Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

My 100 OWN Neil Hodgson RAce DNF/5th Neil Hodgson's weekend of racing didn't start out well when he crashed in the second attempt at running Saturday's Superbike National. The Brit lost the front on his Ducati Austin in the final comer. surprising him more than just a bit. "I just lost the front going into the last comer. which was a bit strange." Hodgson said while getting ready to watch the restarted race. "I've been fast there all weekend. and I've not had any slides or anything like it. It was quite a shock to sort of tip it in and there was nothing. I tipped it in and I was on my shoulder - bang! I've banged my elbow and shoulder. It's sore. but nothing is broken or anything. I've just been cleaning them [his leathers) off. The best way to clean your leathers is if you've got them on. I was going to go back to the truck and sulk. but I thought I'd sit here and pick up some pointers by watching the monitor." On Sunday. things got better. but fifth place was still hard work for the Ducati. "A tough day at the office." Hodgson said. "We just struggled. and I don't know why. Following Miguel is a good example. In the first part and the last part of the track. I've got no problem. but all those flip-flops - for whatever reason. that Ducati just doesn't want to go through them. It's just a beast. You can't believe how heavy it feels and how much effort it takes. You're just worn out. Literally. I've never felt so tired after a race. And it was a crap race. I didn't feel pressured by Josh [Hayes). I just rode my own race. I wasn't even looking at my pit board. There's nothing you can do. as soon as the tires go off a bit - even more so. you can't get through the flip-flops." 98 jake Zemke 4thlDNF For a while on Saturday, it looked as though Jake Zemke would put his CBR IOOORR on the podium. Then came a charging Aaron Yates. "We were starting to reel in [Ben] Spies and I was thinking. ·Man. we might be able to catch him before the end here.' I was just catching lappers wrong and catching lappers wrong and catching lappers wrong. I just kept getting them in all the wrong spots. And that allowed Aaron [Yates) to suck right up to us. I was basically a sitting duck at that point. We carne up on a lapper in the last couple of corners... we came up to him on the top of the hill. and I =-~ couldn't get by him. and I couldn't drive past him going down the hill because the thing was spinning up so bad. We got down there to the bottom for the last comer. and I saw Aaron stick a wheel in there. so I knew he was down there. There was no way I was going to the outside of the lapper. I figured I had to get to the inside of the guy. And I was waiting for the guy to drift off the pole a little bit. Once he did, I just hammered it. There's a little rough patch right there. and it's right where I got on the gas. And the thing just snapped sideways on me. I'm not sure if me and Aaron touched or not. but my bike was, like. sideways to the lock and just started doing a big old tank-slap per. Aaron's just looking at me the whole time over his shoulder." It was an a11-too-typical result for Zemke and the Honda on Sunday - their race ending on pit road with a mechanical failure. "We're not IOO-percent sure yet." Zemke said of the mechanical failure. "The boys gave me an awesome bike today. We were able to hang right there with [Aaron) Yates and [Ben) Spies. and I was trying not to spin my tires the best I could. because you know at the end of the race, if you're racing for it, it would come down to that. Something happened to the thing at IOO-percent throttle, the thing started cutting out. But it wouldn't cut out anywhere else. It was just right dti top. It wasn't just cutting out. it was coughing and burbling and sputtering. The boys will have to tear that one apart and see what happened to it." 32 Eric Bostrom 6thl7th After a good run of late. Eric Bostrom was somewhat dumbfounded at VIR, his Ducati nothing close to what it was when he tested here. On Saturday. he struggled to a sixth-place finish. "It's frustrating," Bostrom said. "We definitely have some gremlins in that bike. You can't go from being pretty quick in the last few races to being dead slow. And we tested well here - we were a second and a half faster when we tested. We have a problem. because with the same settings, the front is unsettled and is hopping off the ground. There's a gremlin in the motorcycle somewhere. We had to add rebound to fix it. and that's never a good idea. It was just a band-aid. but it can't stop the artery. We've been good. we haven't been great. but we've been good lately. This is frustrating." And there was more frustration a day later, with Bostrom dropping another spot to seventh. "There's really not much to tell." Bostrom said. "I felt like I rode even better than yes- terday, you know. I just didn't have it. Didn't have it at all. There's still gremlins. I didn't have a real good feel for the whole motorcycle. In some of the turns. we were pretty fast, but in the others turns... like following [Aaron) Yates. and I know he wasn't as fast as the front-runners, but I could follow him through some comers and think, 'This is my pace.' And then through another couple of comers, I'd lose like a quarter of a second in one corner. It was a huge problem. We had a little bit of a grip problem. I don't know. It's just a mystery." 41 josh Hayes 7thl6th Not having a fresh set of tires hurt Attack Kawasaki's Josh Hayes in the final restart of Saturday's race. but he made the most of it to finish seventh. "The first start was bitchin·... Hayes said. "We were up there and feeling pretty good. I just wanted to hold 'em off as long as I could; then the red flag came out. The second start I got off okay. but Mat [Mladin) had his problem and I about ran into him. I held my position good after that and got past Eric [Bostrom]. I was feel- • • • , ing confident, and then the next red flag came out. That was the race I wanted to go to the end. I noticed on the grid for the last start that I was the only guy not ' on fresh rubber. We didn't have another one mounted. I just had to try and keep up. We made a good improvement to the fork for the race, and I'm hoping tomorrow is better. If I don't get dropped right off the bat, we'll be okay when the tires go off." Hayes improved one spot the next day, though the greasy and hotter conditions didn't do him any favors. "It was just so hot. everything got greasy. especially after halfway. I could see Neil [Hodgson) in front of me. and every time I got in a good lap, he'd back it up by putting in a good lap. and then he'd make some mistakes and I'd get some back, and I'd make some mistakes and give it back to him and traffic. It was a hard race because of the heat and everything. It really did seem like a hard race. I didn't have any tire issues any worse than anyone else out there. Everything went pretty smooth for me. It wasn't my best start. I got better starts yesterday. My first two laps, I think I could have been a little better. It might have helped me hang on to those guys a little longer, but that was the best I could do today." 17 Miguel Duhamel 5th/4th For two of the three parts of Saturday's Superbike National. Miguel Duhamel was pretty happy. "I think we had three races in Superbike; two I was pretty happy with." Duhamel said. "My starts were not that great, but my times were terrific. I did 25.3 with race tires. That's all we had. but they were better than my qualifying time. But it was pretty good. At the end there, we did a little change, it wasn't maybe enough. Tomorrow we'll try to get something better for the Superbike and be a bit more in there. " Our lap times are really competitive. We've just got to get out with the guys and run with them in beginning, like we did in one or two of those races. We had a good shot at podium. I could see Jake [Zemke) up there and thought, 'Man, I've got to at least get up there. If he can do it, I can do it, and I got to get up there.' I'm looking forward to tomorrow; we'll get a good start, our clutches are getting a little bit better, and I'm looking forward to that." On Sunday, Duhamel did improve - to fourth. "The start was pretty terrible," he said. "We've been having clutch trouble. That's not a new story. not a new scoop. We started pretty far back, and when those guys started to get going, I was not able to respond because I had to get through some guys. And they were riding okay, obviously, because I couldn't get by them comfortably. So once I got by them, I just tried to put my head down. I was 10 sec-' onds back. The bike was good. I figured I'd give it a shot and see what we can do. We might as well have some fun. I've got nothing else to do. I was all right. I'm just a little disappointed that we still have that pretty severe clutch problem. Today is the perfect example: We had a podium bike and we finished fourth." 43 jason Pridmore 27th/8th After colliding with his teammate Steve Rapp early in Saturday's race, Pridmore used the remainder of the event as a test session. He'd start all of the restarts from the back row, but he'd learn plenty to help him to eighth place on Sunday. "Me and Stevie [Rapp) wanted to be better teammates. so we ran into each other in tum two, Pridmore said. II "It bent my shift lever and I had to pull in the pits. I lost a lap. Every time I had to restart. I had to go to the back of the grid, but we tested. We had some stuff to try and we tested. As bad as yesterday's race was, we got so much accomplished. We went over a second quicker today. and it was a lot hotter today. Today I was by myself. but starting from the fourth row sucks. I got through a few of the guys and was behind Steve for three laps. That was enough to let Josh [Hayes) and those guys get away. I got really bad forearm pump. No excuses. but that's reality." CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 7. 2005 19

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