Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A MA/C hevy T r ucks Supe r bike Cham pionship R ound 8 /S : Mid-Ohio S p orts ar C o u r s e Miguel DuHamel has never set the world on fire with his quali fying performances . Case in point: He's the all -tim e leader in AMA Superbik e victories with 22 victories - yet he's only 10th in all-time pole position s. Toss that in with the fact that this season hasn't been too kind for DuHamel and you can see why his pole positio n at the Mid-Ohio Sport s Car Course came as somewhat of a surprise. " DuHamel saved his best for last, turning in the quickes t lap of the last session on what was his final lap of the 2.4-mile road course. The America n Honda-backed rider clicked off a 1:27.873 on the,RCS1 to edge his teamm ate Nic ky Hayden with the new V-twin holding down the top two positions on the front row. It was DuHamel' s eighth career pole and his first at Mid'Ohio.' It also ended a two-year-old dry spell in qualifying for the gritty little French Canadian. Ditto for Honda's qualifying dry spell at Mid -Ohio, a track where the brand hadn't earned pole since Wayne Rainey did so in 1987 . "It felt like a good lap and I was think i~g , 'this isn' t going to be bad,' " DuHamel said. "My lap tim er gave me a 28.9 or 28.8 or something, which I knew wasn't fast enough. I was really surprised. I'm not the g reatest qualifier In the world on qualifying tires, but I gave it a good effort. I was disappoint ed with that, but when I came around the guys were jumping up and down and I looked at the board and saw I was pol. It was a good surprise." As for being ready for the first of two Sup erbike Nationals during the doubleheader weekend, DuHamel was confident on a racetrack he calls one of his favorites. "We have a great race setup," DuHamel said. "My fastest lap before that (his best] was on race tires. We're definite ly look ing good and hopefully I can do a good race." The trac k wasn't in the best condition for qualifying with Friday afternoon' s rains keep ing the track slick er than in year's past . Al so there were some spots on the circuit where water was seeping up throu gh the pavement. Com bine all th is together and you can understand why DuHamel's best was almost half a second slower than Ben Bostrom 's lap record set here last year. DuHamel' s teamm ate Nicky Hayden thought he might have earned the first Superbik e pole position of his young career, but it wasn't to be. Still , he was on the front row and ready for the two races. "About midway through the session we got a few drops on my shield and we figured it might rain so we went ahead and thr ew a Q on early in the session," Hayden said. "Then we went back and tri ed to do a littl e more race setup and toward the end there we through on another qualifi er and got in the 27s. We got close, but I was kinda looki ng forward to getting my first pole. I had clear laps, so I didn't have any problem s like that. It was cool me and Miguel one-two. Miguel is try ing hard thi s weekend and I know he's pumped." Hayden also could gain confidence in the fact that his championship rival Mat Mladin was back in fifth place and off the front row. Still , he knew that Mladin was never to be counted out. "I expect him to be there in the race," Hayden said. "You never know, he m ay have been tryi ng race setups." The third spot on the front row would go to Kawasaki' s Eric Bost rom, despite a run in with traffic that spoiled his best efforts. "It was okay, but it was the same old deal - too much traffic and hard to get a clear lap," Bostrom said. "On my best lap , I ran into a guy right in the last corner and almo st took us both out. Traffic was definitely an issue and I'm fairly disappointed, but we' re happy to be on the front row and we anticipa te good thin gs for the race." Bostrom said the track wasn't in tip-top shape and that was.reason enough to stop him and the others from comi ng close to brother Ben's lap record. "There's water in some of the corners, seeping through the track," Bostrom said. "The track is green. On race rubber yesterday we did a 28.3 - right off the bat. Since then the bik e has improved, but the lap tim es have gotten slower. It's ju st the weather." The front row would be filled by Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates, the provisional pole position holder irom Friday's session - held in iffy conditions . Yates was in and out of the pits for most of the session as the team tried to find a suspension setting to his liking. They were hopin g to find that setting in the final session prior to Saturday 's National. Row two was headed by Miadin with his 1:28.137 over half a second off DuHamel' s po le time. He would l ead Va nc e [, Hines Du cati' s St eve Rapp , Competition Accessories.com's Larry Pegram and Yamaha's Tomm y Hayden. AMAlPro Honda Oils600cc Supersport Series T h is year it was Am e ri ca n Hond a' s N icky Hayde n who crashe d out of th e le a d group, j oi n in g tw o Round 6: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course backm a rk er s w ho had alre ad y c ras he d in th e wa ke of b eing lap ped B Y PA UL C A RRUT HE RS PH OT OS BY HENN Y R A Y A B RA MS by th e fas t m en . Hayden was le ad ing wh en h e c r as he d, th ough i t w a s a LEXINGTON, OH, JULY 16 n the tradition of 600cc Supersport le ad t h a t was always disputed with racin g at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Cours e, this y ea r' s race was a slam - Erion Racing Hon da's Kurtis Roberts I str ai g ht and that's wher e Hayden lost the front o n the brakes, sli d ing unhurt into th e g rav el trap o n th e o uts ide of tu m six . T h at left j ust two a t th e fr ont Ro berts and Yates . T h e y s lam me d th e i r way aro u n d t h e 2.4- mi le racet r a c k o ne m ore t i me , wi th Roberts h ol di ng the lea d t o the finish. Yates finished second - just .0 7 8 of a sec ond b eh ind. "I t h in k I got off the line si xth or som ething , " R ob erts s a i d after bec om in g th e first two -t ime winner in t h e cla ss t hi s seaso n . " I t hi n k I just b a k ed m y f ront [t i re ] ca tch in g u p . I p u ll ed a pretty hai r ba ll brake move o n Aa ro n [Yates]. but I st arte d rea lly l o s in g t he f ro n t w h e n I g o t b eh in d N ick [Ha yden] . I knew it wa s going to be close a n d th e e n d and I d idn 't know if w e'd all make it . I didn 't ev en k no w if I was g oing to mak e i t. I th ought for sure I w as going to t uc k th e f ro nt a co u pl e o f t im es bad ." Then ca me a no t he r thrilling b attle f or third betw e en K aw as aki's Er i c B o strom, Am eri c an H ond a 's M igu el DuHamel and Yamaha 's Tommy Ha yden . They ca me o ut of the fi na l co rn er side by side , wi th traffic in their fa ces, an d DuH am el went to the outs ide to m a k e h is fi nal move. Bostrom also • e " T h e r e is a g uy out there w h o i s s li g h tl y der ang ed b y th e name o f T omm y H a yd en ," DuHam e l sa id . "On th e sta rt he c am e t o ta ll y on me and I h a d to bra ke alm ost not to hi t h im an d c a u se a pi leup . Th en he and Eric [ B o s t r o m ] d e c i d ed t o get i n t o a stup id b a n g i n g match , w h i c h was g o od for m e . I go t b y them , but that was m y r ace right th ere . Onc e I g ot by Jami e [Hacki ng], th en I st a rt ed makin g my move . Ev eryth ing wa s go i n g g ood. I was ca tc hi n g th em and th en we got to traffic and ther e w as a wav ing w ere ab ou t 12 lapp ed g u y s . Th ere c ou ld walk b y . I think if 1 w ou ld a n a dv an t a g e by le a ving t he rac etra ck - a nd they bumped him back , mak ing B o strom th ird a nd DuHamel th en Y ates was the e xact opposite . somewhat p erp lex ed . T ommy Ha yden w as fifth with his lead be fore t he f irst l a p was com- If Du H am el wa s in t rou b le ea r ly , H e w a s st yl i n g after getti n g past ho leshotter Bostrom to t ake o ver the p lete . "I go t a good sta rt , got beh in d E ric Yamah a t e ammate Jamie Ha cking sixth , a n d Australi an Damon B u ck - there," Yates said . " H e went w ide in master a sea son -best in seventh on t he arou nd him . I wen t h ard for a few nevus cue points. Right when the lights tumed to gre en, Du Hamel knew he was in trouble . have h ad a c l e a r trac k I m i g h t have be en ab l e t o ma k e up ground o n th em ." 10 26,2000' third in th e ser ies st andi ngs w ith 168 Or di d h e. Alth ough he cro s se d the lin e before Bo strom, the AMA w ent to the ru le book to f ind that you can ' t gain th e season (h e won at D ayt o n a bac k JULY points lead t o f iv e p oints , 183- 178. DuHam el , me anwhil e , ho l ds down to th e g rass - b ut he sti ll went past to ta k e t he f ina l rostrum spot. As always , m o st of the drama w as lap s . w in a n d B o strom ' s fo urth, Robe rt s was able to stretch h is ch am p io nshi p wer e gu ys in first gear that you t a k ing p lac e at th e end o f th e back- den c ra sh e d out on the 14th of 16 more lasting effect o n h im. W ith h is y ell o w in the Carous el and t he re someo n e in th e lea d group or la p pe rs - crash ing o ut o f t h e ra ce. and Yosh imura Suzuki's A ar on Ya tes right in the th ick of t hi ngs when H ay - in Ma rc h) was impressive, it's w hat it d id to h is points lead t hat may ha ve a we n t t o t he o u tsi de an d his mo ve p ushed DuHamel off th e track and on th e Ch apa r r a l /Mazda Suzuki. Erion Racing' s J o sh Ha yes, HVRs ' Richard A le x ander an d Bruce T ra n sp ortat io n Group's Jake Zemke ro unded out th e top 10 fin ishers. A lth ough Roberts ' second w in of fe st . Without fa il , th e fi na l lap s a t Mid -Ohio us ua ll y see m to ha ve a fl air for the dram atic wi t h ri de rs - ei t h er Kurtis Roberts 1801 speeds to victory in the 600cc Supersport race , w ith Aaron Yates 1201 finishi ng ~econd after Nicky Hayden If) crashed late in th e race. 'esses down t here a nd I j ust went laps , but I got to thinking that I m ight w ant to slow it down a li ttle b it and not b ak e the tires . I b ac k ed it off a little bit. " Th at a llowed the others t o pu ll close , led by Hayden with Roberts in t

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