Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Jason DiSalvo 140) pot the belt of the challng battle between Spies (11), Ben Attard (12), Aaron Gabert (96), Chril Peri. (8) and Danny E.lkk (partially hidden). Tommy (1) and R~r Lee Hayden (95) were In a c1als of their own at R_d America. eam Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden was prepared at Road America to take full advantage of the absence of his main title rival, Team Yamaha's Jamie Hacking, but his pesky little brother, Roger Lee, tagged along and almost ruined all the fun. In a thrilling battle typical of the Supersport class - and just about any time two Haydens get together on motorcycles - Tommy managed to stave off Roger Lee Hayden to win a 10-lap Pro Honda Oils Supersport race that was decided by less than a wheel-length at the finish line. After nearly 40 miles of back-and-forth dicing between the two, the outcome was decided by a drag race - albeit a 2ooo-foot-long drag race. That suits Kawasaki just fine, as it often charaaerizes itself as a drag race company and there wasn't any nongreen motorcycle in sight. T "It was a drag race," said Tommy, who sat on the pole for the race. "I had a little more momentum because he came under me, and I was able to set up a little bit better for coming on the straightaway. I knew that I should have had a little advantage, and I thought I did, but we started coming up the hill, and he started inching back up on me, and I was a little bit worried. I was trying every tucking move I've ever known or heard of. Even after the stripe, I wasn't for sure that I had won. I was kind of looking out of the comer of my eye, but I didn't want to look over too much and mess the air up, because I knew it was going to be close. It definitely could have went either way, so it was good to get this win and keep it rolling." The win was Tommy Hayden's third of the season in Supersport and the 14th Supersport win of his career, moving him to second all-time, behind Team Honda's 28 JUNE 15, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Miguel Duhamel. It also extended his series points lead in the class. Hayden now leads Jamie Hacking, who could not compete due to a bicycle accident, 211-165. Roger Lee is third, with 163. After rough starts, the two Haydens qUickly set sail early in the race, while the rest of the field was sorting itself out. Team Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo was along for the ride early but then dropped back into a battle with teammate Aaron Gobert and Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies. The two Haydens aggressively swapped the lead back and forth up front, including four times on the final lap. Roger Lee was able to outrun Tommy to the stripe to lead laps three, four and six, primarily by taking the lead in the long run up the start straightaway at the start of those laps. Tommy retook the lead by dipping under Roger Lee in tum fIVe on lap seven and held it until the nail-biting final circuit. That's when Roger Lee passed Tommy in tum fIVe, only to be repassed under the Toyota Bridge before turn six. That should have been it, but another aggressive run under Tommy in the final tum put Roger Lee back in the lead, though he left the door open by running wide off the exit. Tommy capitalized on the mistake, knifing back underneath and then giving Roger Lee a wide berth so as not to allow for any last-second draft moves. Tommy hit the stripe .005 seconds in front of Roger Lee. "It was a good race," Roger Lee said. "I tried to pass him - every lap he was in front of me - out of the last comer, and I couldn't get it done, so I figured that my only chance was to try to get under him and maybe hold it under him. I got it in there a little hot, and I knew that I ran wide. It was just a drag race. It was a pretty fun last lap and a pretty fun race overall. We were just kind of going back and forth." Tommy said that pulling far to the right of Roger Lee on the final run to the stripe was part of the plan. "I wanted him to have to use a little more track to get behind me," Tommy said. "That was my thinking there. If he was going to get a tow, he was going to have to come and get it and then pull back out. On even bikes, I didn't think he could make that happen." Tommy also admitted that it briefly crossed his mind to just nudge his brother just off the tarmac and end the contest right there. "I thought, 'It'd be over if I just ran him off into the grass: but then it'd be tough dinners for a few weeks:' he said. DiSalvo crossed the line third, 9.881 seconds behind the Hayden battle. While