Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Series Round 3: Infineon Raceway By PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS SONOMA, CA, MAY 4 elieve it or not, Tommy Hayden has never won an AMA National Championship. Given his red-hot start to this year's Superstock Championship Series, that may not last. Hayden and his Kawasaki 636 won the Superstock class for the third time in as many starts this year, and after just three races he already leads the title chase by 36 points. "We've started off the year really good, and everything is going the way I want it right now - three in a row and four in a row counting the last race last year at Virginia," Hayden said after his latest win at Infineon Raceway. "It feels good to be on a good roll like this, and we'll just try to keep it up. It's a long season, so you've got to stay after it." Hayden won today's race at Infineon by 2.721 seconds over Hooter's Suzuki's Vincent Haskovec, the pair battling early on before Hayden got the better of the GSX-R750 and pulled clear to victory. The secondplace finish was Haskovec's best of the young season thus far. "This is a good track for the package I have, the 636," Hayden said. "It's a little bit tight and a little bit technical. It definitely favors us a little bit so I knew this would be a good race for us. I just came here to take advantage of it." Third place today went to Corona Extra Suzuki's Adam Fergusson, the Australian also running near the front until slowing to an eventual third place. He was all alone there, finishing some six seconds ahead of Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo, the R6-mounted youngster turning in a solid ride to get the better of the GSX-R750s of Corona Extra Suzuki's defending cla·ss champion Jimmy Moore and Attack Suzuki's Josh Hayes. Fast starter Tony Meiring ended up seventh on his factory Kawasaki. Meiring fought back the advances of EMGO's Chris Caylor all the way to the flag, with Corona Extra's Jordan Szoke and Motion's John Haner rounding out the top 10 finishers. The two factory Kawasakis shot off the line to lead the way up the hill toward turn two, with Meiring leading Hayden as a pack of Suzukis gave chase. Those GSX-R750s were led by Haskovec, with Fergusson, Hayes, Caylor, the Yamaha R6 of DiSalvo, and Haner trailing in formation. At the end of the second lap, less than a second covered the top four - B 20 MAY 14, 2003' cue I e Meiring leading Hayden, Haskovec and Fergusson. Hayes was just a few clicks behind, and he had his hands full with Caylor and DiSalvo. A lap later and it all changed at the front, as Hayden took over, and his teammate Meiring slipped from first to fourth. Haskovec held down second, with Fergusson third, then Meiring, Hayes, Caylor and DiSalvo. Haskovec and Fergusson saw that Hayden was in a hurry, and they knew they had to go with him. Hayden, meanwhile, was starting to stretch his lead at the front. Or so we thought. After four complete laps, he led by almost a second. But then just a lap later, that lead was cut in half as Haskovec apparently meant business. On the sixth lap, Haskovec took the lead for the first time, diving under Hayden under braking in turn seven, drifting wide, but still maintaining his lead on the run through the esses. He crossed the stripe .340 of a second ahead of the Kawasaki. The following lap saw the leaders hit traffic for the first time, and things got even closer, with the pair crossing the line in unison to start the ninth lap. "I was very happy with how things felt," Haskovec said. "We go with a little bit of frustration because of the little bit of riding on the track. We are racing against a full-factory effort, so we show up here with a fork I've never used and a shock I've never used. The tires are also new for me. n e _ s I've always been on Dunlops, and now I am on Pirellis, so I am trying to find out what I can get out of it. I was a little cautious in those previous races." Not so for this race. Haskovec used the first of two Superbike races on the day as a test for some things he wanted to try. Then he went ahead and tried even more. "I said, 'Dude, let's gamble, man,'" Haskovec said. "We did it. We changed completely the bike. We had different gearing, rear shock, front fork ... we readjusted everything." And it worked. "When Tommy went by Tony, he put like 10 bikelengths on us right away," Haskovec explained later. "I managed to pass Tony on the brakes in the last comer. For another two or three laps, I thought I had something for him. He wasn't going anywhere, so I tried to do something with him. At full throttle on my 750, I have no advantage on him and that 636. I got a great drive, and I got by his side. I was inside, and he couldn't do anything about it. I had enough speed to stay there. I tried my best to go, and I think I stretched him by a few bikelengths, but after that I got a little bit rough and started missing my bikes. I didn't want to blow it, so I slowed down a little bit, and that's enough for a guy like him. I had to kind of give up." Fergusson was also starting to strut his stuff, and he was gaining lit- Tommy Hayden (22) leads Vincent Haskovec (3) en route to winning his third successive Superstock final. tie by little on the lead duo. By the end of 10 laps, the Australian was right there, and suddenly it was a three-way battle for the win. Meanwhile, Hayes was trying to pull a gap on the battle for fifth among DiSalvo, Meiring and Caylor, with Moore also joining the fray by the 10th lap. At the front, Hayden took the lead on the 10th lap in turn seven and put his head down, trying his best to pulJ a gap on the pursuing Suzukis. At the end of the lap he had half a second on Haskovec, and a lap later, lap 12, he had almost a full second. "I just tried to get a good run out of the Carousel, and it's probably the easiest place to pass on the whole track," Hayden said. "You just get in beside them, and you have position. I made both my passes there." That lead stretched to just over a second on the following lap, with Fergusson giving up the chase in third place, dropping to more than four seconds behind Hayden. "It was a pretty good ride," Fergusson said. "We had a significant lack of track time here this weekend, and once again, it was a new circuit for me to learn. I think we managed about 30 laps before the start of the race. Not only do I have to learn the

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