Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel dominated Saturday’s AMA Superbike race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Riding his Dunlop-equipped CBR1000RR, Duhamel came back from a bad start to take the lead from Eric Bostrom on lap seven of 16 and set the pace for the rest of the race.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin ran a very strong string of laps to catch Duhamel, passing lapped riders aggressively, but could not pass the French-Canadian, who turned the fastest lap of the race, a 2:14.404, on lap 15 to win by 3.5 seconds over Mladin.

The win was Duhamel’s third Superbike win of the 2004 season, the 29th Superbike win of his career (tying him for first with Mladin for the all-time lead) and the 74th AMA National road race win of his career (first all-time).

Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke came back from a worse start than Duhamel to contend for the lead early-on and was close behind Duhamel when he ran off the track on lap 11. He re-joined the race in fifth and moved up to third before he reached the checkered flag.

After a good start, Duhamel’s teammate Ben Bostrom slipped to a lonely fourth. Ben’s younger brother Eric got an even better start, leaing on his Michelin-shod Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin 999, but faded after the first few laps, just as Duhamel was charging. Eric Bostrom finished fifth.

DXS Diablo Suzuki’s Steve Crevier was some distance back in sixth, one position ahead of Aaron Yates, who pulled off on the second lap to apparently fix a loose and leaking gas cap. Prieto Racing’s Geoff May took eighth on a Pirelli-tired Suzuki GSX-R1000. KWS Millennium Suzuki’s Shawn Higbee was ninth on a Dunlop-shoed GSX-R1000, one position better than similarly-mounted Hooters Suzuki’s Eric Wood.

Jeremy Toye finished 11th on a Lee’s Cycles-prepared Roadracingworld.com Yamaha YZF-R1 rolling on Dunlops.

Jordan Motorsports’ Pascal Picotte was running ninth when he pitted for fuel on lap 14. He continued on to finish 14th.

Provisional AMA Superbike Race Results:

1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 16 laps
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -3.503 seconds
3. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, -12.296 seconds
4. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, -18.478 seconds
5. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999F04, -20.925 seconds
6. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -58.780 seconds
7. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -67.673 seconds
8. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -76.508 seconds
9. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -77.383 seconds
10. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -92.512 seconds
11. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha YZF-R1, -95.008 seconds
12. Chris Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -95.404 seconds
13. Andy Deatherage, Suzuki GSX-R1000
14. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha YZF-R1, pit stop for fuel
15. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000
16. Roger Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000
17. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000
18. Cory West, Suzuki GSX-R1000
19. John Jacobi, Suzuki GSX-R1000
20. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000
21. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha YZF-R1
22. Reuben Frankenfield, Suzuki GSX-R1000
23. Chris Voelker, Ducati 998R, -1 lap
24. Rib Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
25. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
26. Scott Jensen, Honda CBR1000RR, -1 lap
27. Jack Pfeifer, Honda CBR1000RR, -1 lap
28. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
29. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
30. Brian Boyd, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
31. James Kerker, Honda CBR1000RR, -1 lap
32. Lenny Beckman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
33. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -1 lap
34. Paul Ducato, Yamaha YZF-R1, -1 lap
35. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -2 laps
36. Dave Ebben, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -4 laps
37. David Weber, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -4 laps
38. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, -6 laps, mechanical
39. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, -7 laps, mechanical
40. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -8 laps, DNF
41. Marco Martinez, Suzuki GSX-R1000, -9 laps, DNF



Provisional AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (9 of 18 rounds):

1. Mladin, 300 points
2. Duhamel, 283 points
3. Zemke, 278 points
4. Eric Bostrom, 210 points
5. May, 198 points
6. Haner, 167 points
7. Ben Bostrom, 158 points
8. Lee Acree, 156 points
9. Eric Wood, 140 points
10. Yates, 138 points
11. Josh Hayes, 136 points
12. Cory West, 135 points
13. Larry Pegram 121 points
14. Chris Caylor, 116 points
15. Higbee, 108 points


More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin:

FIFTH PLACE FINISH FOR BOSTROM IN RACE 1
AT ROAD AMERICA

Elkhart Lake (Wisconsin) – Saturday June 5, 2004: Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom finished fifth in Saturday’s AMA Superbike race after leading the race at Road America in the early stages. The 27-year-old from Las Vegas, Nevada led into turn one and kept the Ducati 999R in the front through most of the first six laps of the 16-lap race.

“The bike is really fast and I got a great start off the line,” said Eric. Unfortunately, Bostrom’s bid for two consecutive Superbike wins fell short. “When the rear tire started to taper off a bit, I started to drop back. Right now our set-up is based on the rear tire; that worked well at the beginning because I’m sure Michelin has the best rear tire out there.

“We put the Ducati 999 up front for the first part of the race, which always feels great, especially since there are a lot of Ducati fans here at the track.”

“Eric had a great start and was running well in the first part of the race,” said Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “The Ducati power is great for getting off the line. It was good to see Eric outbraking some of the other riders in the beginning.”

Bostrom will look to improve his finishing position tomorrow at the 4.048-mile (6.51km) track. “I think the key is that we have to get through the corners faster,” said Eric, currently fourth in AMA Superbike points. “Tomorrow, we’ll roll the dice in a couple of areas when it comes to the set-up. I’m sure we can make it a little better but we’ll have to take some chances since we’ll only have the morning to test the changes.”

Race two of the doubleheader at Road America is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. (Central Daylight Time).

RACE: 1. Duhamel (Honda); 2. Mladin (Suzuki); 3. Zemke (Honda); 4. B Bostrom (Honda); 5. E Bostrom (Ducati); 6. Crevier (Suzuki); etc.


More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

MLADIN TAKES SECOND AT AMERICAN SUPERBIKE ROUND AT ROAD AMERICA

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, USA (Saturday, 5 June) – Mat Mladin has maintained his position at the front of the 2004 American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship after a hard fought second place finish in the first of this weekend’s two Superbike nationals held at the Road America Circuit at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Starting from the outside of the front row, Mladin pushed his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 hard throughout the 16-lap race, at times closing the deficit between himself and eventual race winner Miguel DuHamel (Honda) down to within half a second. DuHamel went on to take the win with a 3.5 second advantage over Mladin, who in turn held a sizable break of over 12-seconds to third placed Jake Zemke (Honda).

With nine rounds of the championship complete, Mladin holds a 17-point break over DuHamel (300 – 283), with Zemke (278) third.

“Even though I got a good start, I still had to work hard in the middle stages of the race to try and shorten the gap to Miguel (DuHamel),” said Mladin. “We actually had a very good race. The bike ran extremely well throughout the race, but it was hard with the speed disadvantage that we have here. As for tomorrow’s race, we’ll more than likely keep the bike in the same set up as we had today as it was essentially faultless and is running as well it possibly can around here.”

Earlier in the day qualifying for the round concluded, with Mladin maintaining his position on the front row of the grid, setting the fourth fastest time overall. A time of 2-min 15.170-secs was faster than the his best time from the opening session yesterday, but was overshadowed by the leading Honda’s. Miguel DuHamel secured pole for the weekend with a time of 2:13.346, just ahead of Zemke (2:13.707) and Ben Bostrom (2:14.704).

“We improved on our time from yesterday, but basically spent our time chasing a race set-up,” added Mladin. “We found a few tenths of a second time wise, but was happy to keep it on the front row of the grid. We knew even by putting in a soft qualifying tyre that we couldn’t make much of an impression on pole.”