Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Repsol Lubricants Superstock Series Vincent Haskovec pulls off a stunner at Daytona By PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOS BY HENNY RAy ABRAMS he name Vincent Haskovec doesn't easily roll off the tongue, but that wasn't why the former resident of the Czech Republic wasn't mentioned often when prognosticators began forecasting potential winners for the highly competitive AMA Superstock class. In truth, the MP4 Emgo Suzuki rider was racing with his third different tire manufacturer in as many years, and prior to the race even he sounded less than confident. But Haskovec, his new Suzuki GSXRI000 and his Pirelli tires proved to be the class of the field at Daytona International Speedway as he stormed through from sixth place on the opening lap to win the Superstock final. Haskovec didn't do much to elevate his status in the abbreviated and highly ridiculed qualifying session held on Thursday morning, but qualifying is qualifying and racing is racing, and Haskovec showed on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon that he's a pretty good little racer. And he definitely had the right combination on this day: Suzuki and Pirelli. Haskovec steadily worked his way to the rear of the lead group on the fifth of I3 laps of the newly configured Speedway road course, then he kept his head down, moving to fourth after eight laps and second after nine laps. A lap later and he was in the lead, passing near race-long leader Aaron Yates and his Yoshimura Suzuki. From there, Haskovec kept his cool, his T 40 Pirellis hanging tough beneath him as he held off Yates, beating him to the line by a scant .302 of a second after I3 frantic laps of the 2.95-mile track. "It was very exciting," Haskovec said. "Right before the race, I had qualifying in Formula Xtreme, and the difference between those two bikes is unbelievable. The speed, the riding of it, the drives, the position on the bike - everything. That actually helped me. I was very cautious in the opening laps, trying to get the right feeling for the motorcycle. Also, we did the Superbike qualifying [session] and we concluded what we had to do with Ohlins and Stig Petersen. We made a move [With the suspension] kind of blindly, and we used it for the race, and it worked out. The bike felt exactly like I wanted it to. I just had to get used to it. I was behind my teammate Geoff [May], and he got a little wide in the chicane, and I thought, 'I should go by myself now.' I was able to go around, and as soon as I passed Geoff, I was with those four guys two Yamahas and two Suzukis and I was able to bring those guys to me. And that was the fastest lap of the race. I did a faster lap than I did in qualifying, thanks to the draft. That's how Daytona plays with the MARCH 23, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS drafting. I got my setup pretty good for that kind of situation - a four-bike-plus draft. I sat behind them for five, six laps and I'm like, 'Everything feels good, I should start to roll.' I saw them standing their bikes up in the infield." With polesitter Yates finishing a close second, Jason Pridmore made his debut with the Michael Jordan Motorsports team a memorable one as he led at times and was in the hunt the entire time, eventually finishing a close third. Pridmore was a factor throughout the race, proving his worth as the new team's leader and shoWing the world that Jordan did a lot more than just hiring his golfing buddy. "Honestly, I was thinking about stopping at the end of last year, and then a big, tall basketball player came into my life and we started playing some golf together, and all of a sudden I'm here." Pridmore said after the race. "But it's not just him [Michael Jordan], it's this whole crew that we have. You are only as good as your team, and you are only as good as your bike. I'm very fortunate that I have the best team and I have the best bike. This is a great way to start the year, and I'm just looking forward to seeing what the year brings us. I think we're going to be tough. Aaron [Yates] will be one of the toughest guys out there, and today Vince [Haskovec] looked great. I'm actually really happy for him." To make things even sweeter for the new team, Steve Rapp also fared well, the Californian ending up eighth - though that could have easily been fourth. Rapp's race was slightly hectic as he worked his way up to the rear of the lead group only to lose the front and crash. He qUickly remounted and continued to fight, ending up eighth at the flag. The top three Suzuki men - Haskovec, Yates and Pridmore - had pulled clear by the finish, thanks to miscues by two of the factory Yamaha men on the 12th lap. Trying to make up for a fairly obvious horsepower deficit on one track that requires the very most, Jason DiSalvo was the first to err, the New Yorker running wide in turn one as he desperately tried to stay on the rear of the top three. Then his teammate Jamie Hacking followed suit, running off the track in turn four. Both were able to rejoin the action, but they'd lost the leaders' draft and would finish fourth and fifth, with Hacking barely beating DiSalvo to the line. And those two were the bright spots for Yamaha, as its defending class champion, Aaron Gobert, only completed one lap, the RI suffering a clutch problem that knocked the disappointed Australian out of the race in his debut with the numberone plate. Further imprOVing the M4 Emgo Suzuki team's day was the fact that

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