Updated Post: Zemke Wins AMA Formula Xtreme Race In Fontana

Updated Post: Zemke Wins AMA Formula Xtreme Race In Fontana

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American Honda’s Jake Zemke took the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship point lead by winning his second consecutive race Saturday at California Speedway. Zemke, the pole-sitter, raced closely with teammate Miguel Duhamel, the two swapping the lead several times throughout the 17-lap event. Zemke slid his CBR600RR under Duhamel on the brakes for turn one to take the lead with two laps to go, an instant before Duhamel ran over the temporary curbing in the switchback, sending him into a big tank-slapper and letting Zemke open a lead. Duhamel fought to make up the lost ground, but a group of three lapped riders got in the veteran’s way on the final lap, securing the victory for Dunlop-equipped Zemke. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec finished third, far behind the Honda duo, on his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600. Provisional AMA Formula Xtreme Race Results: 1. Jake Zemke, Honda 2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -1.487 seconds 3. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -37.416 seconds 4. Danny Eslick, Suzuki, -46.210 seconds 5. Nicky Moore, Yamaha, -57.408 seconds 6. Chris “Opie” Caylor, Suzuki, -57.462 seconds 7. Alex Gobert, Honda, -57.502 seconds 8. Heath Small, Yamaha, -76.707 seconds 9. Ryan Andrews, Ducati, -77.063 seconds 10. Justin Filice, Honda, -84.301 seconds 11. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, -84.508 seconds 12. Armando Ferrer, Yamaha, -1 lap 13. Nathan Hester, Yamaha, -1 lap, -0.411 second 14. Tim Knutson, Yamaha, -1 lap, -0.767 second 15. Corey Neuer, Suzuki, -1 lap, -28.628 seconds 16. Jay Tanner, Yamaha, -1 lap, -38.603 seconds 17. Victor Chirinos, Yamaha, -1 lap, -79.177 seconds 18. Craig McLean, Ducati, -1 lap, -88.973 seconds 19. Matt Furtek, Kawasaki, -5 laps, DNF 20. Chris Peris, Yamaha, -14 laps, DNF, mechanical 21. Robert Jensen, Yamaha, DNS More, from a press release issued by M4 EMGO Suzuki: ANOTHER PODIUM FOR HASKOVEC AT FONTANA Team M4 EMGO Suzuki extended their streak of podium finishes on Saturday at California Speedway, with Vincent Haskovec finishing “on the box” once again. After struggling a bit to get up to speed on Friday, Vincent Haskovec came through on Saturday, claiming his second consecutive AMA Formula Xtreme third-place finish to go along with his Daytona Superstock victory. While many of the rival teams had tested several times at the Southern Californian racetrack, Team M4 EMGO Suzuki was working against the clock to play catch-up. Significant progress was made in their efforts, but not quite enough to where Haskovec was able to fight for the win like he did at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend. “I knew it was going to be a hard battle,” the Czech Republic native admitted. “We didn’t test here. We just showed up on Thursday and got rained out. I wasn’t really happy about that. So we started the weekend a little bit behind. To be totally honest, I couldn’t find the rhythm all weekend; I was just searching. We were going in the direction we wanted to go in terms of set-up, but it looks like we kind of ran out of time. Obviously it was a good race, but I’d like to be a little closer to the leaders and we’re going to work to make that happen next time out.” Haskovec and teammate Geoff May also took part in Saturday’s 100k AMA Superbike final. Haskovec picked up another top-ten finish, taking tenth place on his Pirelli-shod Superstock-spec machine, while May came home in thirteenth. Before the afternoon’s races, the two qualified their GSX-R-based racebikes in preparation of Sunday’s finals. Haskovec claimed a second row starting spot for the 17-lap Superstock final, qualifying seventh best with a quick lap of 1:26.240. May will start a row further back; the Georgian was ninth overall, setting a best time of 1:26.656. He was also ninth fastest in Supersport qualifying at 1:28.769. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will have a busy day on Sunday to close out the California Speedway weekend. The schedule features another 28-lap Superbike final in addition to the 17-lap Supersport and Superstock races. More, from a press release issued by Team EMGO Taiwan: Team EMGO Taiwan takes another step towards the podium FONTANA, CA (30 April, 05) Chris “Opie” Caylor continues to advance towards the podium with his strong top 10 finish at California Speedway. Caylor rode his Team Emgo Taiwan sponsored Suzuki GSX-R 600 to within .06 seconds of a fifth place finish after qualifying on the second row. Caylor started the weekend by attending promoter practice on Thursday. “Without that practice we would of only had one session before qualifying,” said Caylor from his garage. “Yeah, it’s an hour long session but if your trying different things that take time to change, the hour slips by pretty quickly. Having a whole day prior allowed us to zero in on the setup early and we used Friday practice to fine tune and start to ride at race pace.” Caylor would like to thank Fastrack Riders and Team Hammer for the Suzuki Privateer Appreciation Practice Day. “It made all the difference in the world.” Opie turned very consistant lap times throughout practice, qualifying and the race. He was able to shave time by heeding advice from Suzuki’s Kevin Schwantz who was spotting Opie at several key sections of the 2.3 mile track and coaching him on lines, body position and strategy. Tire selection again played a key role in Caylor’s finish. “Rick Koger at Dunlop always had time to discuss compounds, sizes and grip with me. He made several suggestions that we’d try and then listened to the feedback after every time out on the track. The slicks we decided on have amazing side-grip and work awesome on the 600.” Team EMGO Taiwan and owner / rider Chris “Opie” Caylor are already looking forward to another strong finish at the next round at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. Please look for them in the pits and help support their drive for the podium.

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