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AMAIPro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport Series Round 7: Brainerd International Raceway BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON BRAINERD, MN, JUNE 29 iguel DuHamel might be at his most dangerous when he has nothing to lose. Certainly that was the case in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race today. DuHamel missed a few races in the middle of the season with a broken collarbone, putting him out of the championship chase. Now all the 35year-old Las Vegas resident cares about is winning, which is what he did in today's thriller at Brainerd International Raceway. '" have no points to lead in the championship," DuHamel said, which is how he rode. Yamaha's Jamie Hacking was his foil, and he passed him on the final lap then held him off at the line to win by .182 of a second. "He's riding with different prerogatives for sure." It was DuHamel's first Supersport win in two years, since he won here in 2001. This one was done in record time, DuHamel beating Eric Bostrom's three-year-old time by seven seconds, averaging a record 106.8 mph to complete the 13-lap, 39-mile race in 21 minutes, 54.060 seconds. The win was DuHamel's 41st Supersport win. Next among active riders is Jamie Hacking with nine. It was also DuHamel's eighth win at BIR, five in Supersport and three in Superbike. Hacking's in it for the title, the South Carolinian leading a championship deeper in a season than ever. "This is definitely the biggest accomplishment of my career so far," he said. So second wasn't too bad. "I'd rather get beat today by him m 12 JULY 9,2003ยท cue I e [DuHamel] and finish second. I'm not disappointed by no means," he added. How could he be? Teammate Damon Buckmaster had rear tire troubles and faded to sixth. With four rounds remaining in the championship, Hacking leads Buckmaster by 15 points, 214-199. Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden, 10th today with a rattling engine, is third at 160. n e _ s Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies was third today, about four seconds behind the winner. Buckmaster had started from the pole, leading for three laps before rear tire troubles forced him to retreat, first to second, then third, fourth and fifth, and back to sixth when local rider Robert Jensen passed him on the final lap. Hacking took over from Buckmaster with Jason DiSalvo, the third member of the Yamaha team, slotting into second for a few laps before giving way to the veteran DuHamel. DuHamel took the lead for the first time on the eighth lap; he and Hacking began to pull away while a trio of three ran just behind. There was newfound confidence in his machine, DuHamel said, after the team tried a radical new suspension approach. "I mean it's working as good almost I think as [Valentino] Rossi's bike in GP. Maybe not as fast," DuHamel said. Hacking took over on the 10th lap, DuHamel sticking with him, the pair working in tandem to make sure they weren't caught from behind. "The worst thing we could have done is start messing around and slow down and have the group catch back up," DuHamel said. "It worked perfect," Hacking said. What was important for Hacking was to earn the point for leading the most laps, which he did, but not until the final stages. DuHamel wasn't letting him get away. "I tried to catch him," Hacking said. "My comfort zone was about half a bikelength behind him. When I was more than that, , was a little bit worried." Hacking was in the lead starting the final lap when DuHamel made his move. The pass came in turn three after DuHamel took advantage of traffic in turn two. Hacking had DuHamel to his right and a lapper to his left, who sucked him wide and forced him to roll out of the throttle. "I had to let off when the bike bogged and he got down the inside of me," Hacking said. '" managed to get back into him into three, and I was