Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

didn't have time to sort it out. He finished eighth. The top privateer was White Tip Racing's Brian Parriott on Sunday, just nipping Arclight Suzuki's Craig Connell at the line. Cruise America's Jason DiSalvo was ninth on Saturday, best of the privateers, but he crashed on Sunday. next guy's coming because I knew he was coming and you just didn't want to end up slamming somebody in the back out there, or having to get on the brakes and having somebody hit you." DuHamel used lappers to his advantage with a move by Hayden, who'd only a few turns earlier taken the lead as they entered Canada Corner, a hard-braking right-hander, in traffic. The Hondas were out front with Bostrom and Yates next, Mladin riding his own race, now free of the Ducatis. Chandler had gotten away from Picotte, even though his rear tire felt like it had spun on the rim. "I hoped for the best," Chandler said, joking that "maybe it would wear itself round." For the next two laps, they were closer together. A clear track meant the draft wouldn't be broken on the long runs, the order not changing until the 15th lap, when Yates went past Bostrom as he ran wide in turn five, the uphill left leading to the Toyota Bridge. Taking the white flag, it was DuHamel leading Hayden, Yates, and Bostrom. Hayden caught a lapper in turn one, momentarily slowing his drive. He caught back up to DuHamel in turn five, DuHamel making a mistake but still able to power out in the lead, with Yates third, and Bostrom fourth. "Into turn five, I messed up. I was trying to protect the inside and I don't know if there was less grip there or what, but I just couldn't stop the bike, but I think Nicky did the same thing also," DuHamel said. Hayden made a low-percentage pass in turn six, getting sideways and letting DuHamel take it right back. DuHamel had more than half a lap to hold on and protected the line in Canada Corner, one of the more frequent passing zones. "In Canada Corner, I went in tight and I couldn't stop the bike, so instead of using second in that corner, I went into first gear, but there was some lapped riders protecting RACE ONE DuHamel (171 ended up beating Hayden (891 by Just 0.069 of a second on Sunday. Sunday's race was run in record time, DuHamel winning the 10-lap, 40-mile race in 34 minutes, 43.211 seconds, at an average speed of 110.599 mph. The previous mark of 109.999 mph was set by Mat Mladin last year. Hayden's fourth on Saturday was a gift to Bostrom and Yates. Entering the final corner on the last lap, Hayden ran up on DuHamel in lapped traffic and had to take evasive action. He moved quickly to the right, but that let the other two past, and he was off the podium. "I was right there, but didn't really have anything special for him," Hayden said. "The last lap, he gave me a couple of opportunities and I didn't capitalize on them. It's a little bit frustrating to be right there and end up fourth, especially when I had such a good shot to win." Bostrom said that, on Sunday, his ZX- 7 was a handful from the start. "A few times, I had both ends step out just dumping into the kink," Bostrom said. "And I was like, you know what I've got to watch out here because this thing is going to bite me if I keep trying too hard." The weekend's results added to Hayden's points total. With six races remaining, he leads Bostrom by 40 points, 313-273. Yates is third at 260. Like Bostrom, Yates didn't have the machinery to keep up on Sunday. "Without them pulling me along, I can't go that fast," Yates said of the fleet of Honda RC-51s. "It's just because of the straightaway and the speed. " Jake Zemke had a successful Superbike debut at Road America, riding in place of the injured Kurtis Roberts. The Bruce Transportation Group rider, running in the colors of Erion Honda, made the best of his one-shot deal. Cautious on Saturday, with the more-important Formula Xtreme race later in the day, he fin- ished eighth. Emboldened on Sunday, he rode to fifth. "The boys made some changes [to the Erion Honda RC-51] and got me a lot more comfortable," Zemke said about Sunday's finish. "It allowed me to feel the front end, mostly." Front-end feel was a problem for a number of riders. Blimpie/Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin was fifth on Saturday but pulled in to the pits on the 11 th lap on Sunday when his Suzuki GSX-R750 became unrideable. "After starting the race well, things began to get worse once the rear tire began to lose grip," Mladin said. "The bike then got to a point where I had no feeling back through the suspension and it was extremely difficult to ride. I pushed on as hard as I could but had a whole bunch of big moments through the fourth-gear kink that weren't very pleasant. That section is lined with Armco fencing and, when you are going through there on a bike that is out of shape, it doesn't feel that good." HMC Ducati's Doug Chandler carded a pair of sixths. Saturday, he was out of the hunt, but Sunday he was strong, running with the leaders until third distance when front-end chatter caused a lack of grip. "I had no exit grip, no driving speed," he said. "That thing was a handful." The Hondas got the jump on the 42-rider field, DuHamel and Hayden leading the way from Bostrom, Hacking and Yates. Within a few laps, those five had started to clear out and battles were forming down the field, Mladin in with the Ducatis of Picotte and Chandler, with Zemke finding his way in his first-ever Superbike race. The first four laps ended with a different leader and fluidity in spots one through five. Bostrom was in charge on the sixth and seventh laps and Hayden the eighth through 11 th, with no one holding any distinct advantage. First out was Hacking, when a tankslapper forced his brake pads back into the calipers and he was brakeless entering turn one. The ordeal began as he was accelerating up the hill out of the final corner. Coming up fast on teammate Yates, he swerved out of the way, the bike going 'into a vicious wobble. The first stab at the brakes brought nothing, the second, more urgent grab locked the front wheel. "I kind of had brake fade and forgot to pump the brakes going into turn one," Hacking said, describing the crash as the "scariest ever." Bostrom took over on lap 12, the order constantly shuffling, even more so as they ran into heavy traffic. The lappers would help decide the race, but, for now, the mission of the frontrunners was survival - getting through them without incident - which was sometimes easier said than done. "Through the trees [on the back straightaway], you're all tucked in inline and everybody's searching for every little bit of draft they can get off anybody," Yates said. "I'm like sitting up looking over everybody's shoulder trying to figure out when the Hacking (92) does battle with Doug Chandler (101 and Zemke (98). The second Ducati, of Austin/Bleu Bayou Ducati's Pascal Picotte, had its share of problems. Clutch, tires, suspension, and ignition, all acted up on Saturday. He claimed seventh, the same position he'd earn on Sunday, when the only problem was a misfire that was correctible. Yoshimura Suzuki's Jamie Hacking had a tough outing. On Saturday, he crashed in turn one after losing his front brakes. The rough ride began with a tankslapper driving to the finish line that knocked his brake pucks back. When he went to reach for the brakes, there was nothing. The second pull was too aggreSSive and he went down in a heap. The team had to build a new motorcycle for him on Sunday and cue •• n _ _ lIS • JUNE 19. 2002 9

• Cover