Jake Zemke’s last-lap desperate bid for the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship ended when Zemke ran wide and crashed in the grass outside Road Atlanta’s turn one, handing Miguel Duhamel his second series title. Ben Attard finished second with Michael Barnes third. Unofficial Results 1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 2. Ben Attard, Kawasaki, -12.737 seconds 3. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, -14.231 seconds 4. Danny Eslick, Suzuki, -26.351 seconds 5. Robert Jensen, Yamaha, -26.434 seconds 6. Chris Peris, Yamaha, -26.519 seconds 7. Opie Caylor, Suzuki, -26.613 seconds 8. Ryan Andrews, Ducati, -47.193 seconds 9. Alex Gobert, Honda, -54.571 seconds 10. Mike Hale, Honda, -54.763 seconds 11. Armando Ferrer, Yamaha, -56.041 seconds 12. Nathan Hester, Yamaha, -61.918 seconds 13. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, -62.193 seconds 14. Ryan Elleby, Suzuki, -64.391 seconds 15. Shea Fouchek, Suzuki, -67.001 seconds 16. Dominic Jones, Suzuki, -94.218 seconds 17. Jake Zemke, Honda, -1 lap, DNF, crash 18. Myron Bell, Suzuki, -1 lap 19. Victor Chirinos, Yamaha, -1 lap 20. Rodolfo Ramirez, Suzuki, -1 lap 21. Nicky Moore, Yamaha, -6 laps, DNF 22. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, DNS 23. Mike Smith, Suzuki, DNS 24. Derek Keyes, Triumph Daytona, DNS Final AMA Formula Xtreme Championship Point Standings: 1. Duhamel, 314 points 2. Zemke, 295 points 3. Eslick, 198 points 4. Attard, 197 points 5. Gobert, 175 points 6. Barnes, 160 points* 7. Peris, 160 points 8. Moore, 158 points 9. Caylor, 139 points* 10. Knapp, 139 points 11. Jensen, 137 points 12. Hester, 136 points 13. Andrews, 131 points 14. Ferrer, 126 points 15. Chirinos, 109 points * Wins tie-breaker based on best single-race finish. More, from a press release issued by Proforma: DANNY ESLICK FINISHES THIRD IN 2005 AMA FORMULA XTREME CHAMPIONSHIP Danny Eslick rode a smart AMA Formula Xtreme race at the final round of the series today at Road Atlanta, finishing fourth, but more importantly maintaining the necessary gap to rider Ben Attard to clinch third place in the 2005 Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme series on his Grant Matsushima-tuned Suzuki GSX-R600. Riding in considerable pain from last weekend’s highside crash at Virginia International Raceway, 19-year-old Eslick from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma elected to sit out the Supersport class this weekend to focus on his championship position in Formula Xtreme. Only six points separated Eslick and Attard coming into the final round, and Danny had it worked out where he needed to finish in the Formula Xtreme race to maintain his third place position. He got a good start, battling with a gang of four other riders throughout the race while keeping an eye on Attard up ahead. Attard finished second in the race, but Danny pushed to the front and outran the group to finish fourth and claim third place in the championship by one point. Saturday’s Formula Xtreme Final – 4th Place “I don’t know where my energy came from,” said Danny, who had qualified in 11th position on Friday afternoon. “I got a mediocre start. I passed (Robert) Jensen into turn one and he passed me back going up the hill. Chris Peris, Jensen and I traded spots a couple of times. Then I was leading the pack and ran wide back in turn seven. I got in a little hot and had to stand it up. I got right back in line and Opie (Caylor) was right there with us. There was four or five of us all going for it. It was a fun race, all in all. Chris and I had a couple of cool passes back and forth on each other on the brakes, and a couple of close calls here and there, saving the front a few times on my knee.” “I guess we started the season with a fourth place, and ended with a fourth place, and had a lot of consistent runs in between,” reflected Eslick on the 2005 season. “I had the one crash last weekend at Virginia, and that was our only DNF in Formula Xtreme all year long, and that was my fault. It shows how good the MPTRacing.com motors that Grant builds are. The Pirelli tires held up great this weekend and all year. Everybody that’s been involved in our program this year has put in their heart and soul. It means a lot to finish third in the series behind the factory bikes of Big Red. Grant Matsushima, his wife Kelly and so many other people have worked so hard to make this come true. All in all, we’ve had an awesome year, even in our Supersport program. We’ll be back next year, hopefully to win the championship!” 2005 Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Point Standings (After 10 Races) 1. Miguel Duhamel, 314 2. Jake Zemke, 295 3. Danny Eslick, 198 4. Ben Attard, 197 5. Alex Gobert, 175 6. Michael Barnes, 160 7. Chris Peris, 160 8. Nicky Moore, 158 9. Opie Caylor, 139 10. Taylor Knapp, 139 More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: BARNES ENDS FORMULA XTREME SEASON WITH PODIUM RESULT Team M4 EMGO Suzuki made the final Saturday of the 2005 season one to remember at Road Atlanta. The squad claimed their sixth podium finish of the year and also put in solid qualifying performance in preparation of Sunday’s Supersport and Superstock finales. Michael Barnes got off to a quick start aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600 in the last race of the Formula Xtreme season. The Floridian held down third position for the opening 12 laps of the 60k contest before a handling issue to surfaced for the Floridian. While he was unable to prevent a rival from moving past into the position, a last-lap crash by the leader elevated Barnes back up to third. He held the position to the checkered flag, earning his second podium finish of the season. After the race, “Barney” said, “I got a strong start and pulled away from fourth place at what was for me a pretty comfortable pace. I don’t know if it was a little higher track temperature that maybe affected my set-up a little bit, but I started having a minor problem with the front. I had to back it down a little bit and that was just enough to cause me to get caught.” He continued, “The M4 EMGO Suzuki guys just worked great and my Suzuki ran awesome the whole race. And my tires were real good too — I think it was just the set-up that I missed a little bit.” Barnes also put in an impressive ride aboard his GSX-R1000 Superstock machine, qualifying in the top five in the hotly contested class. Barnes registered a best time of 1:24.500 around the 2.52-mile circuit to secure the fifth spot on the grid for Sunday’s 15-lap Superstock final. Teammate Geoff May was right on his heels. The Georgian turned a 1:24.684 lap time in the Superstock session, which was strong enough to see him join Barnes on the second row of the grid. He’ll start from the seventh position. May also rode well in Supersport qualifying, putting in a best lap of 1:27.526. He was the eighth fastest rider in the session and earned a spot on the outside of the second row as a result. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will round out the 2005 AMA season with the Superstock and Supersport season finales at Road Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.