Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Round 3 May 1, 2005 AMA SUPERBIKE ~ AMA Repsol Lubricants Superstock Series YATES Gifts DISALVO STORY AND PHOTOS BY HENNY RAy ABRAMS p.J ron Yates might not have crashed if only he knew. His pit board showed that Jason DiSalvo was in his shadow hen that wasn't the case. So Yates did what he's paid to do - push hard to the end, attack every corner and it cost him. Entering the infield on the penultimate lap, Yates tucked the front end. Graves Motorsports Yamaha's DiSalvo inherited the lead and the win, with teammate Jamie Hacking second. "It was just a little miscommunication on my lap board," said Yoshimura Suzuki's Yates, who remounted to finish 10th. "They had just told them to put a 1.4 [seconds) on there, but I didn't make it to the board. The time before that, I thought they were right there. 1 could hear them back there. I was going for it. I wanted to win. I wasn't pushing that hard. It just slid out. It gave me no sign." DiSalvo's last win came at Virginia International Raceway at the end of the 2004 season. "I know it's only been two race weekends since I've had a victory, but being that it was last year, it seemed like a long time, so I was happy to see this one come today," he said. The win put DiSalvo on top of the championship standings. With three of I0 rounds run, DiSalvo has 95 points to 88 for Hacking and Team M4 EMGO Suzuki's Vincent Haskovec, fifth today. Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden, today's fourth-place finisher, is fourth with 87. Hacking had gotten the jump on the 32-rider field, with Yates just behind and DiSalvo third. But Hacking was soon spinning out of all the corners and unable to maintain the pace. "I jumped onto the lead there and was going to try to put in some hard laps, but right from the get-go, I had no drive grip at all," Hacking said. "The thing just went to the stops and was just burning out. I was burning out everywhere. It was like I was on a drag strip or something. I was just hanging on - that's all I was doing." On the fifth of 17 laps, Yates took advantage of Hacking's traction problems to take the lead. "I saw Jamie [Hacking] got to moving around a bit and I got under him and was just trying to ride a smart race and do right, get out there," Yates said. DiSalvo took second from Hacking on the eighth lap, and Hacking began to drop back, his tire problems accelerating. "We were spinning the whole entire way," Hacking said. Yates was able to grow his lead to over a second with three laps to go and 1.4 with two to go. Then came the end. "I didn't do anything any different over there in the turn," Yates said. "I was just in there, and the front just slid out, just like it did yesterday in qualifying." DiSalvo said it took him half a lap to realize he was in the lead. "I was like, 'Wow, I'm leading,''' he said. "I always talk about racing luck, and 30 MAY 11,2005 • CYCLE NEWS it's something that, I don't know... It's just one of those things where I always feel that I'm on the short end of the stick. I definitely wasn't today. I just got that lucky break and turned out to be good for a win." Hacking held on for second, with Michael Jordan Motorsports' Steve Rapp fending off Tommy Hayden for the final podium spot. "MJ [Michael Jordan) called me just now when I was on the podium, he called me on the cell phone and just said he was excited," said Rapp, whose last podium was in 750cc Supersport at Brainerd in 2003. "He's pumped because he's a competitive person by nature, and he wants to be the best he can, and he wants the My 22 team to do the best we can." Hayden came within .045 of a second of Rapp at the end. Then there was another 2.5 seconds to Haskovec, with class champion Aaron Gobert sixth on the Graves Motorsports Yamaha. eN CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY FONTANA, CALIFORNIA RESULTS: MAy 1, 2005 (ROUND 3 OF 10) REPSOL LUBRICANTS SUPERSTOCK: I. Jason DiSalvo (Yam): 2. Jamie Hacking (Yam): 3. Steve Rapp (Suz); 4. Tommy Hayden (Kaw): S. Vincent Haskovec (Suz); 6. Aaron Gobert (Yam): 7. John Haner (Suz); B. Jacob Holden (SUl.); 9. Eric Wood (Suz): 10. Aaron Yates (Suz); II. Nicky Moore (Yam); 12. Blake Young (Suz); 13. Lee Acree (Suz): 14. Matt Lynn (Suz); IS. Brent George (Suz); 16. Damon Buckmaster (Yam); 17. Jimmy Moore (Suz): lB. Geoff May (Suz); 19. J.J. Roedin (SUl.); 20. Akira Tamitsuji (Suz); 21. Reno Karimian (Suz): 22. Michael Beck (Yam); 23. Skye Girard (Yam); 24. John Chen (Suz); 25. Mark Simon (Yam): 26. Montez Stewart (Suz): 27. Sean Wray (Yam); 28. Lance Williams (Suz): 29. Steven Weir (Kaw): 30. Brad Puett (Suz): 31. Roger Lee Hayden (Kaw); 32. Tony Meiring (Suz). Time: 24 min., 34.540 sec. Distance: 17 laps, 40. 12 miles. Average speed: 95.5 mph Margin of victory: 4.559 sec. AMA REPSOL LUBRICANTS SUPERSTOCK SERIES C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 3 of 10 rounds): I.Jason DiSalvo (95/1 win): 2. (TIE) Vincent Hasko....e<: (88/1 win)fjamie Hacking (8811 win): 4. Tommy Hayden (8711 win): 5. Aaron Yates (85): 6. Steve Rapp (77); 7. jacob Holden (65): 8. John Haner (61); 9. Eric Wood (56): 10. Brent George (55); II. Lee Acree (52): 12. Aaron Gobert (49); 13. Blake Young (47); 14. Roger Lee Hayden (43): 1S. J.j. Roedin (41); 16. Geoff May (38): 17. Damon Buckmaster (37): 18. Jimmy Moore (36): 19. (TIE) Jason Pridmore (29)/Man Lynn (29). UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 4: Sonomo, Colifornio, May 15 Round 5: founloin, Colorado, May 22 OWN RACE Tommy Hayden 4th A week after winning the Superstock race at Barber Motorsports Park, Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden slid to fourth place, knowing he had nothing to bring to the fight. "I was kin'd of like Jamie [Hacking]: I was spinning everywhere on the rear," Hayden said. "From the first lap on, it was all I could do not to spin a doughnut out of a couple of the infield corners. As the race went on, it actually got a little bit better for me. I don't know why." When Aaron Yates crashed, Hayden realized he had a shot at the podium, so he set out for Rapp. "It'd been nice to salvage the third for the weekend there," Hayden said. 44 John Haner 7th Just before the midpoint in the Superstock race, and with Steve Rapp in pursuit, John Haner hit trouble. The transmission on his Lion Racing/Hypercycle Suzuki GSX-R I000 suddenly became balky. Haner's lap times climbed 1.5 seconds in two laps. "I couldn't get the thing to shift down the front straightaway," Haner said. The transmission was stuck in fourth gear and the engine was on the limiter. "I tried to work with the bike to get it to go, but I was just losing time," Haner said. Rapp made the pass on lap eight, then Tommy Hayden and Vincent Haskovec came by on lap I I. "They weren't going very fast, and they worked their way back up to Rapp," Haner said. ''''nd I was like, 'Man, I could've been there.' I really believe I could've gotten top four." 3 Vincent Haskovec 5th Vincent Haskovec's Superstock finish may have been impacted hours before the race. He was forced to abandon his primary bike and switch to his spare bike during morning practice, but it was certainty impacted at the start, when the Czech had the misfortune to become mired behind the crashing Roger Lee Hayden in turn three on lap one. "We . had a problem [with the primary bike], and that was a little bit of trouble to our race plan," Haskovec said. "I got off to a pretty good start, but Roger Lee [Hayden] was in front of me, and he spun in the turn-three and -four section. I got it stood up, and four guys passed me right there. Igot some back, but it was a major bottleneck. It looks like I have to have my own rhythm. As soon as I was behind the guys, I really couldn't overtake. That was it."

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