Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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have been some great races to watch, so I'm just glad to be able to get up there and be a part of it," Hayes said. "At the beginning of the race I was really kind of taking it easy, just kind of following. There was a group of three or four guys up front, and I was just kind of checking it out. I wanted to maintain with them and see where it was wet and where it wasn't - let them be the guinea pigs for a while. Then I started working my way through a few of them. "Vincent was really hard to get past," Hayes continued. "I thought, 'Man, if I can get by him, I think I can work my way up to Steve and make him work for this.' He hasn't been riding it [Superstock], so I wanted him to work for it. But all the places I was strong on the brakes he was strong on the gas, and he would get out far enough on every drive that I couldn't even draft him. He was doing a fantastic job. All these bikes were really close, and it was great racing. Actually, I want to watch it on TV." Haskovec, who was nursing a fractured palm that was the result of a crash the day before the race, began dropping off the pace a little by lap six; he was a dozen lengths behind the front two at that point. Rapp continued to set a fast pace, running faster and faster laps until he topped out with a 2:20.181 on lap seven. He was half a second ahead of Hays when the white flag was shown. That's when Haskovec picked up the pace, cutting a fast lap of 2: 19.92 on lap nine, the tempo bringing him back to within striking distance of Hayes. Haskovec tried to draft Hayes up the front straightaway, then tried to outmaneuver him through the Carousel. In the Bend, the Czech had to change lines to avoid T -boning Hayes. In the end, a successful draft pass up the front straightaway was good enough to snatch second away from Hayes. "It was very exciting, really tense," Haskovec said. "On the second lap, I'm going into first place, drafting my teammate [Ciccotto], and then another lap, Steve going by me. Like he said, there is so much drafting here that the front guy, he is sucking other guys from the back, and it gets close. I really enjoyed the race with riders of caliber like Steve and Josh. I learned a lot of new stuff. It was so close. I long Road America straights, Hayden wound up sixth, and that result cost him the series points lead. Haskovec now sits atop the leaderboard, with 175 points to Hayden's 169. eN got Valvoline paint job on my bike, and that's for sure. "With Josh it was so close," Haskovec added. "There were so many times where my front wheel was on his swingarm or his tail section. On the other hand, you enjoy it, you know, because you know who you are riding with, and these guys don't do anything unpredictable." Rapp scored a double victory of sorts, winning both the battle of Suzuki support teams and the war of the tires; Rapp was on Michelins, Haskovec on Pirellis, and Hayes was on Dunlops. "My tires were so good," Rapp said. "It [the rear tire] was better as it got older, which is weird because most tires get worse as they get hotter and older, but I was able to get more and more aggressive. It was just hammer down the whole time. The bike was fast, and when you have a fast bike with good tires, that's what you want all the time. That's nice." Reigning class champion Jimmy Moore brought his Corona Suzuki home fourth, with EMGO Fastlap Suzuki rider Opie Caylor fifth. Outpowered by the bigger 750s on the Road America Elkhart lake, Wisconsin Results: June 7, 2003 (Round &1 GENUINE saWKJ ACCESSORIES SUPERSTOCK: t. Steve Rapp (Suz): 2. Vincent Haskovec (Suz): 3. Joshua Hayes (Suz); 4. Jimmy Moore (So2); 5. Opie Caylor (Suz): 6. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 7. Adam Fergusson (Suz); 8. John Jacobi (Suz); 9. Mike Ciccotto (Suz); 10. John Haner (Suz); 11. Jason DiSalvo (Yam); 12. Jamie Stauffer (Suz): 13. Tony Meiring (Kaw); 14. J.J. Roetlin (Suz): 15. Matthew Furtek (Suz); 16. Jeremy Toye (Suz); 17. Steve Atlas (Suz); 18. Jason Peters (Suz); 19. Chris Ulrich (Suz); 20. Reuben Frankenfield (Suz); 21. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz): 22. Tom Wertman (Suz); 23. Jeff Bostrom (Suz); 24. Jeffrey Purk (Suz); 25. Matt Malterer (Suz); 26. David Bell (Suz); 27. Eric Dooyema (Suz); 28. James Kerker (Hon); 29. Mark Junge (Suz); 30. Eric Haugo (Suz); 31. Nathan Hester (Suz); 32. Jacob Holden (Suz). Time; 23 min., 42.490 sec. Distance: 10 laps, 40.48 miles Average speed: 101.2 mph M.argin of victory: 0.578 sec. GENUINE SUZUKI ACCESSORIES SUPERSTOCK C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 of 11 rounds): I. Vincent Haskovec (175/1 win): 2. Tommy Hayden (169/3 wins); 3. Adam Fergusson (166); 4. Joshua Hayes (157); 5. Tony Meiring (147/1 win); 6. Jimmy Moore (142); 7. Jason DiSalvo (141): 8. Opie Caylor (138); 9. John Haner (119); 10. Mike Ciccotto (118): 11. Chris Ulrich (93); 12. Steve Rapp (88); 13. Jordan Szoke (76); 14. Matthew Furtek (72); 15. J.J. Roetlin (68); 16. Brian Stokes (59); 17. Eric Wood (54); 18. Jeremy Toye (53); 19. Lee Acree (52): 20. Jason Peters (46). Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Brainerd, Minnesota, June 29 Round 8 - Monterey, California, July 12 AMAILockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series getting pushed by the front of his bike," Hayes said. Spies said a faulty clutch made corner entries problematic. "It just backs in real bad," Spies said after finishing less than .3 of a second behind Hayes. Even without the problem, Spies said he didn't think he could've beaten Buckmaster. "Damon was running awesome, but I think it would have been a lot more of a race and I could have got Round 5: Road America By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 8 amon Buckmaster took over the championship lead in the Lockhart-Phillips Formula Xtreme Championship with a hard-fought win in the final race of an overcast day at Road America, his second in a row. After taking the lead from Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies on the third lap, Buckmaster was only challenged once, when Attack Suzuki's Josh Hayes went by into turn five on the sixth lap. Then Hayes bobbled going into the turn before the Carousel, and Buckmaster was back in front, this time for good. "Perhaps I was his braking marker the first part of the race, and once he got in front, he may not have realized where he was braking. I'm not sure, because it didn't look like he made any real mistake to me," Buckmaster said of the miscue that put him back in the lead. "All of a sudden he was just running wide, so I thought, 'Well, I might as well capitalize on it and get him back.' And it worked out for me." Buckmaster completed the 10-lap, 40-mile race in 23 minutes, 2.810 seconds, winning by 2.128 seconds. Because of the addition of the "bend" D out of the Carousel, the time stands show for Damon [Buckmaster] just as a new race record. Buckmaster left the fight for second to Hayes and Spies, with Hayes able to hold off the younger rider, the Texan struggling with a clutch problem on his Yoshimura Suzuki. Hayes made it interesting by running out of gas on the run up the front straight on the final lap. "The Attack Suzuki crew gave me a great motorcycle today, and I think it's a race-winning motorcycle, and I just made my one little goof when I shouldn't have," Hayes said. As for explaining his bobble, Hayes said, "I couldn't really tell you if I just got sloppy or excited or what happened when I got out front, because I could've swore I went to the same brake markers and I grabbed the brakes just as hard, but I got to the turn, and I was carrying a couple more miles an hour, and I was like, 'I'm not ready to turn yet.' I ran a little wide, and I got out there in all this dirt, and I'm not going to put on a big yet, so I'll just try him again in a few up there and mixed it up with them. They were riding good; they weren't making any mistakes. I just did what I could, and I couldn't quite get into the draft, and I just kind of chilled back in third and hoped for a mistake out of one of them, but it never happened, so I just finished third." minutes, and I just never got the opportunity to do that." The more immediate concern was being rammed by Spies at the finish as he ran short on fuel. "I thought that would be a pretty ugly way to cross the start/finish line, Damon Buckmaster (6) won the Formula Xtreme final at the scenic Road America circuit after a battle with Josh Hayes 14) and Ben Spies (11). With the win, Buckmaster took over the championship points lead. cue I e n e _ S • JUNE 18, 2003 25