Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

score his first win was to disappear, which he did - twice. The first disappearing act came by way of his dominance of the first four laps. The 18year-old Califomian had a 2.73-second lead starting the fifth lap. "I had a plan," Meiring said. "I wanted to lead going into turn one and maybe try to get a break for it because I knew my bike was working really well through the infield. I knew Jake [Zemke] was going really good through the infield this morning. So I wanted to try to lead through there and I wanted to lead on the front straight, because I knew my bike was running really well." Meiring disappeared for the second time when he slid off the track in turn eight after hitting a bump. "I went into tum eight and caught that sealer stuff and tucked the front," he said. "It's just something that happens." By then, Hayden and Zemke had separated themselves from the field, holding 1.5 seconds on Yates, though Zemke had a bit of a scare. "Shoot, on the second or third lap, my bike started spitting anti-freeze up onto the windscreen right into my face, and I'm going, 'This isn't good, '" he said. "The bikes were just boiling in this heat and this humidity. I tried to forget about it, put it out of my mind." The lead pair continued to edge away, Hayden mostly the leader, with Zemke in front ending the eighth lap. "At one point, I made a pass on him and led for maybe a lap or something, and then he passed me right back," Zemke said. "I was just content to follow him really. His bike was really strong coming off the corners." Though he was out front, and controlling the race, Hayden wasn't comfortable. "I mean, I really had to push harder than I wanted to run his pace through the infield," Hayden said. "I could do it, but it wasn't a lot of fun. I was having to get in some big slides in the front and didn't have a lot of confidence at that speed." The race, Zemke realized, would come down to the last lap. He knew he'd have to make his move before the turn-nine bus stop, so he drafted by on the inside in tum two. "My bike was good right at the end of the straightaway, and it felt like it was pretty good through turn one and two as well," Zemke said. "It seemed like I could gain a bit of ground through that area of the track." Hayden was having none of it, happy to see the move and taking it back in turn three. "I was actually kind of happy he passed me there because I thought that maybe he wouldn't pass me until turn three," Hayden said. "So, when he passed me there, I knew I would have an easier opportunity braking into three rather than the rest of the infield. I was happy to get back by there and at least lead into the infield, because I knew he'd definitely have to make a good pass to get by in the infield." The pair went side by side in turns four and five, Zemke making the decisive move in tum six. "Going into six, I really struggled there all week," Hayden said. "I was having problems. Toward the end of the race my infield speed slowed down a lot. Once the tires went off a little, I was pushing the front bad. He just got under me and I knew that I kind of squared him up and had a run into the next turn - I guess that's seven - but just didn't quite get there. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle from there. I got close coming up the last stretch but really wasn't close enough." "I knew on the last lap if I wasn't in front of him by the bus stop I wasn't going to be able to get him," Zemke said. "He was good on the brakes in the last corner and his bike was strong enough out of the last comer to where I couldn't do anything with him. I knew if I was going to have a chance I had to do it before we got to the bus stop. Lucky for us, it worked out." Yates was at the front of the Suzuki battle on lap 10, Pridmore slipping back to sixth with Hacking to fourth, in front of Buckmaster. Yates had been using different lines, running near the wall on the front straight and well wide between nine and 10. "There on the back I was just trying to throw a little dust and rocks up on in the guy's faces behind me," Yates said. Having lost the draft early on, Yates knew he didn't have the motor to race for the win. "I knew there wasn't no chance of winning," Yates said. "Our bikes, when it gets hot, they really seem to get hot and today was a good example. It was a hot day, you go pretty good in the mornings when it's cool, but when it's hot they seem to lose a little power. "I don't know if anybody's taking a stopwatch to see how long it takes to get from the end of the straightaway to the other end of the straightaway," he said after being told he'd finished 4.5 seconds behind the leaders. "That's probably part of it right there. Add it up times 13 and it's probably a lot more than 4.5 seconds." From Yates in third to Buckmaster in sixth, the gap was less than. 7 of a second. Pridmore was fifth, with Hacking sixth on a bent Suzuki GSXR600. "See how choppered the front-end looks?" Hacking said, pointing to his machine post-race. "It looks like a damned chopper. I had to ride that. I was lucky to do what I did." cue' e Hacking (21. Yates (201. Damon Buckmaster (61. Jason Pridmore (431 and Roger Lee Hayden (951 couldn't match the pace of the leaders. but Yates continues to lead the points standings over Tommy Hayden. 234183. The damage had come in a crash on the last lap of qualifying, when he hit a bump and lost the front end in turn four. Buckmaster said the team still had some handling issues that seemed to disappear once he was in the serum. "I thought if we can keep this up it would be pretty good," he said. Ultimately, he was losing a lot of mid-corner speed. "The top speed's fine, just a handling issue that I've got in the middle of the turn," he said. "This is kind of uncharacteristic, because we've been able to fix that problem in races past, and we seemed to really struggle to fix it this weekend." eN ....1 ..... 11Iterutio1lal1lKewey ....iDWd, Mlaneuta ....Its: Jane 3D, ZD12 lllound 71 PRO HONDA OILS SCIPERSPORT: 1. Joke Zemke (Hon): 2. Tommy Hoyden (Kow): 3. Aoron Yetes «Suz); 4. JlIson Pridmore (Suz); 5. Jamie Hacking (SUl); 6. Demon Buckmester (Yam); 7. Roger Lee Hoyden (Hon); 8. Ben Spies (Suz); 9. Tom Kipp (Suz); 10. Mike Hale (Hon); 11. Ty Howard (Suz); 12. Andrew Nelson (Hon); 13. Jim Filice (Kow); 14. Joson Hobbs (Su.); 15. Tyler Wodsworth (Yam); 16. Micheel Hennas (K21w): 17. Scott Ruehle (Yam); 18. DZlVid Wappler (Hon): 19. Sean Mowry (Yam); 20. Kevin Pate (Suz); 21. Kevin Lehmen (Hon): 22. Mett Prentice (Yem); 23. Juslin Bleke (Suz); 24. Heetor Romero (Yem); 25. Tim Mitchell (Suz); 26. Martin Sims (Suz): 27. Jessica Zelusky (Suz); 28. Tony Meiring (Kew). Time: 22 mins., 23.111 sees. Distance: 13 laps, 39 miles. Average speed: 104.553 mph. Margin of victory: 0.243 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SCIPERSPORT C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 7 of 10 rounds): 1. Aaron Yetes (234/4 wins); 2. Tommy Hoyden (183/1); 3. (TIE) Jason Pridmore/Demon Buckmaster (168); 5. Tom Kipp (160); 6. M;ke Hele (156); 7. Jomle Hocking (155); 8. Joke 2emke (148); 9. Ben Spies (145); 10. R0ger Lee Hoyden (139); 11. Tony Meiring (138); 12. Ty Howord (117); 13. Alex Gobert (86); 14. Jim FIlice (84); 15. Tyler Wedsworth (77); 16. Anthony Gobert (66); 17. (TIE) Kevin Pate/Andrew Nelson (56); 19. Jimmy Moore (51); 20. Justin Bloke (43). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Monterey, California, July 13 Round 9 - Lexington, Ohio, July 28 n e _ s • JULv10,2002 13

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