Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

hard," Yates said. Then he fell back to fourth and nearly farther. On the sixth lap, Kawasaki's Tony Meiring nearly took him out, then took himself out a lap later, losing the front end in turn six. "He came in there with a lot of speed and, right at the last minute, I was just letting off the brakes and getting in there and I just barely pumped the brakes a little when I saw him and kind of the stood the thing up," Yates said. "I actually tucked the front pretty good there and I was thinking, 'Man, I guess I'm going to have to get you back for that.' But he did it to himself up there and slid right out of the way." Two corners after Meiring went down, American Honda's Miguel DuHamel fell in the Corkscrew, his return to the 600 wars short-lived. DuHamel, making his first Supersport appearance since Daytona, had been in the early mix, taking the lead from time to time, but riding with his head. "I took the lead a few times and Jamie [Hacking] came by," DuHamel said. "I was trying to be conscious, not doing anything stupid because those guys have a championship on the line, Jamie and [Aaron] Yates and all those guys. I was trying to take the lead because I figured, if I led this thing, they won't have to work too much. Jamie always came back and passed me, so I figured I'd just follow Jamie around." The end came on the seventh lap as he was turning into the Corkscrew. "It's not like I was pushing to stay with him or catch up or whatever, and when I came down the right into the Corkscrew, when the rear started getting weighted - when it started to get weight on it - the rear stepped out," DuHamel said. "It just major-league exited. It got to the side real quick. While Yates led early, it was Jamie Hacking who led when It counted most. The victory was Hacking's second of the season. Nothing I could do really to save it. It threw me up in the air. Definitely had some good air time up there. I saw my bike up there and saw my shadow. So then I just kind of tucked and landed on my back a bit - my shoulder. Banged up my right side." Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden was right behind DuHamel when he fell, narrowly threading his way through. "It was pretty comfortable and I was just hanging there waiting to make a pass on Miguel [DuHamel]. I was probably the closest I'd been to him in the Corkscrew there and, unfortunately, it just snapped around on him pretty fast: Hayden said. "He didn't even get a chance to let off the throttle and I had nowhere to go. His bike and him was chasing me off into the dirt and I just somehow saved it. I was braking pretty hard because his bike was right in front of me and it just stayed right there forever. I hit the dirt and I had to let off the brakes and there was just a little bitty hole and I snaked my way around his bike. r actually got around him and his bike was about to catch me and I had to hit the throttle in the dirt, and somehow I made it through there." It took Hayden a few corners to clear his head and make his way back into third, where he'd finish, about two seconds behind Yates. By then, Yates was beginning to realize that he didn't have anything for Hacking. "I tried to chase down Jamie," Hacking said. "I missed two crashes in one lap, so I felt pretty good about that. I tried to chase down Jamie and he was riding really well. I couldn't make up any ground on him and we got into traffic and then I just wanted to bring the Yoshimura Suzuki home and get some points and work toward that championship." Yates added three points to his lead, now at 54 points, 267-212, over Tommy Hayden, with two rounds to go. Yates has a good chance of clinching the Supersport title at the next round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster is third with 194. Buckmaster spent most of the race being chased by the Hondas of Bruce Transportation Group's Jake Zemke and Erion Honda's Roger Lee Hayden. The Yamaha R6 wasn't working as well in the corners as the Hondas and Buckmaster knew that one of them would come at him. "We're stuck with the same problem I always have, trying to get a AMAILockharc-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series good feel from the front end," he said. "The guys have done everything they can for me: We just don't seem to be able to strike it. We had a really good front-end feel at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, but we haven't been able to duplicate it, unfortunately." Hayden would be the one to pass, on the 15th of 17 laps. Though Buckmaster had a chance to retaliate at the end, thinking better of it. "I'd rather bring it home shiny side up," he said. "They seemed to carry a little more mid-comer speed than me, which seems to be where I'm suffering." Zemke was sixth, finishing on the same second as Hayden and Buckmaster, then a gap to Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore and Ben Spies. eN Mazda Raceway Monterey, California Results: July 12, 2002 [Round 81 PRO HONDA OILS SCIPERSPORT: 1. Jamie Hacking (Suz); 2. Aaron Yates (Suz); 3. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 4. Roger Lee Helyden (Hon); 5. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 6. Jake Zemke (Hon); 7. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 8. Ben Spies (Suz); 9. Anthony Gobert (Yam); 10. Steve Rapp (Suz); 11. Tom Kipp (Suz); 12. Adam Fergusson (Suz); 13. Mike Hale (Hon); 14. Josh H8yes (Suz); 15. Alex Gobert (Hon); 16. Andrew Nelson (Hon); 17. Ty Howard (Suz); 18. Micheel Hannas (Kaw); 19. Mark Ledesma (Hon); 20. Jeffrey Tigert (Suz); 21. Tyler Wadsworth (Yam); 22. Scott Simpson (Kaw); 23. Matt Zurbuchen (Suz); 24. Chris Siglin (Suz); 25. Robert Campbell (Kaw); 26. Kevin Pate (Suz); 27. Hugh Pestes (Suz); 28. Tom Wertman (Suz); 29. Justin Blake (Suz); 30. Patrick Dowd (Suz); 31. Michael Ellsworth (Kaw); 32. Martin Sims (Suz); 33. Daryl Woodward (Yam); 34. Dirk Sanchez (Kaw); 35. Chris Siebenhaer (Han); 36. David Guy (Suz); 37. Alex Florea (Kew); 38. Brian Lowe (Suz); 39. Miguel DuHamel (Han); 40. Tony Meiring (Kaw); 4]. Aaron Gobert (Yam); 42. Jim Filice (Kew); 43. Tyrone Toloy (Hon). Time: 25 mins.. 47.981 sees. Distance: 17 leps, 37.4 miles. Average speed: 88.480 mph. Margin of victory: 8.968 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SCIPERSPORT C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 10 rounds): 1. Aaron Yates (267/4 wins): 2. Tommy Hayden (212/1 win); 3. Damon Buckmaster (194); 4. (TIE) Jamie Hacking (192/2 wins)/Jason Pridmore (192); 6. Tom Kipp (180); 7. Mike H.le (174); 8. J.ke Zemke (173/1 win); 9. Ben Spies (168); 10. Roger Lee Hayden (166); 11. Tony Meiring (138); 12. Ty Howard (131); 13. Alex Gobert (102); 14. Anthony Gobert (88); 15. Tyler Wadsworth (87); 16. Jim Filice (84); 17. Andrew Nelson (7]); ]8. Kevin Pate (61); 19. Jimmy Moore (51); 20. Mich.el Hannas (47). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Lexington, Ohio, July 28 Round 10- Alton, Virginia, August 11 didn't affect Zemke, who sped into the lead at the start and consistently Round 7: Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca inched away from Buckmaster, "smoothing out," as he put it, after the first four laps. "Damon, he had the pressure on me for probably about the first half of the race," Zemke said. "He was right there for sure. I could feel him back there." STORY AND PHOTO BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS MONTEREY, CA, J(JLY 13 1;7 he smallest bike in the field won U the biggest race of the year, proving once again that there is a substituted for cubic inches - talent. Paso Robles, California, native Jake Zemke continued to show that his 2002 demotion back to the Bruce Transportation Group Honda team from the Erion Honda team may not have been the wisest racing decision. Not when he came to Mazda Raceway at Laguna Sec a as the only Honda rider to win a Pro Honda Oils Supersport race, and left Monterey as the first and only Honda rider to win a Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme race on the new Honda CBR954RR - and with the championship points lead. Plus, he made it look easy. "It seemed like I was just on a Sunday cruise out there," Zemke said, after beating the Yamaha Rlmounted Damon Buckmaster of the Graves Motorsports Yamaha team by 8.641 seconds early on Saturday evening. "When the bike's working that good, it makes it easy to come out on top." Because of a pair of red-flag stoppages in the earlier AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike race, the Formula Xtreme event was moved from 1:30 p.m. to 5: 10 p.m. The delay eye' e n e _ S • JULY 24, 2002 23

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