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/1542399
,llille] ilolorsport. Prt Tooole, Ur I I I onsistency wins charnpionships, and no one has been more consistent this year than ,amie Hacking- The Yamaha this points lead rider has fihished first or second in every Tace he's entered, That includes a pair of firs(s todayi the Repsol Lubri- cants Superstock final be{ore the lunch break, and the Pro Honda Oils Super- sport iust after. For Hacking, it was the first time that he'd ever swept both classes on the same weekend, and it came on a glorious, sunlit day at Miller Motorsports Park. "l mean, it feels Sood to finish one-two every weekend - you can't ask for any more than that," he began, "and this weekend here, I think this is my first-ever sweep of any wvo classes I ve been racing in. I don't know what else to say." The Superstock race was won with a pass of Team l'44 EMGO Suzuki's Geoff May on the I lth of I 3 laps. The margin of victory was .785 ofa second. May's team- mate Michael Barnes provided early resistance in the Supersport race until an electric shifter problem caused a mislire- That came on the fourth of 13 laps, and on Hacking's first tnp across lhe slriPe without opposition, his lead was 4.979 seconds. The gap would stay in that ran8e, iust over five seconds. as Hacking romped to his third consecurrve Supersport victon/ by 4.996 seconds. "Every weekend I'm riding smart, and thats all l can ask for and keeP building up and go from weekend to weekend and do what we can do," he said, "and be the fastest guy and collect the most points." After six of I I races, Hacking has bal- looned his poinB lead to 48, l8l-133, over the new chamPionshiP runner-up - Kawasaki's Roger Lee Hayden. Hayden was part ofthe most entertain- ing race of the year, in any class. He and l6-year-old Graves l'lotorsports Yamaha rider josh Herrin, along with Matsushima Performance's Danny Eslick, had a spirited battle for the runner-up spot. Eslick was the first of the trio to drop back. Endingthe lfth lap, Eslick, who'd run second as late as the sixth lap, had a fight of his own for fourth after losing touch with the leaders. His Suzuki GSX-R500 wasn't the equal of Hayden's Kawasaki or Herrin's Yamaha, and his late braking and hard cor- nering hadn't done his tires any favors. With Eslick iust out of range, it became a very excitinS two-rider duel. Hayden, ridingwith a still-broken foot and ridinS for the first time at l'liller - he was iniured for the test - was less adventurous than the free-spirited Herrin, who wasn't intimidat- ed by racing for the podium against his much more experienced counterpart. Neither gave an inch in the corners, and the slightest opening was an invitation tq pass. Herrin was second on the I lth lap, with the pair swappinS (hree times before the start of the l2th. Hayden said he knew he couldn't escape being drafted by Herrin on the front straight, "Then he would get me in turn one,'' Hayden said, "and then he just kind of stuck behind me until I could find a Place to get by him." Herrin went by again in the first corner on the final lap, Hayden taking it back in a fast left in the next cornei the Blackrock Hairpin, then Herrin, again, in the down- hill Aftitudes sequence - a collection of turns reminiscent of the Laguna Seca Corkscrew Hayden sized up Herrin on the straight after the Attitudes and entering Tooele Tum I l, a left-hander that begins the rid- ers' march back to the stripe. Herrin pressed in the final sequence of left-right- left, but Hayden was resolute and beat him to the stripe by .l4l of a second. "lt feels good to get back racinS a little bit," Hayden said after his second com- plete race following the foot iniury he suf- fered at Barber Motorsports Park. (Ihe 24 JUNE zB, ?006 . cYcLE NEws June r a, 20()6 AMA SUPERSPORT *p'r \ s t \6t s (" k ,omie Ho(king dominoted the Superspod finol qt ilillc. ,itolorrPort Po;l, leoding trglr rlort to fini5h. 6 I {u E t I fi; )- *)n 4 A I ,q[ I h ,s Fr?s e lras t o a t 80l0tc ly n I TG l0 I I p 0 I l G t a Bv I H fltille I lllo & BrLtt s :( NE tgot{ R AE M5 P Hol o5 E r{ NY AY RA a 1" -t' . 1.r -a { I q , b. = --J t .) .: -' - :,'(S ' A.-tv ,:'. '[. t i a IT I