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going to try to roll in outside of him and maybe do something. He kind of messed up a little bit and had to roll out. And I was like, there's no point in doing anything." DuHamel's view was that the lapper gave him enough of a gap to slip safely underneath. "That gave me enough of a gap to put myself beside him and let him know that I mean business going into three," DuHamel said. "And then after that I did a little slide in turn three because I went a little wide and turned the bike and slid. But then I just put the power down." Hacking looked back and saw no one behind, so he wasn't going to do anything rash, though he never gave up. Spies moved into third on the ninth lap after passing DiSalvo and Buckmaster. He'd passed DiSalvo earlier, hitting him with his knee, but the second pass was cleaner. '" passed [DiSalvo I and Damon [Buckmaster] going into three, and I ran a little bit wide. and I held from then on," Spies said. "And we came up on some lappers, a big group of them. I think I passed five of them going into one corner on the inside, and I think Jason [DiSalvo] didn't even get one of them. I got a whole second that lap and just kept my head down and was lucky to get on the podium." DiSalvo said he was getting ready to make a move on Spies when they caught "a gaggle of four or five riders. That kind of ruined the race for everybody," DiSalvo said. Buckmaster lost fifth to Jensen on the final lap. the pair 10 seconds in front of Erion Honda's Roger Lee Hayden in seventh. Kawasaki's Tony Meiring was next, holding off a final push by Erion Honda's Alex Gobert, with Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden 10th. eN Br1Iinenl Intern.tion.1 R.caw.y Br1Iinenl, Minnesotll Results: June 29, 2003 [Round 71 PRO HONDA OILS sa PER SPORT: I. Miguel DuHamel (Hon): 2. Jamie Hacking (Yam); 3. Ben Spies (SU2); 4. Jason DiSalvo (Yam): 5. Robert Jensen (Yam); 6. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 7. Roger Lee Hayden (Hon): 8. Tony Melrmg (Kaw): 9. Alex Gobert (Hon): 10. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 11. Jamie Stauffer (Suz); 12. Marty Craggill (Hon): 13. Larry Pegram (Hon): 14. Jason Curtis (Hon); 15. Christopher Ranking (Hon): 16. Gary Carter (Yam): 17. Giovanni Rojas (Yam): 18. Kevin Shawn Gordon (SU2): 19. Dirk Sanchez (Kaw): 20. Bradley Frey (Yam); 21. Tim Mitchell (Yam); 22. Jeffrey Purk (Suz); 23. James Kerker (Hon); 24. Peter Bohlig (Suz); 25. Eric Erling Haugo (Suz): 26. Christopher Flores (Suz); 27. Steven Skoog (Kaw): 28. Gordy Halsey (Yam): 29. Darby Brauning (Yam); 30. Jake Zemke (Hon); 31. Jessica Zalusky (Yl!lm): 32. Chris Peris (Hon): 33. Hector Romero (Yam); 34. David Guy (Suz): 35. Mike Petersen (Yam). Time: 21 min., 54.060 sec. Distance: 13 laps. 39 miles Average speed: 106.8 mph Margin of victory: 0.182 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SaPERSPORT C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 7 of I t rounds): I. Jamie Hacking (214/3 wins): 2. Damon Buckmaster (199); 3. Tommy Hayden (160): 4. Alex Gobert (157): 5. Jason DiSalvo (155): 6. Ben Spies (146): 7. (TIE) Aaron Gobert/Tony Meiring (142): 9. Roger Lee Hayden (139); 10. Jake Zemke (129): 11. Doug Chandler (110); 12. Jason Curtis (l09): 13. Miguel DuHamel (105); 14. Jamie Stauffer (103); 15. Ty Howard (65): 16. Chris Peris (59): 17. Marty Craggill (54): 18. Giovanni Rojas (53); 19. Craig Connell (46): 20. Thad Halsmer (44). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Monterey, California, July 13 Round 9 - Lexington. Ohio, July 27 my own RAce ~@ Jason DiSalvo 4th From his end of the front row starting spot, DiSalvo jetted into the lead before being dropped to fourth by lap th·ree. He diced with the ieaders for a few iaps, then got back up to second on the sixth lap, holding it for two laps, then he was back to third, then back to fourth, where he'd finish. "About midrace I started making a few smali. Jamie [Hacking] and Miguel [DuHamelJ got away a little bit, and I lost the draft. Ben (Spies] caught me, and Ben was giving me fits out there. It was really tough riding with him. He's not going to give me an inch. I'm not going to give him an inch." There was traffic on the final lap that ruined his race. But there was a mechanical oddity as well. "It was weird. I'd been able to draft past (Spies) all weekend. All of a sudden in the race he got by me on the straightaway. At first I was like, he must have got a really good drive out of the last tum. The next lap we both came onto the straightaway, and I was behind him, and I just couldn't draft past him. I don't know the reason; it was frustrating for sure." @ -------...,---------...,----,------, Damon Buckmaster 6th On the first lap of the 13-lap Pro Honda OBs Supersport race, Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster had a terrible realization; he had a bad rear tire. It was the same designation rear tire he'd been using all weekend, but this one was clearly defective. Through the turn-one sweeper, where running flat stick is mandato- ry to stay out front, Buckmaster said he "couldn't even hold it full throttle in turn one. Couldn't do that at all, from the get-go. What do you do? What can you do? You can oniy do with what you've got underneath you." The 13 laps weren't so much a race as an exercise in protection, trying to protect his position, but without the proper weaponry. He was fifth on the final lap when North Dakotan and Brainerd specialist Robert Jensen came by. "1 had nothing for him either." §@ Tony Meiring 8th "It was probably one of the more boring races," Kawasaki's Tony Meiring said after finishing eighth, just in front of Erion Honda's Alex Gobert. "It's been a long week. We started out not so good. We really made a lot of adjustments, and this morning we really picked it up. I learned a lot about riding style and things. I wish there was peopie to race with because the lead group kind of checked out before I got the chance to really catch the draft and try to run with them. And once I lost touch with the draft, I lost touch." Meiring said his ZX-6RR was close on top speed but didn't have the acceleration of the Yamahas and Hondas. "Our bikes are made to carry a lot of speed, and my riding style - I'm still trying to adapt to that. At Laguna we should be pretty good, and I've learned a lot about the bike since the last time I was there." ~® Alex Gobert ~~ Tommy Hayden 9th "I got a bad start and went back to 13th, and then Jake [Zemke] pulled in, and then I caught up to [Marty] Craggill, and I passed Cragg ill, Tommy (Hayden] and [Jamie] Stauffer," Erion Honda's Alex Gobert said. "It wasn't too bad." Gobert caught up to Tony Meiring on the last lap but ran out of time. "It just took a while to come in. I didn't feel comfortable the first few laps. I kept running wide and stuff, making some stupid mistakes." 10th From the beginning of the race the engine in Tommy Hayden's Kawasaki ZX-6RR wasn't right. There was engine noise and a vibration and a loss of power. Hayden wasn't sure what the problem was, but he knew it wasn't good. "This morning, maybe it didn't feel quite right. But I thought it was all right," he said. "It was just deteriorating as the race went on. Then it started running really hot." Hayden finished less than a tenth of a second in front of Yoshimura Suzuki's Jamie Stauffer. 0 (0\(0)0 'V~ Jake Zemke 30th "I got a bad tire," Erion Honda's Jake Zemke said, stating the obvious. Zemke was in sevM enth place on the sixth of 13 laps when he realized he couldn't finish the race on his front tire. "I lost it really bad in turn one a couple of times," Zemke said. The front slid away midway into the corner, and he was on his knee forever. He lost it a second time then lost it again in turn two. "I siowed the pace down. It was going away in the slow corners, too. There was nothing to gain by going around," Zemke said. cue I e n e _ s • JULv9,2003 13