place.

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