I
Rounds 13.14
July 25, 2004
Pro Honda Oils Supersport
AMA SUPERBIKE
THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM
By
T
e Pro Honda Oils Supersport
race was red -flagged three
times, the third one bringing
the hour-long mess to an end.
Kawasaki's Roger Lee Hayden was in
front when the scheduled 16-lap race was
euthanized , put to rest on the 14th lap, the
scoring reverting to lap 13. Yoshimura
Suzuki's Ben Spieswas a close second, with
Y
amaha's Aaron Gobert a few seconds back
in third. Gobert summed up the frustration
of the race.
"I'd lost interest by the last restart," he
said. "Felt it wasn't worth ridinganymore."
The race had begun under threatening
skies, with an occasional stray raindrop,
Spies led, with Tommy Hayden seco nd, followed by Roger Lee and the Yamaha of
Jason DiSalvo, soon to be joi ned by Aaron
Gobert.
DiSalvo was the first out with a tumseven crash.
YoshimuraSuzuki's Steve Rapp fell on lap
HENNY
seven in the Keyhole on an unevenly
grooved concrete patch that claimed a
number of riders this weekend and three
during a recent test. Then Scott Beckley
crashed in turn II and the race was
stopped. Scoring went back to the end of
lap six, and Rapp,whose Suzukiwasn't badly
damaged , was able to continue.
The track cleared and the
race began anew with the
same riders at the front but
in a different order, Roger
Lee leading Spies after going
softer on his rear tire compound ,
followed
by
Tommy and Gobert.
Spies took over on the
next lap and was in front
when the second red nag
new. This time it was
Darren Luck losing the
front end on his Suzuki
GSX-R600, the sliding
machine taking out Jason
26 AUGUST 4,2004 • C YCLE N EWS
RAy
ABRAMS
Perez .
The final segment would tum out to be
five laps, run in a very occasional and light
rain. Spies again got the jump, with Roger
and Gobert just behind. Tommy was not
willing to take any risks.
The pace was at it had been earlier,
Spies' Suzuki GSX·R600 straining to keep
Roger at bay, and successfully - until the end
of the back straight on the fifth lap.
"Ben [Spies] kind of ran a little bit wide,"
Roger said. '" think he got up on the curb.
because I really got a good drive out of the
Keyhole. I kind of got by him pretty early. It
was just a pretty easy draft pass. That 's one
place I think I could've got by him, because
Tommy Hayden (22) baHled
with Aaron Gobert (behind
Ha yden) for third place.
Ha yden still leads in
the points sta ndings, over his
younger
bro ther.
