1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 28 laps 2. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, -9.741 seconds 3. Ben Spies, Suzuki, -12.576 seconds 4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -12.624 seconds 5. Eric Bostrom, Ducati, -48.101 seconds 6. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki, -59.172 seconds 7. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -62.847 seconds 8. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, -69.152 seconds 9. Marty Craggill, Suzuki, -69.167 seconds 10. John Haner, Suzuki, -81.807 seconds 11. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -81.851 seconds 12. Francis Martin, Suzuki, -82.397 seconds 13. Pascal Picotte, Yamaha, -82.578 seconds 14. Brent George, Suzuki, -84.675 seconds 15. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -1 lap 16. Scott Jensen, Suzuki, -1 lap 17. Larry Pegram, Honda, -1 lap 18. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki, -1 lap 19. Tony Meiring, Suzuki, -1 lap 20. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, -1 lap 21. Cory West, Suzuki, -1 lap 22. Brian Stokes, Yamaha, -1 lap 23. David Bell, Suzuki, -1 lap 24. Mike Sullivan, Yamaha, -1 lap 25. Chuck Ivey, Yamaha, -1 lap 26. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki, -1 lap 27. Reuben Frankenfield, Yamaha, -1 lap 28. Matt McBride, Kawasaki, -1 lap 29. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki, -1 lap 30. James Kerker, Honda, -1 lap 31. Jeremy Toye, Honda, -2 laps 32. Matt Lynn, Suzuki, -2 laps 33. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, -6 laps, DNF, crash 34. Jake Zemke, Honda, -17 laps, DNF, mechanical 35. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -18 laps, DNF 36. C.R. Gittere, Suzuki, -19 laps, DNF 37. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, -22 laps, DNF, mechanical 38. Giovanni Rojas, Suzuki, -23 laps, DNF 39. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, DNS 40. Tom Kipp, Kawasaki, DNS 41. Mike Smith, Suzuki, DNS 42. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, DNS More, from a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates on behalf of Dunlop: Mladin unstoppable, takes two more victories at round two of AMA Superbike series Leeds, AL April 24, 2005 Stormy, unpredictable weather and unseasonably cool temperatures greeted the second round of the 2005 AMA Superbike series to Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama. Undeterred, the factory road racing teams set about their business in calculable fashion, led by Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, who dominated the competition while collecting his 34th and 35th career Superbike victories. In support-class action, Honda Racing’s Jake Zemke recorded Honda’s 50th AMA Formula Xtreme win, Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking took the Supersport victory and Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden came out on top of the Superstock competition. Dunlop brought nearly 1500 tires to support the factory teams and support riders in Superbike, Superstock, Formula Xtreme and Supersport competition. The Barber race track, home of the world-renowned Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, is a beautifully-designed circuit that puts significant demands on tires. Its relatively new surface is abrasive on front tires and numerous right-hand sweepers generate heat in the right-side tread of the rear tires. Friday’s scheduled activities were dampened by wet weather that culminated with the Superbike qualifying session. Thunderstorms, hail and high winds ended the round shortly after it started, forcing the teams to focus their energies on a rescheduled, 45-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning. The 55-60 degree temperatures and sunny skies were a welcome relief, despite gusty wind conditions. Dunlop brought four front and four rear tire compound selections from which the riders could choose. Mladin set the pace throughout the session and closed out with a track-record 1:25.047 on race tires, nearly .2-tenths second faster than his 2004 record set on qualifying tires. His 39th AMA Superbike pole was evidence of just how well his team’s GSX-R1000 was running. Teammate Ben Spies was next at 1:25.954 and a tick-behind was Neil Hodgson on the Ducati Austin 999R. Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates completed the front row. Saturday’s inaugural race was the first of two weekend Superbike events. After a red flag on lap one brought the teams back to the pits, the second launch saw Yates grab the lead, followed closely by Mladin. By lap two, Mladin was in front for good. After reeling off several sub-1:26 minute laps, Mladin settled into a pace unmatched by the field. By lap 18 of the 28-lap race he had stretched his lead over Yates by more than 11 seconds; at the checkered flag, Mladin’s margin of victory was a comfortable 7.396 seconds. The best race action developed between Hodgson in third-place and Spies, who trailed in hot pursuit. By lap 20 they were separated by less than .2-second. On lap 23, Spies slipped by as the pair moved through traffic, assuring Suzuki of a podium sweep. “It was a good race,” Mladin said afterwards. “We thought after qualifying that we had a little bit of pace, so we wanted to try to get to the lead as quickly as possible and try and get away, and that’s what happened. That’s it. We just have a little better set-up than these guys at the moment and we were able to do it.”” Hodgson took fourth, followed by Honda’s Duhamel, Jordon Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore and Steve Rapp, and Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom in positions five through eight, respectively. With Mladin Motorsports’ Marty Craggill taking 10th, Dunlop riders took nine of the top 10 finishing positions. Saturday’s second race featured the highly-modified 600cc four-cylinder and 750cc twin-cylinder machines of the Formula Xtreme class. The front row was led by Duhamel, whose 1:27.746 pole-qualifying time set the day before on his CBR600RR just nudged out teammate Jake Zemke, who was just .18-seconds off Duhamel’s pace. When the flag dropped, Zemke took the lead with Duhamel in pursuit. M4 Emgo Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec was a close third on a GSX-R600 and the trio quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. Zemke led the first eight laps but Duhamel snuck by on the next circuit and held on for five laps before Zemke retook the lead on lap 14. Haskovec slipped between the two with three laps to go and even led briefly. The three riders continued to dice through the corners, much to the pleasure of the fans, including some last-corner contact between Haskovec and Duhamel. At the line, Zemke took his seventh Formula Xtreme career win and Duhamel slipped past Haskovec to finish .44 seconds back from Zemke. “The last lap was great,” said Zemke. “When you get three guys going, it changes everything as far as race strategy and what you want to do. Luckily I’m the guy that got to sit on top today.” Behind Haskovec were Attack Kawasaki’s Ben Attard, Yamaha-mounted Chris Paris and Pascal Picotte, and Honda Canada’s Steve Crevier in positions four through eight, respectively. Suzuki’s Chris Caylor took ninth and Ryan Andrews rode a Ducati 749R to finish 10th as Dunlop riders captured eight of the top ten positions. Duhamel leads the series with 71 points, Zemke is second with 66 and Chris Peris is third with 52 points. Race day two dawned to a cloudless sky with even chillier temperatures. The previous day had seen Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking capture the pole position for both the Supersport and Superstock races; his Superstock qualifying time of 1:25.832 aboard a YZF-R1 was a new track record. Sunday’s first action was the 600cc Supersport class. Alongside Hacking on row one was teammate Jason Disalvo, then Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden and Tommy Hayden on ZX-6RRs. Hacking took the lead at the start, followed closely by both Haydens. A red flag on lap three brought all the riders back for a restart. On the second go-around, Hacking once again led the pack off the line, followed by Roger Lee Hayden and then Tommy Hayden. Tommy overtook brother Roger Lee on lap 12 and the trio remained tightly-bunched until Roger Lee ran wide on turn one on the next lap. With four laps to go, Hacking and Tommy Hayden put in some scorching laps; Hacking clocked a 1:28.115 on lap 13 and Hayden saved his best for the last lap, when he put in a 1:27.975 the fastest lap of the race in his effort to run down Hacking. Despite a last-corner challenge from Hayden, Hacking would not be denied, going wire-to-wire and crossing the finish line .579 seconds ahead of Hayden. Roger Lee Hayden was third, followed by Disalvo and teammates Aaron Gobert and Damon Buckmaster in fourth through sixth, respectively. Attack Kawasaki’s Ben Attard was eighth, Topline Yamaha’s Chris Peris was ninth and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was tenth as Dunlop-shod riders took nine of the top ten spots. In the series standings, Hacking and Tommy Hayden are tied at 70 points apiece, Disalvo has 56 and Gobert has 52. The 1000cc machines of the Superstock class were next. Next to Hacking on the pole were teammates Disalvo and Buckmaster, with Suzuki’s Yates in the fourth slot. Hacking wasted no time capitalizing on his pole position, leading into the first corner from the start on his YZF-R1 with Disalvo in second and Yates in third. Disalvo took the lead on lap 10 and held on for four laps despite a fierce challenge from Hacking, who retook the lead on lap 13. Meanwhile, Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden was closing in on his ZX-10RR from his fifth-place start, turning the fastest lap of the race on lap 12 at 1:26.952. By lap 14 he moved up to third place behind Hacking and Disalvo. The most dramatic action of the weekend then ensued as the trio raced to the flag with 3 laps to go. Hacking and Disalvo continued to challenge each other while Hayden first slipped past Disalvo, then Hacking on lap 16 to take the lead. On the final lap, Hacking ran into the grass after coming together with Disalvo; Disalvo stayed on the track but lost ground in his effort to run down Hayden, Meanwhile Hacking lost third position to Yates, who had closed from fifth on the final two laps. At the checkered flag, it was Hayden by .951 seconds ahead of Disalvo, then Yates and Hacking. Jordon Suzuki’s Steve Rapp was sixth, followed by Yamaha’s Gobert, Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden and Yamaha’s Buckmaster in positions seven through nine. Overall, Dunlop riders took eight of the first ten finishes. “It was a hard race for me,” said Hayden. “With about five or six laps to go, I thought I had a really good chance to win. As we were coming up on traffic, Jamie and Jason were slowing each other up a little bit, I just tied to get in there and make something happen and it worked out.” After two rounds, the leaders are bunched in the points chase; Yates leads the series with 63 points, Vincent Haskovec is second with 62 points and Tommy Hayden has 60 points. In the final race of the weekend, Suzuki’s Mladin picked up where he left off the day before, rocketing past a fast-starting Neil Hodgson and into the lead on lap one. From there, Mladin built a cushion that grew steadily throughout the race; by lap 25 it was 10.579 seconds and he cruised to 9.470-second victory. Hodgson held on to second until he was overtaken by Yates on lap seven and the pair remained close until Yates pulled into the pits on lap 19 to change his tire. From that point Hodgson was unchallenged. Meanwhile Honda’s Duhamel had closed to within third after starting back in eighth position. While Duhamel did not pose a threat to Hodgson in second, Suzuki’s Spies was closing rapidly on Duhamel and the pair fought for the final podium spot on the last lap. In the end, Spies overtook Duhamel and held on to third by just .048 seconds. It was another good race for Dunlop riders, who took eight of the top ten spots. Behind Mladin, Hodgson, Spies and Duhamel came Ducati Austin’s Bostrom and Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes in fifth and sixth, respectively. Yates took eighth and Mladin Motorsports’ Craggill was ninth. “It was a good race for us,” said Mladin. “I’ve got to thank my team, they’ve done a good job for us this weekend. The GSX-R1000 is unbelievable, this year we’re three for three and the Dunlop guys have really stepped up and, in the last four months, they’ve really made really made our lives a lot easier.” On the Superbike series scorecard, Mladin tops the field with 113 points, followed by Hodgson with 91 and Spies with 87. Next stop for Dunlop and the AMA Superbike road racing tour is the California Speedway in Fontana, California, April 29 May 1. Round two features a doubleheader for the Superbike series.
