Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... -- - - - - - - - - - - : Round 2 ROAD RACe ! Continued from page 21 I went out and immediately. unfortunately... it wasn't the right way to go at aiL And that red flag really saved us. So we went back and we tore the bike down and changed all the setup to where we qualified. and it was a completely different bike. To do that in that kind of pressure situation without making a mistake - you've got to love those guys for doing that. They gave me that bike so I could run up there. I was hoping to get maybe a little bit closer. maybe a shot at a podium. Iwas right there. But it didn't happen. I think we can make it a little bit better for tomorrow. My lap times were all in the 265. almost. 26.6 and so on, so forth. If we can make it just that one little dick. basically, a little bit better, I think we have a shot at the podium tomorrow. You never know. Racing's racing. It's kind of nice to see that we had a shot at the podium the whole race. I was just trying to chase those two guys down, and a lot of the credit goes to the team for working hard." Pro Honda 0115 Supersport Championship April 24, 2005 - Jamie Hacking used two great starts and superior drives off Barber's tigher corners to fend off a charging Tommy Hayden and earn his first AMA win in nearly two years. Yamaha pulls even STORY AND PHOTOS BY HENNY T RAy ABRAMS mm y Hayden thought about making the pass, and everyone watching thO.Ught ab.out Valentino .ROSSI. In the final corner of the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race, Kawasaki's Hayden had an opening. It wasn't much of an opening - an Inch, maybe, he ..,id but It was there, and he could have made his way through, much like RossI did to Sete Gibernau In the final corner at Jerez. At Barber, Yamaha's Jamie Hacking played the Gibernau role. He was in the lead from the start, in front In the final corner, and with just enough room on his inside to be vulnerable. "It was close," Hacking said. In less time than it takes to read this sentence, Tommy Hayden made up his mind. "Last race or something, yeah, I would've gone for it for sure," Hayden said. "because I had the Inside and I probably would've been alright no matter what happened. ,. Hacking held his ground and won the race, but he knew how close he'd corne to losing. "If he lust held It on a little longer, It would've been interesting," Hacking said. Instead, he had hiS first Will In nearly two years (the last came at Mazda Raceway L,guna Seca In July of 2003). "Now that you mention It. it's been a little bit hasn't It," he said. Tommy Hayden was second, 0.S80 seconds back, with brother Roger Lee third, another nine seconds behind after a late race bobble that dropped him from the lead trio The race had begull under cool. sunny skIes on Sunday morn- Ing, but It didn't last long: Nicky Moore brought out the red nag Erion Honda's Alex Gobert continues to struggle to find his fonm in 2005. In the Fonmula Xtreme final, the young Australian finished a lowly 12th. "I've just been struggling all weekend," Gobert said. "If I knew [why], I would have fixed it. In the race last year, my slowest lap was 1.8 seconds faster than my fastest lap today, so I'm not sure what it is. I'm just having a few troubles with chatter and stuff, but I don't know if it's me or something's loose in the bike. It's just a matter of surviving out there. Hopefully, we can sort it out next weekend, and I'll be back where I belong, Igot some points, so that's about it." Neil Hodgson said he was a bit frustrated aher Saturday's race. He rode hard on the Ducati but could see - like everyone else - that the Suzuki is just a better motorcyde at this point. "I feel just frustrated, you know what I mean, because it's apparent that the package we've got isn't as competitive as it should be," Hodgson said. "I'm just frustrated. I've been in positions like this before, and I've been in positions where I've had a really good package and everybody else is chasing their tail. We know it's improving. It just takes so long for the factory to get different parts. Suzuki... well, it's doing everything right, isn't it. The bike accelerates good and the setting of the bike - the chassis is fantastic. It stops, it turns. And our bike does everything very good, just not as good as that at the moment." Roger Lee Hayden was forthright after Superstock qualifying in telling the assembled press that he's been struggling to get back to the form he showed last year. "The bike felt pretty good," Hayden said after qualifying on Saturday. "It was the best I've rode in awhile. I really don't know what my problem has been. I've struggled a lot in the tests - even yesterday and today. It's almost like I'm riding scared and real tight. I'm getting blisters on my hands. I've finally relaxed a little bit and really came into my own. I feft like I was riding like last year. I wasn't coming in every other lap complaining about the bike. The problem has just been myself. Igot that out of the way and the bike feels good. I'm pretty psyched for the race. If it was yesterday, I'd' be nervous, but now Ifeel like I'm back to my old self again." The staff at Barber Motorsports Park announced a record crowd of 21 ,328 on Saturday, 27,{)()() on Sunday, and a three-

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