Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Pro Honda Oils Supersport Round 10: Virginia International Raceway defensive, but I was putting in as hard of a lap as I could consistently." For Pridmore, the race marked a return to the Supersport podium for the first time since Phoenix in February of 1998. "It feels great - I mean, I'm old, man," Pridmore said. "This is hard work for me racing with these guys. You know, it's just my team, I can't say enough about them. My Attack Suzuki crew - Carl and everybody involved with the team just gave me a good bike today. We've been really concentrating on Formula Xtreme the last two weekends, and we were able to finish fourth and third without really thinking about the 600. Maybe I should've done that all year. I don't know. It was just one of those rides today where a couple people had some attrition involved there, and we were able to put it on the podium. It's nice. I think the last time I was on the podium was four years ago or something like that." Yamaha teammates Anthony Gobert and Damon Buckmaster rounded out the top five, Gobert still suffering the lingering effects of a broken ankle, and Buckmaster with a sore right hand from a crash on his Xtreme bike earlier in the weekend. "My hand didn't really come into play," Buckmaster said. "I think I hit a couple of curbs and got a bit squirrelly and wrenched it a couple of times, but it really wasn't a factor and we had a good gap on sixth place, so we basically consolidated and made sure we finished third in the championship." Yates ended the season with 311 points, Hayden 278, and Buckmaster 252. One final note: It was the first time all three Gobert brothers finished a race together this year. Anthony was fourth, Alex finished 10th on the Bruce Transportation Honda, and Aaron was 13th on a Graves Motorsports Yamaha. eN By LARRY LAWRENCE PHOTO BY BRIAN J. NELSON ALTON, VA, AUG. 11 t couldn't have gotten much better for Tommy Hayden in the final AMA national road race weekend at Virginia International Raceway. While middle brother Nicky was basking in the joy of becoming the youngest AMA Superbike champ, older brother Tommy cleaned house in both of his races during the VIR Lightning weekend. Tommy Hayden scored an easy victory Sunday in the final round the of the Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship a day after winning the final round of the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Series race. It marked the second victory of the season in Supersport for the 24-year-old factory Kawasaki rider - he won the Pikes Peak round in June. Josh Hayes earned a surprising second-place finish on the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki. It was the first Supersport podium finish for Hayes and, according to team co-founder John Ulrich, for the Valvoline Suzuki team. It was a rough day for Team Blimpie/Yoshimura Suzuki. Newly crowned series champ Aaron Yates and teammate Jamie Hacking both crashed out of the race, each while running second. Hayden earned a hard-fought victory in the Superstock race on Saturday, so he looked race ready on Sunday and sped into the first turn at the start of the race in the lead. Hacking followed closely, followed by Bruce Transportation Honda's Jake Zemke and champ Yates. By the second lap, Hayden and Hacking were clear of the field, but the battle was shortlived. A few turns later, Hacking suffered a hard highside at turn 17 and crashed out of the race. That left Hayden alone in the lead with nothing but clear track ahead. "I was just trying not to make any mistakes and trying to not abuse my tires too much," Hayden said. "Yesterday's 750 race, I had a good practice race, I guess, for today, and I knew what the tires were going to do. I definitely didn't want to overuse them, because yesterday I think I did a little bit at the beginning. So I made a few changes today, the bike was better. I didn't have to use the tires as much and it was a lot smoother race." With Hacking out, Yoshimura teammate Yates inherited second over Zemke. On lap 10, Zemke curiously pulled into the pits, vacating a podium finish. He later said that nothing was wrong with the bike, but he simply wanted to get ready for the I Tommy Hayden (22) capped off his season with a win In the 600cc Supersport final at VIR, making him a two-time winner on the weekend. New serles champion Aaron Yates (201 crashed out of the race. Formula Xtreme final, where he was in the thick of the championship battle. It was a rather bizarre move on the part of the Brainerd Supersport winner. Zemke's surprise exit moved Hayes into third. Yates tried chipping away at Hayden's lead and actually got to within a second of the leader on lap 11. The gap narrowed even more the next lap, when Hayden was balked by lapped traffic, but just when it looked to be a race again, Yates went down on lap 13 in turn 14, and the champ was out. It was a bad day in general for many of the top Suzuki Supersport riders. Attack Suzuki's Ben Spies had problems with his bike on the warmup lap and was forced to miss the race. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Chris Ulrich made his Supersport debut - it ended inauspiciously with a crash on lap four. And his teammate Tom Kipp pitched it away on lap 12. After Yates went down, Hayden went unchallenged. He cruised home to a 6.680-second margin of victory. It was his fifth-career win in the class, moving him into a tie with Eric Bostrom for seventh on the AMA Supersport all-time wins list. "The Kawasaki boys have definitely been doing their homework back at the shop, and we definitely have good speed," Hayden said. "Any time you have that, it always makes it easier for you, so I've got to thank those guys for that, for sure." Hayes and Pridmore had a good battle to the flag, with Hayes prevailing in his final appearance with the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki team. "I could hear Jason every lap going into turn one," Hayes explained with a smile about his closing-lap battle with Pridmore. "I kept saying, 'All right, is he waiting 'til the end to do it or what? Maybe it's - well, maybe I'm just really hard to pass. So I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, and working, and make him work to get around me. If he wants to beat me, he's going to have to beat me.' I couldn't even see Tommy, so I was just putting in the best laps I could. I wouldn't say I was riding real cue' e Virginia International Raceway Ahon, Virginia Results: August 11, 2002 (Round 10 of 10J PRO HONDA OILS SOPERSPORT: I. Tommy HlIyden (Kew); 2. Josh Hllyes (Suz); 3. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 4. Anthony Gobert (Yam); 5. Damon Buckmaster (Yom); 6. Roger Lee Hayden (Hen); 7. Ty Howard (Suz); 8. Michael Hannas II (Kaw); 9. Tony Meiring (Kaw); 10. Alex Gobert (Han); II. Andrew Nelson (Han): 12. Mlchllel Hale (Hon); 13. Aaron Gobert. (Yam); 14. Michllel Gllrofllio (Suz); 15. Raymond Bowrnlln (Han); 16. Andy Caldwell (Suz); 17. Tyler Wedsworth (Yam); 16. Jeff Muskopf (Suz); 19. Chuck Ivey (Suz); 20. Matthew Furtek (Yam); 21. CR Gittere (Suz); 22. Justin Blake (Suz); 23. James Kerker (Hon): 24. Marcus Winfree (Suz); 25. Allron Yates (Suz); 26. Tom Kipp (Suz); 27. Jake Zemke (Han); 28. Chris Ulrich (Suz); 29. Anthony Ian Cammllck (Suz); 30. Jamie Hacking (Suz): 31. Ben Spies (Suz). Time: 25 mins.. 28.51 sec. Distance: 17 laps 38.25 miles Average speed: 90.498 mph Margin of victory: 6.680 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SOPERSPORT C·SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 10 of 10 rounds): 1. Aaron Yales (31 1/5 wins); 2. Tommy Hayden (278/2 wins); 3. Damon Buckmaster (252); 4. Jason Pridmore (248); 5. Roger Lee Hayden (216); 6. Jamie Hacking (215): 7. Michoel Hole (211); 8. Joke Zemke (201); 9. Ben Spies (189); 10. Tom Kipp (185); 11. Tony Meiring (179); 12. Ty Howard (175); 13. Anthony Gobert (141); 14. Alex Gobert (123); 15. Tyler Wodsworth (106); 16. Andrew Nelson (105); 17. Josh Hoyes (93); 18. Michoel Honnes II (86); 19. Jim Filice (84); 20. Kevin Pote (73). n e _ SO • AUGUST 21,2002 15

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