Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128231
AM AILo ckh a rt -Ph ill ips USA F o r m ul a Xtreme R o und 8 : Virg in ia Internationa l Racewa Buck m ast er m ade his way thro ugh . " Hi s b ike see ms to have a lot of speed becaus e he ca n get th at run o n to the s t raig ht a nd ca r ry the straightaway spee d th ere," Bu ckmas ter said , "s o I k new I needed to be in front of Tomm y [Ha y d en] . I d idn ' t think I w as going to be abl e t o do it in a draft situa tion . Maybe, but m ayb e no t. , th ought m y best cha nce was to get ba ck und ern eath him into seve n and mainta in th at position ." Hayden 's only hope was th e run to the flag from th e fin al turn, a nd he made the most of it, pulling up on B uckmast er's rear wh eel but lo sin g by less than a bikelength. " Any time it co m es a tim e t o d rag race to the finish lin e, you always like to have a little more power, but th at' s the way it goes ," Hayden said . " I knew what I had to start with , and I had to make it work . I felt like' had a good run. An d Damon, he had a real - Iy good run too , just didn 't quite have enough to get by ." Hayd en said his Kawasak i ZX-6RR was the same it'd been all yea r, and it was n't quite eno ugh. "I wish we wo uld have had a little bit m or e," Hayd en said . "To fig ht tha t h ard t he w hole tim e a n d co me u p t hat sho rt, th o se a lways h urt th e worst. " Th e next fou r ride rs across the lin e were cov ere d by a seco nd. Th er e 'd been a c l o se p ac k for mu ch of the race , a rev olv in g c ast of rid ers and brands with no sec u rity amo ng the p ositi on s. Sp ies w as third un til l ap si xth , the n Yamaha 's J ason DiSal vo w as by for a lap , then Spi es aga in, fol low ed by D iSal v o and Ya ma ha's Aaron G obert. Mei ring was lurkin g with intent. DiSalv o mad e a m ista k e o n th e 11 th l a p that all owed Me irin g into fourth , be hind Gobert, with whom he Spies and DiSalvo battled over f ifth p lace, a spot that u ltimately went t o Sp ies. B y H E N N Y R A Y ABRAMS PH OT O S BY B RIA N J. NELSO N ALTON, VA, SEPT. 1 Y o sh i m u r a Suzu k i 's Ben Spi es moved a step closer to the Loc k hart -Ph ill ips Formul a Xtreme t itl e w ith a flag -t o -fl ag wi n in the tw ic e shortened final race of the da y at Virginia Internationa l Raceway . Title rival Damon Bu ckmaster wa s second on the Grav es Motorsports Yamaha w i th E r ion Honda's Jak e Zemke thi rd. Bu c km ast e r st uck t o Spi es until th e fi na l three laps w hen lap ped rid ers got in his way . Then Zemke made his way p ast Buc kmaste r, w ho was ha ving tro uble wi th acc ele ration grip, and the podium was set . Spi es comp leted the rac e in 15 16 S EPTEMBER 10,2003 ' cue Defending Fonnula Xtreme Champion Jason Pridmore suffered a broken leg in h is early race crash with Roger Lee Hayden. minutes, 57 .879 seconds at an ave rage spee d of 93.4 mph . Th e ave rage speed was fast er than th e previou s m ark b ut doesn 't st and as a rec o rd beca us e of the short er length of th e rac e. Th e fir st attempt at running th e race was red -flagged wh en Atta ck Suzu ki 's Jason Pridmore and Er ion I e neVIl's spa rred at th e beg inn ing of the race . Turn one was wh ere Meir in g th ought he'd make his m ov e until he saw a lapp ed r ide r in h is way " an d I had nowh ere t o 'reall y go , and I just k ind o f tipped in there , hop ing A ar on [Gob ert ] was n't goi ng to kind of c atch th e rea r end of m e and stand m e up . And I ended up making th e co rne r. I drift ed a li ttle bit wid e , and Aaron [G obe rt] k i n d of held it a little b it tighter and had tighter ex it. "T hen going into turn thr ee, he go t by o ne of the lap ped rid ers , and then going into the tight er section he got reall y close to another rider, and he kind of had to stand it up a little bit , and I just sq uared it off, got underneath of hi m . A nd c om ing right down the st raig htaway , t h e lapped rider moved over a little bit on hi m , and he m oved over i nto me a l itt le bi t because he had nowhere else to go ." Meiring beat Gobert across th e lin e by .69 of a second , with Sp ies two - tenths back and .05 in front of DiSalvo. " I g ot screwed up by so m e sl ow guy," Gobert said . "Me iring and I, in th e f irst f ew l a p s o f the rac e , had some dicing down th ere in t urn one, and yo u cou ld say it's his revenge. " cN Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia Results: August 31, 2003 (Round 10J SUPE RS PORT FINAL: I . Dam on Bu ckma st er (Yam) ; 2 . T ommy Hay den ( Kaw) ; 3 . Ton y Me iri ng (Kaw); 4 . Aaron Gobe rt (Yam) ; 5 . Ben Spies (5uz); 6 . Ja son DiSal vo (Yam ); 7 . M ig uel Duhamel (Ha n); 8 . Jamie Hack in g (Yam ) ; 9 . Jake Zemke ( Ho n) ; 10 . Mart y Craggill (Hon) ; I I. Lee Acree (Yam) ; 12. Al ex Gobert ( Ho n) ; 13. Rog er Lee Hayden ( Hon) ; 14. Ty How ard ( Hon) ; 15 . D a rre n Lu ck ( 5 uz); t 6 . Christop her Rank in ( Hon); 17. J aso n Curtis (Hon ); 18. Di rk Sanchez (Kaw) ; 19 . Mic hael Garofal o (Suz); 20. Nathan D ressm an (Ya m); 21. J eremy Haid uk (Yam ); 22 . Chad Kl oc k (Kaw); 23 . Cra sh Lowe (Suz); 2 4 . Ma rcus Winfree ( S uz); 25 . Darby B rau ning (Yam). Tim e: 17 m in .• 51.404 sec. Di stance: 12 laps. 26 .7 m il es A verag e spee d: 9 1.112 mph Margin of vict ory: .034 sec . S(JPERSPORT SERIES C'S HIP POINT STAN DINGS (A ft er 10 of 1 1 ro unds) : 1. Jamie Hackin g (3 08 / 4 wins ) ; 2. Dam on Buc kmaste r (29 3/1 ); 3 . Ben Sp ies ( 2 28/1) ; 4 . Aaron Go be rt (2 17) ; 5 . Tony Meiring (21 6 ); 6 . J ake Zem ke (2 15/1 ) ; 7 . T om m y Hay den (2 13/1 ): 8. A lex Gobert (21 2): 9. Roger Lee Hayden (207 ).