From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

HACKING LOOKS TO EXTEND AMA PRO HONDA OILS U.S. SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SHOEI POINTS LEAD AT INFINEON RACEWAY

Duhamel shoots for fourth AMA Supersport win at Infineon

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – Infineon Raceway has not been kind to Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking over the years. Hacking has suffered more than his share of misfortune at the challenging Sonoma Valley circuit. Since first racing at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point) in 1997, Hacking has finished only one Supersport race – that was last year when he finished third. Prior to that Hacking crashed out of every Supersport race at the circuit, or sat out the race after crashing earlier in the weekend. The 31-year-old South Carolinian hopes to turn things around this year and is shooting to win at Infineon on Sunday, May 4.

Hacking comes into the AMA Supersport event at Infineon with a 14-point lead over teammate Aaron Gobert. He feels he’s ready to turn around his luck at Infineon.

“It’s definitely not been one of my better tracks, that’s for sure,” Hacking admitted. “It was a track that I really didn’t like before and I don’t think I was concentrating on the proper things there and I crashed a lot. But the track has improved a lot over the last few years and while it’s still probably not one of my favorites, I think I can do well there. Last year I finally was able to finish the race, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t win it this year the way we’ve been going.”

Hacking has put a small gap on the rest of the field after only two rounds. The battle behind Hacking is wide open with seven riders within 10 points of one another.

Perhaps Hacking’s biggest threat at Infineon will be Miguel Duhamel. The Honda rider has won the Supersport race at the track three times and will be the only former winner in the field. He is third in the series standings coming into this race. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of Duhamel’s first AMA Supersport win at Infineon Raceway.

Aaron Gobert is experiencing a strong comeback this year after sitting out most of 2002 while recovering from serious injuries suffered at Daytona last year. Gobert would love to break through and win his first AMA Supersport race at Infineon, a circuit where his older brother Anthony has won both Superbike and Supersport races in recent years.

Damon Buckmaster finished fourth in the race last year. The Aussie veteran is looking to earn his first Infineon Supersport podium finish to keep in the thick of the championship chase. The youngest of the Yamaha factory riders, Jason DiSalvo, comes into the event fifth in the series standings and is hoping to take his first career Supersport podium this weekend. Erion Racing’s Jake Zemke has two top-10 Supersport results at Infineon and he is shooting for a third this year.

Ben Spies, ranked seventh, is the leading Suzuki rider in the series so far. Spies will get some help when Aussie Jamie Stauffer joins the Yoshimura Suzuki team after showing great potential in the first two rounds on a privateer Yamaha. Reigning champion Aaron Yates will not contest the Supersport series for the remainder of the year choosing to focus instead on the Superbike class.

Tommy Hayden is counting on continued improvement to his factory Kawasaki at Infineon. After finishing a disappointing 13th at the season opener in Daytona, Hayden came back strong with a third last month in Fontana. That result moved him into eighth in the series standings and he’ll be looking to improve on that ranking. Hayden was runner-up to Yates in the Supersport series last year.

The Infineon Raceway Supersport race will be shown on Speed Channel during primetime on Tuesday, May 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern. For ticket information contact Infineon Raceway at (800) 870-RACE or visit www.infineonraceway.com.