Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ben Sp ies did e xa ctly what he needed t o do t o win t h e Fonnul a X treme title. lock ed up, and I t ried to charge through and c au g h t Damon [Buckmaster] , starting closing on Jake: said Sp ies, who 'd won th e thre e ra c es pri or to Barber. "T hen I had a moment. I j ust slo wed down a bit. It was rea ll y hard. I was on th e ba c k o f t ha t pac k for a few laps. I knew I wasn't goin g t o c r a sh, but i t w a s j ust I d idn 't want t o d o an yth in g stup id, so I j us t st ar t g o in g ba ck some. " Th e fina l point tally show s Spies with 318 , Bu c km a st er w ith 285 , and Zem k e w ith 281 . As mu ch a s th e tit le mean t to h i m, S pies was alread y th in k in g ahead . "I m ean th e c ha mpionshi p was aweso me, and i t 's definit ely going to be th ere fo rever , but I'm ready to get in the Su perbi k e c lass ," Spies sa id . " We don 't have too mu ch off tim e . We start t esti ng n e xt month, and I'm ready to go ." Ha cking was ready t o go wh en th e green light flash ed. At t h e start o f th e da y he 'd wrapped up hi s first AMA pro titl e, Pro Honda Oils Sup ersport , wh ere he had to r id e caut iou sl y and fin ish , ra ther than race for the wi n. No w he was eager. t hat g ot p rog ressiv el y worse at th e halfway part . He pok ed a wh eel in on Hac king here and there , hop in g he' d make a mistake . B ut Hacking was riding flawlessly , Zemke said . " I was happy to sit behind him and let the race unfold towards the end ," he said . " A little past halfway there around th e ninth or tenth lap , I just coul dn ' t su stai n th e pace an y more and backed off an d brought it home second." Sp ies was th ird , th en came Bu ck master, five seconds later, th e runner-up in his second cham pionshi p of th e da y . Re c ent l y c row ne d Supe rst ock ch am pio n J osh Hay es was fifth , on hi s A t tac k Su zu ki GSX -R750 , with B ru ce Tran sportat ion Grou p 's Marty Cr ag gill sixth . eN "I told the guys, 'You ready to go win , because I'm ready to go win.?' Hac k ing said . " I m ean I've already got my 600 race ov er with, and that was a .lot of pressure off m y shoul ders. And I wasn 't go ing to tak e no for an answer. " From the start he was i n fro n t, n ever to b e headed. He put half a seco nd on Zem ke , then bobbled , th en go t it back , crui sin g to victor y with 5. 029 second s in hand. It was Hacking's second FX win of th e ye ar - he'd won at Road Atlanta but this one was leg it imate, he said . " T h a t wasn 't n o wi n . That w a s given to me . This is a win ," he said. "That is th e way I li k e to earn th em , other tha n Ben [Sp ies] was n 't racing for the champ ionship. I' d like for him to be up there, too. I do n't bl am e h im ; h e didn 't ha ve t o be . I ea rne d th i s ag ain st Jake [Zem k e] . T ha t's who I h a d to race was Jake [Zemk e] . A t Ro ad Atla nta , I wasn 't racin g any body , I was handed th at pos itio n, but I'll tak e it anyway , but I wo n' t say I wo n that race." Zemke was on a new bike, new in the sense tha t t he team was t rying new settings in eve ry session , hop ing to find someth ing that worked. "I just needed some time to get the thi ng to work better : Zemke said. Th e front end was never right. Th ere was a chatter at the beginning C.R. Gitte re (Suz); 16. Rick Na rup (Sua): 17. Chad Rolland (Suz); 18. Nathan Hester (Yam) : 19 . J oseph Dawson ( Suz) ; 20 . Bob Siebenbeer (Suz): 2 1. Brian Boy d {Suz]: 22 . K .W. Burgess (Suz). LO CKH AR T ·PHILUPS USA FO RMULA EXTREME C' S HIP PO IN TS STANDIN GS ( Aft er 10 of 10 r ound s ) : 1. Ben Spies (3 18 /5 w i ns ) ; 2 . D a m o n Bu ck m aste r (285/2 win s); 3 . Jake Zemke ( 28 1/1 win ) ; 4 . J osh Hay es ( 2 6 7) ; 5. A d a m Ferg us son ( 23 6); 6 . J am ie Hacking ( 2 18/2 wins ) : 7. M arty Cragg ill ( 2 17 ) : 8 . Steve Rop p ( 176): 9 . Jo son Pridmore (172 ): 10. Roger Lee Hoyden ( 135). greater d amage was th e 20 po ints he was dock ed . T h e final p o int co u n t was Hayes, 332 , with two wins; Hayden , 326 , with four wins . For Hayden, it was the third tim e he'd lost a cham pionship by 15 po ints or less . Equall y damaging was the AM A 's decision no t t o p enaliz e Hayes for u si n g a lam bda sensor, a fuel mixture moni tori ng device, at Mi d -O hio. Th ough aftermark et senso rs are n 't allowed, th e team in terpret ed it as an instru m ent, which th e A MA accepted . Had Hay es been penalized, the series m ay well have turn ed out differently. The first 12 laps of the race would det erm in e two things, grid positi on s for th e fin al fiv e laps and how they 'd count toward most laps led . With tha t i n mind , Ha yes t ook to the fro nt , le a di n g n in e of th e fir st 12 l a p s, eno ug h to guarantee h im the extra po int prior to the red flag. The pair went back and fo r t h , St eve Rapp nestled in third until the 12th lap when he dropped Hayes to th ird. Then came the Fergu sson cras h - he was sixth at the time - and th e red flag . "I th ough t it was over when I saw th e red fl ag ," Ha y d en said . Bu t h i s spirits were buoyed wh en he wa s told th ere'd be a rest art . " [I was] hoping it wo uld bun c h everybo dy b a ck u p m ore t han anything. I think I had a bet ter chance of winning the cham pionsh ip with a restart than if we had fini shed out the wa y we were ." Barber Molorsports Park Birmingham , Alabama Results : September ZI , Z003 (Round 101 LOCK HAR T ·PHILLI PS USA FORMULA XT REME: 1. Jam ie Hack ing (Yarn) : 2. Ja ke Zem ke ( Ho n); 3 . B en Sp ies (S uz); 4 . Dem on Bu c kmaster (Yam ) ; 5 . J osh Hayes (SUI); 6 . Ma rty Crag gill ( Ho n); 7 . Adam Fergusson (SU ); B. Jo mes Ellison (Suz); 9. I T y H o w a rd ( Ho n) ; t o. Corey E a t o n ( S u z ) ; 1 1. A ndrew Deathe rage (Suz) ; 12 . Mark Ledesm a (Han ); 13 . Da rin Edward s (S UI) : 14 . Da vid Bell (SUI) ; 15. G e n u in e S u z u k i Acce s sories Superstock R o u n d 1 1 : Barber Motorsports P a r k ST OR Y AND PH OT O B Y H E NN Y R A Y A B RA MS BIRMINGHAM, AL, SEPT. 20 f all the und e cided ch ampi o n s h i p s , th e Genuine Su zu k i A ccess or ies Superstock was the close st. At tack Suzuki's Josh H a y e s arri v ed in A la ba ma with an eight p o int a dva nt age ove r K awas a k i ' s Tommy Hayd en , but at a sli ght com petitive disadvantage: T he tw istin ess of the 2 .3 -m ile Ba rb er Motorsports Park favor ed Hayd en , who 'd tested at th e tra ck and was on the more nimble machine , the 636cc Kawasaki ZX-6R. Hayes helped h is c ase by tak ing the pole po sition , and th e po int tha t goes with it , in Fr ida y 's qualifying. It m eant th at to win the title , he had to fi nish thi rd or be tter, if Hayden won the race and ied the m ost laps . O f f th e sta rt th e c h am p i o n sh i p contend ers were joined by Valvoline Suzuk i's Ste ve Rapp, the tr io setting off from th e sta rt, t hen Hayes and Hayden swapping the lead every lap , Hayes lead ing across th e stripe most times . T hen came a cras h, by Corona Ext ra EBSCO Medi a Suzuki 's Adam F ergusson , and a red flag , on the O 13th of 17 laps, with scoring reverting to the end of th e 12th lap. T he upshot was that the cha mpionship wou ld be decide d by a five-lap sprint. Ha yd e n made a slight gearing c hang e and fitted his Kawasaki ZX 6R with soft tires so he co uld speed away , whi ch he di d. Bu t Hay es ke pt him in sig ht and hel d off Yamaha 's J ason DiSalvo to fi nish second, 1.49 9 sec ond s beh ind and the ne w c la ss champion by six poin t s. " T hi s i s a p rett y b i g de al : said Ha yes, who lives in Gulfport, Mississippi , and was ra cing in fron t o f a large contingent of friends and family. "We' ve been fighting for this for quite a while. This year 750 Superstock has been such an awesome class . I co u l d n ' t h av e had m or e fun ; I co uld n't hav e won it , I don 't think , a bett er way ." Hayd en was g ra ci ous in d ef eat, co ngra t ulating Hay es and no d ou bt w on d er in g what m i gh t h a v e b een . T he low point of his season ca me 27 d a y s a ft er the race at Cali f ornia Sp eedway wh en the AMA b el at edl y det ermined that his engine was found t o ha v e ill egal mod ifi c ations t o th e head and he wa s fin ed $2000. But th e cue I e n e _ S • O C TO B ER 1 , 2003 15

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