Cycle News

AMA SUPERBIKE AMA PRO SUPERBIKE SERIES ROUNDS 8-9/JULY 20, 2014 MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE/LEXINGTON, OHIO P78 vous going into this race just be- cause of the lack of track time. "I had the intention to push the last three laps, but I made a few mistakes and ran wide here and there. I knew I wasn't going to break him, obviously, so I was just kind of trying to ride protec- tive - brake a little harder going into the corners, try and not use the whole track, and go up the inside of a lot of corners. I knew he was a little stronger than me on the brakes in the hard-braking zones so I was trying to do my best right there. "He did sneak up on me and caught me by surprise. I saw him run a little wide so I stayed out a little wide and cut pretty hard on the inside. It was a good clean race and it was fun." THE REMATCH Despite the best efforts of Hayden et al, the day's second Superbike contest again quickly took shape as an all-Yamaha duel at the front. And, once again, Hayes stormed into the lead from My Own Race: 6 CHRIS CLARK 6TH/5TH Yoshimura Suzuki's Chris Clark successfully bounced back from his disappointing Laguna Seca effort, where he finished ninth just one race weekend after claiming his first-ever AMA Pro podium. It was a relief to get back into the top five at Ohio. "Laguna was not a good weekend, but we rebounded really well. Sixth the first race and we didn't change anything with the bike. We just rode a little bit better and were fortunate to get in the top five. We had to chase [David] Anthony down in that first one and we were able to get by him with just two laps to go. The second race we had a little better start and I was able to put myself in a position where they were kind of chasing. At first it was Larry [Pegram] and then I wasn't sure - the twin had dropped off, but I could hear a Suzuki so I thought it was either Anthony or Taylor [Knapp]. Then I was able to do my fastest lap on the last lap there. The second one felt a lot easier. Now we have Jersey and then the season is over. We caught some points back from Anthony and unfortu- nately for Martin [Cardenas], he had that little mistake, but we have a little more cushion from him now. I'll just try to roll into New Jersey and finish the season off in the top five in points. That's where we wanted to be and it would be great if we can accomplish that." 36 MARTIN CARDENAS 4TH/CRASH Ohio was another difficult weekend for Colombian Martin Cardenas, who entered '14 with title hopes but now finds himself outside the championship top five (and unlikely to break in with just one round remaining). "The first race was okay. It was not the result we were looking for - we wanted to get on the podium but it was going good until the middle of the race and then I had three moments. I almost highsid- ed three times on one lap so I had to let off a little bit and I ended up fourth. That's an okay result, but not excellent. In the second race we made a few changes for the bike and I was running fourth again behind Roger [Hayden]. Going into the corner at the end of the back straight I hit a bump and lost the front. That was the end of the race. I'm thinking I'll try to get a good result at the finale because lately, I'm not having a good run. I have to rebuild my confidence and train this month to try to go for it in New Jersey and hope- fully get a good result." 72 LARRY PEGRAM 8TH/DNF Larry Pegram is starting to get the EBR 1190RS working to his liking, unfortunately, its power deficit left him unable to take full advantage at his home race. Making matters worse, he suffered a mechanical issue in the second race that took him out of the fight altogether. "The first race - what did we get? Seventh? Eighth? Whatever. I couldn't get past Chris Clark or Dave Anthony. I kind of caught them but couldn't pass them. In the second race I got a much better start but got stuck behind Clark again. His bike just has much better top speed than ours, and really, the only place to pass is at the end of the back straight. I actually passed Chris [Clark] three times and he just came by me down the back straightaway. Then with a couple laps to go we just had a little problem with the thing so that was it. One more to go. We're just starting to get going actually. It's such a short season. We've finally got the bike closer to where we feel we should be. We're getting closer. It is what it is this weekend. This weekend was kind of a cluster for everybody with the way everything went." 25 DAVID ANTHONY 7TH/7TH ADR Motorsports/Sic/Motul Fly Racing's David Anthony has been the revelation of the '14 season, but his recon- figured and upgraded effort actually worked against him at Mid-O when the program was squeezed into a single day. "Not the best weekend in terms of results. We defi- nitely struggled. Without the track time, that's where we struggled - we don't have any data to go back to or any- thing like that. We were basically shooting in the dark to try to make things work - first year with electronics and all that. We ended up turning the electronics off altogether and not even using them because we just didn't have the time to build new maps. It's kind of hard to go from decent electronics to nothing. It took me a few laps to work it out. And then when I got going, yeah, the lap times were there where they should have been. I should have been up there in fourth. We got there in the end but it just took too long."

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