Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

self in the lead off the start and very close throughout. "Pretty much alii could do to just hang there with him [Roger Lee]," said Tommy Hayden, who rode with a special foamrubber throttle grip. "He was going a little faster, and I was going a little faster. We seesawed back and forth a little bit. He had some places where he was petty good; [I had] a couple where I could catch up. The whole race, I didn't really think I was ever going to pass him. Unless he made a mistake, I wasn't probably going to get by, because really the only real good place is at the end of the back straightaway. I wasn't near comfortable. Braking now is the hardest thing for me... To go in there even a wheel deeper than I already was... So I was thinking maybe a lapper or something could go the wrong way, and maybe I could get by [with] that. That was my only hope: just stay close and keep the pressure on." Never able to pass, he came in a gritty second, 0.331 seconds back. Roger Lee had seen Tommy struggle with the hand all week. His strategy was to put the race away early. But every time Roger Lee came down the front straight, he knew from his and Tommy's pit boards that he was getting nowhere. Lowering his lap time didn't help: "So I knew we had a fight on our hands, and it was a tough race, and the only thing I could think of was, don't lead it to the last lap," Roger Lee said. "I just pushed the whole way. These guys made me earn it today, for sure." To the very end, he was worried about an attack. He guarded his line in the keyhole early on the final lap. "Tom was the main one I was worried about and kind of blocked a little bit," he said. "Definitely, that's the easiest place to pass. Also, I knew he was second. I knew with the hand broken, it should be hard to brake deep." It was, and Roger Lee had his second win of the year. With two rounds remaining, he trails Tommy by 36 points, 269233. Attack Kawasaki's Ben Attard also kept the pressure on, though he wasn't about to endanger the factory Kawasakis. With no clean opportunity to make a pass, he stayed in third, holding off Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo. "I'm so happy, it's unbelievable," the quiet Australian said after his first Supersport podium that gave Kawasaki the sweep. ''After Laguna, I really blew that race and thought I could win on the fifth lap, and this race I treated a bit differently. Rog [Hayden] and Tommy [Hayden], they were running a hot pace. It was hot out there. They were sliding around everywhere. I couldn't get around Tommy safely, so I'm happy to come here and get third, for sure." DiSalvo caught up to the leaders on the eighth lap but didn't have the motor to make a pass and made a show for the fans at the end. "It's difficult to get up and pass somebody when you're two, three bikelengths back on the straightaway," he said. An exhausted Ben Spies rode the Yoshimura Suzuki to fifth, just minutes after finishing third in the Superbike race. "I stepped off the podium, and they were blowing the horn for me to go," he said. "It wasn't a real break, for sure." eN MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO RESULTS: JULY 24, 2005 (ROUND 8) PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT: I. Roger Lee Hayden (Kaw); 2. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 3. Ben Attard (Kaw): 4.)"",n DiSalvo (Yam): 5. Ben Spies (Suz): 6. Robert Jensen (yam); 7. Chris Peris (Yam); 8. Damon Buckmaster (Yam): 9. Aaron Gobert (Yam); 10. Danny Eslick (Suz): II. Geoff May (Suz); 12. Blake Young (Suz); 13. Taylor Knapp (Yam); 14. Armando Ferrer (Yam); 15. Barrett Long (Yam); 16. Derek Keyes (Suz); 17. Bl

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