Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128395
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By HENNY RAy ABRAMS
PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON AND TOM RILES
T
is was about as good a day as
Earl Hayden could ask for.
Youngest son Roger Lee added
the Pro Honda Oils Supersport
race to his earlier Superstock
win while oldest son Tommy wrapped up
his second consecutive Supersport Championship before a slew of friends and family, including middle brother Nicky Hayden, on a sunny day at Road Atlanta.
Neither feat was particularly dramatic.
Roger Lee sped from his first-ever pole
position to a S.096-second win in what's
usually the most competitive class. Tommy
had done the heavy lifting prior to Road
Atlanta. He arrived in the Deep South with
a 3 I-point cushion before losing a point to
Roger Lee for the pole. All he had to do was
finish to win, and that he did. Tommy rode
to a safe fifth and was thankful he didn't have
to race his little brother for the title.
"I'm definitely glad I didn't have to beat
Rog [Hayden] today to win the championship, because he didn't want to lose
today," Tommy said.
Tommy's route to the title was more difficult than previously known. He reveaJed that
after Road America, he'd been bedridden for
a month with mononucleosis, which abated
just before he broke his hand at I..Jlguna Seca.
Much of the credit for the championship goes
to Kawasaki and, specifICally, team manager
Mike Preston, who was instrumental in making sure Tommy had a strong hand in the
28
design of the new ZX~RR.
"Relieved," Tommy Hayden answered
when asked how he felt after back-to-back
tides. "I was just ready for, honestly, just to kind
of get this year over with. Ifelt like Icome into
the year really strong and really prepared, and
it started out good and everything was going
according to plan. And then, towards the middle of the year, I had a lot of problems."
Hayden left Road America with three
wins and three seconds and a solid title
lead. Then he took sick. The month
between Road America and laguna Seca
was spent in bed. Hayden said it took doctors two weeks to diagnose his ailment.
"Right when Ithought I was getting okay,
we went to Laguna and I broke my hand,"
he said. "Just so many up and downs this
year. It's been really tough on me. Really
just glad it's over, honestly."
Tommy Hayden said he hadn't trained for
three months, "and it's just been really, really
tough.
"But I had the best bike for sure," he said.
"By far, that made things a lot easier. My hat's
off to those guys, my tearn. Mike Preston, he
really does what it takes to win. He took me
to Japan in the middle of last summer, and Ihad
a ton of input in that bike. They helped really
kind of build it around me. I picked a lot of
things when there was choices when we were
building that bike on different things. That
meant a lot to me. I think it showed at
Daytona in the beginning of the year. I was just
SEPTEMBER 14,2005 • CYCLE NEWS
because , knew that you know I had to be
a little conservative here this week,"
Tommy Hayden said, "and you know not
do anything stupid and not let my pride
get in the way of everyone else's hard
work all year and not do the best thing for
the championship. That's frustrating and
hard to hold back, definitely. Last week
was kind of the same way. But sometimes,
to me, I think it's the right thing.
Sometimes you have to do it."
P.:lger Lee did it in qualifying with his firstever pole. The new mark of I:25.775 was a
few tenths faster than Tommy's previous
Supersport lap record.
Attack Kawasaki's Ben Attard got the
jump in the race and led the first lap, then
it was all Roger Lee.
The break came on the fifth of IS laps
when he added a second to his lead, effectively breaking the draft. Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo
took over second on the IOth lap after passing
Attack Kawasaki's Ben Attard a lap earlier. But
P.:lger Lee redoubled his efforts and sped to
his fifth of the year and fourth in a row.
Yet it wasn't enough to put a dent in
Tommy's points lead. The final standings show
Tommy with 327 and P.:lger Lee with 308.
"Yeah, for sure [ot was the best weekend of
his career]," P.:lger Lee said. "I got my first
pole, first Superstock win. At first I was looking towards a break, a couple of months off.
But after you get rolling like this, Iwish this was
the beginning of the year. It was definitely the
best weekend of my career, so I'm pretty
happy. It's not nothing to jump up and down
about, but I'm happy. I won't kick the dog
when I get horne tonight, that's for sure."
He did kick the competition.
"I was just waiting, watching my board,"
Roger Lee said. "[Attard's] first lap was pretty
fast. Ithought he was going to check out on us
like he did at I..Jlguna. Reeled him back in. We
got a win."
The only bump in the road to victory was
a quartet of Iappers at the end of the race.
"They was getting the blue flag. but they
was dicing for I think 23rd or something, so
they just kept their heads down," Roger Lee
said. "I followed them all the way down the
hill, and I don't know which one got Brd
because I put one of them a lap down."
Roger Lee lowered his race record time
from last year by 12 seconds.
Attard lost second to DiSalvo in dramatic
I't._,_,
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Roe
laid
about the 10th lap. when he took a second
out of his lead. "'just tried to keep my ' - l
down, keep going. keep pushing hard. But
at che end, che gap was just too big at che
beginning to pulilt all back...
DiSalvo said that he was handicapped
by the way the R6 handled with a full fuel
load.
"It seems like once we bum some fuel
off, the bike kind of comes around and
starts handling a little bit better," he said,
"So I just kind of stuck in there and tried to
do what I could the first three laps, and
then about lap four or fIVe, I started riding
harder, and the lap times came a little bit
easier, and we caught up to those guys."
Attard tried to put his early race struggles behind. He bolted to the lead and
held it until Roger Lee came past in turn
one on the second lap.
"I really had nothing for Rag [Hayden]
today," Attard said after finishing third. "He'd
been fast all weekend. 1 was hoping to hold
Jason [DiSalvo] up. Ithink he caught up a second a lap at one stage. I was struggling a bit
out there. Ithought I'd just settle for third and
not risk anything. But then with about three
to go I was catching Jason, but Ijust had nothing for him at the end. It was a great weekend. The Attack Kawasaki... my best by far: So
I'm really happy to finish the season like this."
In his final ride for Yamaha, Damon
Buckmaster came from eighth on the first
lap to finish fourth, about four seconds
behind Attard.
Next was Tommy Hayden, the holder of
the number-one plate for another year. He
and Roger Lee took a victory lap of Road
Atlanta with matching checkered fiags. Not
a bad end of the day for Earl.
(II
ROAD AnANTA
8RAsaJoN, GfoRotA
REsuus: 5EP1tMBER 4, 200S
(ROUND 10 Of 10)
PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPOim I. RDgeo- Lee
Hayden (Kaw); 2. jason D&Wo (Yam); 3. Ben _
(Kaw); ~.
Damon Iluckma.teo- (Yamaha); 5. lOmmy Hayden (1