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"I could tell Jamie (Hacking) was getting annoyed a little bit," Hayden said. "I definite- ly wasn't... he needs to maybe relax a little bit and get behind us and learn, instead of just dive-bombing everybody all the time. I was young once and I don't want to say anything negative about him, but you know, he'd be a lot better off making a few friends on his way up instead of just making everybody scared to race with him." The matter among the front-runners, became a moot point with the red flag brought out because of a rider leaking fluid on the track. Barnes was away quickly in the restart, leaving Hacking to fend off Kawasaki's Roger Lee Hayden, with Eslick and Barnes' teammate, Geoff May, in the mix. It took until the 10th of 16 laps for Hacking to take the lead, with a pass in turn one after a strong drive out of the final corner. Later that same lap, Hayden also passed Barnes. "I knew I could drop the lap times a pretty good bit after I got by him," Hacking said of Barnes. "I just settled into my pace. I missed a shift and he got back by me and I just had to regroup, come back, and make another pass on him and then after that, I didn't make any mistakes - just rode a flawless race and put every lap together - put all I had into it." In the final four laps Hacking pulled away from Hayden, winning the 16-lap, 38.4 mile race by 4.102 seconds. Barnes was another two seconds back in third. Hayden, who'd won here the past two years, said that he put in some really fast laps, but Hacking answered his challenge. "Just didn't have enough for him the last three or four laps," Hayden said. "At the same time, it was kind of nice to finally get on that edge and, you know, really ride the bike the way it needs to be ridden for a cou- ple laps. We're a little bit closer again this weekend. I feel like I'm riding a lot better. So all we can do is move on." "[Hacking would have been] tough to keep at bay," Barnes admitted. "I was hoping to maybe catch to Roger (Hayden) toward the end." He added that his tires, and everyone else's, were starting to fade and he was rid- ing as hard as he could. "So this is where we ended up. We just have to keep on working, plugging away and see if we can come with a little bit better for the next one." Hacking now leads Roger Lee Hayden in the Championship, 256 to 197, with three rounds remaining. Eslick, the first privateer, is third with 181. Eslick, May, and Attack Kawasaki's Ben Attard fought over fourth to the very end. Attard was the first to drop off, the Australian struggling after not fitting a new front tire for the restart. Then it was up to May to hold off Eslick, which he barely did, after passing him on the 14th of 16 laps. The difference between the two was .099 seconds. CN MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO RESULTS: AUGUST 5, 2006 (ROUND 7) PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT: 1. Jamie Hacking (Yam); 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Kaw); 3. Michael Barnes (Suz); 4. Geoff May (Suz); 5. Danny Eslick (Suz); 6. Ben Attard (Kaw); 7. Ben Spies (Suz); 8. Blake Young (Suz); 9. Ryan Elleby (Hon); 10. Josh Herrin (Yam); 11. Garrett Carter (Yam); 12. Alastair Seeley (Yam); 13. Tony Meiring (Suz); 14. Tyler McDonald (Yam); 15. Shea Fouchek (Suz); 16. Jim Wood (Kaw); 17. Scott Ryan (Yam); 18. Opie Caylor (Suz); 19. Brandon Parrish (Suz); 20. Ryan Clay (Yam); 21. Mike Shreve (Yam); 22. Joseph Ford (Yam); 23. David Rosno (Yam); 24. Johnny Rock Page (Yam); 25. Jessica Lynn Zalusky (Kaw); 26. Michael Beck (Yam); 27. Damon Buckmaster (Kaw); 28. Chris Siebenhaar (Suz); 29. Scotty Van Hawk (Kaw); 30. Barrett Long (Yam); 31. Gustavo Laya (Kaw). Time: 43 minutes, 31.07 sec. (red flag) Distance: 16 laps, 38.4 miles Average Speed: 52.944 (red flag). Margin of Victory: 4.102 sec. PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 11 rounds): 1. Jamie Hacking (256/5 wins); 2. Roger Lee Hayden (197/2 wins); 3. Danny Eslick (181); 4. Ben Attard (173); 5. Geoff May (169); 6. Michael Barnes (162); 7. Blake Young (155); 8. Tony Meiring (133); 9. Michael Beck (110); 10. Opie Caylor (107); 11. Ben Spies (106); 12. Damon Buckmaster (103); 13. Jeffrey Tigert (97); 14. Josh Herrin (91); 15. Ryan Elleby (80). UPCOMING ROUNDS: Round 9 - Alton, Virginia, August 19 Round 10 - Braselton, Georgia, September 2 C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 16, 2006 25 Sunday afternoon. "Next week maybe there will be something to discuss." Jason Pridmore says things are getting a lot better for the Michael Jordan Motor- sports Suzuki team as they inch closer to the front in both Superstock and Superbike. "I've been saying that we've been getting closer, and I think we've proved that, and our bikes have been working better since the Miller test," Pridmore said. "We found something, and the team has really worked hard on getting more motor for the Super- bike, and chassiswise we've gotten a lot stronger. It's a tough thing when you start a new team to get everything jelling perfectly. Everybody expects us to win right out of the box because we've got [Michael] Jordan behind us, but it's tough. We've got three great riders and a great team and I think we're starting to show our potential." One more AMA Superbike victory this year will tie Ben Spies with Mat Mladin with 11 wins in a single season. Two more wins in the next five rounds, and the record will be all his. "That would be a huge, huge accom- plishment," Spies said. "Right now, the championship is the biggest thing in my mind. It has been all year long. Even in the position we're in, what do you do, because you don't have to be on your best day from here on out. But if the bike's good, you try and win, don't do anything different than what you've been doing all year. It's kind of something to think about, I guess. When the bike's working, you've got to win. But like I said, the championship is the first thing that we've got to keep shooting after - and whatever comes after that's just a bonus." Mat Mladin is a realist. And he realizes now that, barring a miracle, he won't win his seventh AMA Superbike crown this year. So he's working on formulating a plan for next year. "The championship's essentially almost out of reach," Mladin said. "We need to start thinking about how we're going to bridge the gap for next year, and that's what we're doing in these races, try- ing a few different things. We tried a differ- ent setup today [Sunday], a little bit differ- ent stuff and just seeing if we can make any inroads. And today was a little bit better. On a consistency basis, it was a little bit better. To say we were closer to Ben [Spies]... I've been in the position where you're leading the championship with a few races to go, and he's controlling it from the front. We're just sort of sort of picking up the scraps like mangy dogs. At the moment, there's nothing we can do, but we're trying hard. Next year's another year. We're going to keep pushing this year and see if we can get in front of him. He's got my 11-win sea- son on his mind now, so we need to win the next five. After the race, on the podi- um, I said to House [Tom Houseworth], his crew chief, that I've got a lot more money than him, and I'll bribe him to stop him from winning. I think winning's a bit better than having money, so that didn't work." Briefly... Continued from page 19 MY OWN RACE 99 Geoff May 4th Place Team M4 EMGO Suzuki's Geoff May couldn't say what he really felt. May was upset by the aggressive riding of Danny Eslick, and he wasn't alone. Race winner Jamie Hacking and second- place finisher Roger Lee Hayden also noted his riding. "I'm afraid Danny's (Eslick) going to get somebody hurt," May said after finishing fourth, 2.4 seconds behind team- mate Michael Barnes. " Every time in five, he comes dive-bombing on the inside, out of control." May said he'd lose .8 second every lap when he should have been gaining on the leaders. "I believe I should have been up front with this bike or even won the thing." 69 Danny Eslick 5th Place Matsushima Performance's Danny Eslick was in second when the race was red-flagged on lap six. On the restart, he was again part of the lead pack, and challenging for position, mostly in the kink in the back straight and into turn five. He and Geoff May went back and forth, with May prevailing on lap 14 of 16. "We're both Suzuki guys and we're both young and both fighting for it, so nei- ther one of us is going to give an inch," Eslick said. "Geoff (May) had a really big moment - spectacular save - it was pretty awesome. Coming out of the Keyhole, he had a really big save - props to him for saving it. I tried to keep my head down and (Ben) Attard was also there. So Geoff and Attard kept me honest the whole race and Geoff ended up beating me, so hats off to him." 12 Ben Attard 6th Place "I was lucky to get that red flag," Attack Kawasa- ki's Ben Attard said. "Once again, couldn't get off the line. And we had the red flag and then we got going again, but I didn't put a new front on on the restart. It was torn up pretty good. In the passing areas, I didn't have the grip to get past anyone, but once I got on the side I was a lot faster than the two guys in front of me. I just couldn't do it. I was sliding that bike around pretty good. There were a few scary moments, I heard, but it felt pretty scary. I hoped it looked just as scary. It was good - we'll bounce back. One of these days, I'm going to get on the podium." 11 Ben Spies 7th Place It's clear that Ben Spies' heart isn't in the Supersport class. The same rider that can dominate the Superbike class has had little success on the smaller bike. He admitted it was hard to get motivated for the race that came just before Sunday's Superbike race, on a bike that wasn't good enough to win on. "We couldn't win today," he said. "There was no way. Jamie (Hacking) was on fire. We knew that. He's been on fire all year long. But we proba- bly could've gotten on the podium if I rode 110 percent. But 110 percent would've been taking a lot of chances and wearing yourself for a Superbike stint that you've got to ride 10 minutes later. Also, after the first start, Danny Eslick was definitely riding hard and tak- ing chances and bumping and grinding with people. And I was like, 'You know, I will sit behind y'all the whole race and I'm very content on doing that.' I did that, yeah - I guess it's kind of hard to get motivated. If the fans want to come see the Yoshimura Suzuki 600 on the track, it's out there and if they're want- ing to see me on it, that's good. And hopefully, they're not wanting me to win too much right now because it's definitely difficult. But yeah, the mind-set's definitely on the Superbike race." Michael Barnes (34) put in a strong ride to best his teammate Geoff May (not shown) and take the final podium position.