Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 16, 2006 19 got the bike on the right track, and now are just trying to progress that setup a little bit more progressively," Duhamel said. "We went out pretty good at Laguna. Unfortu- nately, we were not able to put it on the podium that day. But it's a work in progress, but at least now I feel like we're on the right page, and hopefully I'll be the podium page for today. I'm happy with the front row, let's just make that clear, but I was hoping for a bit more speed. We put qualifying tires on, we tried those. They were not too bad on our bike, but I didn't go any faster. So we qualified with what I think we're going to go race today with, and I think that almost applies to every- body on the front row. It's going to be a good race." The red flag that came out in race one on Saturday put an end to Ben Spies' run- away win, and the young Texan was irate when he got to the pits after the race stop- page. But he calmed down and went out and did it all again to score the victory. "The same thing as at Utah and Barber," Spies said. "But you know, you get frustrat- ed, and you think it's always the times you're out there, whatever, that it happens to you. But the fact is, it happened. They didn't mean to do it. You've just got to come in, put your new tire on and go. I was a little frustrated, but I just had to go ahead. I had the lap times, and all we can do is what we can do. It was good enough today, and hopefully it'll be good enough for them tomorrow." Jake Zemke had high praise for his protec- tive equipment after his high-speed crash in Saturday's race. "My Shoei didn't hit the ground, but the Alpinestars took a beating - but considering how fast you're going there, there's not one hole. The bike almost caught Miguel [Duhamel]. I could see the bike taking off, and I could see Miguel braking and the bike was heading right for him. I don't think it got really close, but close enough where I started puckering for Miguel. It's one of those things where he would have had no clue what happened. He just would have gone sailing. Luckily, the bike didn't catch Miguel. The bike hit the air fence awfully hard. It was fast. I was looking to see where I was going to end up, and I realized I wasn't slowing down. I just start- ed digging my arms in as hard as I could. Both elbows [on the leathers] took a lot of abuse. I was, like, 'Slow down!' Luckily when I did that, I could feel quite a bit of difference in the speed I was going." One of the stories making the rounds through the paddock at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was that Miguel Duhamel's crew chief Al Ludington had interviewed for the position currently held by Ron Barrick - road race manager. "I'm in the middle of a two-year contract with Honda, so there's nothing to com- ment on at this point," Ludington said on Briefly... the track and see if there was a little bump there I hit. We'll follow the skid marks back to where it started from. I came through the little valley there, Thunder Valley or whatever they call it, and as you bend the bike back to the right to set up for the left-hander there, I brought it back to the right, and I was still wide open, and the front just tucked right under. The bike made it to the air fence in the left. That's how fast I was going. I haven't even gone to the brakes yet. I was wide open in fourth gear when I lost the front. Ray just asked me if I hit oil or something, but that's basically what it felt like. I was fine, relaxed and turned in there... then it was gone. When it went, the bike just immediately locked to the right. It was a bizarre crash. I haven't looked at it close, but it's probably a write- off. The boys will be up late tonight, that's for sure." On Sunday, Zemke held off Bostrom (who would later crash) to finish fourth. "I got off the line pretty good, and I thought I was going to be sec- ond in the first turn, and as we're still accelerating towards the first turn, Miguel and Mat both went flying by me," Zemke said on Sunday. "I thought I had a pretty decent start, but I guess it wasn't quite good enough. Then I got sandwiched between them and ended up coming out of there in fourth. In fourth, I couldn't do the pace they were going in the beginning. Obviously, we had a problem with yesterday, and we knew we couldn't go into the race with the same bike we had yesterday, so we kind of just took a stab at it, and the bike was actually a bit worse today. I would've been better off having what I had yesterday and just fighting through the problems that we ended up having. Yesterday we actually found out that my front end bottomed out right there. Because it dips down [in] that valley and it starts coming back up and [puts] the g-load on the front end. I'd just been touching the bottom there every lap, and that lap it actually stayed on the bottom for just that split second, and it was just enough to load the tire too hard and lose traction. Whereas before, it was just barely touching it and bouncing off. After those guys got out in front, Mat and Miguel, they stayed the same distance. I was able to hold the pace once their tires went off a little bit, because I could- n't get any grip from the front or the rear from the very get-go. And I had Ben Bostrom behind me there for a long time. I'm not sure what happened back there, but I saw his and Yatesy's bikes crashed out at the Keyhole there, so it left me a big gap for the last few laps." 22 Tommy Hayden 5th/7th Tommy Hayden's fortunes improved for the second part of the restarted race on Saturday, and he was suddenly battling for fourth place with Aaron Yates. He came up on the short end of that stick, but he was happy with the improvement. "The second stint was a lot better for me," Hayden said. "I had a not-so-hot qualifying, so I was back on the third row and didn't get going too good. Actually, I was glad to see the red flag. We just put new tires on and got a better start. I went like a second quicker, so we were going a lot better. It was the highlight of our weekend so far, those last 10 laps. Hopefully we can make some changes and get a bit more speed and get a bit more comfortable, and get in there tomorrow earlier. We [him and Yates] kind of seesawed the whole time. I thought if I got ahead of him, I think I could have beaten him. Or maybe he could have came back by. What he was riding around at, I was hanging right there. Some spots he'd pull away, and in some of my strong areas I wasn't close enough to make a move. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I was trying to stay right there and capitalize somewhere. I was- n't comfortable enough to just make something big happen." On Sunday, Tommy said things were worse. "We made some changes and went way backwards," he admitted. "I had a few problems in the race, and the gearbox was giving me some problems. The second or third lap, I started to have some problems. That was about the end, and I was counting laps down after that. I knew he [Roger Lee Hayden] was catching me, but I was doing all I could. I was riding just as hard as yester- day to do what I was doing. We got in traffic and I squeaked past a cou- ple of guys in better spots and got back away with three or four laps to go. I think traffic helped keep my gap between me and him." 95 Roger Lee Hayden 8th/8th Roger Lee Hayden's first race was the exact opposite of his brother Tommy's. While Tommy went better after the restart, things went worse for Roger Lee. "The first one was a lot better," Roger Lee said. "I kept getting a little quicker as the race went on, and I was feeling good. We came in and changed tires, and I did- n't feel as good when we went back out. I was sliding around a bit more. The red flag hurt me a little bit, but at the same time I got another race under my belt and learned a lot, especially in the first stint, when I just got a little bit faster and a little bit faster. Hopefully, tomorrow we can improve some more and get a better start as well." On Sunday, Hayden's pace improved again. "Today was a little bit better for me. I went a little bit faster, more consistent. My main prob- lem is the first four or five laps, because these guys put the hammer down straightaway. I have to be ready to drop the hammer. I didn't really get rolling until the fourth or fifth lap. After that, I picked a few guys off and tried to chase Tom [Hayden] down, but he had too much at the end. I felt better today. I feel more comfortable on the bike - a lot better than I felt at Laguna. I'm trying to take a more slow approach to things right now, and just learn. I felt like this weekend was good; I did 26 consistent laps today. I'm not up to Spies' pace by any means, but another second and I'll be up to the next group. I'm slowly getting there." 43 Jason Pridmore DNF/6th Michael Jordan Motorsports' Jason Prid- more was having his best Superbike race of the season on Saturday when he crashed out of sixth place. "They over- lapped my throttle trace from that lap to every other lap, and I didn't do anything different," Pridmore said of his crash in the Keyhole. "Apparently there is some- thing on the very inside of the track over there, and if you hit it, it's really slick. A couple of guys went down there, and Ben Spies told me after the race that there was something down there that he'd hit earlier. I was on my own and comfortable and running around where I was. Next thing I know, the bike was completely sideways. It went around so far I thought I was going to lowside, and then it caught and highsided me. He [Taylor Knapp] crashed in exactly the same place and hit the same stuff. He said his bike did a 180 underneath him and he lowsided. I wasn't lucky enough. I remember seeing the yellow flag twice, so he did it two laps earlier." Pridmore was banged up in the crash, hurting both elbows, his hips and knees in the highside. He wasn't sure how long he would last in Sunday's race. "If I don't feel good, I'll probably pull in. But with how hard these guys work, I at least want to try for them." Try he did, finish- ing sixth on Sunday despite being banged and bruised. Continued from page 17 Continued on page 25 make up time on his young teammate, Mladin said: "Well, at Laguna, after the AMA changed the rule, I turned on the traction control and I got sixth. So this weekend I turned it off again, and actually came back again. Other than that, I don't know what to do. Other than turn it back on, I'm not sure. To be honest with you, I'm riding as hard as I can. That's all we've got. Ben's... there's a couple of spots on the racetrack where he's making the lap time, and I need to work on those couple spots." Duhamel said both Suzukis were making time on him - all over the racetrack. "A little bit everywhere," he said. "They were just really riding awesome. They were braking deep, and they were carrying the corner speed, and accelerating good out of the corners. I'm a little weak in a couple of corners. I need to fix that for tomorrow. But even that being said, I was really just trying to hang on. Ben [Spies] disappeared, and then Mat [Mladin] came by us and we were trying to hang on to him, see if we could make up a little bit on Ben, but the best we did is, we stopped the bleeding a bit. After that, he [Spies] pulled away, and our cards were pret- ty much played. I was pretty much done towards the end of the race. But it feels good to be up here. The bike was working good. Obviously, we're going to look at it tonight and try to make it a little faster." Duhamel did make things better for Sunday, and those changes were good enough for him to race with Mladin for the duration. But, again, that was for second place. Spies had both Duhamel and Mladin's number as he stormed away, though not as quickly, to earn win number 10 on the sea- son. And it was all starting to mean some- thing to him, given the company on the ros- trum. "These two guys [Mladin and Duhamel], they've been on posters on my garage wall ever since I've been growing up," Spies said. "To be where I'm at right now, it's pretty special. And this weekend was definitely a special weekend. Today's race was a little bit tougher than yesterday. We got off to a good start. I think we still did a 25.8 from a dead stop, and they hung in there a lot closer. I rode as hard as I could, and I was just hoping that we could keep getting a little bit of a gap. It was definitely really tough. I had a couple little weird things happen at the end of the race, but it was good, and we brought it back for the win." Things behind Spies stayed interesting throughout, the race sort of broken into pairs: Mladin vs. Duhamel, Zemke vs. Bostrom, Hodgson vs. Yates, with Pridmore alone and Tommy Hayden later to be joined briefly by his brother Roger Lee. The Mladin/Duhamel struggle went to the end. Duhamel held the spot early, then again in the middle, with Mladin getting it back for good on the 24th lap. "Mat and I were really going at it, and also trying to keep in mind that we were trying to not let Ben [Spies] get away - make it too easy on him," Duhamel said. "So Mat was trying really hard, and I got in a good rhythm

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