Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hacking completed the first lap in seventh, stalled in fifth for six laps before passing Spies on lap 10 and getting that much closer to the front. "I saw [Damon] Buckmaster coming back towards me and kept doing my own thing and just kept riding smooth and saw that he kept running wide in a few places," Hacking said. "I was going to plan on getting him the lap before the last lap. 1 caught him going off into seven, 1 run off in there a little deep and run off the track there back in the back. He got a little gap back on me. As soon as he got down in the esses, he caught some guy, a lapper, and that enabled me to pull back on the back of him. I was all over him over the top of the hill over here and 1 was just going to sit behind him and see if he'd make a mistake and plan on jumping on him down in turn seven. He caught up to a lapped guy going into the carousel. I don't know what he did, but he just backed off. The guy was way over on the outside and Buckmaster just let off. 1don't know if he thought the guy was going to come down on him. When he did that, I just drove up the inside of him real easy." Buckmaster said his race came down to tires. Sustaining the early pace, run with Gobert, wasn't possible once the tires wore down. "I think we need to work on our setup a little better," Buckmaster said after finishing fourth, 0.7 of a second behind Hacking. "I've been suffering with that a little bit. We're getting there, but unfortunately the races have become our test sessions." Once the eventual leaders made their way through, four riders ended up contesting fifth. Spies hung on to the spot after losing touch with the early frontrunners, whom he didn't expect to be up with at all. "I didn't think I'd be up with Gobert and Buckmaster as long as I was," Spies said. "I started going slower through the carousel and I was losing half a second a lap. I knew Yates and Hacking were catching me a little bit. If they did come by, I knew it would be a battle. Yates came by and I braked with him, which was probably a mistake because I ran wide. Then Hacking got by me and I just circulated to the end pretty much." There were a few problems for Spies. He was having front-end problems in the downhill carousel turn six, and he was tiring. "It might have been my body position," he said. "I think I was moving around a little too much. Making the bike unsteady." Spies was 9.062 seconds behind Yates, with the next three riders covered by just over two-tenths of a second. The first of the next was Jake Zemke, with Hale and Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden in his shadow. "I don't think my bike setup was good enough to run up front today," Zemke said after finishing as the first Honda. "I think, overall, I had my bike too soft. This is the hottest it's been. It worked good in the morning, but it's so much hotter now. I think it was just too soft for what the tires were doing. With the temperatures coming up, it just wasn't there." Zemke said he enjoyed the battle with Hale, who was never in front of him at the finish line. "He kept passing me going into 11 and then I'd repass him," Zemke said. Like Zemke, Hale said his Honda F4i wasn't as good in the afternoon as it was in the cooler morning. "I really had my hands full in the afternoon," Hale said. After Hayden came more Suzukis, Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore in ninth, two seconds in front of Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's. Tom Kipp, who'd gotten the holeshot, then was slowed by rear-tire problems. eN Sears Paint Raceway Sonoma, Califamia Results: May 6, 2002 (Round 3 of 10J PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT: I. Aaron Yetes (5uz); 2. Anthony Gobert (Vern); 3. Jamie Hacking (Suz); 4. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 5. ~ Spies (5uz); 6. Jake Zemke (Hon); 7. Mike Hale (Hon); 8. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 9. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 10. Tom Kipp (Su,); JI. Tony Meiring (Kaw); 12. Brilln Parriott (Hon); 13. Jimmy Moore (Suz); 14. Ty Howard (Suz); J5. Owen Weichel (Kaw); 16. Alex Gobert (Hon); 17. Owen Richey (Yam); 18. Clint McBain (Suz); 19. Jim Filice (Kaw); 20. JlI50n Perez (Suz); 21. Robert Campbell (Ka.,); 22. Justin Blake (Su,); 23. Tyler Wadsworth (Yam); 24. Scott Simpson (KlIw); 25. Kevin Pate (5uz); 26. Chris Siglin (Suz); 27. Daryl Woodword (Yom); 28. Hugh Pestes (Su,); 29. Todd Costley (Yom); 30. Dirk Sanchez (Kew): 31. Michael Fellsworth (KlIw); 32. Chris Siebenhllllr (Hon); 33. Chris Velarde (KlIw); 34. Brilln Lowe (Suz); 35. Michllel ~ntonio (Yam); 36. Hector Romero (Yam); 37. Dale Plilmer (YlIm); 38. KlItjll Poensgen (Suz); 39. Michllel Hannas (Kaw). Time: 25 min., 39.242 sec. Distance: 16 laps, 37.12 miles. Average speed: 94.301 mph. Margin of victory: 2.023 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 3 of 10 rounds): 1. AtJron Ylites (110{3 .,ins); 2. Jamie Hockin9 (81); 3. Domon Buckmllster (79); 4. Ben Spies (73); 5. Mike Hale (70); 6. Jason Pridmore (69); 7. Anthony Gobert (66); 8. Tom Kipp (64); 9. Tony Meiring (59); 10. Joke Zemke (58); 11. Tommy Hoyden (52); 12. Jimmy Moore (51); 13. Alex Gobert (48): 14. Ty Howord (40); 15. Roger Lee Hoyden (39); 16. Owen Richey (35); 17. Nicky Hayden (33); 18. Mi9uel DuHlImel (29); 19. (TIE) Tyler Wadsworth/Clint McBain (28). Upcoming Results; Round 4 - Brasetton, Georgia, May 19 Round 5 - Fountain, Colorado, June 2 Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Round 2: Sears Point Raceway -------------- SONOMA, CA, MAY 5 t wasn't quite flag-to-f1ag, but it was about as close as it comes. Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster took the lead from Erion Honda's Jake Zemke on the second lap and took off. The Australian, who'd earlier earned the pole position, ran a consistent, fast pace, gradually easing away from the race for second en route to his second Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme race win in two tries. "Jake [Zemke] was riding really good at the start and I thought it might go all the way to the finish, because I didn't think I could probably go any faster than that," Buckmaster said, "but then the opportunity came to pass him, so I took advantage of that. Just set a consistent, normal pace that I felt I could do the whole race, and I could until the mid-point, which was really good, but then I started hitting some lapped markers and the lap times went down." With the exception of the annoyance of the lappers, who didn't really matter because of the lead he'd built up, Buckmaster's ride was a walk in I Damon Buckmaster was the class of the field In the Formula Xtreme final, winning for a second successive race to keep his perfect season intact. the hills on a sunny day at Sears Point Raceway. "You can't do much about it unless you really jam them," Buckmaster said of the backmarkers. "So, fortunately, I had a bit of time on Jake [Zemke] and Marty [Craggill - Buckmaster's teammate for three years in Australia], which allowed me to just calm down and get around them when I safely could and go for it." Zemke led the first lap and kept Buckmaster honest for the next several. Then, on about the fifth lap, Buckmaster began to ease away, holding over four seconds at the halfway point in the 16-lap, 37.12mile race. With Zemke caught from behind by Australian Marty CraggilJ, riding the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki in place of the injured Josh Hayes, and Erion Honda's Mike Hale, Buckmaster was able to grow his lead to 5.325 seconds by the finish. Having won the season-opener at California Speedway, Buckmaster has near-maximum points, 75 - 14 better than Zemke after two of nine rounds. Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore, sixth today, is third at 58. Zemke and CraggiJl sparred for second in the first half of the race, Zemke taking it firmly back on the eighth lap and holding it to the end. Zemke knew Craggill was a threat; he could hear him in turns seven and 1 ] . "I definitely knew he was right on me the whole time," Zemke said. e U e I e It wasn't until the last lap that Zemke rode defensively, and then for no reason. He would finish over 1.8 seconds in front of Craggill. "When you're in a battle like that, you kind of always have to protect the inside, so you're maybe not taking the best lines - the fastest lines you're trying to make sure you hit your marks because you're so even," Zemke said. Cragill's main worry wasn't Zemke, but Hale. The Texan said he's continuing to get more comfortable in the racing environment and he looked it, though he had a problem early in the race getting the front end planted at the corner entries. He had to scrap his way up to challenge for third, n e _ os • MAY 15. 2002 21

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