Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(From left to right) Kurtis Roberts, Nicky Hayden and Miguel DuHamel gang up on Nicky's father, Earl, during the champagne celebration. The one-two-three Honda finish in the Superbike National was the first for the manufacturer since 1986, when Wayne Rainey, Fred Merkel and Bubba Shobert finished on the podium together at Laguna Seca. white flag and I passed him there. I knew right then that I was at a little bit of a disadvantage." Hayden agreed. "There toward the end I just wanted to try to get back up there, and going into two, Kurtis [Roberts] went by me and I kind of set up just hoping that's what he would do and he went by me and I was pretty happy to see that and I think as soon I did he realized it wasn't such a good idea," Hayden said. DuHamel was a bit down on power and had little traction and knew it would take something special to beat his teammates. "The bike was working okay and just didn't have any grip from the moment the flag went green," DuHamel said. "I was trying, really trying, to save my tire because I was in pretty big peril every time out there. I looked smooth, but I was really terrified. I was just trying to stay in contention through one and get back through one and two." Two separate fights would emerge; Hayden vs. Roberts and DuHamel vs. Hacking. Hayden on the final lap: "I followed him to the end and 1 drafted him up the front just like I wanted to and then the last lap we just went back and forth a few times and coming into the last corner 1 had the race won and I really should have just protected and got in really deep, but to be honest with you I didn't do the last corner like I should have. I felt like 1 got in way too easy, I should have felt like 1 had the race, but once Kurtis got by I just tried to stay calm and square him back up." What helped, Hayden said, was that he felt he had the fastest bike out there. Roberts was in no mood to disagree. It was the third race he'd lost at Brainerd in the final corner. "I've lost this race here three times now in the last corner, so it's kind of frustrating, but Nicky did a great job and Miguel and we'll go on from here," he said. DuHamel lamented his lack of power and grip. Down the front straight the tire was slipping and Hayden, Roberts, and Hacking could pull him three bikelengths on the straight. "It just made my job that much harder," DuHamel said. "I wanted to at least be in there, but I was really surprised to have the bike work not as good as it'd been working all weekend. Maybe a temperature change or something happened." He was in for third, aware that Hacking had his sights on victory when he passed him on the final lap. Like the fight for the win, it came down to a sprint to the flag, only this AMAlPro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series Round B: Colonels Brainerd International Raceway Streaker By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTO BY BRIAN J. NELSON BRAINERD, MN, JULY 29 he lead changed hands four times on the final lap, a frisson of excitement at the end of a classic battle that had raged throughout. There were five riders for much of the race, two emerging as the strongest, with neither willing to concede an inch. Fittingly, it came down to the final corner, then the drag race to the finish line, the 39mile race decided in less than 100 yards and then by a few feet_ American Honda's Miguel DuHamel T won the race to the line, edging Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom by one tenth of a second. Bostrom had fiercely challenged DuHamel on the final lap, passing him twice, though unable to hold it. Once DuHamel got in front for the final time, Bostrom was resigned to second. "I knew he was getting good drives out of the Bus Stop and it was going to take a bit of a mistake out of him just getting it done in the last corner," Bostrom said. There was no mistake and DuHamel, who'd led every lap, had his second Pro Honda Oils 600cc Super- time, the rider in back, DuHamel, came out the winner. "We were side by side, elbow to elbow through a lot of corners, really safe, really beautiful race and it was really exciting considering the condition the tires where everybody was slipping a lot," DuHamel said. "It was pretty spectacular and to get him by one one-thousandth. I was looking just in case you guys got it wrong, but it was close." "I just knew that he was going to be on me coming into there," Hacking said of the final turn. "I got a pretty decent drive. I knew he was there. Just come off of that last corner, just run it down in there just a little too hard and got out there wide and just couldn't get back to the throttle soon enough and sure enough he come up the inside of me." Next came Bostrom and Rapp, with Kawasaki's Doug Chandler alone for much of the race in seventh and struggling with grip problems. He'd watched Bostrom and Hacking ease away and was impressed they had tire left at the end. "My tire was used up. Definitely marginal grip," Chandler said. Ducatis came next, HMC's Andreas Meklau besting Competitionaccessories.com's Larry Pegram. The pair had swapped the spot back and forth the whole race, Meklau stealing' it on the final lap. "I had to fight hard to catch him, especially off the straight as I was still uncertain about turn one and what was the best line," Meklau said. "I wasn't completely happy with my bike's set-up, but we just ran out of practice time to get it right." Pegram was hampered by power problems that the team was at a loss to explain. "The data shows that I'm down on power in the straightaway, but we just -can't find the solution," he said. "These next weeks will give us time to hopefully find and solve the problem." Yamaha's Tommy Hayden was 1Oth with the Harleys a not surprising 11th and 12th, given their horsepower deficit. Pascal Picotte finished in front of Mike Smith. CN sport win in a row for the first time in four years. The last time he won back-to-back 600cc Supersport races was at Mid-Ohio and Pike's Peak in 1997. It was also DuHamel's 40th 600cc Supers port win, more than triple the number of second best on the career list. "I knew Eric was right on me because I could hear the thing running real loud behind me, but the 600, I think if you're in front, unless you make a mistake, especially myself, my bike runs really strong," DuHamel said after his fourth win here, the first coming back in 1993. DuHamel came away with more than just the win. He gained maximum points for the weekend, adding the pole position and lap leader points to his victory count. With Yamaha's Anthony Gobert third, 4.271 seconds back, DuHamel moved into second in the championship and narrowed the gap on Bostrom to 19 points, 224205, with Gobert now at 197. Three cue I e Colonel's Brainerd ~ntemalional Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Results; July 29, 2001 [Round 11) SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: I. Mat Mladln (135.320): 2. M;guel DuHamel (1:36.073): 3. Nicky Hayden (1:36.270); 4. Kurtis Roberts (1:36.694); 5. Edc Bostrom (1 :36.820); 6. Steve Rapp (1 :37.187); 7. Doug Chandler (1:37.233); 8. Jamie Hacking (1:37.386); 9. Andreas Meklau (1:37.469); 10. Tommy Hayden (1:37.745); 11. Anthony Gobert (1:37.857); 12. Larry Pegram (1:37.879); 13. Pascal Picotte (138.688): 14. Jordan Szoke (1:40.317); 15. Jimmy Moore (1:41.044); 16. Greg Fryer (1:41.148); 17. Robert Jensen (1 :41.178); 18. Mike Smith (1 :41.262); 19. Andrew Deatherage (1 :41.959); 20. Richard Alexander (1:42.494); 21. Tony Meiring (1 :42.910); 22. Vincent Haskovec (1 :43.053); 23. Randall Mennenga (1 :43.631); 24. Anthony Lupo (1:43.957); 25. Dean Mizdal (1:44.318); 26. Steve Johnson (1 :44.604); 27. Roger Hendricks (1:45.134); 28. Mauro Cereda (1:45.141); 29. Eric Erling Haugo (1 :45.493); 30. Eric Dooyemll (:45.600); 31. Mike Walsh (1 :46.133): 32. Ken Krebs (1 :46.253); 33. Scott Hermersmann (1:46.702). SUPERBIKE: 1. Nicky Hayden (Hon); 2. Kurtis Roberts (Hon); 3. Miguel Duhamel (Hon); 4. Jamie Hacking (Suz); 5. Eric Bostrom (Kaw); 6. Steve Rapp (Due); 7. Doug Chandler (Kaw); 8. Andreas Meklau (Due); 9. Larry Pegram (Due); 10. Tommy Hayden (Yam); 11. Pascal Picotte (H-D); 12. Michael Smith (H-D); 13. Andrew Deatherage (Suz); 14. Greg Fryer (Yam); 15. Tony Meiring (Suz); 16. Vincent Haskovec (Suz); 17. Mauro Cereda (Suz); 18. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 19. Randall Mennenga (Suz); 20. Anthony Lupo (Suz); 21. Steve Johnson (Apr); 22. Eric Erling Haugo (Suz); 23. Ken Krebs (Suz); 24. Roger Hendricks (Suz); 25. Scott Hermersmann (Suz); 26. Eric Dooyema (Suz); 27. Jordan Szoke (H-D); 28. Mike Walsh (Yam); 29. Robert Jensen (Suz); 30. Mat MJadin (Suz). Time: 34 min., 26.692 sec. Distance: 21 laps, 63 miles. Average speed: 109.727 mph. Margin of victory: 0.005 sec. AMA SOPERBIKE NATIONAL C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 11 of 14 rounds): 1. Mat Mladin (332/4 wins); 2. Eric Bostrom (312/2); 3. Nicky Hayden (265/2): 4. Doug Chandler (263): 5. Miguel DuHamel (251); 6. Tommy Hayden (249); 7. Jamie Hacking (243/1); 8. Steve Rapp (220); 9. Kurtis Roberts (199); 10. Andreas Meklau (193); 11. Michael Smith (188); 12. Larry Pegram (179); 13. Jordan Szoke (170); 14. Aaron Yates (155); 15. Andrew Deatherage (135); 16. Pascal Picotte (134); 17. Mauro Cereda (129); 18. Anthony Gobert (126/1); 19. Dean Mizdal (95); 20. Tony Meiring (86). Upcoming Rounds: Round 12 - Fountain, Colorado, August 26 Round 13 - Rosamond, California, September 16 races rema in. DuHamel completed the 13-lap, 39-mile race in 22 minutes, 5.088 seconds, not quite up to Bostrom's record pace from a year ago. In fact, none of the races on the weekend were run in record time, most putting it down to a green track. When the starter's light went green, DuHamel bolted from his pole position in a flash. Getting away from a pack of equally matched 600cc Supersport machines is nearly impossible at Brainerd, the drafting on the long front straight the great equalizer. But DuHamel was determined and ever so slightly eked out lead on a pack of four pursuers. "I broke away, but not quite enough," DuHamel said. "It's not like I n e _ os • AUGUST 8, 2001 15

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