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AMAIPro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport Series Round 6: Road America PRO HONDA OILS SOPERSPORT: 1. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Han); 3. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 4. Alex Gobert (Hen); 5. Jamie Hacking (Yam); 6. Jason Curtis (Hen); 7. Miguel DuHamel (Han); 8. Tony Meiring (Kaw); 9. Jake Zemke (Han); to. Giovanni Rojas (Yam); 11. Jamie Stauffer (Suz); 12. James Kerker (Han); 13. Jeff Purk (Suz); 14. Marty Craggill (Han); 15. Matt Wait (Yam); 16. Dave Ebben (Suz); 17. David Guy (Suz); 18. Aaron Risinger (Suz); 19. Darfin Mitchell (Suz); 20. Doug Chandler (Han); 21. Jeremy Hajduk (Yam); 22. Daniel Daty (Yam); 23. Tim Mitchell (Yam'): 24. Mark Kittel (Han); 25. Jason DiSalvo (Yam); 26. Craig Connell (Hon): 27. Hector Romero (Yam); 28. Ray Yoder (Yam); 29. Dirk Sanchez (Kaw); 30. Calvin Martinez (Suz); 31. Darby Brauning (Yam); 32. Scott Stevens (Suz); 33. Ben Spies (Suz). Time: 28 min., 34.880 sec. Distance: 10 laps, 40.48 miles Average speed: 84.0 mph Margin of victory: 3.481 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SOPER SPORT C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 6 of 11 rounds): I. Jamie Hacking (181/3 wins): 2. Damon Buckmaster (173): 3. Aaron Gobert (142); 4. Tommy Hayden (139/1): 5. Alex Gobert (135); 6. Jason DiSalvo (128): 7.Jake Zemke (128): 8. Tony Meiring (119); 9. Ben Spies (11711 win); 10. Roger Lee Hayden (115). made sure I kept a good plus on the people behind me and tried to bring it home and get it on the box." Fourth went to Erion Honda's Alex Gobert, who came from behind and rode steadily, taking advantage when others crashed out. .Gobert appeared set to fin ish fifth but moved forward when Chandler crashed out in Canada Corner on lap eight. Also coming from behind was series points leader Jamie Hacking, the Team Yamaha rider running as far back as eighth before also benefiting from his fallen competitors. It was enough for the Louisianan to retain the series points lead. Hacking now leads Buckmaster by eight marks, 181-173. eN Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Resulls: June 8, 2003 [Round Gl AMAIGenuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Series Round 6: Road America Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Brainerd, Minnesota, June 29 Round 8 - Monterey, California, July 12 my Own Race m'td,® Alex Gobert 4th The Erion Honda rider matched his Road Atlanta finish at Road America, once again coming from the rear to be more of a factor late in the race. "I got into a rhythm, and I was sort of staying with the guys up front, but I was a few seconds back of them," Gobert said. "I saw plus eight on my pit board, and I figured it was better just to sit back there, and if they wanted to go down then I would just move up. It worked out pretty good. A top five is all right. I got some good points for the championship, and now we're going to move onto the next race." m'td, Jamie Hacking 5th Jamie Hacking played it cool in cond.itions that he says usually improve his chances, finishing fifth after running as far back as eighth. "I'm a good wettrack rider usually," Hacking said. "We got out there in the beginning, and thO'se guys set a fast pace, a little faster than I wanted to run. I think that we could have went a little bit softer on the· setup on my bike. It felt a little sketchy, and I didn't want to go down, you know. All those guys kept passing me, and I'd just let 'em go, then the next corner there would be somebody laying on their ass, and the next comer somebody else would be laying on their butt. I just rode around and ended up fifth. We're still leading the points, so that's the biggest thing, but it's a shame that it had to go and rain on us when I had the pole by almost a full second and I was confident that we could get the job done today." m§@ Tony Meiring 8th It was Tony Meiring's first time in the rain, and his caution may have been his savior as he rolled to an eighth-place finis.h in a crash-filled race. "I crashed on Friday in the rain, but we know why," Meiring said. "Everybody else had done it before, but this was my first time. I just went out and got comfortable and sta.rted dropping a second here and there. It was fun. It was a little wet and cold, but it was fun." m 1] @ 1] Doug Chandler Jason DiSalvo JUNE 18, 2003' 20th 25th cue • e n e _ I s Steve Rapp (51) ended his Superstock winless drought at Road America when he topped Josh Hayes (4) and Vincent Haskovec (3). t had been five years since Steve Rapp had tasted victory at an AMA National road race. The last time, in 1998 at Mid-Ohio, he was a factory thought, 'Great, it's going to be the whole race, plus zero, plus zero.' It seems like once you get out here, it's Suzuki-supported 750cc Superstock rider. At round six of the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock series at Road America, Rapp made a cameo appearance and re-emerged as a star, besting a three-way battle hard to get away from people. There's so much straightaway that it usually brings people back to you. So it was tough, but it was also kind of easy in a way because my bike was working so good. It was easy to be where I wanted to be." backed 600 nowhere in sight. "It feels like it has been 10 years," Rapp said. "I was here on the podium in 1998 when I rode Superstock, and I was on the podium with Superbike in 2000 at Willow, and that was good, After running second in the first few laps, DiSalvo made one of the more spectacular exits of the race, crashing while attempting to brake for tum five. His feet-first slide then took him off the pavement and .into the grass to the right of the gravel trap, where he just barely bumped the retaining. wall. "I just went in there, and the back end started to step out, so I pulled the dutch in to try to get it oack because it was locked up with the engine," DiSalvo said. ".I just barely touched the front brake and leaned over a couple degrees, and it went down. It was a giant Slip'N Slide after that. I really thought I was going to run into the back of Roger Lee, because I picked up speed after I hit the ground. I saw the wall coming, so J tried to anchor down, and I just 'kind of deflected off the wall. 'I'm disappointed, but we'll g,et 'em next time." 24 ELKHART LAKE, WI, J(jNE 7 for the win, with the nearest factory- The No Limit Honda veteran had a great run going late in the race when it all went. wrong in Canada Corner. Fourth place went out the window, and in its place was a disappointing 20th. "I don't know what happened," Chander said. "I kind of gave up trying to run those guys down, and at the end of the bottom straightaway, I was doing my .backshifts, and it started catching false neutrals.· 1 don't know if thinking about that J gave if too much front brake or what. The rain wasn't too bad, and the bike was working good. I thought, 'Just finish the thing out,' but then down that straightaway .it was like. 'Oh no, I'm in neutral.' It was kind of frustrating." m cB@ By SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTO By BRIAN J. NELSON but winning is better than third, no matter what class it's in. This is really good for me because after a while, year after year, when you're not getting results, people start wondering and saying, 'Oh, he's not riding that hard,' or whatever." Rapp rode hard in this one, and he used the superior straightaway speed of his Valvoline EMGO Suzuki to his advantage, passing Hooters Suzuki's Vincent Haskovec for good on lap four and then staying just clear of a battle between the Czech and Attack Suzuki's Joshua Hayes to win the race by just over half a second. "It was close," Rapp said. "It seemed like every time I went by the pits, my board said plus zero. I Team Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden, the points leader coming into Road America, got the holeshot on his Kawasaki 636, only to be swallowed up by a pack of Suzuki 750 riders as the field funneled into turn one. Hooters Suzuki's Mike Ciccotto took the lead, but it was short-lived as Rapp knifed under him in turn five to take the spot away. Rapp hit the stripe first, but then Haskovec drafted past him to run first into turn one. Hayes also stepped it up, passing Hayden, Ciccotto and Vesrah Suzuki's Mark Junge to slot into third place. The front three then moved away from the rest of the field, Haskovec holding the lead until Rapp put a late-braking move on him to retake the point in Canada Corner on lap three. Hayes shot past Haskovec in the same curve one lap later. Hayes then closed on Rapp. "Everybody is riding so good in this class, and I think that all of them