AMA And Team Press Releases From Mid-Ohio

AMA And Team Press Releases From Mid-Ohio

© 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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From AMA Pro Racing:

YATES CROWNED 2002 CHAMPION OF PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – Aaron Yates wrapped up the 2002 Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Sunday by taking his fifth series win of the year. It marks the second individual AMA road racing championship for Yates, a 28-year-old factory Suzuki rider from Milledgeville, Ga. He won the AMA Superstock (then known as 750 Supersport) championship in 1996, and was also a member of the championship-winning Cycle Motion Racing AMA SuperTeams squad in 1995. SuperTeams was a multi-rider endurance style competition that evolved into what is today Formula Xtreme. Yates is the first rider in six years to secure the highly competitive AMA U.S. Supersport Championship before the final race. Miguel Duhamel was the last rider to pull off that feat in 1996.

Yates began the year by winning the prestigious Daytona round for the first time in his career. It was considered a big breakthrough for Yates to win that race. With his six foot and 173-pound frame, Yates, who gave away about a 30- to 40-pound disadvantage to most other top riders, was never considered a top contender on the Supersport machines at the horsepower hungry Daytona International Speedway road course.

Yates backed up his Daytona victory with West Coast wins at California Speedway and Sears Point Raceway to open up a big lead in the series. He then went on to win at Road America and Mid-Ohio and posted podium finishes at Road Atlanta, Brainerd and Laguna Seca. His victory at Mid-Ohio was a bold move by Yates. He had a large enough lead in the series that he only needed 10th-place or better finish to wrap up the title. Instead of playing it conservatively, Yates went out and won his first Mid-Ohio Supersport race.

“Mid-Ohio has always been a real fun track for me,” said Yates after winning the race. “I’ve always gone real well here. I’ve never really put it all together in a 600 race. I’ve been there a few times and fell off towards the end. But this weekend I was just thinking yeah, I could take it easy and ride around and clinch the championship, or I can go out and ride hard and try to win the race. And if something happens, I got a pretty good cushion, I can still go out the next weekend and try and get in the top ten.”

With his 12-career victories Yates is third on the all-time AMA Supersport wins list. It marks the third AMA Supersport championship for Suzuki, with Yates following in the footsteps on Doug Polen (1988) and Steve Crevier (1998) – the other AMA Supersport champions who rode for Suzuki.

From American Honda/Universal Studios:

AMA/Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championships, Chevy Trucks Superbike Final, Round 13: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH, July 26-28


Honda Racing’s Nicky Hayden continues to shine in the AMA Superbike Championship. In one of the most exciting races of the year Eric Bostrom got away early and built a lead of 7.6 seconds at the halfway point of the race. Hayden charged from behind and came within .0341 of a second of beating Bostrom at the line. Hayden took home valuable 2nd place championship points and a 32-point lead with 3 races remaining.

Teammate Miguel Duhamel finished in 7th place.

Erion Honda Racing’s Kurtis Roberts continues his comeback from injury early in the season and finished the day in 6th place.

AMA/Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championships, Chevy Trucks Superbike Final, Round 14: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH, July 26-28

Honda Racing’s Nicky Hayden won Sunday’s Superbike main event in convincing fashion. Eric Bostrom got away early but Hayden quickly caught and passed him and was pulling away when the red flag came out due to a downed rider. On the re-start Bostrom again got the jump but was followed closely by Hayden. Hayden made his move and made it stick and won the race going away by 1.6 seconds. Hayden now takes a 35 point series lead into the final event of the season a doubleheader at Virginia International Raceway.

Erion Honda Racing’s Kurtis Roberts finished the event in 4th place, while Red Rider Miguel Duhamel finished 7th.


More, from HMC Ducati:

Race One:

HMC Ducati rider Doug Chandler was running in sixth place when he was forced to pull out of Mid-Ohio’s first race with a broken foot peg. The peg broke in the eighth lap and was replaced when he returned to the pits, but he chose not to re-enter the race at the rear of the pack.

Flash thunderstorms an hour before the race, delayed the start. Although the track was quick to dry in the Ohio heat, turn one continued to seep water leaving a wet section that forced riders to take another line. Isolated thunderstorms are predicted again for tomorrow’s race.

“At this track you’re pretty active on the pegs,” said Chandler. “Of all the places to break it was going into the first turn. As I back shifted my foot broke loose and tipped me in early so I had to go across the water and had a moment. I put my foot out and rode all the way to the edge of the track with my foot on the ground. I didn’t know if I was going to keep it on the track or head onto the wet grass.

“I thought we could have easily run with Pascal (Picotte) through that race, I wasn’t too sure where Arran (Yates) was but I thought we had a good shot with those two. I was biding my time but we had our race cut short.”


Race Two:

HMC Ducati rider Doug Chandler did another late race charge, coming from ninth place, in the first lap, to finish fifth at Mid Ohio’s second race. The veteran rider picked off riders one-by-one making the action for fifth almost as exciting as the action up front. Chandler was bridging the gap on Kurtis Roberts, in sixth place, when a nasty crash of Aaron Yates brought out the red flag stopping the race. The restart was more favorable for Chandler, who immediately went on the hunt for Roberts, passing Jamie Hacking in the process and finally having to settle for fifth just 0.75 seconds behind Roberts.


Doug ended his day with another two-seater ride, this time for the Make-A-Wish foundation. Ricky Claar took the seat behind Chandler as he did two flying laps of Mid-Ohio on a Ducati 748. Arai generously donated a Doug Chandler replica helmet for Ricky to use on the ride and keep as a souvenir. Joe Rocket supplied the use of leathers and gave a Chandler T-shirt that was personally signed. HMC would like to thank Corse Superbikes for arranging the bike through their demo fleet.

“Our race bike wouldn’t start in the first race so we had to use the back-up bike. That put me off a little, but once we got into the race I got going pretty good,” said Chandler. “I knew I had Kurtis, and the guys I was with, covered. Then at the red flag we made some changes but I don’t think that was the problem, I think there was something wrong with the bike that just got progressively worse. I wasn’t very happy with the way it was handling. It was frustrating just sitting back and watching those ahead of me broaden the gap, even if it was slowly. We’ll go over the data and see if we can find the problem.”


More, from Team America Grand Prix Racing:

DISALVO PODIUMS ONCE AGAIN

Team America Grand Prix Racing Team rider Jason DiSalvo wrapped up a solid weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a third place finish in Sunday’s AMA MBNA 250 GP Championship race.

After qualifying fourth the day before, Jason was comfortable with his starting spot. “Turn one at Mid-Ohio is the fastest corner on the track. The best line is to sweep it from the outside [to the] in [side]. Because I was starting the race from the spot that’s on the racing line, I didn’t have to sweep to the outside at the start of the race to take the corner. From turn one on, I only had to worry about racing the track and not other riders. The bike was set up perfectly, but sometimes it’s hard to dial in the horsepower with the two-stroke bikes when the weather changes as fast as it does here. We’ll get ‘em next time”, said the Stafford, New York 18 year old. Jason currently sits third in GP points with 233 – just 37 points from first. It still is mathematically possible for Jason to win the GP championship, but the most extreme of circumstances would have to combine for this to happen. More probable is a second place finish for the season as Jason is only three points out of second.

In Sunday’s Wiseco Superbike 100 (the second of a twin-race weekend format), Jason achieved his goal of running a strong race and gaining the experience necessary to become more competitive both in superbikes as well as other classes. A 9th place finish bettered Saturday’s result by two spots when he finished 11th. Jason currently sits 15th in superbike points with 148.

Team co-owner, Jim DiSalvo remarked that, “This was a remarkably good weekend despite a couple of mis-steps. Jason’s never run here before, he learned the track very quickly and he performed like a true professional. We’re all very proud of him and the entire team.” Jim continued by saying, “In the coming weeks, we should be able to give definitive answers to the many questions that many people have been asking about what we’ll be doing next year. I think they’ll all be shocked, but that’s all I can say for now.”

After competing next weekend at Summit Point, Jason concludes the AMA series August 9th – 11th at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.

Team America’s success is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, who include: ABS, Cruise America, Freddie Spencer’s High Performance Riding School, Dunlop Tires, Nutec Race Fuel, DID Chain, Chatter Box, GMD Computrack, Arai Helmet, Kushitani, Carbon Tech and Select Collision.

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