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/128323
Repsol S upers t ock Series STO RY AND P HOTOS BY H ENNY RAy ABRAM S ed flags he lped decide the outcome of the Repsol Superstock race for the second race in a row, but it was mostly the relentless Jamie Hacking who made the differen ce today. O n an atypicall y hot Northern California spring Sunday, Graves Moto rspo rts Yamaha's Hacking stalked teammate Damon Buckmaster for I3 laps and throug h a red flag stoppage before making a clean pass in the turn-nine chicane . Buckmaste r knew it was coming and had nothing in re ply. He'd settle for second place just in front of teammate Aaron Gobert, giving Yamaha a clean sweep of the podium . "I would 've liked to do it earlier, but it wasn't safe enough to get it done," Hacking said of the pass on the 14th of 17 laps around Infineon Raceway. "It just wasn't safe for me to get it done. Those times when I was showing him a w heel, I just couldn't get it done. I didn't want to push t he issue. I wa nted it to be a nice clean race. II The cleanliness went out of the race on the eighth lap when Mototecnica's Raul Padillahad a massive highside exiting 42 MAY 12, 2004 • the turn six carousel. A medi-vac helicop ter landed o n the track while medical personnel attended to the Californian. He was flown out with a suspected broken ankle . Up to that point, Buckmaste r was in the lead, w ith Hacking sta lking the whole time. Then there was a gap to Gobert, by himself, Tommy Hayden and Jason DiSalvo, and Spies. The restart didn't change the look of the race, at least not immediately. Buckmaster again took the lead, wit h Hack ing pressing and now Tommy Hayde n third . Aaron Go bert passed Hayden for third on the I Ith lap and set out for Hacking as he chased Buckmaster. "I knew that Jamie [Hacking] was on my tail the whole time and could probably make a move, and he did, and everything fell apart from there basica lly," Buckmaster said of the 14th-lap pass. "I tried a couple of times trying to get him going down through there," Hacking said of the hard, slow right. "It' s a tough place to pass because it comes down to a tight little bottleneck, and if you run off, then obviously you're putting yourself in danger the re ." In the run-up to the pass, Hacking saw that Buckmaster was "a little bit more worried about the back end of his bike." CYCLE N EWS Buckmaster said he was more com fortab le in the first part of the race . "I think the restart always seems to upset me just a little bit," he said. "I mentally know that it's going to be a dash rather than a conservation race and preserving tires. Once again, just like Fontana, this race probably hurt me with 40th Anniversary the red flag." Buckmaste r was lead ing Spies on the seventh lap at California Speedway when the race was stopped. Spies ran off to win, Buckmaste r coming secon d. The win stretched Hacking's championship lead to five points , 98-93, over Buckmaste r after th ree of I I races.