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Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Round B: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Zemke said he took it easy the first few laps to acclimate himself to the new setup then set out for first Buckmaster, then Fergusson. "Ben (Spies) was too far in front to catch him. I knew somebody was fairly close behind me, and I didn't know who it was," It would turn out to be Attack Suzuki's Jason Pridmore, who minutes earlier had finished second in the AMA Superbike race. In the few minutes he had between races, Pridmore sat under his tent deciding whether to race. More than one person told him he didn't have to, but he thought he'd see how it went. "I thought if I could help Ben (Spies), that would be nice, too," he said. "I thought I'd just go out there and give it a go. And to be honest with you, three laps in I said, 'I don't know if I'm going to make this, because they're sort of getting away from me.' I thought if they get away, I'm going to pull in. But then I put my head back down. I was hoping their tires would go off, and they came back to me a little bit. I wanted to do something with Jake, but I didn't have the energy, and I didn't want to Ben Spies carded another Fonnula Xtreme win at Mid-Ohio. The Yoshimura Suzuki rider has won half of the eight rounds run thus far, and he now has 21 points on his nearest rival. do anything bad to him, so I thought, 'I'll just finish third.'" He was 2.5 seconds behind Zemke. Fergusson ended up fourth, just in front of the charging Attack Suzuki of Josh Hayes. "My hands cramped up," the Australian said. "The track is really bumpy, and with the FX bike really shaking around, I found I could not brake or turn well because I was having trouble holding on." Sixth went to Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Jamie Hacking in front of teammate Buckmaster. "I couldn't open the gas, couldn't open the throttle," Buckmaster said. "As soon as I did, it just wanted to get sideways - middle of the corner, exiting. I had nothing. We made some changes before the race because we weren't really happy in the morning warm-up either, you know. I'm not sure if we went the wrong way because I haven't gotten together with my mechanics yet, but it was definitely a bucking bronco out there today, and I could probably take up bull riding right now and be pretty good at it. I couldn't even hang on to the thing. I tried my heart out, but it just wanted to loop out. Last year we had a really nice setup and I could ride it as hard as I wanted. Here, the harder I tried, the riskier it was. I don't finish seventh in a Formula Xtreme race." eN Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio Results: July 27, 2003 (Round 81 LOCKHART· PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME: 1. Ben Spies (Suz); 2. Jake Zemke (Han); 3. Jason Pridmore (Suz); 4. Adam Fergusson (Suz); 5. Josh Hayes (SUl); 6. Jamie Hacking (Yam); 7.; Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 8. Marty Craggi1l (Han); 9. Vincent Haskovec (Suz); 10. Geoff May (Suz); 11. Jason Curtis (Hon); 12. Steve Rapp (Suz); 13. Douglas Duane (Suz); 14. Mike Scruggs (Suz); 15. James Kerker (Hon); 16. David Bell (Suz); 17. Rick Narup (Suz); 18. Matt Malterer (Suz); 19. Anthony Fania (Suz); 20. Michael Kosta (Suz); 21. Roger Lee Hayden (Hon). Time: 23 min., 41.680 sec. Distance: 16 laps, 38.4 miles Average speed: 97.2 mph Margin of victory: 4.092 sec. LOCKHART-PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (Afler 8 of 10 rounds): 1. Ben Spies (250/4 wins); 2. Damon Buckmaster (229/2); 3. Jake Zemke (217/1); 4. Josh Hayes (215); 5. Adam Fergusson (212); 6. Steve Rapp (176); 7. Jason Pridmore (172); 8. Martin Craggill (168); 9. Jamie Hacking (154); 10. Roger Lee Hayden (135); 11. Jimmy Moore (111); 12. Jason Curtis (95); 13. Chris Ulrich (73); 14. Aaron Gobert (70); 15. David Bell (66); 16. Vincent Haskovec (63); 17. Ty Howard (61); 18. Geoff May (60); 19. Craig Connell (55): 20. Doug Chandler (52). Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - AIIon, Virginia, Augusl31 Round 10- Birmingham, Alabama, September 21 Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Round 9: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course H~tI?JAH4'~h Josh Hayes turns up the heat at Mid-Ohio last-minute outbraking maneuver on Rapp at the end of the back straight. From there to the end he went into defensive mode, holding off Rapp by 0.116 seconds. Haskovec was third, 0.236 behind Rapp. Then came Corona Extra EBSCO Media Suzuki's Adam Fergusson and Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden. "I just tried everything I could," Hayes said. "I was looking everywhere and just trying to come up with something, and luckily the last lap everything worked out, and we made it around to the finish first. These guys were riding great. Luckily today was my day." It looked that way from the start. When the race was stopped on the ninth lap, .Hayes had about two seconds in hand on Haskovec. The unlucky fallers were No Limits Honda's Lance Isaacs, who broke his right tibia and Buzzs Psycle's Greg Moore, who broke his arm. Isaacs returned to the track on Sunday, his leg splinted as a temporary measure before he sees an orthopedic surgeon. Tires were the concern during the break, the top three on different brands. Hayes fitted a slightly used STORY AND PHOTO BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS LEXINGTON, OH, JGLY 26 osh Hayes won his first Superstock race at Daytona in March of 1999. It would be nearly four and a half years before he won his second. The third came much more quickly. "Two weeks after his victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Attack Suzuki's Hayes was back atop the victory podium, this time enduring two restarts and a hectic last lap to win the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock final at the end of a long, sunny day at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Hayes had his way during the first segment, which lasted just over three laps and was completely discounted, and the second segment, eight full laps and part of the ninth. But the third was the real race, Valvoline EMGO Suzuki's Steve Rapp and Hooters Suzuki's attacking from the start, with both managing to squeeze by in the late stages, Haskovec leading laps 12 and 13, Rapp in front on laps 14 and 15. The 16th was the one that counted, Hayes moving to the front with a j 28 AUGUST 6. 2003' cue • e n e _ s Josh Hayes (4) reeled off his second straight Superstock win, beating back Steve Rapp (51) to score the win. Dunlop rear he'd run earlier. "After the eight laps that got called, we said, 'Well, let's just put that three lap tire on,' because that's the fastest tire that we had even for eight laps," Hayes said. Rapp was lucky for the restart because his rear Michelin was spent. "We stayed on the same tire as the first start because they thought it'd be all right," Rapp said. "I'm glad it stopped because it wasn't as good after it heat-cycled. It didn't have the grip. I couldn't be aggressive off the corner." Haskovec put on a soft Pirelli and adjusted the suspension. For the final segment, Hayes led Haskovec and Rapp, with Haskovec passing Rapp into the Keyhole and Rapp back by at the end of the back straight. Haskovec led until the 14th lap when Rapp came by Hayes into second on the 15th lap. "1 couldn't pick up the pace any faster than I was already going, so I just had to try to be creative and see what I could come up with," Hayes said. "From my end of the race Vincent [Haskovec] actually tried to make a pass on Steve [Rapp] and ended up running wide, and he opened the door for me. That gave me another shot at Steve. And I think Steve prohably didn't get the best drive he'd gotten all weekend out of the keyhole, and that helped me get a pretty decent drive, and I was close enough to draft off of him, but I was still pretty far back. I kept easing in there and thinking, 'You know I don't want get in here too fast where I can't make the turn, so I just kept easing off the brakes a little bit." From there to the end, Hayes said he was "blocking like crazy and almost crashed three times." Haskovec lost second on thE;