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Lockhart-Phillips Formula Xtreme Round 9: Virginia Inter ional Raceway Tie Goes To Pridmore "Hey, you forgot about me": Jason Pridmore upstaged a muchanticipated showdown In the Formula Xtreme finale at VIR by finishing third - good enough to cop the series title. By LARRY LAWRENCE PHOTO BY BRIAN J. NELSON ALTON, VA, AUG. 11 or the second year in a row, the Lockhart-Phillips Formula Xtreme Series Championship came down to a nail-biter at Virginia International Raceway. Yet another Aussie scored a win in the U.S. championships when Adam Fergusson, the 27-year-old Corona Extra EBSCO Suzuki, broke through to win his first race in America. But the real excitement in this race happened behind Fergusson. Gutsy veteran Jason Pridmore, who has come back from serious injury so many times in his career, managed to find the right combination of luck and skill on this day to earn rus first AMA Formula Xtreme Championship. At VIR, he jumped from being ranked third to finishing the season tied in points with Bruce Transportation Group Honda's Jake Zemke. Pridmore won the championship by virtue of winning more races during the season. Zemke finished third at VIR after running off the track at the start of the race, forcing him to make a dramatic come-from-behind charge, which came up just four seconds short of Pridmore at the flag. Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster suffered heartbreak in the class for a second straight year. "Bucky," who led the series coming into the finale, ran third for much of the race, only to finish a lowly 21 st after being forced to slow when the motor on his R1 began to seize. F 20 AUGUST 21. 2002' cue • e It marked Pridmore's second AMA title, his first coming in AMA 750 Supersport (now called Superstock) back in 1997. With only five points separating the top three riders coming into VIR, every point was crucial. Series newcomer Fergusson neutralized the pole point by winning it and keeping the prized point away from the series leaders Buckmaster, Zemke and Pridmore. While there were no dramatics on pole day, it didn't take long for the championship to take a dramatic turn. At the drop of the green flag, Zemke late-braked into turn one and shot up from the second row. Unfortunately, Zemke came into the turn too hot only to find his friend, Erion Honda's Roger Lee Hayden, already occupying the ground he needed to make the turn. The two collided in front of the entire 23-bike field and both ran off the track. Hayden crashed and was unable to continue, while Zemke reentered the track dead last, effectively ending his title hopes. Hayden was quite diplomatic about the incident. "[Jake] Zemke just got in a little hot and he hit me and put me to the ground," said Roger Lee, the youngest of the racing Hayden brothers. "But you know it's just part of racing, and I understand he was going for a championship. I was just in there by myself, and next thing I know I got hit pretty hard, but I'm okay." Zemke felt terrible for crashing into his friend, who looked to have a good chance of winning Sunday. n e _ os "I made a mistake, plain and simpie," Zemke admitted. '" was starting on the second row and this track isn't the easiest track to pass guys on, especially guys that were going as quick as everyone was at the front. I knew I had to get a good start and get up to the front, and I got the worst start probably that I've had all year. I let the clutch out too fast, and I bogged the thing, then I fanned it and it wheelied. Going down into turn one, everyone kind of sat up early. I was in hot, but I knew I could make the corner. I was trying to get there before Rog and it was just my own fault there. I didn't need to be in front of Rog at that point in the race. I feel really bad for Rog. He was riding really well this weekend." Through the first-turn melee, Fergusson found a small gap and shot through it, while the rest of the field nailed their brakes to avoid the colliding Hondas. That gave Fergusson an advantage right away. Pridmore and Buckmaster came around on the first lap almost side by side in a battle for second and the championship. As the race settled into that order it looked at first as if Buckmaster only needed to keep on Pridmore's tailpipe to secure the title, but there was a twist. Fergusson, like Pridmore, rode on a Suzuki-supported team. The question became obvious - would he pull over to let Pridmore by if Buckmaster remained in third? "I had discussions with American Suzuki before the race as to what we were going to do," Fergusson acknowledged afterward. "We were going to leave it until about five laps to go and see what was happening then. Of course, I would have helped in any way I could have, but it would have been late in the race." As it turned out, the help from Fergusson wasn't needed. Buckmaster began to slow dramatically on lap 10. He limped home two laps down to the leaders. "I'm not even sure [why the engine stopped]," Buckmaster said. "We just loaded it up. We'll find out later. It just went. That would have been a comfortable pace for me for sure. Jason [Pridmore] was having tire problems and started coming back to me a bit. Besides that, if we had finished in that order, we would have won." It marked the third year in a row that Buckmaster lost a title in the season finale. Last year, he lost the title to John Hopkins by one point. The disappointment for the entire Graves Motorsports team showed on their faces as they loaded up their transporter in somber silence after the race. In the end, Fergusson won by a 6.2-second margin of victory at a record speed of 91.923 mph. Pridmore held on to second. Zemke charged all the way back from last to third, but got no closer than about four seconds behind Pridmore at the checkered flag. "I didn't even know I was on the podium because all I was getting on my pit board was I needed to get one more position to get the championship," Zemke said. "But, by the time I got that signal, I was like 13 seconds behind. I knew it was going to be tough, but anything can happen ... the track was really greasy. This championship wasn't handed to anybody, whoever won it was going to have to earn it." And the rider finally earning it on Sunday was Pridmore. He sat with a look of satisfaction on his face in the post-race press conference. "Adam was pulling me along, and I just wanted to stay close to him in case, toward the end of the race, anythIDg happened we could work together," Pridmore explained. "It's a huge asset when you have somebody else on the same brand of motorcycle in a championship like this that's willing to work with you. When I saw that Damon was out, I definitely backed off. "People don't know how hard it is to come back from some of the injuries I put on myself," Pridmore continued. "I wouldn't say that I'm always the most positive person, but racing's what I love to do and I love the team I'm with, and sometimes I want to win more for them than I do myself. The competition this year with Jake and Damon, I knew this was going to be a wild and wacky weekend." eN Virginia InlBmlltioMI Raceway AllDn, Virginia Results: August 11, 2002 [Round 9 of 91 LOCKHART·PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME: 1. Adem Fergusson (Suz); 2. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 3. Jake Zemke (Hon); 4. Micheel Hlile (Hon); 5. Tom Kipp (Suz); 6. Lance [saecs (Yom); 7. Josh Hoyes (Su,); 8. Alex Gobert (Han); 9. Geoff May (Suz); 10. Ben Spies (Suz); 11. Jason Curtis (Ymn); 12. James Compton (Suz); 13. Marco Mortine, (Su,); 14. Scott Corpenter «Suz); IS. Aoron Gobert (YlIm); 16. Tim Fllicone (Suz); 17. Michael McAllister (Yam); 18. Rick Nlirup (Suz); 19. Jeff Bostrom (Suz); 20. JlImes Bonner (Yam); 21. Dlimon Buckmester (Yam); 22. Steve Repp (Suz); 23. Roger Lee Hoyden (Han). Time: 25 mins., 4.650 sees. Distance: 17 laps 38.25 miles. Average speed: 91.923 mph. Margin of victory: 6.216 sees. LOCKHART·PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 9 of 9 rounds): 1. Jason Pridmore (273/2 wins); 2. Jake Zemke (~73/1 win); 3. Damon Buckmester (256/4 wins); 4. Michael Hale (237); 5. Lance Iseecs (175); 6. Ben Spies (174); 7. MlIrtin Crllggill (159/1 win); 8. Alex Gobert (156); 9. Ben Spies (189); 10. Jomes Compton (139); 11. Tom Kipp (133); 12. Adorn Fergusson (125/1); 13. Jeff Bostrom (104); 14. Josh Hoyes (99); IS. Kenyon Kluge (69); 16. Erie Eriing Hougo (68); 17. Roger Lee Hoyden (68); 18. Aoron Gobert (60); 19. Steve Ropp (57); 20. Moreo Mortine, (56).