Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Brief [y... Mv Owru Rnce I OO Neit Hodgson 4thl6th Place ln Saturday's raae, Parts Unlim- ited Ducati's Neil Hodgson had what he called the lontest race of his career, as he battled with a misfire to finish a lonely fourth. "ln the end, lalmost got used to it - it was almost like having tiaction comrol, because I could iust grab the throttle when I wanted," HodSson said. "So it wes veD/ frustratint, ve.y frustrating. The first couple of laps wer€ really frustratinS, because I krcvy I was in trouble and there was nothing I could do. I felt something on the sighting lap, but onty on one corner and then, basicalv I came !o dle line and said, 'l think I have a misfirc. but I only felt sornething in one corner.' So they checked the computer and they couldn't ree ary- thing and they said the engine was iust cold. So you can imagine what lfelt like. I actually didn't feel it on the warmup lap, which was sftan8e, but I felt it as soon as the race started. lt was,ust at the bot- tom of every comer, so when I llrst sGrted to get on the throttle at every comer, it lust went [noise]. Uke I said, in the end lgot used to it, and my fastest lap was my last lap. So I iust totalF got used to it. I should be battling for the lead. I'm goinS to be battling for the lead definitely, I'm confident about that." On Strnday, Hodgson was faster, but an off-track excursion meant he had to fittt to come fi'om behind. "l had a slitht moment, going around dle Atitude section. I nearly hit a Parts Unlimited banner. That would have b€en quite ironic. I thouSht, 'lf I hit it, what's toint to h+- p€nl' So I tried to get around it. l'm just really disappointed for every- one, you know, because wE thought w€ had a Sood setup this morn- ing, and it iurt... ln the first part of the ra.e, the bike didn't feel the same at all. I don't kno\./ why, it was really a differert bike, so I dont know. I realt don't know. Ahd then I rah off th€ track, and then in the seaond one I was determined to try to stay with everyone and just pushed a bit too hard in that comer, and the baak e.d came around- I got my head down, The thing is, I'd run out of tire6, so I started the race on an old tire, you kna /v what I mean, because we'd run out of new ones - and in the end, it was iust gone. The ba{k was comin8 around on a closed throttle, so once I got [Aaron] Yates, I thoughq 'l'm going to crash here.'So I had to stay on it. I'm a bit disappointed." 20 Aaron Yates 6th,/7th Place Yoshimura Suzuki's y'aron Yates didn't start well on Saturday and had to fight to move for- ward to an eventualsixth. "l iust kind of realb/ blew the start, and I 8ot stuck back there lor a couple laps," Yates said- "lt took me a little while to get around thejordan bikes. I iust t.ied as hard as I .ould. I iust couldn't go any fasrer That was as fast as I coLrld go. We made a little chante before the race, and lEuess it p.obably wasn't the right thing to do, so we're looking now to try to make the bike better for tomorrow." Tomorrow didnt go any better for Yates, as he continued to strug- tle. "The bike was fine. The bike feh pretty good to me, hahdlint and all - iust the lap times weren't there. I don't know what the deal is. l'm riding the bike wi$ rhe seme effort as I rid€ the Superstock bike and iust can't run the pace. I rode a different motor€ycle todry lt was a lit- tle bit better after the red lla8. We had to make a few adiustments. We made a couple of adiustmenB belore the race and it was a little ofI, so it helped u5 out a bit. I picked up a half a second a lap after the red fla8, but that wEs basiaally as fast as I could 8o." 22 fommy Hayden Sth/sth Place Early in Satuaday's race, l(awagaki's Tommy Hayden raced with l4iguel Duhamel and Neil Hodgson. but he couldn't keep pace with the Ducati rider and ended up fifth - not bad, considering he was riding Wth a broken bone in his wrist. "The start didn't go too good," Hayden said. "l kind of got a bad sart. My lirst lap was kind of slow. Then, after that, it wasn't too bad, lt wasn't $ellar by ary means, but I kept getting a little bit faster the whole race. I rode with l'4iguel and Hodgson at the beginning. I 8ot by l'4iguel, and Hodgson was a ways ahead of me, and I tried to put my head down, but he was toing at least as fast as I was. I wasn't making any ground on him, and that was abolt it. I was just tD/ing to ride as hard a5 I could and try to ke€p to the finish." As for the wrist iniury he raid: "l mean, it's prett,, inconvenient out there, but it's not terrible. lt's aothing like ny hand was last y€ar, it's nothinS llke that. I can't ride 100 percent and the way lwant, but k's not terrible." On Sunday, Hayden again had Duhamel troubles, and this time he qouldn't find his way around the veteran on the final lap. "lt's not the first time this year l've been trying to find a h,ay around that guy on the la5t lap. My starts are iust killing me this weekend. I don't know what the deal is, but... it's the worst pan foa me. I've been coming on stront both daF, just rtartinS off back. I was behind Suprsrock guys that time. Once I got going, I felt really good picking them of{. I thoutht if I could take off whh dle front tq/r, maybe they could pull me around that last three- or four-tenths. They were ahead of me. I was iust Sonna try to go with them, but I srarted out in the back. Hy bike's the best it's work€d since Banber, for sure. I feh good being able to ride hard and have a little bit more fun than I've been having lately, so that was good. Hopefully we can cary this into Laguna." l7 Uiguel Duhamel 7th/4trl.Pldce American Honda's Miguel Ouhamel was suffe.int from a head cold at lvliller Motor- sports Park and he coughed and sneezed his way to sev- enth on Saturday and fourth on Sunday. "l think l've seen the worst of it today," Duhamel said after Satuaday's race. "l think l'll be better tomorrow. But yeah, iust coughint and rneezing, you know, the usual coughs. I haven't had a cold in years, so, you know, I Euers I wa. due. Well, we tot a really good start. And the bike's working decent and we had a little bit ot, uh, I susp€ct it is a front- brake dragging problem, and in tum three I lost th€ front when I was tumingwith thos€ guys in the beginning there. lwas harging in there with Ben, and I was, like, 'Okay, not too bad.' And then, com- ing down the chicane, I lost the f.ont there again. I meah, you tuck the Iront just io many times and you go,'HeX that was a waming, and you lust gotta back ofl' So that was unfortunate, because the bike wasn't too bad. I $ink it will be better tomorrow. I think we'll be up there. But that's what happened, and that's where I really backed off, and then Tommy got by me. I raced Tommy and I lost the front a8ain, and Aaron ffates] tot by me. We'll make the bike better tomorroq and hopefully the br_akes wont be dragging." ThinSs were better on Sunday, and Duhamel held off Ha)rden for fourth place. "l iust went faster and I was working really hard, and every time lwent hster, my 8ap dropped," Duhamelsaid. "l'm like, 'Yvho's that comint up?'And I li#red it \ryas Tommy. And I did my fastest lap, faster than what I qualiflod by quhe a bit at the end of the race. I iust worked really hard - iust trying to presefte that. ln the middle of fie race, I alrnost forgot what I war doing out th€re. l.4y head, seriourly, I was going through corners, going, 'You've tot to concentmte.' My lead was nowhere, But anytvry I wat keepihg Ben [Spies] in si8ht, and finally I said, 'Let's iust go for it,' and I tried to catch Ben. I don't know what problem he was having or if he was just discourated, but Tommy wa5 coming." 43 ;ason Pridmore 9thl8th Place Michael Jordan Motorsports' Jason Pridmore !\ras hagpy after Sunday's Superbike race. ln fact, it's the happiesr he's been all season. "This Superbike weekend was probabv the best one $atwe've had so far this year," Pridmore said, "You know we got the bike working so much bettec and I think my motor might be,ust a tinSe better than a Superstock motor ritht now So I think if we start getting some motor in these thin8s... lwant to be up there and give a few of thoseSuys a little bit of fits. you know. We're consistemry ritht behind the factoD/ guF. 50 if I cao iust tet a little bit ofsomething, maybe we can get up ther€ with them. We're battling torque, off the bottom, that's what we're struggling with, and the guys think they have a handle on ir, so we'll see what happens. I feel like, to be fair, this is the first time I've felt like myself in p.obably tlvo years. I mean, things are definitely better now." con.inued trom page 17 was - he lMladin] was out there, and rake was out there, and we need the pole point right now We would've liked to work on race setup a little bit longer, but since I was fairly comfoftabl€ with it, wE said, 'Ler's throw a little bit softer of a tire on there and go for it-'And we did." Zemke ioked that he wasn't so sure that Spies had done his lap before time ran out on the s€ssion. "Well, if Florida tot a recount for their governor, I think we need a recount on whether he actually

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