JOHN HANER CLAIMS FIFTH IN 2005 AMA SUPERSTOCK SEASON STANDINGS John Haner finished off a great 2005 AMA race season with a fifth place finish in the Repsol Lubricants Superstock race at Road Atlanta during the tenth and final round of the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship. John, in only his third season of AMA Pro racing, ran in seventh position before charging forward to claim fifth on his Lion Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the closing laps. His finish helped him cement fifth position in the final Superstock point standings, the first true privateer in a class dominated by factory and factory-supported riders. As he has all season, John also raced the same Superstock-spec GSX-R1000 in both Superbike races, finishing 13th in each one. Saturday’s Superbike Final – 13th Place “The clutch started slipping a little bit in the second part of the race,” said John, who was running in 11th place when the race was red-flagged with eight laps remaining. “I was up there and a couple of people went by me, and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting the same drive. On the cool-off lap I realized the clutch had been slipping. We used the race, basically, as testing for tomorrow’s Superstock race. We tried a different shock and it didn’t improve our times, so we’ll be able to improve that. I feel really good for tomorrow. I messed up in (Superstock) qualifying, tucking the front down in turn one, but we’ve got a good race package so we should be there in the hunt tomorrow.” Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 5th Place “The tires held in there today,” said Haner, pleased with his result and his season. “The front was the standard front that’s worked well all year. I had a different rear today, and it really lasted. The bikes ahead were a little bit faster out of turn seven, but as soon as I got over the hill, my bike really started to come on and in the last section I would just reel them in. Once I got by Barney (Michael Barnes) and started picking up the pace, my lap times dropped back down. On the last lap, some traffic held up some people and I was able to get by (Steve) Rapp on the brakes. I almost had (Damon) Buckmaster, but I spun it up a little too hard. I tried a little too hard for that fourth place, and just barely missed out.” “All in all, it was a really good season, with fifth in points” said Haner. “I’ve got to thank Brett Champagne. He’s worked so hard all year long for me. Everything I’ve needed, he’s always been there. We spent a lot of time together, driving across the country and all. We were really good friends before, but now we’re even better. Brooks Gremmels with Shogun Motorsports, he’s been such a big part of my racing, keeping me motivated. Carry Andrew built me some really fast bikes, and helped me get to the next level.” Sunday’s Superbike Final – 13th Place “I had one moment,” said John about his last AMA race of the 2005 season. “Brian Stokes blew a motor and I went through the oil and I thought I was down. I got a little better restart after the red flag, and I just rode consistently. Marty Craggill and I went back and forth a few times. He’d lead for a little bit and I’d lead for a little bit. He pulled over and let me lead the last few laps, then he got me going into turn one. I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to get you going back into turn ten’. My bike spun up a bit in turn six and he got a gap I couldn’t make up on that Superbike. It was good fun, a great year.” 2005 Superstock Point Standings (After 10 Races) 1. Aaron Yates, 323 2. Jason Disalvo, 314 3. Steve Rapp, 255 4. Roger Lee Hayden, 241 5. John Haner, 222 6. Jake Holden, 195 7. Damon Buckmaster, 192 8. Geoff May, 189 9. Aaron Gobert, 187 10. Tommy Hayden, 168 More, from a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates on behalf of Dunlop: Dunlop race report: 2005 AMA Superbike Series concludes at Road Atlanta Braselton, GA The old guard in AMA road racing showed race fans at Road Atlanta why they are still the champs at the final stop of the 2005 Superbike series in Braselton, Georgia, September 2-4. Despite a late-season challenge by 21-year old teammate Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin won one of two Superbike races to earn an unprecedented sixth AMA Superbike crown and stake out the 33-year old Australian’s legacy as the most successful AMA Superbike racer ever. The winner of the second Superbike competition was Mladin’s teammate, 32-year old Aaron Yates, who also salted away the 1000cc Superstock title; Yates’ third AMA championship was secured with a safe ninth-place finish in a hotly-contested battle that was won by Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden. The 22-year old Hayden also took the Supersport win, but the season-long 600-class championship went to his older brother and teammate Tommy Hayden, whose fifth-place finish earned the 27-year old veteran his second consecutive Supersport title. To cap it off, 37-year old Miguel Duhamel earned a second consecutive Formula Xtreme title for Honda Racing and his eighth AMA national championship with a remarkable, upset performance over teammate Jake Zemke. For the weekend, Dunlop-shod riders captured 38 of 50 top-ten finishing positions. And for the 2005 season, Dunlop riders finished in the top ten 349 times out of 460, an impressive 75.9 winning percentage. Road Atlanta is a “right-hand” track that generates significant heat in the right side of the rear tire, particularly after finishing the back straight. The surface is bumpy in places and, due to the concrete patches in some turns, traction can be inconsistent. Dunlop brought 2583 tires to support the factory teams and support riders in the Superbike, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes at Road Atlanta (as well as last week’s round at VIR), including rain tires. The factory Superbike teams had four front and three rear tire options, including multi-compound rear tires utilizing Dunlop’s NT (New Technology) construction. The factory Superstock riders had seven front and five rear tire compound choices. As he has all season, Mladin dominated Superbike qualifying, capturing an unprecedented 10th consecutive pole position and the 47th of his career. His best lap of 1:21.685 on race tires smashed his own record of 1:22.065 set here last year on a qualifying tire, an indication of how well the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and Dunlop’s multi-compound NT rear tire design work together. The point earned gave Mladin a 22-point margin over Spies, his nearest competitor for the championship. In the first Superbike race, Mladin rocketed to the lead and set a blistering pace until a red flag came out on lap 18. He restarted well in the ensuing seven-lap sprint race and took the lead right away, with teammates Spies and Yates following close behind. Though he lost his right knee puck and had to adapt his riding style, it was Mladin at the checkered flag by .721 seconds over Spies for his 11th win of the season (a new AMA record) and 43rd career Superbike victory. “It was nice to get the win. It was a great race there at the end,” said Mladin. “It’s nice to get 11 wins and to get the record, but we still got work to do tomorrow.” A tumble by Yates on the second-to-the-last lap handed a pursuing Duhamel the third podium position. With the win, Mladin increased his lead over Spies by 29 points going into the final race of the season on Sunday. How many championships hinge on every lap of the very last race? That was the scenario that played out in Saturday’s Formula Xtreme event as Honda Racing teammates Duhamel and Jake Zemke battled each other on their CBR600RRs to determine the 2005 class victor. Duhamel came into the weekend knowing that he had to collect every point possible pole, most laps led, and the win to capture the crown. He took the pole on Friday with a blistering 1:24.866, the fastest any 600 has ever circulated at Road Atlanta (current configuration). When the race began, the two riders rocketed away, swapping the lead on every lap (18 lead changes in all) with some very dramatic slides and saves by both riders in the battle to lead the most laps. On the final lap of the 15-lap event they had seven apiece when, going into turn one, Zemke ran wide and off the track, crashing out of the race. He was OK but did not continue and Duhamel went on to collect his second consecutive Formula Extreme title and Honda’s 20th win in a row since the series was reconfigured to 600-class machines for 2004. “I knew it was going to be close,” said Duhamel. “Jake has been such an incredible rider this year. It was a great race, we were both really close and it was perfect racing, really hard championship racing. To win it at the end was really hard to do.” Duhamel dedicated his championship to M4 Emgo Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec, who was paralyzed from the chest down when he crashed at Infineon Raceway on May 14. Finishing second in the race was Attack Kawasaki’s Ben Attard, followed by M4 Emgo Suzuki’s Michael Barnes. In the final points tally, Duhamel racked up 314 points, while Zemke finished second on the season with 295. Third place went to MPT Racing’s Danny Eslick, who garnered 198 points. Coming into Sunday’s season-ending Superstock race, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates carried a 21-point lead over Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo and only needed to finish 14th on his GSX-R1000 to secure the championship. The race itself was a barn-burner between two young lions DiSalvo and Roger Lee Hayden – who hope to secure championships of their own in the near future. DiSalvo led the most laps on his Yamaha YZF-R1 (8-7), but Hayden made a daring pass on the outside of the last turn before the finish line to take the win by .009 seconds on his ZX-10R. “It was a pretty good day, I got my first Superstock win out of the way, which I’ve been working toward for a long time,” said Hayden. Of his last-turn pass, he said, “I really wanted to win a big bike race before the year was out, so I wasn’t going to give up. It was a fun race, we were going back and forth and if anybody left a door open, someone was coming in. It could have gone either way.” Finishing third was M4 Emgo Suzuki’s Geoff May, who makes his home in nearby Alpharetta. Meanwhile, Yates played it safe and the Georgia native finished ninth to take the Superstock title. “Thanks to Suzuki for putting together such a great motorcycle because the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is awesome,” said Yates. “My team has been great all year, putting together a good race set-up and Dunlop has given us excellent tires this season. It’s all because of these guys that I’ve got this number-one plate.” Like Duhamel the day before, Yates dedicated his championship to Haskovec. For the season, Yates finished with 323 points, followed by DISalvo with 314 and Jordon Motorsports Suzuki’s Steve Rapp with 255. The 600cc Supersport championship was also on the line Sunday. Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden had built a comfortable 31-point lead over younger brother Roger Lee and only needed to finish mid-pack to secure the title. The younger Hayden took the pole on Saturday with a record 1:25.775 lap time on his ZX-6RR, besting the time of 1:26.082 set by older brother Tommy in 2004. If there was any doubt that Roger Lee was having his best weekend ever, it was erased at the conclusion of the race. In the race start, Roger Lee took off after Attack Kawasaki’s Attard and commandeered the lead by the second lap. From that point on he built a comfortable lead to eventually win by just 5.1 seconds over Yamaha’s DiSalvo, securing his third consecutive win and fourth victory of the season. “I am really happy,” said Roger Lee. “I got my first pole. My team has been behind me all year, I am glad to make them proud. It was definitely the best weekend of my career.” In third place was Attard. As for Tommy Hayden, he motored around at a conservative race pace and finished in fifth position with plenty of points to lock down his second consecutive Supersport title. “I started out well this year and everything was going according to plan and then, towards the middle of the year I had a lot of problems. I had the best bike for sure by far, that made things a lot easier. It’s really special, two in a row.” For the season, Tommy finished with 327 points to Roger Lee’s 308, while DiSalvo was third with 272. The weekend’s final event was Superbike race two and the competition was not without drama. An early red-flag forced a complete restart and Mladin’s poor launch off the line left him in 21st position after the first lap. Meanwhile Yates rocketed off to a near-perfect start on his GSX-R1000, overtaking teammate Spies on the first lap. From that point he was never headed, taking the win by 6.2 seconds over Spies for his first Superbike win of the season. “What can I say?” said Yates. “It was a good day and a good race. We got a good start out there and I think I was a little stronger in a couple of spots and I just tried to take advantage of the opportunities. It’s just really great to get the race win for Suzuki.” In third was Ducati Austin’s Neal Hodgson. But the day would belong to Mladin, who charged through the pack to finish fourth overall, cementing his record-setting sixth AMA Superbike Championship. “It was a good year for sure. Suzuki delivered some motorcycles this year that certainly made life quite a bit easier than last year. It’s nice to win six of them, but as everyone knows, I’ve signed for another three years, so I’ll be disappointed if I don’t have nine (titles) three years from now.” On the season, Mladin amassed 536 points, followed by Spies with 514 and Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom with 431. Dunlop congratulates all of the 2005 AMA Superbike Series champions and salutes all of the racers that make this roadracing series the most competitive in the world. About Dunlop Tires Dunlop Tires is the largest supplier of original equipment and replacement motorcycle tires in the U.S. and the only manufacturer of motorcycle tires in North America. With North American operations headquartered in Buffalo, NY, Dunlop has been making and selling high-quality tires in the U.S. since 1923. For more information, please visit www.dunlopmotorcycle.com. More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: ANOTHER PODIUM FOR GEOFF MAY TO END 2005 Team M4 EMGO Suzuki celebrated the close of their 25th anniversary season with a stellar day’s work at Road Atlanta. Geoff May brought his home crowd to their feet with a terrific charge to a podium finish in the final Superstock race of the year. Both May and teammate Michael Barnes factored heavily in a huge dogfight at the front of the Superstock pack during the opening two-thirds of the race. The two ran together in fifth and sixth place until the final five laps when May got into a groove. A pre-race set-up alteration worked perfectly to plan, allowing the Georgian to make an inspired charge as the laps wound down in the 15-lap final. He fought up from sixth and several seconds back to close right in on the leading two riders at the end of the race. There he would stay, collecting a third-place finish aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000. It was May’s second podium finish of the season and the seventh on the year for Team M4 EMGO Suzuki. May commented, “Going into it, I didn’t know what the weather was going to be like. I knew we had a really good race set-up and we switched it from this morning because we actually had too much grip. The power coming off the corners wasn’t controllable so we gambled on the set-up a little bit. At the beginning of the race I got a good start and put my head down. About mid-race it started coming to me and I was able to slide the thing and control the slide instead of it getting all out of shape on me. The lap times got back down close the 1:24s. Everybody started coming back to me and I was picking them off.” May’s third place finish elevated him to eighth in the final championship standings with 189 points on the season. While a set-up issue prevented Barnes from following his teammate up through the leaders, the Floridian still managed to finish a solid seventh in the race. It was another strong outing for the rider who came into the team at midseason to substitute for the vastly popular Vincent Haskovec. Despite racing only half the year, Barnes ended up ranked 16th in the standings with 131 points, claiming five top tens in six attempts to go along with his pair of Formula Xtreme podium finishes. May wrapped up the season for Team M4 EMGO Suzuki in Sunday afternoon’s Supersport final. He finished in eighth place, less than a second behind the factory Suzuki entry. It was his eighth top ten of the year, which moved him up to fifth in the season standings with 228 points. More, from a press release issued by Proforma: GOOD SEASON FINALE FOR MILLENNIUM KWS SUZUKI AT ROAD ATLANTA The Millennium KWS Suzuki team of Lee Acree and Blake Young finished up their 2005 AMA Superbike Championship season with good results at Road Atlanta. Lee finished 10th in the 2005 AMA Superbike point standings with his 10th and 16th place race results, and netted 12th place in the final Superstock point standings with his 14th place finish at Road Atlanta. Blake rode to his third 10th place finish of the season to end up 11th in Supersport class points, while a 15th place finish in Superstock led to 15th place in the final points, the first year for Blake on a 1000cc bike. Overall, it was a good season for the South Carolina-based Millennium KWS team. Lee Acree Saturday’s Superbike Final – 10th Place “Thank goodness for the red flag,” said Acree. “We likely wouldn’t have finished had it not been for the red flag. The chain was jumping the rear sprocket and rounding over the teeth. We didn’t have another one, so they flipped it over and tightened the chain. Beyond that, fresh tires were the deal. On the restart, we went with softs. I had horsepower on a lot of those guys. I had horsepower on (Marty) Craggill. I’d have beaten him if I hadn’t hit the rev-limiter going down into turn 10. I’d go by him and hit the limiter and he’d come back by. I couldn’t get far enough by him to be clear and away in front of him.” Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 14th Place “I didn’t really know what to expect from the tires today, as far as going the race distance,” said Acree. “Without question, the suspension changes we’ve made to the bike have really improved it. I think we just haven’t quite found the magic combination with the suspension and tires. We’ll keep trying and we’ll find it.” Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 9th Place “I had a blast,” said Acree, who wanted to ride one of the team’s GSX-R600s at one of his favorite tracks. “Trying to keep up with Geoff May, I just didn’t have the steam. The bike worked well. I ran pretty soft tires, particularly on the front, and got the most out of those. I had a couple of close calls on the front end, and I had a couple of big rear end slides, but so did Geoff. Blake tried to come by a couple of times, and I was having no part of that. I talked enough trash to him after Road America, his home track, that there was no possible way I was going to let him beat me at Raod Atlanta.” Sunday’s Superbike Final – 16th Place “The Superbike race didn’t go so good,” said Lee, half-joking. “Actually, I got a good start. We haven’t had a problem with the brakes all weekend, and during that race they were coming to the bar from the start. I spent the first half of the race not using any front brakes. I’d start backshifting early and sort of coast into corners. That’s why those first few guys would go by me on the brakes into turn ten. At about the halfway point, the rearset broke, and it broke where the master cylinder hangs on it. So I didn’t have any rear brakes, because when I pushed the pedal down, it just flexed the master cylinder out of the way. About three-quarters of race distance, I started to get some pressure back in the front brakes, but by then I didn’t have any tire left to do anything with it.” Blake Young Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 15th Place “It went alright,” said Blake, a bit disappointed. “Actually, I got a really good start. I slotted in right behind Lee (Acree), but Eric (Wood) and Tony (Meiring) got in between us for a couple of laps. I ended up right with Lee for most of the race. I tried to get around him a few times, but I couldn’t make it stick.” Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 10th Place “I got off to a good start,” Young said. “I could see the leaders for a good few laps. I passed Lee (Acree, teammate) a few times, and he’d pass me back. Then we hit lapped traffic and that’s where I really got gapped. He got through traffic a little bit better than I did. But that was the best Supersport bike I’ve had all year.” More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: Duhamel Wins Formula Xtreme Title at Road Atlanta American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel won his second consecutive Formula Xtreme Championship with a thrilling victory after a race long duel with teammate Jake Zemke in the season finale at Road Atlanta. The victory, his fourth of the season, came barely an hour after he’d ascended the podium in Saturday’s Superbike race. In order for Duhamel to win the Formula Xtreme title, he had to score every available point-the point for the pole, the point for the most laps led, and the 36 points for winning-in the final two races aboard his Honda CBR600RR. The cagey 37-year-old set the stage by sweeping the points table the previous weekend at Virginia International Raceway. Duhamel put in a repeat performance at Road Atlanta. The French-Canadian, who calls Las Vegas home, began by setting a new lap record in qualifying. The laps led point came down to the final lap with each of the Honda riders leading seven laps after Duhamel came back from a 6-3 deficit. The six-month, nine-race season would be decided on the final lap of the final race and Duhamel wasn’t giving his teammate an inch. Chasing Zemke into turn one, he watched as his teammate ran wide and off the track, falling uninjured. Duhamel sped home to win both the race and championship by a comfortable margin. Duhamel’s fourth win, along with Zemke’s five, gave Honda a series sweep for the second year in a row. No other brand has won a Formula Xtreme race since the Honda CBR600RR was eligible. “You close your shield and do 100% and that’s what I tried to do today,” Duhamel said after his record eighth AMA pro road racing title and the record 78th AMA win of his distinguished career. Duhamel’s ride in Saturday’s Superbike race was equally impressive. Eleventh on the first lap, the Honda CBR1000RR-mounted speedster made his way through the field and was in sixth when the race was red-flagged on lap 18. The Superbike race became an eight-lap sprint. Off the re-start, Duhamel was away with the leaders, quickly into fourth and up to third when Suzuki’s Aaron Yates fell on the penultimate lap. Teammate Zemke began the race in third and was running in the top five when a front end problem forced him to retire before the red flag. Zemke’s luck turned around on Sunday. Second by the seventh lap, he battled for position to the very end, finishing fifth. Duhamel was running in the top five when a slight problem developed that sapped his engine of power. Still, he soldiered on to finish ninth. Suzuki’s Mat Mladin won Saturday’s race over teammate Ben Spies and Duhamel. Suzuki’s Aaron Yates came first on Sunday, with Spies second and Ducati’s Neil Hodgson third. Mladin finished fourth and earned the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship. Miguel Duhamel 1st Formula Xtreme Like the pitcher at a baseball game or chess, whatever, you want to always change your strategy a little bit. On the championship race with the points led, you’re being pushed in position. If we didn’t have the points led thing, then the championship would be on whoever won the race, then it would have been a different race for sure. But I didn’t have a choice; I had to fight like every lap counted and it did. That was the only thing I was trying to do. I was trying to figure out what he might be thinking I might do and do the opposite. So move around a little bit and make it hard for him to draft. Even doing that he was still able to outbrake me a few times and the few times he went a little too deep and I got him back and of course he was strategizing to try to block me coming over the bridge. I was hoping to outdrag him on the outside. By the time I did he’d be so surprised. I had to lead that lap. I had to lead every lap. And that’s what you saw. Every lap was a totally new script and it was wonderful to the end there. Jake Zemke 17th Formula Xtreme It was a barn burner. It was, I’m sure, for everybody watching it, it was the show they were expecting to see. But you know in the end I got in to turn one, I’m not sure I’m waiting to look at the data to see, but seemed like I got in there and when I let the clutch out it just didn’t seem like the thing slowed down, like I didn’t have engine braking or something. Not really sure, but all in all it was a good year. You know, the guys have done a wonderful job on that bike. Two main guys working on that thing just worked their tails off all year long on that program. I’m proud for those guys. I’m proud that we were able to get five wins on the season. A little disappointed we didn’t win the championship. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Miguel Duhamel 3rd Saturday Superbike For a while I was thinking, ‘I think I can win this thing,’ because I caught up. But then after that they got in the same tempo. You’re always shooting for first. I mean Mat (Mladin) was just there, he wasn’t leaving us, which was a terrific thing for the team and for me too. I saw Aaron (Yates) go in there and just when he tucked it down he lost the front. I went a little wide in that corner and by then Ben (Spies) had a bit of a gap and everything. I looked behind me and I just tried to bring it home. Jake Zemke DNF Saturday Superbike The bike was running, but was I having a little problem with the front on the thing. Shoot, even from the second lap right form the get-go, I was losing the front, losing the front. And I just kept slowing down like half a second a lap and I kept losing the front. So finally I came in. we were like well, it’s not going to do us much good to go back out now, so we just sat that one out. Miguel Duhamel 9th Sunday Superbike Got better starts and I had a really good bike. I was really disappointed to see that the bike started slowing down. Either a fuel injection problem or a pump or something like that. I was looking at the temperature gauge and it wasn’t high, so I knew it wasn’t an engine, so that’s why I stayed out there. You never know if somebody stops or something happens to their bike. Get enough points to get up to fourth in the championship, which would’ve been pretty fun for us. Anyway, bike was really good and I was really confident I was going to get on the podium. Jake Zemke 5th Sunday Superbike We were third for a while, we were second for a while. We got by (Ben) Spies. Things were going pretty good. I was able to make time on the brakes and of course I cooked the brakes doing that. The first probably ten laps, eight laps, whatever it was. I ended up glazing the brakes over doing what I was doing. Then I had that bit of a moment up there and Spies got by. And kind of we were starting to lose traction at that point in the race anyways. We just ended up going backwards from there and couldn’t get going today. Sunday Superbike: 1. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 3. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 4. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 5. Jake Zemke (Honda) 6. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki) 7. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 8. Eric Bostrom (Ducati) 9. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 10. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) Saturday Superbike: 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 5. Eric Bostrom (Ducati) 6. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki) 7. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 8. Kurtis Roberts (Honda) 9. Marty Craggill (Suzuki) 10. Lee Acree (Suzuki) Championship Standings: 1. Mat Mladin 536 2. Ben Spies 514 3. Eric Bostrom 431 4. Aaron Yates 414 5. Miguel Duhamel 392 6. Neil Hodgson 384 7. Marty Craggill 331 8. Steve Rapp 305 9. Josh Hayes 302 10. Lee Acree 301 Formula Xtreme: 1. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 2. Ben Attard (Kawasaki) 3. Michael Barnes (Suzuki) 4. Danny Eslick (Suzuki) 5. Robert Jensen (Yamaha) 6. Chris Peris (Yamaha) 7. Opie Caylor (Suzuki) 8. Ryan Andrews (Ducati) 9. Alex Gobert (Honda) 10. Mike Hale (Honda) More, from a press release issued by Team Stargel: Team Stargel Yamaha Endures Ups And Downs At Road Atlanta For some, the addiction of racing is the emotional highs and lows that keep bringing you back through success and failure. The Road Atlanta AMA superbike round provided some of both for Team Stargel Yamaha. First qualifying went very well for the team. Rider, Brian Stokes, a Georgia native and a former instructor at Road Atlanta, turned a personal best lap time of 1:25.5 on his Yamaha R1 and found himself in twelfth position. The team hoped to improve upon this in the second qualifying session, but the changes made did not work in the way they had hoped. The first superbike race on Saturday did not begin on the best note, as Stokes got bottled up in turn one on the start and had to work through traffic in the early laps. After seventeen laps were complete, Stokes was in thirteenth and charging forward with seemingly more to come. Then came the red flag, and the race was stopped. At this point, it would be an eight lap sprint to the finish. With a clean start, and some consistently fast laps, Stokes finished twelfth, tying his best finish of the year in race two at VIR. For Sunday’s race two, the team talked a lot about strategy, specifically, getting a good start and recording fast lap times early in the race. The race started with Stokes doing exactly that. He was twelfth on the second lap and moved into eleventh on the third lap behind Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts. The team was excited, until they saw the red flag. Excitement then turned to frustration. Frustration turned to disappointment when it was announced that one of the riders down was theirs. Stokes had suffered an engine failure, which caused him to crash out of the race. Luckily he was unharmed, but the race, and AMA season would be over. This season would not have been possible without the hard work of crew chief, Ward Wilson and crew members James Hillis and John Neumann. Thank you for loving the sport. We would like to thank Michelin for their dedication, and for giving us Rossi’s hand me downs. To Yamaha for building a beautiful motorcycle and to Graves Motorsports for all the assistance. To Castrol and Regina, thanks for the long term relationship. To BRC Engineering, thanks for the patience. See you next year More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI WINS SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Roger Hayden wins in Superstock and Supersport, Tommy takes the crown BRASLETON, Ga. Newly crowned AMA Supersport champion Tommy Hayden and repeat series runner-up Roger Hayden had a memorable weekend aboard their Kawasaki motorcycles as AMA motorcycle road racing returned to Road Atlanta Raceway last weekend. The Hayden brothers celebrated together, Roger for scoring victories in Superstock and Supersport and Tommy for capturing his second consecutive Supersport championship. In the AMA Superstock race, Roger blasted off the grid and began an intense battle with Jason Disalvo for the duration of the 15-lap event. As the laps clicked away, the two routinely made amazing passes, darting past each other on almost every lap through the first turn, down the back straight, into the turn 10/11 chicane, and then charging down the hill towards the start/finish line. On the final lap, the younger Hayden remained determined to capture his first Superstock victory aboard his NINJA® ZX™-10R and chose to run wide around Disalvo in turn 12, one of the most dangerous in all of racing, only to run off the track and onto the rumble strips, but still edged his nemesis by a mere .008 seconds for the win. In the AMA Supersport race, Roger completely dominated the field aboard his Kawasaki NINJA® ZX™- 6RR. The younger Hayden proved the final Supersport race of the season was his right from the start by claiming his first-ever pole position, leading every lap, and breaking away to win by a stunning 5.096-second margin over second-place rider Disalvo. Attack Kawasaki rider Ben Attard finished in third, earning his second Supersport podium of the year. Tommy, who had a 31-point lead and his second championship wrapped up if he finished 23rd or better, rode a consistent race to finish fifth and celebrated by riding a victory lap with Roger at his side. Immediately following the Supersport race, Tommy admitted that although he made the chase for the championship look easy, the season for him was actually somewhat of a struggle. “Relieved,” was the first thought that came to Tommy’s mind when asked about defending his title. “I was ready honestly just to get this year over with. I felt like I came into the year really strong and really prepared and we started out good. Everything was going according to plan, but towards the middle of the year I had a lot of problems.” “I actually got really sick and wasn’t sure I was even going to finish the year. There was a month I literally spent in bed between Road America and Laguna. I had mono and it took like two weeks to find out I had it. I was in the hospital after Fontana and I didn’t test at Ohio or Virginia. I was struggling just to ride at all. Then right when I thought I was getting okay, we went to Laguna and I broke my hand.” “So many up and downs this year, it’s been really tough on me. I’m just glad it’s over honestly. We can regroup and get my health back strong. I haven’t really trained in three months and it’s been really tough.” “I had the best bike for sure by far. That made things a lot easier. Hats off to my guys.” During Saturday’s AMA Superbike race, Attack Kawasaki rider Josh Hayes captured his eleventh top-ten finish of the season by keeping a consistent pace with the rest of the field despite one re-start and rode to a sixth-place finish in the 25-lap event. Ben Attard qualified fourth for Saturday’s AMA Formula Xtreme event and rode very consistent race to capture second place which was also his highest podium finish of the season in FX. Hayes also competed in the second Superbike race on Sunday and captured another sixth place finish for his efforts. More, from a press release issued by Hotbodies Racing Triangle Cycles Honda: Race Report: If It Were Easy Everyone Would Do It. Hotbodies Racing Honda at AMA Superbike Final, Road Atlanta, September 2-4 Larry Pegram #72 Racer Larry Pegram was unable to compete at Road Atlanta on his HRC-kitted Honda CBR1000RR due to having a remarkable case of gorilla foot from a fall a week earlier at Virginia International Raceway. Pegram was present though and did his best to support the Hotbodies Racing Honda team and meet with many racing fans throughout the weekend. Pegram finished the season 14th in the Superbike points. Jeremy Toye #57 Jeremy Toye, on the last ride of the season on his project-3000 HRC-gunna-be-completely-kitted Honda CBR1000RR, qualified 20th in Superbike after dealing with teething problems and gravel-trap elbow, from his fall at VIR. Toye DNFed in Race One and finished Race Two. In 17th. Toye said, “Well, it didn’t start out badly. A little reoccurring problem from my fall at VIR was nagging me. I had a little bike setup issue. We had a mechanical in Race One, but it was because of compensating for my elbow. In Race Two we finished. No major nothing, just some pain. I actually had a good time. You have to be in really good physical condition here because it is dangerous. You have to be forceful with the bike here and I couldn’t do that. The track is fun to ride though. But anyway, I would have driven all the way out here just to fricken’ see Vince [Haskovec]. Seeing him and his good spirit, that means a lot. I hope that comes together. Maybe we can do something so that nothing ever again comes close to what happened to him. He’s one serious person to lose in the race community.” Justin Filice #170 Justin Filice competed in Sunday’s Supersport event on his Honda CBR600RR. Filice said, “I was racing with three other guys during the last few laps of the race and I was getting more comfortable with the bike. But I was passed on the last lap by the winner just feet before the flag and so my battle was suddenly over. I like the track, it’s real fast and hard to get used to. It was my first time here but I like it, it was fun.” Filice finished 24th and ended the season 19th in the points. Filice was unable to compete in the Formula Xtreme race due to mechanical problems prior to qualifying and is 16th in the final points. More, from a press release issued by Team Hotbodies Racing: Cory West #187 In Superbike on his Suzuki GSX-R1000, Cory West had an unusually frustrating weekend. West said, “The few times I really got to ride I thought things were clicking. But we always have bad luck here, I don’t know what it is. Friday morning I blew the motor I ran at VIR. Friday afternoon I blew my spare motor. We found a stock one we borrowed. I went out in qualifying and was kind of brake-checked and fell in turn one. I never ruined a bike as bad as I ruined that one. My dad worked his butt off with some friends to get the bike ready for the afternoon race. In the race the thing started flashing weird temps and it wasn’t my motor to blow up so I pulled in. This morning the bike ran fine, I suited up and got on the bike and it wouldn’t start so we took it on that note to pack it up early. Other than that it was a good year so we’ll just kind of ignore this weekend. If Kurtis [Roberts] and Jimmy Moore don’t finish this last race I’ll be 15th in the Superbike points.” West, the 2004 Superbike Rookie of the Year, finished the season ranked 15th in Superbike points. Nicky Moore #28 Racer Nicky Moore qualified well in Formula Xtreme, sitting on the second row in seventh. In Supersport Moore’s fastest lap time was nearly identical, placing him 11th on the grid. In FX Moore completed nine laps before ending his race in a pavement biff. In Supersport Moore completed 6 laps before ending his race with a broked bike. Taylor Knapp #38 Breaking from the trend of peculiar occurrences of Hotbodies Racing at Road Atlanta, Taylor Knapp had a solid weekend in Formula Xtreme and Supersport on his Yamaha YZF-R6s, finishing 13th and 12th respectively. The always happy Knapp said, “Supersport went decent, I broke into the thirties for the first time here and I was on the fourth row for the first time, so that was pretty good. In Formula Xtreme I was on the fourth row also and just barely missed the third row. In FX I had a really bad start, I don’t know why. I had to come through a lot of traffic and I ended up thirteenth and tied for ninth in points, so that was good. In the Supersport race I had a good start and was with some guys. I was held up by Nicky Moore in the esses when he was having a problem with his bike. I ended up 12th even though Supersport is always tougher.” Knapp is ranked 17th in Supersport even after sitting out two rounds, and is tied for ninth in Formula Xtreme. Heath Small #27 With encouragement from Hotbodies Racing owner Roger Davis, racer Heath Small was drafted into the Hotbodies Racing sponsored Lion Racing team to replace injured rider Jacob Holden for Superbike. Small fell in Road Atlanta’s turn 10B in Race One and was unable to compete in Race Two and Superstock, though he will be ready to ride in the CMRA series within a week. Small said, “I just want everyone to know I’m fine. I also want people to know I’m still a Hotbodies Racing Team member and I was just helping out Lion Racing for this one event.” Keith Marshall #292 Coming off his best finish ever in Supersport, a 13th at VIR, Keith Marshall found himself trailing on horsepower at Road Atlanta, qualifying 19th. Marshall said, “This track is fast and we were down on power. Then I had a bad start and a bunch of riders crashed in front of me in the first chicane. That broke up the field and so for most of the race I couldn’t see any riders in front of me or behind me. I had to wonder if I was the only rider on the track and if I hadn’t noticed a red flag. This track is all about horsepower. Sure it takes skill here but if you have a fast bike no one can catch you down the long back straight. I guess I wish last weekend had been the end of the season.” Marshall is listed as 20th in Supersport points. Giovanni Rojas #50 Doing only a few AMA events in 2005, Giovanni Rojas qualified his Suzuki GSX-R600 in 26th place for Supersport. In the Supersport final Rojas finished 23rd. More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin: HODGSON ON THE PODIUM IN AMA SEASON FINALE, BOSTROM THIRD IN POINTS Braselton, GA – Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Neil Hodgson finished third in Sunday’s AMA Superbike season finale at Road Atlanta and Eric Bostrom clinched third overall in the series with an eighth place finish. Hodgson’s late-race run saw him climb onto the podium after passing Jake Zemke for third place. Hodgson was able to make the pass for third with the help of some Ducati 999 horsepower and celebrated the end of the season with another podium finish. “I had a top speed advantage, which was quite nice,” he said after the 25-lap contest held in hot weather. Neil finished his first season in America with one win and seven podium finishes. “It’s been an interesting year for me. It turned frustrating the last three rounds, but we came here to this circuit and it’s been one of the best all year for me,” said Hodgson. “We’d lost some of our baseline in recent races, but the crew worked hard and things were better this time out.” Eric Bostrom was eighth in the red-flagged race, but his finish earned him third place in the season points. “Things felt a lot better for me today, health-wise. In the first part of the race, we were going fair and the lap times were an improvement from yesterday,” said the Californian. “We switched tires on the second start and the second part of the race was much worse for us. It was hard to go forward, but we were able to finish and get third in the season’s points.” “Being on the podium was a good way to finish up the year,” said team manager Tom Bodenbach. “We were third place in the final points with Eric and had the three race wins. Neil had a very solid learning season. When he came here at the beginning of the season, he had no idea about the tracks and he tried hard and impressed the team. Things are looking up for next year and we’re excited about the off-season program.” Race 2 results – 1. Aaron Yates (Suzuki); 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki); 3. NEIL HODGSON (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN); 4. Mat Mladin (Suzuki); 5. Jake Zemke (Honda); 6. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki); 7. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki); 8. ERIC BOSTROM (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN). AMA Superbike Points (after 17 of 17 races) – 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 536; 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 514; 3. ERIC BOSTROM (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN) 431; 4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 414; 5. Miguel DuHamel (Honda) 392 ; 6. NEIL HODGSON (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN) 384.
