Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I got into a battle wit h Ja mie , there wa s a good c ha nce th at o ne of us could go down while going for it." Hack ing knew what Bostro m was t hin king. " E ri c t o ok a deep b re a t h and rela xed: Hacking expla ined. "I knew I wa sn 't goi ng to have a prob lem get ting by him from then on . T here wa s no need for him to race me. I'm not in the c ha m pions hip poi nts ." And for a ll pr actical purposes , that was th e ra c e . Hack ing cl e a re d o ff, le a ving Bostrom a comfortable s e c ond with Hayden a lso a rela xed third . "It' s definitely been kin d of a long s e ason : Ha yd en sai d . "I de fin itely d id n't wa nt to wait till now to get on th e pod iu m , but that's jus t th e way it's b ee n t h is ye ar. I ha ven't caug ht a ny breaks a nd haven't be en able to get up th er e . I fe lt pretty good in the ra ce . I could n't qu ite run th e pace of the lead gu ys , b u t I ran wha t felt c omforta ble a nd ju st t ried t o b e s mooth . Aaron [Yates ] c los e d in o ne time in traffic . I fe lt I could ha ve gone a little faste r if I had t o , s o I ju s t watched m y board ." Behind th e lead trio the re wa s still somewhat of a battle with the Suzukis of Aa ron Yat es , Damon Bu ckmaster a nd J ason Pridmore doing battl e . In the e nd , th e two Yoshim ur a bik e s got (Hon ); 8. Josh Hayes (Hon) ; 9. Jake Zem ke (Hon); to. Richard Alexander (Yam) ; 11. Kevin Laco mbe (Han); 12. Shane Turpin (Yam): 13. Migue l DuH amel (Ha n ); 14 . Dav id Orteqe (Ka w); 15 . A I ~m Sch midt (Ya m) ; 16 . Pau l Nafzi ger (Suz) ; 17. M~rt in Sims (Yam ); 18 . T oby Trainer (Yam ); 19 . Frank Cesena (Han); 20. Donald Medin" J r. ( Yam ); 2 1. Joshua Hopson (Kaw); 22 . Eric Dooyema (Yam) ; 23. Wyeth J ackso n (Yam); 24 . Ja son Chisum (Kaw) ; 25. Ju stin Blake (Han) . Time: 27 mi n.• 30 .180 sec . Distan ce: 29 laps. 37.89 mil es Averag e speed: 83 .196 m ph Margin of vict ory : 10.402 sec. AMA 600cc SUPERSPORT C'SHIP PO IN T STANDINGS (A lter 8 01 9 rounds ); 1. Eric Bostrom (247 / 2 win s) ; 2. Kurtis Robert s (239/2 ); 3 . (TIE) Jamie Hacking (2 I 6 /2 ) /Aaro n Yates ( 2 I 6 /1) ; 5 . Tommy Hayden (2 14) ; 6. Miguel DuHam el (212/1) ; 7 . J a son Pri dm ore ( 16 3 ) ; 8 . Richa rd A lexande r (159) ; 9. (TIE) J osh Hayes/Jak e Zem k e ( 156); 11. Damon Buckma ster (151 ); 12. Nicky Hay den ( 129 ); 13 . Roger Lee Hayd en ( 122 ); 14 . Kevin Lacombe ( 101) ; 15. Mark Mill er (97) . the better o f Bu c km a st e r and his Chapa rra l/Mazda m o un t. Ha yes had a ls o m o v ed p ast Bu ckmaste r , bu t t hen e nded u p wa it ing for Roberts , letti ng Bucky past in the pr oc ess for sixth place. S e venth pla ce went to Rob erts with Ha y e s e ight h , Zem k e nin th and Rich ard Alexa nde r J r. 10th . Am erica n Honda 's Miguel DuH ame l cr ashed in th e h air pi n earl y in t h e r ace a n d remoun te d to finis h 13th. CN Pikes Peak InternationalRaceway fountain, Colorado Results: August 13, 2000 600cc SUPERSPORT A NAL: 1. Jamie Hacking (Yam ); 2 . Er ic Bo stro m ( Kaw) ; 3 . T ommy Hayden (Ya rn) : 4 . A ar on Yates ( Suz) ; 5 . Ja so n Prid m o r e (Suz) ; 6 . Damon Buckmas ter (Suz) ; 7 . K urt is Roberts Upcoming Round Round 9 - Rosamond , Califo rnia. October 1 AMAILockhart-Phillips 750cc Supersport Damon Buckmaster (6 ) and Roger Lee Hayde n (9 5) survived the crash-strewn 750cc Supersport race, which was Interrupt ed twice by reel flag s . Buckmaster a nd Hayden gave the Cha pa rral Suzuki t e am a 1 - 2 fin i sh. It w a s B uckmaster's second victory of the year. Round B: Pikes Peak International Raceway Rucky Wins a Wild One B Y P A UL C A RRU T H E RS P HO T O BY H E N N Y R A Y A B RA M S FOUNTAIN, CO, AUG. 12 ha p a rra l/ Ma zd a S uzuk i's Da m o n C Buc kma ste r won a crashfest of a 7 50cc Supersport fina l at Pikes Pe a k Internation al Raceway - a ra ce th at had wide s pre ad c hampio ns hip im p lica t io n s . Hel d in thre e p a rt s d ue to two re d flags , th is one was a bit o n the strange s ide . All th ing s c ons idered , Buckmas ter's race wa s relativel y ca lm com pa red to th os e around h im . He wa s leading a nd pulling awa y wh en th e first of two red flags was shown o n the sec ond lap ; he was leading when th e se cond red flag c a me out aft er 17 laps ; a nd h e le d th e fina l 1 2 -lap sprint rac e to take t he vic t ory , h is s econd of the season and the third of his AMA c a reer. "We ' v.e wor k ed re a lly h a rd th is we ek end: Buc km a ste r sa id . "In it ia lly, we we re a little slow a nd I thi nk Rog e r [h is teamm at e Ha yd en] wa s fa s t e r tha n us aft er Thursda y 's practic e . We ju s t k e pt p ush ing a nd p ush ing and try ing differ e nt th ings. We we re going in ci rcles for a little while , bu t then we started to advance, forward and m ade things b ette r. I t h in k in Sup e rb ik e qualifying yeste rda y we did a 56 flat a nd I th o ught, 'Th a t' ll do .' " I wa s re a lly fru s tr at ed wh e n I found o ut it wa s a com plete re start. We 'd run 17 la ps a nd a ny where els e in the wo rld it would h ave been a two -part race . I wa s re a lly. frustrated a nd I think that co ntribute d to al most 10 la p s a t 56s . We ju s t pr e ss ed on and I did what we had to do . I know t h e re is no chance at th e champ io nshi p , so I knew I d idn 't ha ve any th ing to lose." Th e y say it is better to be lu c k y th an good . Roger Lee Hayden was both. He wa s go od , but he wa s a lso very luc ky . The second of th e Ch ap arra l/Mazda S uzu ki riders grabbed th e hole shot on the first start, but he 'd clearly jumped and was about to be ca lled in for a sto p -and -go pena lty when the first red flag c a me o ut , saving him fro m what wou ld h av e be e n a ra ce kille r. In the second part, Hay d en - in h is best rid e to date - le d Buckm ast er un t il c ra s h in g o n th e 18th lap. Ha yd en quickly remounted an d crossed the fin is h line in th ird p lace , with th e red flag com ing o ut at virtually th e s a me time to aga in save his hide . In th e third and fina l attempt to run the race, Hayden rode s martly beh ind hi s te amm ate to fin is h sec ond. "I'm sta rting to feel better o n the bike ea ch weeke nd : Ha yden sa id. "I was just taking a litt le time. La st ye ar I crashed a lot a nd it' s taken a little tim e t o get m y con fidence b a c k. We ' ve b e en ru nn in g good t he las t couple of weekend s . Afte r practice, I thought a podi um would be to ug h but m y guy s to ld m e t hey ma d e some c h anges for the race a nd they said it' d wo rk a nd it did. I had th e lead and I c ould tell from the la p times tha t I wa s ho ldi ng him up a litt le b it, s o I was just trying as ha rd a s I coul d . I got in the Carousel tu rn a littl e ho t and lost th e front e nd. I picked it up a s fast as I cou ld. I th ink I ha d it sta rte d be for e I ev en pic ked it up and I was in third . It d idn 't tear anything up e xce p t fo r t he ex h a u s t and I d on 't th ink it would have hurt it. My crew worked hard and I'm happy with second. " As for the cra s h: "I couldn 't bel iev e it," Hayden said . "I was sliding and I cou ld feel m y bike fixin' to flip . I was holding it down so it wouldn 't flip. I didn't want it to flip because it wou ld tear up a lot mo re stuff. I was more Th e Florid ia n rushed into the ha irpin wa y too fas t a nd c ould n't get th e b ik e s to ppe d be fo re plow ing in t o Ricc i Mo to rsp orts ' J immy Moore , h ims e lf a conte nder for the title . Both riders wen t down, and both remounted. Moor e rod e on to hold d own eighth when th e second red flag came out, was given n e w life by the ra ce sto ppage , and u ltimately rode to a fourth-place finish . Lopez, however, circulate d for a few laps and then pitted with a bro ken footpe g/rea r brake clus ter. T h e re d flag would have wo rrie d about sa vin g th e b ik e tha n m yself." T h en t h ere wa s t he saga of t h e othe r major team in the series , Valvo line EMGO Suzuki. Com ing into th e Pikes Peak round, Grant Lop ez held a three -po int lead ove r his teammate J o h n Ho pki ns in t h e battl e for th e series title - but it a ll went wrong for th e se nior member of th e te a m in th e race . Right in the thick of things o n the first start, thi ngs c a m e unraveled for Lopez on the opening lap of the second start. cue I e n e uv s AUGUST 23, 2000 11

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