Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Continued from poge 2 J only $1()() more than the 20th place Superbike finisher. " The situation makes more sense. We're streamlining everything. We're trying to do It more efficiently." The financial shortfall is a result of the team owner not making up the difference between what the spo nsors paid in and what was needed to run the program. The team couldn't afford to bring Grant Matsushirna, Caylor 's longtime mechanic, to PPIR.Acree and Caylor were working on their own bikes - Acree does Superbike and Supersport - with help from Jamie Wagner, the husband of Caylor 's wife's best friend fro m college. Wagner is an avid motorcycle and NASCARfan who, fortuitously for the team but not himself, recently lost his job. The team isliving in Acree's motorhome for now. "That thing may have to be up for sale to make this work," Caylor said. Not all is darknes s and gloom . The early round AHA bonuses showed up in the past week, allowingthem to continue. "It's race to race now. I'llgo home after this to service the bikes," Caylor said. Caylor would like to upgrade the Suzukis from Superstock trim to closer to Supe rbike. ':A least put some t Atta ck Racing triple clamps on it," he said. There was some dissent, but most riders liked the two-day race meeting format . "I love it," Yamaha's Jamie Hacking said. "If you ain't up to speed by now... we're pro fessionals at this. We should be able to get T is week it was Tommy's tu m . A w ee k on from losing a Supersport race to his younger brothe r Roger Lee for the first time, Tommy Hayden r o d e h is Kawasaki ZX6 to victory in the Pro Honda O ils Supersport race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. It was his relentless pursuit of Yamaha's Aaron Gobert that paid off with a late- race pass and narrow victory, his second of the year. "I worked too hard to let that one get away, and I let one slip away last week," Tommy Hayden said of his loss to younger brother Roger Lee at Barber Motorsports Park. "I wanted to definitely put a lot of effort in the last few laps, and it worked out." Hayden set a new race record of 84 . 147 m ph, bettering the previous mark o f 8 3. 195 set by Yamaha's Jam ie Hacking in 2000. Hayden won by .672 of a second. Points were the more important num bers. Tommy Hayde n has 164 to Roger Lee's ISO after five of I I rou nds . Aaron Gobert is third with 143. Third today went to Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo, who incurred the wrath of Roger Lee Hayden after knocking him off the track on the 14th of291aps. Defending class champion Hacking was fifth after botching the start, then a quartet of Suzukis - VaIvoline EMGO Suzuki's Steve Rapp in fron t of th e unde rpow e red Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600's of Ben Spies andAaron Yates. Corona Extra Suzuki's Ben Attard was ninth . Go bert could n't match his own pole pos ition record from last year. But his best lap 22 JUNE 2 , 2004 • earned him the pole and the point, and he made the most o f it with his start. Away like a bullet, he took Tommy Hayden and DiSalvo with him, Roger Lee dose by before a gap to the rest, led earlyby Yates. Tommy Hayden was in front on the fourth lap, but that was it until late in the race. Gobert ke pt his cool under withering pressure from Tommy Hayden. "I didn't think anyone would come with me," Gobert said . "I thought that I could break awa y. Obviously, Tommy w orked it out, and he came with me. I said at the start, as long as it comes down to a couple o f guys, I'll be happy." " I was content to sit there for a little while," Tommy Hayden said. They hadn't had a lot of track time, and he wasn't 100percent comfortable with his machine. "I kind o f felt things out a little bit and tried not to overabuse my tires , a little bit let him push the wind ," Hayden said. " Then towards about halfway I fe lt we were coming into traffic, then I started to try to make some passes. Then we started to dice back and forth . I couldn't never really made a pass stick through the infield like I would've like to a few times . Aaron was fighting back, and he was riding really good. We were battl ing dose." By halfway in, third place had been set, DiSalvo in front of Roger Lee on lap 14. DiSalvo explained that they were coming into the first right-hander in the infield, tu m fou r, when they carne up on a lapped rider. He thought Roger Lee was go ing to go underneath him. Then Hayden decided at the last minute to check up and wait to the CYCLE NEWS exit to get by the Iapper. 'i\nd I was kind of thinking about maybe pass ing th e m both, an d w he n Roge r checked up , his line tighte ned up , and he was kind of right where I wanted to be or right where I planned to be ," DiSalvo said. "It just didn't work out. I got into the side of him. And lifted him up a little bit and lifted me up, too. It was a pretty big impact." O nce the deed was done , DiSalvo saw a chance to try to get away, which he did. The leaders had over a second at th is point, and Gobert was still in control. Tommy Hayden was patient, but time was running out. "I felt like I had a little better tire there at the en d, and I thought I've got behind a little bit and was able to close back up pretty q uick through the infie ld," Tommy Hayden said. "So I thought if I cou ld lea d through the infield, I could maybe get a little bit of a gap, or if not , make him push a little bit harder and maybe make a mistake or something." Hayden closed right up on the 21st lap, pulled alongside in tum three but couldn't make th e pass , Gobert harder on the brakes. On the next lap Hayden's Kawasaki outaccelerated Gobert's Yamaha, and Tommy took the lead just past start/finish . Gobert hit back in tum three, again going up the inside and stopping, effectively dulling Hayden's drive. The next lap the same th ing happened: Gobert led across the line, then Hayde n carne by, and Gobert again took over into tum three. Roger Lee Hayden was now over I.S seconds beh ind and no threat to DiSalvo. 40th Anniversary up to speedin one, two sessions. We shouldn't need one or two days." What of the privateers? "This place he re there's limited stuff you can do to your bike to make it go much faster. It's just a one lap time speed racetrack. No matter how good you get your bike, you're not going to drop a second; you can drop tenths. Those guys that came here and tested - the Honda guys and Ducatl guys - it doesn't look like it' s helping them." Teammates Aaron Gobert and Jason DiSalvo agreed, DiSalvo likening it to a IT track, which he said everyone has in their backyards . Hacking pointed ou t he has a swimming pool in his backyard . "I like it," Mat Mladin said. "O bviously with a doubleheader weekend you can't have a two -day forma t. But for single races, I can't see a problem with two-day format :' American Honda's Miguel Duha me l said, "Right now I'm still assessing It. It depends on how much time we get tomorrow and if I can get the bike together. Up to now it's not as bad as I thought it would be." American Honda's road race coordinator Ray Plumb liked the format. ''As long as it's a single race , It's nice," Plumb said. "Most of our riders got right up to speed. Of all of the guys on our team, I didn't hear any complaints ." O n the practical side , Plumb sa there was a considerable cost savings id in hotels, rental cars , and meals. The big turn one left -hand bowl tum and the loo ping left in the infield gave rise to a quest ion about whether the track favored dirt trackers. " I don't think there are any dirt trackers out there," Yamaha·s Aaron Continued on poge 24

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