From a press release issued by American Honda:

Honda Red Rider Weekend Report

Zemke and Duhamel dominate Brainerd road race national.

They say “the third time is the charm,” and Erion Racing’s Jake Zemke bears witness to this axiom, clinching his first-ever AMA Superbike victory at Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) on Sunday, June 27, the same track where he collected his first AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme victories. Add a convincing victory by Miguel Duhamel in Formula Xtreme competition-his fifth of the season-and Honda Racing’s weekend at BIR was nothing short of spectacular.

The weekend’s first race on the seventh stop of the 2004 AMA Superbike tour was in the Formula Xtreme series. Honda Racing and Erion Racing have worked diligently throughout the season to massage Honda’s potent CBR600RR into a 600cc “Superbike” and the results are impressive. Trap speeds down the long front straightaway at BIR indicated Duhamel’s Al Ludington-tuned 600RR was topping out at an amazing 179.2 mph. Duhamel captured the pole position in Friday’s qualifying session with a blazing 1:38.148 time.

“I don’t think I had a good bike, I think I had a great bike,” said Duhamel. “The Xtreme class is still new and we’re still working at it and we’re getting faster and faster. I think we’re asserting ourselves in a really serious class; our speeds are fast, lap times and even top speed. I credit my team – Al, Trevor, Jason, Yuji, and Chris.”

At the start of the race on Saturday, Duhamel and Zemke fought tooth-and-nail throughout the race for the lead, with the duo often swapping the lead along BIR’s front straightaway and the fast right-hand sweepers in turns one and two. At one point early in the race, Duhamel’s right knee-puck slider tore away, forcing him to alter his riding style through the turns to protect his knee. No matter, Duhamel drafted past Zemke on lap 11 and then ripped off the fastest lap of the race, 1:38.083 to hold the lead, taking the win by .375 seconds over Zemke.

“We were out there racing, we had a decent pace going, but I felt like there was something more to the show,” said Duhamel. “After a while I thought, maybe I need to look back there, and I thought ‘Whoa’ I need to pick up the pace because coming out of that really tight right hander after the chicane he (Zemke) had a much better drive. There was no negotiation; if I was second coming out of that corner I was done. So I tried to lead the most laps. We were going back and forth, because I really thought he could get me there. The CBR600RR was just fantastic and my guys have been working so hard, and the Dunlop tires were working real good too. I’m really pleased. It’s a tough class to win.”

Zemke added, “I knew it was going to be tough because Miguel has some motor on us, but the boys worked pretty hard and we definitely closed the gap on him from the last race to this one. I was having to ride really hard just to stay where I was. In the end my tires were moving just a bit, because we were having to work them pretty hard just to keep up at the front. It was a good race, we’ll move on to Laguna from here and see if we can close up the points gap.”

Erion Racing’s Alex Gobert finished fourth in the race. Duhamel leads the series with 250 points to Zemke’s 235, followed by Gobert with 193.

Sunday’s Superbike race result was foreshadowed by Zemke’s pole qualifying performance on his CBR1000RR on Saturday with a time of 1:35.655. A mishap almost spelled disaster. “I went out on my first bike and had a problem with it so I came straight into the pit and went out on my second bike and did one warm-up lap. I was basically on my first good lap.” Zemke and Larry Pegram then bumped and both fell coming out of turn ten before the front straight, effectively shortening Zemke’s qualifying run to just ten minutes.

“It kind of ruined the whole session for me. I got back to the pits and they were already taking the linkage apart-I was trying a different linkage on that first bike-they were switching back to the same linkage that was on the bike I had just crashed. Basically we just threw a Q (qualifying tire) on it and I went straight out on a Q, did one lap just trying to get my mind back focused and get up to speed, then came in and threw a second Q and ran that lap. Sometimes it’s almost better if you can go out straight away like that and not get yourself into a groove because a qualifying tire is so much stickier than a race tire, sometimes you’ll get into a groove and you just don’t want to pull the trigger as hard as you should, because you are used to the tire spin that you would get with a race tire.”

Sunday’s Superbike race featured the most competitive action in the series this year. After Josh Hayes led briefly, Zemke, series leader Mat Mladin, and a charging Duhamel swapped positions frequently, with no rider leading by more than a half-second. The Honda pair had a power advantage on BIR’s long front straightaway but Mladin challenged the Honda riders on the circuit’s tighter infield corners. Honda’s Ben Bostrom lurked close behind in fifth position. On lap six, Zemke took over the lead for four laps and ran the fastest lap of the race, a 1:36.24, on lap eight. Lapped traffic would soon put space between the lead trio, and Duhamel stepped up to control laps 15-20, apparently headed to his fifth victory of the season. As the race wound down to the last lap, Zemke slipped into the lead as Duhamel ran wide exiting turn two. Two crashes ahead and rain falling in the last three turns made the final charge to the flag treacherous, but Zemke held on for his first-ever Superbike win.

“Brainerd’s a pretty special place for me. I won my first Formula Xtreme race here, I won my first 600 race here, and I’ve won my first Superbike race here. Miguel made a little mistake there coming out of two, and when he did that, it just opened the door wide open. Then I just came around to the finish, the last two corners were awfully wet.”

Duhamel added, “In turn two I just carried a little too much speed and went a little wide, a bit wider than I thought. Just sliding a bit and Jake jumped on the chance and passed. I was on him coming out of the tight right-hander, the bus stop, but it was raining pretty bad. He got a slide and I got a good drive on him. As you crossed the bridge and it was just pouring rain. I got in front of Jake, and going through the corner I rolled off and he went for it. I braked a bit and ran wide. We just rode really hard, everybody. For me it sure was a heartbreaker to lose the race, but I don’t think there’s a more deserving guy [Jemke] in the paddock.”

Finishing fifth was Ben Bostrom. “We had a bike that almost steered too good. I could put it anywhere, but I couldn’t get off any corners. When I caught up I thought I’d hang and cool off the tire. But the longer I was behind them the harder it was to stay there. What I noticed, though, is that my entry speed is coming back. It’s where I used to make time on everyone. I see that coming back.”

Zemke’s win gives him 348 points and bring him closer to Duhamel, with 352 points, and series leader Mladin with 358 points. Next stop for the Honda Red Riders and the AMA road racing tour will be the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on July 9-11.

AMA Superbike Overall Results:
1. Jake Zemke – Honda
2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda
3. Mat Mladin – Suzuki
4. Eric Bostrom – Ducati
5. Ben Bostrom – Honda

AMA Superbike Point Standings:
1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki – 358
2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda – 352
3. Jake Zemke – Honda – 348
4. Eric Bostrom – Ducati – 262
5. Geoff May – Suzuki – 241
6. Ben Bostrom – Honda – 210