American Honda’s Post-Sears Point Race Report

American Honda’s Post-Sears Point Race Report

© 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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From a press release:

Honda Racing’s Nicky Hayden won the fourth round of the AMA Superbike Championship series at Sears Point Raceway in convincing fashion. Nicky’s win today was his 3rd Superbike win this season and the eighth for Honda at Sears Point. Hayden rode patiently right from the start of the race, sitting in third place then making a dramatic pass on both Duhamel and Gobert to take the lead. Hayden then pulled away for his third win of the season. Hayden commented on the dominating RC51 at the press conference, “Yeah, I mean it shows the improvement the team’s made with the bike and myself this year. That race was awesome!”

Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel was on the gas in Sonoma and finished a close second behind Hayden for the runner up spot. The all time AMA Superbike winner has fared well at Sears Point Raceway and likes the track. Dumamel’s podium finish was encouraging for his fans. At the press conference Duhamel said, “I feel pretty good. The team did a really good effort. I mean we’ve been pretty strong on race tires all through the weekend and today we basically put in our qualifying time on race tires. The bike’s working really good. The race went really well. Just a few times I got caught up in slow traffic.”

Erion Racing’s Kurtis Roberts missed racing the double-header weekend but attended to support his teammates. Kurtis is continuing a stringent rehabilitation program form his Fontana crash and hopes to return to racing soon.

AMA Superbike, Round 4, Sonoma, CA, Overall Finishers:
1. Nicky Hayden – Honda
2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda
3. Eric Bostrom – Kawasaki
4. Anthony Gobert – Yamaha
5. Pascal Picotte – Ducati

AMA / Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship series Round 5: Sears
Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA, May 5, 2002

Honda Racing’s Nicky Hayden won the second leg of the double header Superbike race weekend held in Sonoma, CA. By doing the double and winning both Superbike races, Hayden takes a commanding lead in the Championship series heading into Road Atlanta in a couple of weeks. This was Hayden’s eighth win in the last nine Superbike races, including last season. He is quickly becoming one of the elite riders in Superbike racing in the world. Here’s what Nicky had to say at the press conference: ” It feels awesome, really good. Right from the start, actually before the race I wanted to get the holeshot today. Those last few laps were I mean a handful. I saw those guys coming back toward me and I was just trying to get back through traffic. I couldn’t really go any faster, you know. The team right now is just awesome. I mean all my mechanics work so well together. I mean Merlyn Plumlee and those guys they just I mean really, not enough good things I can say about them. Miguel knows. His guys are good, too and like you said we work together.”

Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel also had a fantastic showing in the second Sears Point Superbike Race, finishing third overall, thus securing podium positions in both Saturday and Sunday’s races. At the press conference Miguel had these comments: ” You know everything went really well. The bike was running strong. Just trying to keep Nicky honest out there. He was doing a great job. You could tell that he was going off his board and making sure that I didn’t get too over enthusiastic, but try and keep the gap decent. That last lap, I put my head down and tried to catch him. We rode pretty well and that’s basically it. I’m pretty happy. Everything worked good. I mean, back on the box. Back getting up there and keeping people honest out there. Hopefully we’ll be able to improve on that, of course.”

AMA Superbike, Round 5, Sonoma, CA, Overall Finishers:
1. Nicky Hayden – Honda
2. Aaron Yates – Suzuki
3. Miguel Duhamel – Honda
4. Eric Bostrom – Kawasaki
5. Pascal Picotte- Ducati

AMA Superbike Point Standings:
1. Nicky Hayden – Honda – 178
2. Anthony Gobert – Yamaha – 118
3. Aaron Yates – Suzuki – 116
4. Eric Bostrom – Kawasaki – 114
5. Jamie Hacking – Suzuki – 107

12. Miguel Duhamel – Honda – 85

AMA / Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series Round 3: Sears Point
Raceway, Sonoma, CA, May 5, 2002

Bruce Transportation Group / Honda Racing’s Jake Zemke rode his CBR600F4i to a hard fought sixth place position in the 600cc Supersport event. Zemke’s teammate Alex Gobert finished in sixteenth.

Erion Racing’s Mike Hale was right behind Jake Zemke and would eventually cross the checkered flag in seventh place. Teammate Roger Hayden did not race due to a knee injury. More information to follow on Roger Hayden’s knee condition.

AMA Supersport, Round 3, Sonoma, CA, Overall Finishers:
1. Aaron Yates – Suzuki
2. Anthony Gobert – Yamaha
3. Jamie Hacking – Suzuki
4. Damon Buckmaster – Yamaha
5. Ben Spies – Suzuki
6. Jake Zemke – Honda
7. Mike Hale – Honda

16. Alex Gobert – Honda

AMA Supersport Point Standings:
1. Aaron Yates – Suzuki – 110
2. Jamie Hacking – Suzuki – 81
3. Damon Buckmaster – Suzuki – 79
4. Ben Spies – Suzuki – 73
5. Mike Hale – Honda – 70

10. Jake Zemke – Honda – 58

13. Alex Gobert – Honda – 48

AMA / Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme series Round 2: Sears Point
Raceway, Sonoma, CA, May 5, 2002

Bruce Transportation Group / Honda Racing’s Jake Zemke continues to gain momentum in the Formula Xtreme series. Zemke who finished third in
round one, raced to a solid second here at Sears Point Raceway. Teammate Alex Gobert finished inside the top ten with a ninth place position.

Erion Racing’s Mike Hale raced hard to a fourth place finish and is showing his consistency in the Formula Xtreme class. Teammate Roger
Hayden did not race due to a knee injury. More information to follow on Roger Hayden’s knee condition.

AMA Formula Xtreme, Sonoma, CA, Overall Finishers:
1. Damon Buckmaster – Yamaha
2. Jake Zemke – Honda
3. Martin Graggill – Suzuki
4. Mike Hale – Honda
5. Ben Spies – Suzuki

9. Alex Gobert – Honda

AMA Formula Xtreme Point Standings:
1. Damon Buckmaster – Yamaha – 75
2. Jake Zemke – Honda – 61
3. Jason Pridmore – Suzuki – 58
4. Mike Hale – Honda – 54
5. Ben Spies – Suzuki – 52

7. Alex Gobert -Honda – 44

Upcoming Rounds:
May 17-19, Braselton GA, Round 5
May 31st, Colorado Springs, CO, Round 6

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