Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship Round 1 0, Road America AMAIPro Honda Oils Supersport Round 6, Road America By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON ElKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 9 9 the line it went, Blirnpie/YoshimuI'll Suzuki's Aaron Yates emerging from a five-rider pack to shade Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster at the stripe, officially by 0.011 of a second, to win the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race late on a warm morning at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. A blink of the eye later, Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden sped by in third, with Bruce Transportation Group's Jake Zemke a close fourth in front of Kawasaki's Tony Meiring. "I was a little concerned about the guys coming up behind us, just thinking about the end of the race and making a move for the win," Yates said after crashing his Suzuki GSXR600 while celebrating his fourth victory of the year with a smoky burnout on the front straight. "It all worked out for me." Buckmaster earned his first Supersport podium, but wanted more. "I just tried to stay as close to Aaron [Yates] as I could because he put in such a blinder on that last lap, I thought, anyway," Buckmaster said. "We just missed it in the end. Next time." The win gave Yates a little more breathing room in his quest for the Supersport crown. With four rounds remaining, Yates leads Hayden by 55 points, 205-150, with Buckmaster moving into third at 143. Great tracks produce great racing, and this was a great race. No one was getting away, not in this company, so Yates was patient. Hayden, Buckmaster, Yates, and Jamie Hacking were out front at the start, with Buckmaster taking the lead on the second lap, with Hayden back in front on the third, the top 10 closing up nose to tail. Hayden crossed the line in front for several laps, though he rarely held the point for an entire lap. Buckmaster was pestering and moved by on the fourth lap, again on the fifth lap, and again on the sixth lap. By now, Kawasaki's Meiring was thick in the mix, his ZX-6 the class of the field. "That little Tony dude, his bike was better than all of them, "II tell you that," Yates would later say. Yates was sitting back, watching, waiting, saving his tires. "It was hooked up real well through the Carousel," Yates said. "( noticed early on in the race, even when the tires were good, I could carry a little more speed through there. That helped a good bit there because I could get a real good drive off of there. Towards the end, it really started showing because I almost run over Tommy one time there." Hayden led lap seven, soon to be passed by teammate Meiring, who was leading a Supersport race for the first time. "I knew I had straightaway speed, so ( wasn't too worried about it, but I wanted to get up and run with the leaders," Meiring said. "I wanted to follow them and pick up to their pace so I know what it's going to be like. I've never ran that fast, ever. I wanted to get up with them and kind of follow and lead a little bit. I saw Tommy [Hayden] up there and I wanted to run with him because I know he's on the Tommy Hayden (22) led a lot of laps from Yates (20). Tony Meiring (56) and Damon Buckmaster (hidden). but Yates led the lap that counted most. 14 JUNE 19, 2002' cue •• n e _ s Aao.-V.... '8.d .llInpnt ,.a ...... ... . . eoooc •••• rwln· .... same bike and I know he takes the same line. 1 just sort of picked them off one by one." Then he got into the lead and, "That was kind of like, 'Whoa, I've never been up here before," he said. "It was pretty cool. I liked leading, but I just kind of just started losing the front a little bit." That would put him at a disadvantage when Zemke came calling. Meiring led through turn one, holding it until turn five when Hayden retook the lead, and Yates went into second, soon to draft by with a strong move out of the Carousel for the lead. Lap nine began with Yates in the lead in front of Buckmaster, Hayden using a double draft to take the lead in tum one, then Buckmaster in front in turn three, Zemke in front of Meiring from the end of the eighth lap. Braking for turn five, Yates took back the lead, with Hayden in front of Buckmaster and Zemke, and Meiring holding on. "I just decided it would be best if I finished the race and didn't crash," Meiring said. "The last couple of laps, I got some front-end pushes and didn't want to crash." As the final lap began, it was Yates in front across the line, wiggling to break the draft as Buckmaster and Hayden crossed the stripe behind him side-by-side, Zemke in their wake. Unlike the previous nine laps, there'd be no passing this time. Yates protected his lines in all the vulnerable spots, didn't make any critical mistakes, and held on for the win. "The whole last lap, I tried to be on the inside going into Canada Corner III down there or to the right, to where if somebody drafted up around me, they'd have to go to the left and they'd be on the outside through the turn," Yates said. "Just tried to do everything right." Buckmaster said that he'd been struggling with setup this year and that he hadn't ridden 600s long enough to keep up the pace. That, and a minor shifter problem, was his undoing. "It was such a tight race between the guys," Buckmaster said. "Tony [Meiring] stuck his nose in there for a little bit. I didn't know how many guys were coming behind him. 1 just tried to go as fast as 1 could anywhere 1 could. 1 wasn't trying to save any tires or anything. The gearshift lever, the rubber came off the bike, my gear-lever height wasn't really where it normally was and my foot kind of kept slipping off under braking and downshifting, so I really couldn't go as hard as liked on the brakes.' Hayden led the most laps, but not the one that counted. He said his day, "Went pretty good so far, except for the last two laps." Hayden said he seemed like he had things under control. "At the end, I knew Aaron [Yates] was there, Damon [Buckmaster] was there, the guys I seen the most," he said. "I was just trying not to get caught off-guard and stay in the right spot, that's exactly what went wrong. I got back a little too far with two laps to go and Aaron [Yates] picked the pace up a little through the infield and I made a few mistakes and let him get away a little bit. I knew it

• Cover