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/128328
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But he just can' t ride clean. You can ride close and bump a
little , but he 's rid ing stupid. There's nothing to be said for
it. I don't kno w what his problem is." DiSalvo added fuel
to the fire when he stopped to blow a kiss to Spies' crew
chief Tom Houseworth after the Supersport race. "Th e
incident with Roger [Hayden] , that was my fault ." DiSalvo
said . "I got in th ere too hot, a nd I was assuming that he
was going to make the pass , and he didn't, and I had
nowhere to go . It was either hit him and hope we both
stay up or crash into him and we both would have
crashed for sure. Again, my apologies to Ben and Roger
for Pikes Peak. I th ink Roger's gonen over that. Roger and
I have a mutual respect for each other. Being dirt trackers, we know about good close racing. Ben gets a little
worried sometimes when we get dose racing. You can
tell . Roger doesn't back off an inch ." According to a close
friend of Roger Lee's, he hasn't forgonen, nor forgiven,
DiSalvo for the PPIR contact.
Former factory KTM supermoto rider Ben Carlson took
part in the 600cc Supersport race aboard a Corsa Superbikes/Ozaukee Suzuki-backed GSX-R6oo, the 19-year-old
hoping to gain valuable road racing experience while
marking time until the start of the AMA Supermoto
Championship season. Carlson of West Bend, Wisconsin,
said , " I have a new supermoto program going with Synergy Motorsports. The bike is all carbon fiber, has its own
engine, its own everything. It has a reversed cylinder head
and some other goofy stuff going on . It's going to be me,
Eric Bostrom and Guy Cooper riding it. I'll be the number-one rider, with those two guys as fill-ins." Carison
said that he felt comfortable on the new Suzuki, and he
hasn't ruled out making a career sw itch at some point. "It
kind of depends," Carlson said . " If the AHA keeps botching the whole supermoto pnogram, there might not even
be a season next year. How can any factory or anybody
put any money aside at the beginning of the year when
you don't even have a schedule for racing. That hurt the
factories and the privateers."
Aaron Yates says that he is "ove r" what has to be one of
the most difficultseasons he has ever spent on a factory Suzuki. Following his suspension for the well-publicized Daytona
row, and with his 600 not up to speed, the Georgian has no
realistic chance at a tide in eithe<" dass he is contesting. "I'm
just going to ride," Yates said. "It's not like I have anything to
lose. It will be nice when we get the 600 going a bit better so
that I can go up there and race for the win. I know that I can
win . We're just a little bit behind on the development right
now. I just come out here and do the best I can. Mytearnmate [Mat Mladin] is riding for the championship, so maybe
the best Ican do is be a teammate to him and do what's best
for the tearn . Next year we 'll start allover."
What it lacks in participation, the Formula Xtreme class is
beginning to make up for in performance. Panned after Daytona, when the teams failed to run qualifying times that suggested they were any faster than the more policed Supersport machines, the top FX bikes (read Hondas) are really
starting to post some impressive speed. Consider that
Miguel Duhamel's Road America-winning CBR600RR registered a speed of I71 mph on the Team Honda radar gun up
the front straightaway while his CBR IOOORR Superbike registered a speed of 186 mph. According to Duhamel's cr