Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Se ries it's been a difficult year so far." T he battle up front rage d on and quick ly turned into one of the most exciting battl es of th e weekend, with Zemke trying to find a way to get around Duhamel but running out of gear eve ry time he tried to slingshot o ut of Duhamel's draft crossing the start/finish line. "Miguel got a bette r start t han I did ," Zem ke said. " I was content to sit beh ind him and se e what he cou ld do . The first couple of laps I was watching my board, and we were e king out a litt le bit on jaso n [Pridmore] in th ird . It was fun, our bikes were really even ly matched , and we were just go ing bac k and forth, just having fun , goi ng down the straight waving at each other and stuff. It was a good t ime . We both knew that t he victory was go ing to come down to the last lap." Thi ngs co ntinued to stay int e res ting in the first two positions while Pridmore plugged away in third on his obviously I Briefly••• continued from page 24 can't grab the throttle. By the time I do that, I lose all my corner speed . It's just a matter of going to a test and changing now what you know. There's noth ing like a race . You need a race unde r yo ur be lt to really feel what's going on. We'll be there, hopefullywithin a few races. I think we 're back a ways now, but once we get the bike right, then allof a sudden we'll spring towards the front end . Hope fully once we get there, we'll stay there." Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster was one of the doub le-duty riders who objected to scheduling the Superstock race just before Supersport. "We've got to have a break : It's as simple as that ." he said after Superstock qualifying. "If they don't rea lize that, that's not our fault. We get paid by companies to do the best job we can, the best way we know. And sitting in a media cen - ter and doing champagne and stuff, when we should be getting ready for another race is ludicro us." Buckmaste r 's first reac- Bener late... By BLAKE CONNER PHOTOS BY HENNY RAy ABRAMS he Formula Ext re me race was th e las t thi ng on a nyo ne 's mind after a fairly boring and processional Superbike race o n Su nd a y at Cal ifo r nia Speed way. T he ra ce was almost an aftert ho ught afte r bei ng post po ned from Sat urday w hen t he weather turned sou r and moved to the final eve nt of the wee kend , lat e in t he y day on Sund ay. In t he end, however, Ame rican H o nda' s Migue l Du hamel and Erio n Honda's jake Zemke - having literally just jum ped off of their Supe rbikes - put on o ne he ll o f a sh ow, with the two scrapping it o ut in a battle re miniscent of a friendly schoo lyard scuffle . At the finish it was D u hame l ta king his seco nd co nsecut ive vic tory of t he year in the newly restructured class ove r Zemke , who wasn 't a bout t o make it easy fo r him. " It was a go od race," D uhame l said. " I got a good start, and the n we were d oing a dece nt pace . After getting o ff o f the Superbike, it takes a wh ile t o get adapted to the bike - there are a couple of things that are obviously differe nt . At the sa me time , I wanted to keep t he pace fast en ough so that I would be a ble to bre ak away from the pack, and I was able to do that. jake [Zemke] and I were just trying measure each o ther up, and we bo t h had some strong points on the racetrack. I was faster than jake in the last segme nt all weekend, and I was just trying to bank o n T the fact th at he might not be able to get me going to the line ; it's a long st raight... I was tucking in for everything I had ." At the start it was Duhamel getting the ho lesho t over Zemke, w ith Yamahamoun ted Larry Pegram and No Limits Suzu ki's jason Prid mo re in ho t pursuit. Pridmore quickly passed Pegra m befo re the y go t to the back straight o n t he first lap, try ing no t to lose touch w ith the two facto ry Hondas. At the end of lap o ne it was Du ham el , Zemke, Prid mo re , Pegram, Erion Honda's Alex Gobe rt , Valvoline EMGO Suzuki 's Vincent Has ko vec, Hypercycles' jaco b Hol de n, and Marc Palazzo crossing the stripe. The two Ho ndas started their own private battle at around t hree laps in, slow ly pu tt ing a ga p of ove r two seconds o n Pridm ore by lap four. But Prid mo re was starting to do the same to the chasing pack in the battle fo r fou rt h, which was now headed by Gobert, the young Aussie w o rking his way past Pegram . " It was pretty lonely to day, to be ho nes t," Pridm o re said. " I tri ed to stay with those guys [Du hamel an d Zemke] at the start, but we w ere just dow n a little bit on ho rse pow e r o n the straightaways. I did n't want to ove rride the bike too m uch ; I just wanted the m to draw me away fro m t he peopl e behind me. I just put my head down for the first seve n or eight laps, trying to kee p th e m in focus . At th at time I was seeing plus t hree and plus four on my boa rd , so I backed it do w n a little bit . I really wanted to give this team th ei r first podium beca use we needed this bad ly - 26 APRI L 14 , 2004 • CY CLE NEWS tion when he saw the schedule a few weeks earlier was that there was no underpowered Suzuk i GSX-R600. After a fairly slow start to the race, Gobert got into a rhyt hm and locked down fo urt h but was unable to make up any time o n Prid mo re . " I kind of struggled out th e re ," Go bert sa id. "I got'a decent start, but the Fo rmula Extre me bike - if yo u d o n't push it 100 percent - it do esn 't handle real good . So it too k me a few laps t o get right into it. By t hat time the guys had go t away, and the n I put in a pretty big effort to try a nd catch [jaso n] Prid mo re , but he was riding really good out there. I was push ing harde r, and it was sta ying about the sa me. So I decide d I might as well settle for fourth, no big deal, but I'm sick o f getting fourth everywhere." Pegra m was still soldiering on in fifth place ahead of Haskovec and Hol den and was simp ly physically o ut o f gas . "I was wis hing I had another half an hou r to rest [afte r the Superbike race]," Pegram said . " I got a little t ired, but we're getting t here . We had to run o ur Supersport bike , but were getting this th ing go ing, we've go t some sponsorship, and Pirelli is he lping out a lot ." On t he final lap it was D uham el bo ldly lea ding out of the final corner onto the fron t straight, beating Zemke to the line by . 102 of a second, with Pridmore finally crossing the line almost 20 seconds late r. The res t of t he positio ns remained stab le for t he remainder of the race, with Go bert, Haskovec, Peg ram, Ho lden , Palazzo , Co rey Eaton and Dan ny Eslick rounding out t he to p 10. eN C AU FORN IA SPEEDWAY FONTANA, C A U FORNIA R ESULT A PRIL 4, 2004 ( ROUN D S: to Saturday since Formula Xtreme is still a developing class. Also, the AMAdidn't get the live television schedule until three days before the race weekend. Now that they have it, t hey can start generating the race weekend schedules for the rest of the series . There's also the problem of running two big bike classes consecutively. "I can't see putting Superstock and Superb ike back to back," Barrick said. O ne way to alleviate the problem of getting off a 1000 and getting stra ight onto a 600 is to have one of the races before the lunch break , which Barrick said may happen in the future . Jake Zemke (Han); 3. Jason Pridmore (Suz): 4. Alex Gobert (Hoo); 5. Vincent Haskc vec (Suz); 6. Larry Pegram (Yam); 7. Jacob Holden (Suz); B. Marc Palazzo (yam); 9. Corey Eaton (Suz); 10. Danny Eslick (Suz); I I. Hea th Small (Yam); 12. Perry Melnec iuc (Yam); 13. Nathan Hes te r (Yam); 14. Garth Dillon (Yam); IS. Jay Tanne r (Yam); 16. Craig Mclean (Hoo); 17. Brian Bartlow (Hon ); lB. Eric: Haugo (Suz); 19. Ron Northup (Yam); 20. Kenan Rappuchi (Yam); 21. Brien White lock (~uz); 22. [eff Williams (Suz). lime : 25 rmn., 9.416 sec . D istance: 17 laps, 40.12 miles Margin of victory: 0.102 sec . Average speed: 93.3 mph FORM U LA XTRE M E C'SHIP POINTS STAN D IN GS (After 2 of II rounds): I. Migue l Duhame l (74n wins) ; 2. Jake Ze mke (62); 3. Alex Gobert (54); 4. Vincent Haskovec (5 1); 5. Jacob Holde n (4B); 6. Co rey Eaton (44); 7. Perry Melnec iuc (39); B. Nathan Hes ter (36); 9. Ben Bostrom (33); 10. Jason Pridmore (29); II. Pascal Picotte (26); 12. I.=y Pegram (2S); 13. (TIE) H u e PalazzolJeff Wood (23); 15. (TIE) Danny Eslick/Fran k Trom bino (2 1). UPCOMING R OUNDS 2) FORM ULA XTRE ME: I. Miguel Duhamel (Hon); 2. 4 0th Anniversary thought put into it. The only factorybacked rider doing Superstock and Formula Xtreme, which runs on Saturday, is Erion Honda's Alex Gobert. "We wo rked out a plan that would have been good for everyone . Unfortunate ly, there's one person out there that' s getting lucky." AMA road race manager Ron Barrick said, commenting that there were good reasons for the schedule. Barrick said he didn't want to move either Superstock or Supersport Round 3 . Sonom California, May 1 a, Round 4 . B irmingham, Alabama, May 15

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