Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ROAD RACe Round 1 March 6, 2005 ~ Championship Cup Series Jamie Hacking (2x) came to Daytona to get some testing in prior to the start of AMA racing action at the Speedway. Here, he leads Scott Greenwood in Expert Middleweight Superbike. There were no breakthrough performances at Daytona T he future was not on display this weekend. The Championship Cup Series didn't provide a breakthrough performance or showcase an up-and-rising star. Instead, the 25 CCS races, far too many of which were redflagged, were mostly a showcase for the superiority of the Yamaha factory team which used it as a test for next week's AMA Supersport race - and a few of the other AMA regulars with similar intent. Was it worth it? Certainly for three of the riders, but not for Damon Buckmaster. The Australian highsided during Sunday's Formula USA Superbike race, damaging his shoulder and the start of his season. "If it hadn't been for Damon crashing, it would have been a complete winner coming down here," Yamaha's Tom Halverson said. "It still was for three of the guys." Among the amateurs, there was one rider who stood out. Brian McCormack, a 21-year-old Irishman from County Waterford, won a pair of races and finished second twice on a Proline Racing Honda CBR600RR. McCormack, a regular in the British Superstock Series, is hoping it earns him a ride in the United States. Yamaha's Jamie Hacking had never seen the new layout at the Speedway. During the January tire test, the former Supersport Champion was recovering from collarbone surgery. Getting him track time was part of the inspiration for the team, which brought his three teammates along. The rest was a rainy testing season. The team lost a day to rain at California Speedway, another day at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and two days at Willow Springs. "Jamie [Hacking] definitely wanted some seat time, and he definitely wanted seat time on new track," Halverson said, adding that the team also had new parts to test on the new R6. "We were a little behind for the suspension stuff and chassis and fuel-injection issues. It made sense to come down here, and we had three days to develop the engine." Because they were able to use a 2-D data acquisition system, which is banned in AMA racing, they were able to accelerate the learning curve. "Everything just went a lot quicker," he said. Hacking's first take on the new layout: "It's like you're racing at Daytona, make a right, and all of a sudden you're at 24 MARCH 16,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Pikes Peak." Because they had no CCS experience, the Yamaha foursome was gridded toward the very back of the grids. It meant that to get to the front they'd have to pass dozens of riders. More than once, they chose to hang back and allow the field to get away. "I'll tell you, there was some pretty hairy situations out there where you're thinking to yourself, you're safe, you don't want to cause any troubles, and some guy torpedoes past you and nearly T-bones the guy in front of you," Aaron Gobert, who inadvertently won a race, said. "I had three or four highsides in front of me on the first lap. Nearly every one of them brought out a red flag. The last time I've ridden with that many guys was a long time ago." Friday's 2S-minute Expert GTU race was red-flagged on the first lap, but the clock kept running. When it was restarted I I minutes later, Gobert took the lead on the second flying lap and was there on the fourth lap when it was red-flagged again and ended. The foursome made a point of not finishing the races, regardless of their racetrack positions. The point was to learn the R6 and, for Gobert, it was a successful mission. "I went a full second a lap quicker than I did in the January test," Gobert said, "and the bike's still new. This bike's got some secrets for me that I'm still trying to work out. For the bike and myself to get along really good, this has helped a lot." Gobert said the team brought the R6's because they were new. "It costs a lot [to bring the RI]," Gobert said, "and we really wanted to focus on one bike, and the RI had a year development on it, and we were happy to bring the R6s and see what they've got." The track had improved since January and the prediction of one-line racing wasn't borne out. Hacking stuffed under Scott Greenwood in the Expert Middleweight Superbike race, a race he and Jason DiSalvo were leading when they pulled out on the final lap. "It's definitely a lot better now. It's got curbing, they've painted that up so you know you can go white line to white line without worrying about dropping into the dirt," Gobert said. "You don't get the sand dust in there from dropping into your knee, and the surface is a lot better from being run in. It's got some tire rubber on it."

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