Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Dale Kieffer set a new CCS lap record for the 2.1-mile, counter-clockwise configuration of the Las Vegas Classic Course during a CCS race event May 2, 2004.
According to CCS Southwest Region Race Director Randy Stem, Kieffer recorded a 1:28.605 on the official CCS electronic scoring system while riding a Michelin-shod, 2004-model Suzuki GSX-R750.
From a press release issued by Infineon Raceway:
Duhamel Uses Last-Lap Pass to Win Supercuts Superbike Challenge
SONOMA, Calif. – Honda’s Miguel Duhamel used a thrilling last-lap pass to take the victory on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in the AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge. The event was part of the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown weekend, presented by Cycle Gear.
Duhamel closed a 1.9-second gap on leader Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) over the final lap and passed the rookie AMA Superbike rider on Turn 11 for the victory. Duhamel popped a wheelie on his Honda CBR1000RR in celebration as he took the checkered flag.
It was Duhamel’s first victory of the year and the 27th AMA Chevrolet Superbike victory of his career, second on the all-time list to Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, who placed fourth after starting on the pole. It was also Duhamel’s fifth career Superbike win at Infineon Raceway, a track record. Duhamel doubled his pleasure later in the day with a win in the 17-lap feature for Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme.
“It was an incredible (Superbike) race,” Duhamel said. “Obviously my Honda CBR1000RR was the best bike out there. Jake ran a great race. It did cross my mind that second place isn’t so bad, but then I said, ‘no’ and I wanted to see what the bike could do. I gave it everything I could. I figured the fans thought the race was over, but I wanted to do something exciting for the fans. I just tried to reel him in and I was able to catch him.”
It was a bittersweet finish for Zemke, who led 23 of the 28 laps and was seeking his first career Superbike win. “I thought I had that one. I went by on the white-flag lap and thought he was way back there, but he caught me,” Zemke said.
The win snapped Mladin’s stranglehold on the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, ending his win streak at four. He won Saturday’s 98 Rock Superbike Challenge at Infineon Raceway and still tops the point standings after five rounds on the 2004 season with 177 points. Duhamel is second (153), with Zemke third (150).
“For the first few laps of the race, Mat’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 wasn’t running properly,” said Peter Doyle, Mladin’s crew chief. “When we got the red flag, we tried to fix it the best we could. And I believe that we made it better, but obviously it wasn’t good enough for Mat to go for the win.”
Aaron Yates (Suzuki) took third place with Mladin fourth and Ben Bostrom (Honda) fifth. Other winners on the day included Suzuki’s Ben Spies (Pro Honda Oils Superstock), and Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking (Repsol Superstock Series).
AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge
SONOMA, Calif. (May 2, 2004) – Following are official results from Sunday’s AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge, part of the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown weekend at Infineon Raceway, May 1-2. The race spanned 28 laps:
1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 28.
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 28.
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
5. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 28.
6. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
7. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 28.
8. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, 28.
9. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
10. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
11. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
12. Clint McBain, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
13. Ken Hill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
14. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
15. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
16. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
17. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
18. Cory Denton West, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
19. Jack Pfeifer, Honda CBR1000RR, 27.
20. Thomas Montano, Ducati 999R, 27.
21. Brien Whitlock, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
22. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
23. Kim Nakashima, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
24. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
25. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
26. J J Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
27. John Wilson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
28. Andrew Nelson, Honda CBR1000RR, 27.
29. Garry Combs, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
30. James King, Yamaha YZF-R1, 27.
31. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
32. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
33. Chris Siglin, Yamaha YZF-R1, 19.
34. David Stanton, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 17.
35. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999R, 15.
36. James Randolph, Yamaha YZF-R1, 10.
37. Jeff Williams, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 7.
38. Kenyon Kluge, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 7.
39. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha YZF-R1, 6.
40. Mark Foster, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 5.
41. Opie Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS.
42. Craig Connell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS.
43. Rob Mesa, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS.
44. Mike Krynock, Ducati 999R, DNS.
RACE TIME: 65:40.81 min.
WINNER’S AVG. SPEED: 59.342 mph
WINNER’S AVG. LAP TIME: 2:20.743
LAP LEADERS: Zemke 23 (2-7, 11-27), Duhamel 4 (8-10, 28), Yates 1 (1)
Red flag on Lap 7.
More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:
2004 American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship
Rounds 4 & 5 – Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California, USA
Round 5 Race Report
MLADIN MAINTAINS AMERICAN SUPERBIKE POINTS LEAD WITH A WIN AND A FOURTH AT INFINEON RACEWAY
Sonoma, California, USA (Sunday, May 2) – Mat Mladin has maintained his place at the top of the points table after completing this weekend’s double-header round of the American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at California’s Infineon Raceway with a victory and a fourth place finish.
The four times and defending American Superbike champion was in dominating form throughout the weekend continuing his record breaking run with his 35th career pole position and his 28th career AMA Superbike win on Saturday, but a chance to repeat those efforts in today’s second national were thwarted by a problem that his Yoshimura Suzuki team were unable to rectify during the course of the race.
With five rounds of this year’s championship complete, Mladin continues to hold a 24-point advantage over today’s race winner, Honda’s Miguel DuHamel (177 to 153) with Jake Zemke (Honda) third with 150.
After leading the time sheets during the morning warm up session, Suzuki GSX-R1000 mounted Mladin looked set to continue his unbeaten run in the championship, but his machine struck problems early in the race, leaving him unable to challenge the lead group.
Unable to find a cure for the problem, Mladin held third place for much of the race before being passed by teammate Aaron Yates with a handful of laps to run, finishing fourth. After running second for a substantial amount of the race, DuHamel converted a last corner pass on Zemke to snatch the win.
“We had a few things go wrong out there today and basically couldn’t get the job done,” said Mladin. “We tried to get it sorted during the stoppage with the red flag on lap eight, but weren’t able to.
“All in all though, we came here looking for a pair of wins and managed to take one of them and we leave here with a 24-point lead in the championship. It was a frustrating way to finish the weekend as we dominated qualifying and the opening race yesterday.
“Our attention will now focus on the next round at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. We tested there not long ago and felt good with the package, so we’ll be heading there with the same determination and game plan as we did for this weekend.”
The championship now heads to Birmingham, Alabama for rounds 6 and 7 of this years AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at the Barber Motorsports complex on the weekend of May 15 & 16.
RESULTS
Round 5 (Sunday), 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, Top 10
1 Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 28 laps
2. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) +0.196 seconds
3. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) +9.946 secs
4. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) +10.236
5. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) +35.948
6. Steve Crevier (DXS Diablo Suzuki) +49.765
7. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) +52.179
8. Larry Pegram (Yamaha) +1:05.183 mins
9. Geoff May (Prieto Suzuki) +1:07.726
10. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki) +1:08.771
Round 4 (Saturday), 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, Top 10
1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 28 laps
2. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) + 6.749 seconds
3. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) +17.391
4. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) +26.824
5. Eric Bostrom (Ducati Austin) +29.736
6. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) +50.377
7. David Stanton (Suzuki) +1:01.126 mins
8. Larry Pegram (Yamaha) +1:20.043
9. Geoff May (Prieto Suzuki) +1:23.614
10. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) +1:26.954
2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship (Points after 5 of 18 rounds)
1. Mat Mladin (177, 4 wins); 2. Miguel DuHamel (153, 1 win), 3. Jake Zemke (150); 4. Geoff May (108); 5. Lee Acree (105), 6. Larry Pegram (97), 7. Eric Bostrom (96), 8. John Haner (84), 9. Ben Bostrom (79), 10. Cory West (77).
More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin:
HARD-CHARGING BOSTROM CRASHES OUT OF RACE 2
AT INFINEON RACEWAY
Sonoma (California) – May 2, 2004: Eric Bostrom crashed out of race 2 of the AMA Superbike Championship round at Infineon Raceway today 16 laps into the race which had already been red flagged for an earlier incident.
In hot conditions (93°F / 34°C), Eric had been running the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin 999 in sixth position chasing series leader Mat Mladin (Suzuki) when the race was red flagged on lap 8 allowing the team the opportunity to put on fresh tires. After the race restart, Eric was in sixth position and making ground on brother Ben (Honda) when his front end tucked in turn 2 on lap 16. The 27-year-old rider was uninjured in the crash.
“I was pretty happy with the way the bike was entering the turns but I knew we could make it better,” explained Bostrom. “When we came back in for the restart we put on a different front tire. This one behaved a little differently from the one I was using before the restart. I rode hard and kept the guys in sight and I felt that I’d have advantage with grip in the closing stages so I stayed as close as I could in hopes that the race would come back to me. In the end, I just rode too hard. Even after I crashed I wanted to get back on the bike and keep going, but the motor had stalled.”
“Eric was pushing pretty hard in the turn and the front end went out,” said Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “We ran a different front today and changed a few settings to improve front end handling. From the short practice we had this morning it looked like we had improved things but we didn’t have an endurance run to check things out. During the red flag we changed the tires. What we did was better, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”
Round 4 of the AMA series will be held May 14-16 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
More, from a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates on behalf of Dunlop:
Dunlop dominates AMA road racing at Infineon; Duhamel posts two thrilling victories
Sonoma, CA–Summer arrived early at the third round of the 2004 AMA road racing series at Infineon Raceway with scorching performances by motorcycling’s elite riders. Dunlop tires were the choice for all of the top finishers as the recently redesigned and repaved race course, simmering in two days of traction-sapping heat, brought higher speeds and close racing action.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin took his 28th record-setting career Superbike victory with a dominating performance in race one of the weekend doubleheader on Saturday. Mladin piloted his GSX-R1000 to a 6.7-second victory over the CBR1000RRs of Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel and Erion Racing’s Jake Zemke. Honda’s Ben Bostrom finished fourth. Tire management was crucial as the hard pace and high track temperatures slowed early race leader Zemke. “Overall it was a solid race and everything went pretty well,” said Mladin. “I wasn’t sure what we were going to have with tires. When we got off at the end, the tire looked brand new, so we know what we’ve got for tomorrow.”
Saturday’s heat returned on Sunday with 125-degree track temperatures for Superbike race two. The Honda and Suzuki factory riders juggled their tire selections to adapt to the demanding conditions and the race started off with a pack of riders battling for the lead. Zemke’s early rush to the front was negated by a red flag that forced a restart on lap seven. But Zemke was not to be denied and forced his way to the front again, only to be run down by Duhamel on the last turn of the last lap. The victory was Duhamel’s 27th career Superbike win, just one back from Mladin. “My Dunlop tires were working great and the bike was absolutely perfect,” said Duhamel. “I want to dedicate this win to those guys over there fighting for us in Iraq.” Suzuki’s Aaron Yates rounded out the top three, with Mladin taking fourth and Ben Bostrom fifth. The Superbike series has Mladin still on top with 177 points, followed by Duhamel with 153 and Zemke with 150.
The hotly-contested Superstock class rewarded Graves Motorsports Yamaha with a podium sweep. Jamie Hacking led teammates Damon Buckmaster and Aaron Gobert to the flag with a well-earned victory aboard his R6, his first win of the year in the series. Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden grabbed fourth, just 2.07 seconds behind Hacking, while Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo finished fifth and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies finished sixth. Overall, Dunlop-supported riders took seven of the top ten positions. Hacking leads the series with 98 points over teammates Buckmaster and Gobert with 93 and 91 points, respectively.
Spies rode his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 to a commanding victory in the Supersport race. Spies led from the start and was never challenged, leading a top-ten Dunlop sweep that included, in order, Hacking, Tommy Hayden, Disalvo, Aaron Gobert, Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden, Aaron Yates, Corona Extra Suzuki’s Ben Attard, Buckmaster, and Kawasaki’s Tony Meiring. Tommy Hayden leads the series with 95 points, followed closely by Disalvo with 89, Roger Lee Hayden and Jamie Hacking with 86 points each and Aaron Gobert with 80.
The final race of the day established Duhamel as the weekend’s standout. He staged a brilliant finish in the Formula Xtreme class, again edging out fellow Honda rider Zemke on the last lap for the win aboard his highly-modified CBR600RR. Erion Racing’s Alex Gobert finished third, giving Honda a podium sweep in the class. For the series standings, Duhamel leads Zemke 112 to 94 points, followed by Gobert with 83.
Next stop for Dunlop and the AMA road racing tour is the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, May 15-16. Round four features a doubleheader for the Superbike series.
(Note, all press release from any given event are run in the order received) From a press release issued by Valvoline EMGO Suzuki: Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki concluded their weekend at Infineon Raceway with an up-and-down raceday. It was expected to be a trying round, with no testing and a lack of data available to help them get to speed at the 2.2-mile circuit as quickly as many rival squads that did test at the track. The team got off to a strong start in the morning’s Superstock final, with Steve Rapp and Vincent Haskovec each claiming top ten finishes. While the team’s strategy of taking advantage of the GSX-R750’s superior tire conservation characteristics was spoiled by a red flag, the team made the best of the situation, altering their Michelin-shod racebikes’ set-ups during the red flag period with positive effect. Rapp took full advantage of the improvements, finishing seventh, right on the tail of the official Suzuki factory entry. “We went out there and did the best we could,” the Californian said afterwards. “We weren’t hoping to see a red flag, but when we did we used the opportunity to get a few things sorted out a bit better. It ended up being a pretty positive race, and it was good to be running with the factory bike.” Vincent Haskovec came home a solid ninth, less than three seconds behind Rapp. In the 17-lap Supersport race, held in 93-degree F heat, Rapp and Canadian Chris Peris finished twelfth and 18th. Peris said, “We were working really hard to get our set-up 100% this weekend, but we were unable to really get it perfect. We made some changes before the race, and kind of went the wrong way, but overall, I feel we’re coming along. I really tried hard and the team did as well. It just didn’t go our way this time.” In the weekend’s final race, the team’s brightest hope for a spot on the podium evaporated in disappointing fashion. Haskovec, who qualified third for the Formula Xtreme final, was running in the top three during the race as well, but was forced to retire when his machine suffered a rare mechanical problem. And now a fleet of press releases issued by Proforma: ACREE AND CAYLOR FIND THE LIMIT AT INFINEON RACEWAY Lee Acree tested his fitness again this weekend at Infineon Raceway, finishing well in four events, three on the same day on his Suzuki GSX-R600 and GSX-R1000. Teammate Opie Caylor had his weekend cut short with a crash on Sunday morning that took him out of the day’s final events. Opie Caylor Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 14th Place “I blew the start,” said Opie. “The clutch, we’ve been having some problems with it, it just grabbed really bad, and the bike just wheelied straight up. I think I came around the first lap 21st or 22nd. I just started making up as many places as I could without throwing the thing down the road. Then I jumped on that four bike train with Lee (Acree), (Shawn) Higbee, Ken Hill and (Clint) McBain, it took me a while to get to them. I ended up having a good five or six lap race with Lee, had a good time doing it. It was a really fun race, Sears Point has done a great job with the upgrades, I’m sure there’s a bit more, but the pavement’s great.” Sunday Opie was unable to compete after a crash in Sunday morning’s Superbike warmup practice session. Caylor suffered a concussion in the fall, and elected not to ride in the Repsol Superstock or Chevrolet Superbike events. Lee Acree Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 13th Place “I got, for me, an above average start,” joked Lee. “Because of the way the clutch acts, I’m starting with the revs lower than I normally would. Almost like you pull away from a red light on the street. Initially, I just wanted to see what the pace was going to be. For a while, I wanted to get with Geoff May to see if he could tow me away from (Shawn) Higbee. At the beginning of the race, I was sure Opie was gone, just gone, I couldn’t even see him,” said Lee, who was eventually reeled in by his teammate. “Because for the first three laps I was about ten bike lengths behind Josh (Hayes). After Higbee broke, I thought I was by myself. Then I went into a corner, and I could tell somebody was there, that sort of harmonic sound you get when two bikes are together.” Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 15th Place “In the end, I kinda outsmarted myself,” said Acree. “On the second start, everyone was a little haywire in (turn) two, it took a few laps to get sorted out. Shawn came by and I got back around him. Eric (Wood) got just barely wide in four, a couple of inches was better than no inches, so I took the spot. At the end, when Shawn got around me, I defended the line going in, I got a bad drive out and he beat me to the line.” Acree is now 12th in Repsol Superstock points. Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 13th place “The Supersport race was harder than the Superstock race!,” said Acree, who had qualified in ninth place. “It started out pretty good. Tony Meiring was gridded ahead of me and I stayed in contact with him. I made a mistake going into the carousel. I inadvertently got one too many backshifts going in there and I ran really wide, like, thought I was going in the grass wide. Rapp came undernerath me, I hung with him most of the rest of the way. Barney (Michael Barnes) came through, and the last couple of laps I got really tired. I felt good about the way the 600 worked, we’re still progressing with it.” Lee currently lies 10th in Pro Honda Oils Supersport points after three rounds. Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 11th Place “When I went out for the parade lap, I said ‘even the parade lap’s hard!’,” joked Acree, who had qualified 16th for the two Superbike finals. “I got a whole lot better start the second time, after the red flag. I was just trying to rest as much as I could. The red flag ended up helping me. I was able to rest and regain my composure. It’s just a lot of racing in one day, on a track like this.” Acree remains in fifth place in Chevrolet Superbike points after five races. GEOFF MAY MOVES TO FOURTH IN AMA SUPERBIKE POINT STANDINGS AT INFINEON RACEWAY Geoff May continues to impress on his Prieto Racing-sponsored, Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R1000, with two top-ten finishes in the premiere Chevrolet Superbike class and a solid finish in Repsol Superstock after a crash late in the race. His finishes caught the attention of AMA Tech Inspection, who had Geoff tear his engine down after the day’s events, finding only that his stock motor was in need of a re-build. Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 9th Place “I got a halfway decent start, right behind Larry (Pegram),” said Geoff. “I tried to stay with him, but I wasn’t sure I was gonna be able to hang with him and then get him at the end like I did at Fontana. We’ve been so behind the eight-ball, trying to figure out what works for Superbike and what works for Superstock. I have a lack of experience here, last year it rained the whole time we were here. I missed three sessions yesterday, the bike kept blowing a fuse. The bike had a lot of chatter and it kept running wide, it just wore me out. I just did the best I could with it. I looked behind and saw I had a big gap, and just settled into a pace I could run for the rest of the race. Just be smart and get some good points.” With only one bike, Geoff changes between 17″ wheels for Superstock and 16.5″ wheels for Superbike, adjusting the geometry, gearing and even spring rates between wheel sizes. Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 18th Place A crash late in the race set Geoff back, but he re-mounted to finish 18th after running as high as 11th in the ultra-competitive class. “I felt really good for that race,” said May, who had qualified 14th. “I was feeling really good in the first half, then the red flag kinda threw a curve at us. We came in and put a new rear on, but I stayed with the same front, and it was tearing. We went back out I was riding hard. I came up on Alex Gobert, that Honda was just so fast, I couldn’t catch him anywhere. We’d go into the chicane and I would gain on him so much through there. When he flicked back to the left, he just totally backed off, and I was carrying so much speed through there, I hit the inside of his back wheel, I tucked the front and the bike just went spinning off into the dirt. I slid, ran, and jumped back on it. I was facing the wrong way, so I had to let a pack of guys go by before I could get back on. I was a little disappointed in myself for that, because I had a pretty good finish going before that.” Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 9th Place “I was just so worn out from the whole weekend,” said May, who had qualified thirteenth for the final. “I was able to put my head down in the first part of the race and get a bit of a gap, then I got so worn out I could hardly ride the thing. During the red flag, Steve Rapp gave me a Red Bull, and amazingly enough, after about the second lap of the re-start, the thing kicked in and I felt like it was first thing in the morning and I had tons of energy for about fifteen laps. We switched to a different rear tire that was shorter, and it took me about five laps to re-adapt to the bike. I spent the whole race just trying to pick people off and get up front. I had a few issues with the transmission popping out of gear in the last corner. Other than that, it was a hard race, very hard.” With two strong finishes this weekend, privateer Geoff May now finds himself fourth in Chevrolet Superbike points after five rounds. HOOTERS SUZUKI’S JOHN HANER HANGS ON AT INFINEON RACEWAY John Haner rode his Hooters Suzuki GSX-R1000 to solid finishes in what was a long weekend of racing on a motorcycle that was difficult to ride on the physically-demanding Infineon Raceway road course at round three of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship. Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 15th Place Haner and crew missed on a set-up that would allow John to turn the kind of lap times needed to finish in the top ten, finishing 15th. “We made some progress since yesterday, so we’re looking better for tomorrow,” said Haner after the race. Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 13th Place “We made huge strides the last day or so,” said John. “I was able to run better lap times for longer. It’s gonna take a little time, but I have total confidence in my crew, they’ve been bustin’ their butts for me.” John is currently ninth in Repsol Superstock points after three rounds of the championship. Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 16th Place “My hands hurt so bad, I was losing focus,” said Haner, who struggled with the handling of his GSX-R1000 throughout the weekend. “Things are moving in the right direction, just not as fast as anyone on our team would like. It should be better at Barber.” Haner is currently eighth in Chevrolet Superbike points after five rounds. ESLICK AND HIGBEE FIGHT MECHANICAL GREMLINS AT INFINEON Millennium Technologies Suzuki riders Danny Eslick and Shawn Higbee each had races taken away from them with fluke mechanical problems during round three of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma this weekend. Both riders made progress on the respective setups of their bikes, giving them confidence going in to the next round at Barber Motorsports Park. Shawn Higbee Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – DNF Shawn’s bike quit unexpectedly on lap 17 while running in 11th place. A broken battery cable was discovered after the race. Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 14th Place “We made improvements to the setup since yesterday, so I was happy with that,” said Higbee, who had qualifed 19th on Saturday afternoon. “I got a pretty bad start and really had to play catch-up through the race. The setup came around late in the race, I was able to get three guys in the last couple of laps.” Shawn is currently tenth in points after three rounds. Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 10th Place “The tire started sliding, but unlike Daytona and Fontana where it was so sketchy, here it just took me a couple of laps to figure out that it was more progressive, and I could control the slide,” said Shawn. “It was real predictable. We made a lot of progress on the bike over the weekend. The red flag helped me out, it gave me a break to catch my breath.” Danny Eslick Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – DNS After qualifying 20th on Saturday, Danny’s bike blew a fork seal on the warmup lap for Sunday’s final, forcing Eslick off the grid for the race. Sunday’s Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Final – 9th Place Danny finished ninth in his second Formula Xtreme race of the year. After a strong start, he started to move forward, bringing Jason Pridmore with him. “I was ahead of Jason for a while,” said Danny. “I went into (turn) 11 a little deep and ran wide, he got a better drive. I ended up behind Barney (Michael Barnes) and (Larry) Pegram. The bike was sliding a lot, no grip, I probably lost the front end fifteen times.” Danny is 11th in Formula Xtreme points after running two of three rounds of the series. HEATH SMALL STRUGGLES WITH MECHANICAL WOES AT INFINEON After two days of progress on the setup of both his Supersport and Formula Xtreme-spec Yamaha R6s, HAS/Shogun Racing rider Heath Small suffered problems on both bikes in the final events. The crew suspected electronic shifter mechanisms to be the cause of the problems. In Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport final, Heath ran as high as 23rd when the intermittent misfire became bad enought that he felt it was safer to pull in than continue. “Our weekend went from good, to bad, to worse,” said Heath. “We went faster this morning on both bikes. About four laps into the Supersport race, I hit the shifter on the curbing. Another lap or two and I noticed that the bike was cutting out. I stayed out a few more laps, but it got really bad, so I pulled in.” In the Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme final, Heath finished 19th after running in tenth early on. “Same thing in the race,” said Small. “I didn’t hit anything. Third or fourth lap in, it started doing the same thing. It wouldn’t do it everywhere. It was pretty frustrating, but I stayed out there and got points.” Heath is 12th in points after running two of the three rounds so far this year. More, from a press release issued by Snarl Sport Racing Group: Snarl Sport Racing Group/CRS Tires Triumph Daytona 600 Crashes and Still Finishes Event Rider Eric Pinson highsides and carries on to complete his debut AMA Pro race San Francisco—Round 3 of the AMA’s Supersport race weekend at California’s Infineon Raceway began with extensive setup and tuning for Snarl Sport Racing Group’s (www.snarlsport.com) Triumph Daytona 600 to prepare it for new rider Eric Pinson. Pinson is known in local dirt track circles as a wild rider for Bill Bartel, and came to Snarl Sport through California Race Services, the west coast distributor for Pirelli tires. Chassis setup and engine tuning on the Dynojet Model 250 dynamometer was carried out over the first three days of the four-day event, which took place in California’s wine country. During this time, Pinson had to acclimate to riding a Supersport 600 while learning the layout of the highly technical track. Throughout practice, adjustments were made to both the chassis geometry and suspension settings. The chassis continued to show it’s previous responsiveness to change, prompting Pinson to echo teammate Charlie Hewitt’s comment that the bike is, “…easy to just jump on and ride.” “We haven’t had to do any major work on the suspension since we got it back from Aftershocks. The only changes that we’ve done have been to suit the bike to track and rider. The Race Tech valves that Phil (of Aftershocks) gave us along with his setup work have proven really top notch,” said team owner Karl Uribe. When it came time for qualifying, Pinson looked at the team owner and team manager and said, “I’m gonna’ put his thing on the grid…” Both team riders managed to do just that, after each making several stops throughout the session to receive minor suspension adjustments at trackside from Race Tech technicians. Unfortunately, Hewitt was plagued by chatter coming from the rear of his bike, later determined to be from an out-of-round tire. “We’re going to move Charlie over to Pirellis like what Eric is running. We’ve run Pirellis on other bikes in the past, and we’ve yet to run into any problems with them. Besides, it just makes more sense to have both riders on the same brand,” said Erik Rocha, the team manager. “Consistency is key.” Both riders started the race strong, but Pinson was thrown-off when his bike highsided him near the completion of the second lap. “The power (delivery) had been changing throughout those two laps, and then it just kicked-in like a turbo while I was just getting back on the gas,” said Pinson. Hewitt, who was following Pinson at the time, concurred. “Yeah, his bike was doing something funny. I could tell that there was definitely something going on there. I was right behind him when it happened, too, and I really had to work to not hit him!” It was determined post race that the ECU’s adaptive technology was the culprit for the crash by unpredictably changing the fuel and ignition maps while running. But Pinson determinedly picked-up his bike and re-entered the race. “I had to punch the handlebars back into position with my fists! I was like, there’s no way I’m not bringing this thing home across the finish line. I was hurting, but I was mad, too!” Pinson finished the race in 34th position out of a field of 41. Hewitt was forced to retire early when his brakes finally gave up, a problem traced to the master cylinder. Overall, the team was pleased with everyone’s performance, and is looking forward to their next event. More, from a press release issued by American Honda: Chevrolet Superbike Series Round 3: Sears Point, CA, Race 1 May 1, 2004 What a difference a year makes, especially at Infineon Raceway. Last year, Saturday was a wash-literally, as heavy rains washed out the entire day’s schedule. In 2004, sunny skies dawned on a newly altered track layout with new sections of pavement, changes that seemed to agree with the Honda Red Riders as Team Honda’s Miguel Duhamel took second place, Jake Zemke nailed down third and Ben Bostrom finished just off the podium in fourth place aboard his Honda CBR1000RR. Action at the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Round 3 double-header at Sears Point, California, got underway with plenty of lead changes and lots of fast action to follow. Aaron Yates claimed the holeshot but on the second go-round Erion Honda pilot Zemke took over the lead in commanding fashion in Turn 7, and Mat Mladin also quickly passed his teammate Yates. Team Honda ace Ben Bostrom was snapping at Yates’ heels, and Duhamel waited patiently in fifth place as the running order settled down. When Yates ran off the track on lap 4, Ben and Miguel took over third and fourth place, respectively. Lap 6 saw Mladin and Zemke trade the lead back and forth several times, with Mladin finally taking the lead for good. That running order held good for 10 laps before Duhamel finally worked his way around his hard-charging Honda teammate Bostrom. After the race, a visibly disappointed Ben said, “It wasn’t very good out there today. I was having fun out there at first, then I blistered a tire halfway through. After that I just tried to get around the track. “The tires just didn’t last for us. They were identical to everyone else’s tires. We didn’t do any endurance work with them, but other people did. We’re usually not too hard on tires, but we were today.” Although the front-runners now looked set with Zemke trailing Mladin by 3.2 seconds and Duhamel following the leader by about 7.4 seconds, the French-Canadian rider knows all about attacking tenaciously. As Duhamel later explained, “I just put my head down and caught up to Jake. He looked like he was just trying to get home; he wasn’t trying to ride very aggressively.” Indeed, Zemke was also struggling with his tire selection. After the race Jake said, “In practice this morning track temperatures were definitely cooler. They’ve been cool all weekend, so we were on the fence on what to do about tire choice. So we went with what we knew worked in practice, and it worked-for about 10 laps. We knew the softer tire was a good tire and it was one I was comfortable with, so we stuck with that one, hoping that it would come good for us. But it just got overheated and cooked itself. The track is now way more abrasive too, so that also makes the tire heat up.” Now with second place firmly in control, Duhamel continued his charge. He later said, “After I got by Jake I was just trying to get some good laps together and focus on doing my thing and I saw Mat coming back to me. I wanted to see if I could do something, and coming out of the chicane I got a false neutral. I slammed it into second like an amateur and stretched my chain out and then the chain was jumping over the sprocket. For the rest of the race I still tried to do some good laps, but then I thought it would be a shame to throw away this hard-earned second.” Second place is where Duhamel would indeed end the day, which was a big accomplishment in and of itself. “My crew worked so hard; they tore my bike down four times before the race. My race bike was working completely differently than the bike I had this morning.” As Duhamel’s crew chief Al Ludington explained, “Basically, we started with two different setups for the CBR1000RR at Infineon. We had one that steered real well but it had a chatter. Then we had another setup that didn’t have a chatter but wouldn’t steer worth a darn. So we mixed the two settings together. Between the last qualifying session and the race, we changed just about everything: we changed the triple clamp offset, the front and rear ride heights, the rear spring rate and we changed all of the clicker positions. We did leave the wheelbase alone, however,” he said with a laugh. As far as the end-of-day judgment regarding the newly reborn Infineon Raceway was concerned, Jake Zemke summed things up very well. “This new surface actually makes the track a bit tighter because we’re carrying higher speeds now,” he said. “In the past, the roughness of the track limited your speed, but now it’s a lot smoother so you can carry a lot more speed. But the track surface itself ends up being more abrasive. We saw this before at Barber Motor Speedway last year when it was brand new; it was just tearing tires up too. “When we finally arrived at Barber for the race it wasn’t nearly as bad because the track had gotten some races on it and had worn in a little bit. When asphalt’s new like this, it just tears up tires and makes things tougher. So you have more grip but you also have more tire wear at the same time.
“But overall, Infineon is great because the people here at this track really listened to the motorcycle guys. We appreciate the fact that Infineon kept us involved as they were making changes to the race track. They wanted to make this track good for motorcycles and they’ve done a really good job of doing that with the repaving job, by improving runoff areas and just making it safer altogether for us, which is really nice to see. At a lot of the tracks we’ve gone to for many years, the bikes keep progressing, but the tracks don’t. But this is one track that is progressing right with us and it’s nice to see the effort that they’re putting in.” AMA Superbike Overall Results Race 1: 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki 2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda 3. Jake Zemke – Honda 4. Ben Bostrom – Honda 5. Eric Bostrom – Ducati AMA Superbike Point Standings: 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki – 150 2. Jake Zemke – Honda – 117 (tie) 2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda – 117(tie) 4. Eric Bostrom – Ducati – 96 5. Geoff May – Suzuki – 86 14. Ben Bostrom – Honda – 53 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Series Round 3: Infineon Raceway, CA, Race 2 May 2, 2004 Ardent fans of AMA road racing who were not present at Infineon Raceway on May 2, 2004 will forever regret their absence. Because on this date, an epic battle was fought, a race that will go down in history as one of the all-time best. Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke first led the race, wielding his CBR1000RR with fierce determination and blazing speed. In short, he looked unstoppable-until a red flag halted the entire field. Upon resumption of action, it was Miguel Duhamel’s turn to take command, as he completed a seemingly impossible charge from behind to overtake Zemke in the second-to-last corner on the last lap-an awesome display of motorcycle racing prowess. And with that win, Duhamel raises his total career wins to 72, which surpasses the all-time AMA road racing tally of victories set by Rich Oliver. As the knot of racers entered turn 1 to begin the 28-lap race, Aaron Yates first grabbed the lead. On the next lap Jake Zemke squeezed his Erion Honda CBR1000RR past Yates, and then proceeded to pull away from everyone else. Riding with a deft and masterful touch, Jake had pulled out a gap of nearly three seconds over Miguel Duhamel, who had relegated Yates to third place on lap 7. Just as Zemke looked to take complete command of the event, the race was red-flagged when a rider went down. The break gave everyone a chance to mount fresh tires, which promised a 20-lap sprint to the checkers. At the second start Duhamel led the way but he was repeatedly challenged by Yates, and then Zemke. Mat Mladin followed behind in fourth place, with Team Honda’s Ben Bostrom rounding out the top five. Jake took over the lead once again on lap 11 with Duhamel following closely, trailing behind about a half-second or less all the way through lap 23. Then Jake caught a break; gliding deftly between lappers, he slipped through traffic and used the rolling roadblocks to gain a 2.5-second lead on lap 25. At that point, everyone thought the race was over. Everyone, that is, except one man: Miguel Duhamel. Duhamel made a small dent in Zemke’s lead, but the gap remained 1.93 seconds on the last lap-a seemingly insurmountable difference. But Duhamel dug deep. “On that last lap I just rode my you-know-what off,” he said. “I just rode as hard as I could. I was sliding, going over curbs and getting headshake but I kept it pinned, doing what you have to do to pull off something like that on the last lap. Jake rode a great race, but I just threw caution to the wind.” With all eyes averted to the duel for third place between teammates Aaron Yates and Mat Mladin, Duhamel suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere, glued on the tail of the #98 Erion Honda as the pair entered the chicane preceding the final short straight leading to the hairpin-shape turn 11. He flashed by Zemke on the inside, passing in the blink of an eye and held on by a scant margin of 0.196 second at the finish line. After the race, Jake said, “I was completely surprised when Miguel came past me. When I came across (the start/finish line at the white flag) I held up a little bit because I had a little over two seconds on him. I had come through traffic and I knew Miguel had to do the same so I really didn’t think he was going to be coming on. So on the last lap I really didn’t expect to see him.” Duhamel concurred, saying, “On the pass, it really didn’t look like he was expecting me. That was wonderful, because it’s a hard track for passing. He didn’t do anything wrong; he held a great pace. I was able to get a 37 out of my bike (a 1:37 lap), so again a lot of the credit goes to my crew. I figured, ‘What the heck, let’s give it a shot and I’ll see if I can surprise him.’ So coming out of that corner he used his usual race line and I got in tight inside of him. I was just real happy to pull that win off.” After the race, Zemke felt hugely disappointed with his runner-up position, but he was also magnanimous enough to give credit where credit was due. “To be honest, I can’t tell you the last time someone came from almost two seconds back in a race in one lap. He definitely caught me by surprise, for sure.” Once again, Duhamel was quick to give credit for his win to his crew, but crew chief Al Ludington said, “We didn’t make many changes from the setup we used Saturday, just a few small changes. We brought the front end up to try and get it to turn a little better, and we went to a harder tire this morning for a little better durability. It all seemed to work out okay.” To top off his masterful ride, Duhamel exhorted the enthusiastic Infineon crowd to look at the larger picture in life by reminding everyone, “The freedom that we have here is not free. Guys are out there fighting in the desert in Iraq, and I want to dedicate this win to those guys because they’re working a lot harder than we are.” AMA Superbike Overall Results: 1. Miguel Duhamel – Honda 2. Jake Zemke – Honda 3. Aaron Yates – Suzuki 4. Mat Mladin – Suzuki 5. Ben Bostrom – Honda AMA Superbike Point Standings: 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki – 177 2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda – 153 3. Jake Zemke – Honda – 150 4. Geoff May – Suzuki – 108 5. Lee Acree – Suzuki – 105 9. Ben Bostrom – Honda – 79 AMA Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Race Round 3: Infineon Raceway, CA May 2, 2004 Heat, dehydration and fatigue may deter mere mortals, but they pose little obstacle to the Honda Red Riders. With the Formula Xtreme race kicking off immediately after the draining second Superbike contest held Sunday afternoon at Infineon Raceway, it would seem only natural for Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke to show signs of fatigue. Instead, the two CBR600RR pilots staged yet another epic battle on the twisty and hilly circuit, with Duhamel completing the second dramatic come-from-behind victory of the day over Zemke. Meanwhile, Jake’s Erion Honda teammate Alex Gobert joined the pair on the podium with a strong third-place finish. Having just surrendered what appeared to be the first Superbike victory of his career, Erion’s Jake Zemke was in no mood to linger when the track went green for the Formula Xtreme race. Zemke immediately seized the holeshot, then quickly distanced himself from everyone, including Duhamel, who held the runner-up position. Within three laps Zemke had built a three-second lead, and he stretched that advantage to almost six seconds by lap 10 in the 17-lap event. As Jake explained after the race, “Straight from the get-go my bike was working well and the tires were working well. After that Superbike race there was no way I wasn’t going to ride 100 percent the whole race. Unfortunately, my tire just couldn’t hold up to what I was doing to it. In hindsight, I probably chose the wrong tire, but that’s just part of racing and part of winning.”
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Bruce Lind, 56, won the USGPRU 250cc race on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Classic Course Sunday.
Lind turned the fastest lap of the race, a 1:33.15, to pass Mark Watts and win on the 2.1-mile, 10-turn road course.
Ambient temperature was 96 degrees F.
Both Lind and Watts rode TZ250 Yamahas.
A long-time AMA competitor, Lind is one of many 250cc Grand Prix racers left without a class at AMA Nationals due to 2004 rule changes.
Details to follow when available from USGPRU.
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Howard Rolls At Wet MotorSport Ranch
By Shan Moore
After a slow start under sketchy conditions, Shogun Motorsports/Ride Smart-sponsored Ty Howard came on strong to claim $6350 in CMRA purse and Suzuki contingency money at round four of the CMRA Championship Roadracing Series, held at MotorSport Ranch near Cresson, Texas on May 1-2. Howard took wins in the C Superstock Expert, Formula 1 and A Superstock Expert classes en route to the cash and set a new track record (counter clockwise direction) of 1:16.33 along the way.
Michael Sanchez held the track record going into the event with a 1:16.51 and, after off-and-on rain on Saturday left track conditions less than favorable, it looked as though no one would come close to setting any records on the day, however, a warm Texas sun and a light breeze on Sunday gradually dried the track and lap times dropped as the day wore on.
“Early this morning it was dangerous in almost every turn,” said Howard, after setting the record. “But the track started to get more rubber down and luckily now there are only two spots on the track you have to be leery of.”
Strong winds on Friday evening blew canopies down and heavy over-night rains left small lakes in the parking area, nonetheless, 42 endurance teams and 589 entries filled the grids at the beautiful MotorSport Ranch facility which is located just minutes from downtown Fort Worth.
In the B Superstock Expert race, Sanchez (GSX-R750) took a flag-to-flag win from the pole position while Howard (GSX-R600) cautiously worked his way up to fourth from last place on the grid. Brett Champagne and Andy Galindo, both on GSX-R750s, finished second and third, respectively.
The C Superstock Expert race was the first of the Suzuki money races and also featured a $500 purse. Howard, on his GSX-R600, came from the sixth row to pass Sanchez (Yam YZF-R6), for the win. Craig Montgomery (Kaw ZX-6R) was third with John Orchard (Yam YZF-R6) and Jeff Grant (Kaw ZX-6R) rounding out the top five.
Sanchez, who is not known as a crasher, did just that during the Formula 1 race, handing the lead to a hard-charging Howard. Howard (GSX-R600) went on to take a 3.5-second win over Champagne (GSX-R750) and Galindo (GSX-R750).
The track had dried considerably by the time the A Superstock Expert race rolled around, enabling Howard to turn his fastest lap of the day, for the unofficial record, on his way to a come-from-behind win. Sanchez (GSX-R750) was second with Champagne, Galindo and Chris Waller, all on GSX-R750s, rounding out the top five.
Sanchez added wins in the A Superbike Expert and B Superbike Expert races, rounding out a successful day for the Shogun Motorsports-backed racer.
In other money races, Phillip Fisher (Aprilia RSV1000) took home top prize for winning the Heavyweight Twins Expert race after early leader Ronnie Lunsford had an encounter with a lapper. Jason Pirtle (Suz SV650) and Eric Falt (Suz SV1000) finished second and third. Later, Michael Nellis (Hon RC51) bested Falt (Suz SV1000) and Lunsford (Duc 999) to claim top money in the Mr. Corder Racing F40 Expert race.
In Saturday’s M4 Exhaust CMRA Endurance Series Presented By Shogun Motorsports race, which featured a $500 purse, Vinyl Edge Racing led every lap of the 5-hour event to claim the victory by a three-lap margin on their Honda CBR954RR. RaceTex.com (Kaw ZX-6R) took full advantage of the four red flags during the race and never once pitted under green to overtake Village Idiots (YZF-R6) for second position overall and first Middleweight Superbike during the final hour. Desert-Rats.net, riding a GSX-R750, finished fourth overall and topped the Unlimited Supersport class while Lone Star Track Days (Hon CBR600RR) finished fifth overall and first in Middleweight Supersport. Heavy D and the Boys (Suz SV650) finished first Lightweight Superbike and eighth overall.
On Saturday morning, Team OZ Racing (Hon RS80) won a wet 2-hour Mini Endurance event by four laps over Mystery Dance, also on an RS80. Red Spade Racing (Derbi GPR) was third overall and top F-5 while Indenile Racing (Muz SM125) finished fourth ovarall and top F6. Double D Express (Yam YSR50) was the first F7 team to cross the finish line, in ninth overall.
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
The MotoGP movie ‘Faster’ is playing at the Vic Theatre at 3145 North Sheffield in Chicago on Sunday, May 16th.
The theatre is located about six blocks north of Wrigley Field and doors open at 4:30 p.m.
From a press release issued by Pirelli’s advertising and public relations agency, Plummer Menapace Group:
PIRELLI’S RACE MOMENTUM CONTINUES IN U.S., CHINA, GERMANY
Pirelli Is 4th, 5th, And 6th In AMA Superbike Points After Infineon; Earns Multiple WERA Victories in Nashville; Captures World Endurance Roadrace Win In China; Sweeps World MX GP Podium In Germany
(Rome, GA) Pirelli’s momentum continued this past weekend, gaining speed in race action in the United States, China, and Germany, in both road racing and motocross.
Prieto Racing’s Geoff May continued to impress fans and competitors alike with two more Superbike top-tens at Infineon. (He also caught the attention of the folks in AMA Tech Inspection who wanted a closer look into how the young, second-year AMA privateer could be going that fast that far up the racing order. Reportedly, all they found was a very tired, stock GSX-R1000 motor that had already done three races over the weekend.) May stands in fourth place in AMA Superbike points after five rounds. Fifth and sixth places also belong to Pirelli racers, with Empire Racing’s Lee Acree and Triangle Cycle’s Larry Pegram respectively. Pegram had two eighth-place finishes at Infineon; Acree, a 13th and an 11th .
Meanwhile, over on the right coast, reigning WERA National Endurance Series champions, and longtime Pirelli team, Vesrah Racing owned the top of the box after the four-hour National Endurance Series race at Nashville Superspeedway with riders Mark Junge, Tray Batey, and John Jacobi. Batey also won the 750 Superstock and Heavyweight Twins Superstock races in the National Challenge series. Other Pirelli race winners included Logan Young in 750cc Superbike (who finally bested Keith Marshall, also on Pirellis, after a race-long dogfight), Mark Biletnikoff in Formula Two, and Matt Furtek in Lightweight Twins Superstock.
Further east – much further east, in fact – the Pirelli-sponsored Yamaha GMT94 FIM World Endurance team won the first-ever “internationally-sanctioned motorsport championship to visit the People’s Republic of China”. They beat arch rivals Suzuki Castrol in the six-hour battle at the Zhuhai circuit, Suzuki Castrol unfortunately crashing out near the end.
In the weekend’s world motocross action, Pirelli racers swept the top four places in the MX1-class at the German round of the World MX GP championships in Teutschenthal. Brian Jorgensen won both motos to take the GP win. Current champion Stefan Everts was second, Cedric Melotte third, and Joel Smets fourth. Pirelli’s Mickael Pichon could do no better than eighth following a crash in qualifying. Everts and Melotte currently hold first and second respectively in the points standings; Pichon is fourth, and Smets is sixth.
It should also be noted that the Victory Gods smiled on Pirelli racers last weekend, too, as all three winners on Sunday’s shortened Formula USA National races at a cold and foggy Road America were on Pirelli tires. Michael Barnes lit things up by winning both the Sportbike and Superbike finals on his Pirelli-equipped Championsline.com/Prieto Racing Yamaha R6. Shawn Conrad, the former AMA Pro Thunder champion, finished third behind Barnes in Superbike, and won the Formula Sportbike race on his Lake County Powersports Suzuki GSX-R750. And Dan Bilansky won the Thunderbike final on his Hal’s Performance Buell Firebolt, going wire to wire for the win. And to finish off where we started, Geoff May – there he is again – Barnes’ Prieto Racing teammate, won the Unlimited Grand Prix Suzuki-contingency CCS race by over eight seconds on Saturday on his GSX-R1000 on Pirellis.
More, from a press release issued by Joe Rocket:
MIGUEL, MAT AND BEN LEAD ROCKET DOMINATION!!!
The AMA Superbike Championship returned to action this weekend for round 3 at Infineon Raceway, in sunny Sonoma, California. While the venue may have changed, the results did not as the Rocket Racing Team followed up on their success at California Speedway last month to put on an absolutely dominating performance and take eleven of the possible fifteen-podium position.
Four time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin started the weekend where he left off, breaking the Infineon Raceway Superbike lap record on his way to his 35th career pole and his 28th AMA Superbike win on Saturday aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. Mat was followed to the checkered flag by his Rocket Racing teammates Miguel Duhamel and Superbike rookie sensation Jake Zemke, aboard their factory Honda CBR1000RR’s. On Sunday’s Superbike event, Miguel showed why he’s called the “Living Legend”, charging back from a distant second on the last lap to slip by team mate Zemke for his 27th career Superbike win. The top spot of the podium must have felt pretty good to Miguel as he also rode his factory Honda CBR600RR to his third straight Formula Xtreme win of the season. Again Miguel was followed to the finish line by Zemke and Rocket Racing’s six time Canadian Superbike Champion Steve Crevier, in fourth.
Earlier in the day 19-year-old Superstar Ben Spies put on a clinic and took his GSX-R600 to a wire-to-wire victory in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport Class. Rocket Racing’s Tommy Hayden rode his Kawasaki ZX-6RR to a third place podium finish that puts him on top of the championship chase.
The Rocket Racing Team returns to action May 14-16, 2004 at Barber MotorSports Park, Birmingham, Alabama.
From a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:
TESTING CONTINUES FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI TEAM
The rain that so badly affected the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday had given way to clear skies as the Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team arrived at the Jerez circuit this morning, for the first day of a planned two-day test.
With a promotional event taking place this morning it wasn’t until the afternoon that Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann were able to take to the track for their first test run. With the track still damp in places after the torrential rain over the weekend, Nakano started out evaluating revised clutch components in his Ninja ZX-RR, before switching to tyre testing as the track dried out fully towards the end of the day.
Hofmann’s focus today was on evaluating revised engine components, designed to increase torque from the 990cc, inline four Ninja ZX-RR motor. The track conditions forced the 23-year-old German to curtail the test prematurely, but not before collecting valuable performance data on the revised parts.
Shinya Nakano:
“I had some trouble getting the bike off the line in South Africa, so today we tested some new clutch components in a bid to improve both reliability and feel, and I’m happy to say that these changes have made a significant difference. We also tested four new rear tyres from Bridgestone and collected a lot of data for their development programme. Tomorrow, if the weather stays kind to us, we will concentrate on evaluating the recent revisions made to the chassis.”
Alex Hofmann:
“We had been hoping to test some revised engine components thoroughly, but the track was still damp in places, which meant that only a short test was possible. I also managed to do an endurance run on a new tyre that we had planned to test over the weekend, but couldn’t because of the weather. We weren’t sure whether this particular tyre would have lasted race distance here, but after 26 laps today we now know we can add it to our list of potential race tyres. Bridgestone have been working overtime on development since the opening race of the season at Welkom, so tomorrow’s second day of testing will concentrate on evaluating their latest selection of tyres.”
Naoya Kaneko: Technical Co-ordinator
“Although Alex was only on track for a few hours today we still managed to collect a lot of detailed data on the performance of the new engine components. The initial results have been very positive, and the data will now be sent back to Kawasaki in Japan to be incorporated into the factory’s ongoing engine development programme. Shinya tested some revised clutch components today and the results were also very positive, but it is important that we test the reliability of these components further before using them in a race. Shinya also tested four new rear tyres this afternoon, in order to provide Bridgestone with the information they require for their own tyre development process. Tomorrow we will concentrate on bringing together all the new components we’ve tested up to now, to assess how much of an improvement they offer and in which direction we need to focus further development efforts. The right direction is more apparent each time we run the bike, and this bodes well for the future.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
GOOD WEATHER FINALLY HELPS DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM TESTING
Day 1 of testing
Jerez (Spain), 3 May 2004 – After a difficult race weekend, which was characterised by poor weather conditions, the Ducati Marlboro Team was finally able to get down to some serious testing work this afternoon on the first day of a two-day session at the Spanish circuit. Mild temperatures helped to create an ideal climate for the development of the Desmosedici GP4, which is slightly behind schedule due to the poor weather encountered during the last tests.
After the first positive signs that emerged during Saturday qualifying and yesterday’s warm-up, the engineers and riders of the Italian squad worked hard this afternoon, carrying out tests with a series of tyres, suspension and engine components and accumulating a substantial amount of data on which to work tomorrow.
Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi, who took to the track at 2 o’clock this afternoon, lapped virtually non-stop until 6 o’clock, putting in a total of 48 and 30 laps respectively. Both riders concentrated on testing the components and did not aim for quick times around the Jerez circuit.
Troy worked mainly on rear suspension set-up and engine management while Loris focussed on the Michelin 16.5″ front tyre, which he had not used since pre-season testing.
“We are quite satisfied with this afternoon’s testing and in particular with the improvement made by Troy, who on race tyres and without pushing really hard recorded quicker times than over the weekend,” commented Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “We preferred to let Loris focus on getting used to the 16.5″ front tyre. This evening we will analyse all the information accumulated and let’s hope that tomorrow’s weather will be as good as it has been today because we’ve got a lot of work to get through.”
More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda/Gresini Racing:
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA – test session nr 1
After a spectacular race on wet that saw Sete Gibernau to score the first position of the podium, the Team Telefonica Movistar Honda MotoGP went back to work on the andalusian racetrack today for a two-day test session.
On a dry track Colin Edwards shared the track with other MotoGP teams (HRC, Camel Honda Pons, Yamaha and Ducati). Sete Gibernau preferred to rest and he will test tomorrow and Wednesday.
#45 COLIN EDWARDS – 38 laps 1:42.4 his best time
“I’m happy with today’s work. We made some progress with the bike setting. We went out for almost forty laps this afternoon trying to find a good feeling.”
FABRIZIO CECCHINI, Edwards’ Chief Mechanic
We are working on the suspensions in order to reduce the chattering. We are still trying to find a good feeling with the bike.
The Team Telefonica MoviStar Honda MotoGp will continue to test tomorrow at Jerez de la Frontiera with Colin Edwards and Sete Gibernau.
From a press release issued by MonsterMob Ducati:
THINK! British Superbike Championship
Rounds 7/8
Oulton Park, Cheshire
2nd/3rd May
LAVERTY MAINTAINS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AT OULTON PARK
MonsterMob Ducati British Supersport rider Michael Laverty maintained the lead of the championship with a superb second place finish in front of a massive bank holiday crowd at Oulton Park, Cheshire today.
The 22 year old Ulsterman qualified the 749 MonsterMob Ducati in fourth position before leading the race early on as he and Honda rider Karl Harris battled for the race win.
Laverty was poised to take his second successive victory but a backmarker prevented the pass on the final corner meaning he had to settle for second place and in doing so he maintained a one point lead from Harris going into round five of the thirteen race series.
“I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t win but I rode a sensible race and I didn’t want to throw it away. I still think I could have won it and I thought I’d leave it until the last lap and catch Karl by surprise. I’m kicking myself now for not trying two laps before as a backmarker just messed me up but I’m still leading the championship and that is what matters” said Laverty.
Meanwhile it was a weekend to forget for Superbike rider Sean Emmett who ended up retiring from the second THINK! British Superbike Championship race after posting eighth place in race one aboard the 999 F04. Emmett struggled with a number of problems throughout the entire meeting and despite a number of radical changes for the second race he was forced to retire early on leaving him to languish in fifth in the championship.
Team owner Paul Bird had some tough words to say afterwards:
“This is the worst superbike weekend we have ever had and it is just not acceptable. Things will have to change from now on and I need to see some more improvement and effort from Sean’s side. Regarding Michael, I’m absolutely chuffed to bits for him. He’s leading the championship and had a great race and I’m just over the moon with his performance. We know he is going to go from strength to strength.”
The action moves on to Mondello Park in County Kildare, Ireland in three weeks time with hopes of a return to winning ways for the defending double British Superbike Champions.
Superbike Race One Result
1, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 26:14.357, 2, John Reynolds (Suzuki) +0.122s, 3, Michael Rutter (Honda) +19.521s, 4, Dean Thomas (Ducati) +21.156s, 5, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +29.181s, 6, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +29.658s, 7, Gary Mason (Yamaha) +30.031s, 8, Sean Emmett (MonsterMob Ducati) +34.898s, 9, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) + 1 lap, 10, James Ellison (Yamaha) + 1 lap.
Superbike Race Two Result
1, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 29:27.256, 2, John Reynolds (Suzuki) +0.124s, 3, Michael Rutter (Honda) +13.571s, 4, Dean Thomas (Ducati) +14.920s, 5, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +22.068s, 6, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +23.188s, 7, Gary Mason (Yamaha) +23.366s, 8, James Ellison (Yamaha) +25.724s, 9, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +29.215s, 10, Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) +34.001s. DNF Sean Emmett (MonsterMob Ducati)
Supersport Race Result
1, Karl Harris (Honda) 26:59.802, 2, Michael Laverty (MonsterMob Ducati) +0.535s, 3, Jay Vincent (Honda) +9.880s, 4, Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +10.185s, 5, Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +18.312s, 6, Leon Camier (Honda) +19.815s, 7, Pere Riba (Kawasaki) +21.059s, 8, Craig Jones (Triumph) +21.478s, 9, Luke Quigley (Suzuki) +21.634s, 10, Adrian Coates (Suzuki) +24.856s.
THINK! British Superbike Championship Standings (after Round 8)
1, John Reynolds (Suzuki) 167 pts
2, Michael Rutter (Honda) 149 pts
3, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 128 pts
4, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 90 pts
5, Sean Emmett (MonsterMob Ducati) 86 pts
6, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 76 pts
7, Dean Thomas (Ducati) 74 pts
8, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 51 pts
8, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 51 pts
10, Gary Mason (Yamaha) 49 pts
Supersport Championship Standings (after Round 4)
1, Michael Laverty (MonsterMob Ducati) 71 pts
2, Karl Harris (Honda) 70 pts
3, Jay Vincent (Honda) 59 pts
4, Pere Riba (Kawasaki) 51 pts
5, Luke Quigley (Suzuki) 45 pts
6, Simon Andrews (Yamaha) 40 pts
7, Craig Jones (Triumph) 35 pts
8, Kieran Murphy (Honda) 23 pts
9, Adrian Coates (Suzuki) 21 pts
9, Leon Camier (Honda) 21 pts
More, from a press release issued by MSS Discovery Kawasaki Team:
British Supersport/National Superstock Championships
Round four
Oulton Park
Monday, May 3 2004
MSS DISCOVERY’S RIBA FOURTH IN TITLE CHASE AFTER OULTON PARK BATTLE
MSS Discovery’s Pere Riba took a solid seventh place finish on his Oulton Park debut in round four of the British Supersport championship at the Cheshire circuit on Monday.
Kawasaki ZX-6RR-mounted Riba was involved in battles throughout the 16-lap race as he tackled the 2.69-mile circuit for the first time.
“I had two different parts to the race,” explained Riba. “I was held up with riders diving in front of me then going sideways into the corners so I was never going to make that much progress from the battle I was having for sixth place.
“And I was losing about half a second a lap just through not knowing my way around the circuit. I’m not happy with seventh place but realistically we knew I would struggle to challenge for victory on my first visit here.”
Riba concluded: “Now we have a three-week break before the next round and I’m sure we will improve the ZX-6RR even more people forget this is a completely new machine we’re dealing with a to be fourth in the championship is acceptable.”
Riba’s fellow MSS Discovery rider Rob Frost retired from the race at the halfway stage, all after making a stunning start from his 20th place on the grid.
Frost said: “I was up to about 12th place on the first lap before I was shunted onto the grass. I rejoined in 28th place and made it up to 16th before the machine went off song. I¹m not sure yet what the problem was, the team are looking into it.”
MSS Discovery’s Steve Allan finished sixth after a determined ride from ninth place on the grid in the 15-lap National Superstock championship race.
Allan powered the ZX-10R into a comfortable sixth place with three laps to go and the Scotsman now believes regular podium finishes in the series are not too far away.
Allan explained: “The ZX-10R worked really well in the race here at Oulton and it just gets better and better. As the machine gets better I’m feeling stronger and stronger in races. We¹ve now reached a consistent level with the machine’s set-up.
“I’m happy enough with sixth place. I got held up for a while and once I was into sixth place I realised that I could have lived with the two riders in front and maybe got fourth but I ran out of laps.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:
SUZUKI DOMINATES BRITISH SUPERBIKES!
Team Suzuki Press Office – May 3, 2004.
Yukio Kagayama and John Reynolds dominated today’s British Superbike fourth round at Oulton Park with one-two victories in both races.
Rizla Suzuki’s Kagayama won both races ahead of team mate Reynolds with less than a tenth-of-a-second separating them at the flag.
Yuki followed JR for most of the first race before passing and taking the win. Then in the second race, he made a break for the line with four laps to go; barely holding off JR at the chequered flag.
Reynolds extended his Championship lead over Honda’s Michael Rutter to 18-points while Yuki is looking ominous in third place and chasing hard.
Rizla Suzuki has now won six of the first eight races of the 2004 season, with each rider sharing three wins.
Yukio Kagayama:
“Today is good result, I am so happy. First race I follow John-san and study his riding. On the last lap I know where to overtake and win the race.
“In the second race I pass John-san with some laps to go. I try to break away and make many mistakes. I give too much gas and my body is tired, but I try my all and am so happy to win. After the race I am maximum tired, so much that I cannot stand up by myself. But good news is that now I return to Japan for small holiday with my family and will come home to Britain stronger. I can win – I have number one team. I have learnt new English words – piece of cake!”
John Reynolds:
“From a team perspective, it has been a fantastic day. On a personal level, I have been out-ridden and it isn’t often that happens.
“In the first race, Yuki snatched the win from me at the end, but in the second race he beat me fair and square. Yuki is proving he is going to be a big rival for me in 2004. He is a world-class rider and it is a privilege to be racing against him. It’s great that Rizla Suzuki is dominating but maybe I’m respecting Yuki a bit too much; next time, I plan to be the one with the double win.”
Paul Denning, team manager:
“As team owner, I am finding new levels of stress I didn’t think possible. Watching your two riders dicing for the victory at lap-record pace raises the heartbeat I can tell you…
“This is Crescent and Rizla Suzuki’s first ever double 1-2. Congratulations to both riders and the whole team; from mechanics to data acquisition; Dunlop tyre technicians to hospitality staff. They are the ones who have made this fantastic result possible.
“Rizla Suzuki has the GSX-R1000 and the overall package to win. Yuki leaves for Japan and a two-week break with the best possible results and we are off to Mondello Park next, a happy hunting ground for the team and in particular JR.
“Thanks to all our fans for their support. Today is dedicated to you all. We won’t be resting on our laurels, but this is a new peak for us all, and this evening, I will be sharing a few beers with the boys before getting back to work in the morning.”
Race One Result: 1: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) 26:14.357, 2: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.122, 3: Michael Rutter (Honda) +19.521, 4: Dean Thomas (Ducati) +21.156, 5: Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +29.181, 6: Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +29.658, 7: Gary Mason (Yamaha) +30.031, 8: Sean Emmett (Ducati) +34.898, 9: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +1lap, 10: James Ellison (Yamaha) +1lap.
Race Two Result: 1: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) 29:27.256, 2: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.124, 3: Rutter +13.571, 4: Thomas +14.920, 5: Smart +22.068, 6: Leon Haslam (Ducati) +23.188, 7: Mason +23.366, 8: Ellison +25.724, 9: Richards +29.215, 10: Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) +34.001.
Championship Positions: 1: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) 167, 2: Rutter 149, 3: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) 128, 4: Smart 90, 5: Emmett 86, 6: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 76, 7: Thomas 74, 8: Hill 51, 9: Richards 51, 10: Mason 49.
Suzuki racing round-up:
Andy Tinsley won the National Superstock race for Suzuki on a GSX-R1000 and is leading the Championship.
Race Result:
Andy Tinsley (Suzuki) 25:34.257, 2: Mark Heckles (Yamaha) +0.624, 3: Tristan Palmer (Suzuki).
From a press release issued by MSMA:
MSMA to propose a MotoGP rule change from 2007
At the start of the third year of the new era of MotoGP, with continuously growing interest in the series, the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association has decided to propose to the GP commission (composed of FIM, Dorna, IRTA and MSMA) a technical rule change for the near future.
In the interests of safety, the manufacturers have unanimously decided that it is necessary to place a limit on the increase in motorcycle performance. This will already start in the year 2005 when fuel tank capacity will be reduced from 24 to 22 litres, but in the long term this measure would not have been sufficient.
For this reason the MSMA has decided to propose a reduction in engine capacity from 990 cc to 900 cc, starting from 2007.
The intention is not to reduce performance but to prevent a continuous improvement in speed and lap times.
It has been proposed also a new weight rule from 2007 which is as follow:
2 Cylinders: 133 kg.
3 Cylinders: 140.5 kg.
4 Cylinders: 148 kg.
5 Cylinders: 155.5 kg.
6 Cylinders: 163 kg.
A possible reduction of the 22 litres fuel tank capacity will be defined during 2005.
MSMA wishes to express its gratitude to FIM, IRTA and DORNA for everything that has been done in the interests of safety in Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Thank you very much.
Takanao Tsubouchi
Secretary General of Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Dale Kieffer set a new CCS lap record for the 2.1-mile, counter-clockwise configuration of the Las Vegas Classic Course during a CCS race event May 2, 2004.
According to CCS Southwest Region Race Director Randy Stem, Kieffer recorded a 1:28.605 on the official CCS electronic scoring system while riding a Michelin-shod, 2004-model Suzuki GSX-R750.
From a press release issued by Infineon Raceway:
Duhamel Uses Last-Lap Pass to Win Supercuts Superbike Challenge
SONOMA, Calif. – Honda’s Miguel Duhamel used a thrilling last-lap pass to take the victory on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in the AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge. The event was part of the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown weekend, presented by Cycle Gear.
Duhamel closed a 1.9-second gap on leader Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) over the final lap and passed the rookie AMA Superbike rider on Turn 11 for the victory. Duhamel popped a wheelie on his Honda CBR1000RR in celebration as he took the checkered flag.
It was Duhamel’s first victory of the year and the 27th AMA Chevrolet Superbike victory of his career, second on the all-time list to Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, who placed fourth after starting on the pole. It was also Duhamel’s fifth career Superbike win at Infineon Raceway, a track record. Duhamel doubled his pleasure later in the day with a win in the 17-lap feature for Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme.
“It was an incredible (Superbike) race,” Duhamel said. “Obviously my Honda CBR1000RR was the best bike out there. Jake ran a great race. It did cross my mind that second place isn’t so bad, but then I said, ‘no’ and I wanted to see what the bike could do. I gave it everything I could. I figured the fans thought the race was over, but I wanted to do something exciting for the fans. I just tried to reel him in and I was able to catch him.”
It was a bittersweet finish for Zemke, who led 23 of the 28 laps and was seeking his first career Superbike win. “I thought I had that one. I went by on the white-flag lap and thought he was way back there, but he caught me,” Zemke said.
The win snapped Mladin’s stranglehold on the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, ending his win streak at four. He won Saturday’s 98 Rock Superbike Challenge at Infineon Raceway and still tops the point standings after five rounds on the 2004 season with 177 points. Duhamel is second (153), with Zemke third (150).
“For the first few laps of the race, Mat’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 wasn’t running properly,” said Peter Doyle, Mladin’s crew chief. “When we got the red flag, we tried to fix it the best we could. And I believe that we made it better, but obviously it wasn’t good enough for Mat to go for the win.”
Aaron Yates (Suzuki) took third place with Mladin fourth and Ben Bostrom (Honda) fifth. Other winners on the day included Suzuki’s Ben Spies (Pro Honda Oils Superstock), and Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking (Repsol Superstock Series).
AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge
SONOMA, Calif. (May 2, 2004) – Following are official results from Sunday’s AMA Supercuts Superbike Challenge, part of the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown weekend at Infineon Raceway, May 1-2. The race spanned 28 laps:
1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR1000RR, 28.
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR, 28.
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
4. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
5. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR, 28.
6. Steve Crevier, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
7. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 28.
8. Larry Pegram, Yamaha YZF-R1, 28.
9. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
10. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
11. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
12. Clint McBain, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
13. Ken Hill, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
14. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
15. Robert Christman, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 28.
16. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
17. David Bell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
18. Cory Denton West, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
19. Jack Pfeifer, Honda CBR1000RR, 27.
20. Thomas Montano, Ducati 999R, 27.
21. Brien Whitlock, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
22. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
23. Kim Nakashima, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
24. Jeremiah Johnson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
25. Dean Mizdal, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
26. J J Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
27. John Wilson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
28. Andrew Nelson, Honda CBR1000RR, 27.
29. Garry Combs, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
30. James King, Yamaha YZF-R1, 27.
31. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
32. Scott Jensen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27.
33. Chris Siglin, Yamaha YZF-R1, 19.
34. David Stanton, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 17.
35. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 999R, 15.
36. James Randolph, Yamaha YZF-R1, 10.
37. Jeff Williams, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 7.
38. Kenyon Kluge, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 7.
39. Jeremy Toye, Yamaha YZF-R1, 6.
40. Mark Foster, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 5.
41. Opie Caylor, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS.
42. Craig Connell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS.
43. Rob Mesa, Suzuki GSX-R1000, DNS.
44. Mike Krynock, Ducati 999R, DNS.
RACE TIME: 65:40.81 min.
WINNER’S AVG. SPEED: 59.342 mph
WINNER’S AVG. LAP TIME: 2:20.743
LAP LEADERS: Zemke 23 (2-7, 11-27), Duhamel 4 (8-10, 28), Yates 1 (1)
Red flag on Lap 7.
More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:
2004 American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship
Rounds 4 & 5 – Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California, USA
Round 5 Race Report
MLADIN MAINTAINS AMERICAN SUPERBIKE POINTS LEAD WITH A WIN AND A FOURTH AT INFINEON RACEWAY
Sonoma, California, USA (Sunday, May 2) – Mat Mladin has maintained his place at the top of the points table after completing this weekend’s double-header round of the American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at California’s Infineon Raceway with a victory and a fourth place finish.
The four times and defending American Superbike champion was in dominating form throughout the weekend continuing his record breaking run with his 35th career pole position and his 28th career AMA Superbike win on Saturday, but a chance to repeat those efforts in today’s second national were thwarted by a problem that his Yoshimura Suzuki team were unable to rectify during the course of the race.
With five rounds of this year’s championship complete, Mladin continues to hold a 24-point advantage over today’s race winner, Honda’s Miguel DuHamel (177 to 153) with Jake Zemke (Honda) third with 150.
After leading the time sheets during the morning warm up session, Suzuki GSX-R1000 mounted Mladin looked set to continue his unbeaten run in the championship, but his machine struck problems early in the race, leaving him unable to challenge the lead group.
Unable to find a cure for the problem, Mladin held third place for much of the race before being passed by teammate Aaron Yates with a handful of laps to run, finishing fourth. After running second for a substantial amount of the race, DuHamel converted a last corner pass on Zemke to snatch the win.
“We had a few things go wrong out there today and basically couldn’t get the job done,” said Mladin. “We tried to get it sorted during the stoppage with the red flag on lap eight, but weren’t able to.
“All in all though, we came here looking for a pair of wins and managed to take one of them and we leave here with a 24-point lead in the championship. It was a frustrating way to finish the weekend as we dominated qualifying and the opening race yesterday.
“Our attention will now focus on the next round at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. We tested there not long ago and felt good with the package, so we’ll be heading there with the same determination and game plan as we did for this weekend.”
The championship now heads to Birmingham, Alabama for rounds 6 and 7 of this years AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at the Barber Motorsports complex on the weekend of May 15 & 16.
RESULTS
Round 5 (Sunday), 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, Top 10
1 Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 28 laps
2. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) +0.196 seconds
3. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) +9.946 secs
4. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) +10.236
5. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) +35.948
6. Steve Crevier (DXS Diablo Suzuki) +49.765
7. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) +52.179
8. Larry Pegram (Yamaha) +1:05.183 mins
9. Geoff May (Prieto Suzuki) +1:07.726
10. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki) +1:08.771
Round 4 (Saturday), 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, Top 10
1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 28 laps
2. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) + 6.749 seconds
3. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) +17.391
4. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) +26.824
5. Eric Bostrom (Ducati Austin) +29.736
6. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) +50.377
7. David Stanton (Suzuki) +1:01.126 mins
8. Larry Pegram (Yamaha) +1:20.043
9. Geoff May (Prieto Suzuki) +1:23.614
10. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) +1:26.954
2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship (Points after 5 of 18 rounds)
1. Mat Mladin (177, 4 wins); 2. Miguel DuHamel (153, 1 win), 3. Jake Zemke (150); 4. Geoff May (108); 5. Lee Acree (105), 6. Larry Pegram (97), 7. Eric Bostrom (96), 8. John Haner (84), 9. Ben Bostrom (79), 10. Cory West (77).
More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin:
HARD-CHARGING BOSTROM CRASHES OUT OF RACE 2
AT INFINEON RACEWAY
Sonoma (California) – May 2, 2004: Eric Bostrom crashed out of race 2 of the AMA Superbike Championship round at Infineon Raceway today 16 laps into the race which had already been red flagged for an earlier incident.
In hot conditions (93°F / 34°C), Eric had been running the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin 999 in sixth position chasing series leader Mat Mladin (Suzuki) when the race was red flagged on lap 8 allowing the team the opportunity to put on fresh tires. After the race restart, Eric was in sixth position and making ground on brother Ben (Honda) when his front end tucked in turn 2 on lap 16. The 27-year-old rider was uninjured in the crash.
“I was pretty happy with the way the bike was entering the turns but I knew we could make it better,” explained Bostrom. “When we came back in for the restart we put on a different front tire. This one behaved a little differently from the one I was using before the restart. I rode hard and kept the guys in sight and I felt that I’d have advantage with grip in the closing stages so I stayed as close as I could in hopes that the race would come back to me. In the end, I just rode too hard. Even after I crashed I wanted to get back on the bike and keep going, but the motor had stalled.”
“Eric was pushing pretty hard in the turn and the front end went out,” said Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “We ran a different front today and changed a few settings to improve front end handling. From the short practice we had this morning it looked like we had improved things but we didn’t have an endurance run to check things out. During the red flag we changed the tires. What we did was better, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”
Round 4 of the AMA series will be held May 14-16 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
More, from a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates on behalf of Dunlop:
Dunlop dominates AMA road racing at Infineon; Duhamel posts two thrilling victories
Sonoma, CA–Summer arrived early at the third round of the 2004 AMA road racing series at Infineon Raceway with scorching performances by motorcycling’s elite riders. Dunlop tires were the choice for all of the top finishers as the recently redesigned and repaved race course, simmering in two days of traction-sapping heat, brought higher speeds and close racing action.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin took his 28th record-setting career Superbike victory with a dominating performance in race one of the weekend doubleheader on Saturday. Mladin piloted his GSX-R1000 to a 6.7-second victory over the CBR1000RRs of Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel and Erion Racing’s Jake Zemke. Honda’s Ben Bostrom finished fourth. Tire management was crucial as the hard pace and high track temperatures slowed early race leader Zemke. “Overall it was a solid race and everything went pretty well,” said Mladin. “I wasn’t sure what we were going to have with tires. When we got off at the end, the tire looked brand new, so we know what we’ve got for tomorrow.”
Saturday’s heat returned on Sunday with 125-degree track temperatures for Superbike race two. The Honda and Suzuki factory riders juggled their tire selections to adapt to the demanding conditions and the race started off with a pack of riders battling for the lead. Zemke’s early rush to the front was negated by a red flag that forced a restart on lap seven. But Zemke was not to be denied and forced his way to the front again, only to be run down by Duhamel on the last turn of the last lap. The victory was Duhamel’s 27th career Superbike win, just one back from Mladin. “My Dunlop tires were working great and the bike was absolutely perfect,” said Duhamel. “I want to dedicate this win to those guys over there fighting for us in Iraq.” Suzuki’s Aaron Yates rounded out the top three, with Mladin taking fourth and Ben Bostrom fifth. The Superbike series has Mladin still on top with 177 points, followed by Duhamel with 153 and Zemke with 150.
The hotly-contested Superstock class rewarded Graves Motorsports Yamaha with a podium sweep. Jamie Hacking led teammates Damon Buckmaster and Aaron Gobert to the flag with a well-earned victory aboard his R6, his first win of the year in the series. Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden grabbed fourth, just 2.07 seconds behind Hacking, while Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo finished fifth and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies finished sixth. Overall, Dunlop-supported riders took seven of the top ten positions. Hacking leads the series with 98 points over teammates Buckmaster and Gobert with 93 and 91 points, respectively.
Spies rode his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 to a commanding victory in the Supersport race. Spies led from the start and was never challenged, leading a top-ten Dunlop sweep that included, in order, Hacking, Tommy Hayden, Disalvo, Aaron Gobert, Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden, Aaron Yates, Corona Extra Suzuki’s Ben Attard, Buckmaster, and Kawasaki’s Tony Meiring. Tommy Hayden leads the series with 95 points, followed closely by Disalvo with 89, Roger Lee Hayden and Jamie Hacking with 86 points each and Aaron Gobert with 80.
The final race of the day established Duhamel as the weekend’s standout. He staged a brilliant finish in the Formula Xtreme class, again edging out fellow Honda rider Zemke on the last lap for the win aboard his highly-modified CBR600RR. Erion Racing’s Alex Gobert finished third, giving Honda a podium sweep in the class. For the series standings, Duhamel leads Zemke 112 to 94 points, followed by Gobert with 83.
Next stop for Dunlop and the AMA road racing tour is the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, May 15-16. Round four features a doubleheader for the Superbike series.
(Note, all press release from any given event are run in the order received) From a press release issued by Valvoline EMGO Suzuki: Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki concluded their weekend at Infineon Raceway with an up-and-down raceday. It was expected to be a trying round, with no testing and a lack of data available to help them get to speed at the 2.2-mile circuit as quickly as many rival squads that did test at the track. The team got off to a strong start in the morning’s Superstock final, with Steve Rapp and Vincent Haskovec each claiming top ten finishes. While the team’s strategy of taking advantage of the GSX-R750’s superior tire conservation characteristics was spoiled by a red flag, the team made the best of the situation, altering their Michelin-shod racebikes’ set-ups during the red flag period with positive effect. Rapp took full advantage of the improvements, finishing seventh, right on the tail of the official Suzuki factory entry. “We went out there and did the best we could,” the Californian said afterwards. “We weren’t hoping to see a red flag, but when we did we used the opportunity to get a few things sorted out a bit better. It ended up being a pretty positive race, and it was good to be running with the factory bike.” Vincent Haskovec came home a solid ninth, less than three seconds behind Rapp. In the 17-lap Supersport race, held in 93-degree F heat, Rapp and Canadian Chris Peris finished twelfth and 18th. Peris said, “We were working really hard to get our set-up 100% this weekend, but we were unable to really get it perfect. We made some changes before the race, and kind of went the wrong way, but overall, I feel we’re coming along. I really tried hard and the team did as well. It just didn’t go our way this time.” In the weekend’s final race, the team’s brightest hope for a spot on the podium evaporated in disappointing fashion. Haskovec, who qualified third for the Formula Xtreme final, was running in the top three during the race as well, but was forced to retire when his machine suffered a rare mechanical problem. And now a fleet of press releases issued by Proforma: ACREE AND CAYLOR FIND THE LIMIT AT INFINEON RACEWAY Lee Acree tested his fitness again this weekend at Infineon Raceway, finishing well in four events, three on the same day on his Suzuki GSX-R600 and GSX-R1000. Teammate Opie Caylor had his weekend cut short with a crash on Sunday morning that took him out of the day’s final events. Opie Caylor Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 14th Place “I blew the start,” said Opie. “The clutch, we’ve been having some problems with it, it just grabbed really bad, and the bike just wheelied straight up. I think I came around the first lap 21st or 22nd. I just started making up as many places as I could without throwing the thing down the road. Then I jumped on that four bike train with Lee (Acree), (Shawn) Higbee, Ken Hill and (Clint) McBain, it took me a while to get to them. I ended up having a good five or six lap race with Lee, had a good time doing it. It was a really fun race, Sears Point has done a great job with the upgrades, I’m sure there’s a bit more, but the pavement’s great.” Sunday Opie was unable to compete after a crash in Sunday morning’s Superbike warmup practice session. Caylor suffered a concussion in the fall, and elected not to ride in the Repsol Superstock or Chevrolet Superbike events. Lee Acree Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 13th Place “I got, for me, an above average start,” joked Lee. “Because of the way the clutch acts, I’m starting with the revs lower than I normally would. Almost like you pull away from a red light on the street. Initially, I just wanted to see what the pace was going to be. For a while, I wanted to get with Geoff May to see if he could tow me away from (Shawn) Higbee. At the beginning of the race, I was sure Opie was gone, just gone, I couldn’t even see him,” said Lee, who was eventually reeled in by his teammate. “Because for the first three laps I was about ten bike lengths behind Josh (Hayes). After Higbee broke, I thought I was by myself. Then I went into a corner, and I could tell somebody was there, that sort of harmonic sound you get when two bikes are together.” Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 15th Place “In the end, I kinda outsmarted myself,” said Acree. “On the second start, everyone was a little haywire in (turn) two, it took a few laps to get sorted out. Shawn came by and I got back around him. Eric (Wood) got just barely wide in four, a couple of inches was better than no inches, so I took the spot. At the end, when Shawn got around me, I defended the line going in, I got a bad drive out and he beat me to the line.” Acree is now 12th in Repsol Superstock points. Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 13th place “The Supersport race was harder than the Superstock race!,” said Acree, who had qualified in ninth place. “It started out pretty good. Tony Meiring was gridded ahead of me and I stayed in contact with him. I made a mistake going into the carousel. I inadvertently got one too many backshifts going in there and I ran really wide, like, thought I was going in the grass wide. Rapp came undernerath me, I hung with him most of the rest of the way. Barney (Michael Barnes) came through, and the last couple of laps I got really tired. I felt good about the way the 600 worked, we’re still progressing with it.” Lee currently lies 10th in Pro Honda Oils Supersport points after three rounds. Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 11th Place “When I went out for the parade lap, I said ‘even the parade lap’s hard!’,” joked Acree, who had qualified 16th for the two Superbike finals. “I got a whole lot better start the second time, after the red flag. I was just trying to rest as much as I could. The red flag ended up helping me. I was able to rest and regain my composure. It’s just a lot of racing in one day, on a track like this.” Acree remains in fifth place in Chevrolet Superbike points after five races. GEOFF MAY MOVES TO FOURTH IN AMA SUPERBIKE POINT STANDINGS AT INFINEON RACEWAY Geoff May continues to impress on his Prieto Racing-sponsored, Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R1000, with two top-ten finishes in the premiere Chevrolet Superbike class and a solid finish in Repsol Superstock after a crash late in the race. His finishes caught the attention of AMA Tech Inspection, who had Geoff tear his engine down after the day’s events, finding only that his stock motor was in need of a re-build. Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 9th Place “I got a halfway decent start, right behind Larry (Pegram),” said Geoff. “I tried to stay with him, but I wasn’t sure I was gonna be able to hang with him and then get him at the end like I did at Fontana. We’ve been so behind the eight-ball, trying to figure out what works for Superbike and what works for Superstock. I have a lack of experience here, last year it rained the whole time we were here. I missed three sessions yesterday, the bike kept blowing a fuse. The bike had a lot of chatter and it kept running wide, it just wore me out. I just did the best I could with it. I looked behind and saw I had a big gap, and just settled into a pace I could run for the rest of the race. Just be smart and get some good points.” With only one bike, Geoff changes between 17″ wheels for Superstock and 16.5″ wheels for Superbike, adjusting the geometry, gearing and even spring rates between wheel sizes. Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 18th Place A crash late in the race set Geoff back, but he re-mounted to finish 18th after running as high as 11th in the ultra-competitive class. “I felt really good for that race,” said May, who had qualified 14th. “I was feeling really good in the first half, then the red flag kinda threw a curve at us. We came in and put a new rear on, but I stayed with the same front, and it was tearing. We went back out I was riding hard. I came up on Alex Gobert, that Honda was just so fast, I couldn’t catch him anywhere. We’d go into the chicane and I would gain on him so much through there. When he flicked back to the left, he just totally backed off, and I was carrying so much speed through there, I hit the inside of his back wheel, I tucked the front and the bike just went spinning off into the dirt. I slid, ran, and jumped back on it. I was facing the wrong way, so I had to let a pack of guys go by before I could get back on. I was a little disappointed in myself for that, because I had a pretty good finish going before that.” Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 9th Place “I was just so worn out from the whole weekend,” said May, who had qualified thirteenth for the final. “I was able to put my head down in the first part of the race and get a bit of a gap, then I got so worn out I could hardly ride the thing. During the red flag, Steve Rapp gave me a Red Bull, and amazingly enough, after about the second lap of the re-start, the thing kicked in and I felt like it was first thing in the morning and I had tons of energy for about fifteen laps. We switched to a different rear tire that was shorter, and it took me about five laps to re-adapt to the bike. I spent the whole race just trying to pick people off and get up front. I had a few issues with the transmission popping out of gear in the last corner. Other than that, it was a hard race, very hard.” With two strong finishes this weekend, privateer Geoff May now finds himself fourth in Chevrolet Superbike points after five rounds. HOOTERS SUZUKI’S JOHN HANER HANGS ON AT INFINEON RACEWAY John Haner rode his Hooters Suzuki GSX-R1000 to solid finishes in what was a long weekend of racing on a motorcycle that was difficult to ride on the physically-demanding Infineon Raceway road course at round three of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship. Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 15th Place Haner and crew missed on a set-up that would allow John to turn the kind of lap times needed to finish in the top ten, finishing 15th. “We made some progress since yesterday, so we’re looking better for tomorrow,” said Haner after the race. Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 13th Place “We made huge strides the last day or so,” said John. “I was able to run better lap times for longer. It’s gonna take a little time, but I have total confidence in my crew, they’ve been bustin’ their butts for me.” John is currently ninth in Repsol Superstock points after three rounds of the championship. Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 16th Place “My hands hurt so bad, I was losing focus,” said Haner, who struggled with the handling of his GSX-R1000 throughout the weekend. “Things are moving in the right direction, just not as fast as anyone on our team would like. It should be better at Barber.” Haner is currently eighth in Chevrolet Superbike points after five rounds. ESLICK AND HIGBEE FIGHT MECHANICAL GREMLINS AT INFINEON Millennium Technologies Suzuki riders Danny Eslick and Shawn Higbee each had races taken away from them with fluke mechanical problems during round three of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma this weekend. Both riders made progress on the respective setups of their bikes, giving them confidence going in to the next round at Barber Motorsports Park. Shawn Higbee Saturday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – DNF Shawn’s bike quit unexpectedly on lap 17 while running in 11th place. A broken battery cable was discovered after the race. Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 14th Place “We made improvements to the setup since yesterday, so I was happy with that,” said Higbee, who had qualifed 19th on Saturday afternoon. “I got a pretty bad start and really had to play catch-up through the race. The setup came around late in the race, I was able to get three guys in the last couple of laps.” Shawn is currently tenth in points after three rounds. Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 10th Place “The tire started sliding, but unlike Daytona and Fontana where it was so sketchy, here it just took me a couple of laps to figure out that it was more progressive, and I could control the slide,” said Shawn. “It was real predictable. We made a lot of progress on the bike over the weekend. The red flag helped me out, it gave me a break to catch my breath.” Danny Eslick Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – DNS After qualifying 20th on Saturday, Danny’s bike blew a fork seal on the warmup lap for Sunday’s final, forcing Eslick off the grid for the race. Sunday’s Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Final – 9th Place Danny finished ninth in his second Formula Xtreme race of the year. After a strong start, he started to move forward, bringing Jason Pridmore with him. “I was ahead of Jason for a while,” said Danny. “I went into (turn) 11 a little deep and ran wide, he got a better drive. I ended up behind Barney (Michael Barnes) and (Larry) Pegram. The bike was sliding a lot, no grip, I probably lost the front end fifteen times.” Danny is 11th in Formula Xtreme points after running two of three rounds of the series. HEATH SMALL STRUGGLES WITH MECHANICAL WOES AT INFINEON After two days of progress on the setup of both his Supersport and Formula Xtreme-spec Yamaha R6s, HAS/Shogun Racing rider Heath Small suffered problems on both bikes in the final events. The crew suspected electronic shifter mechanisms to be the cause of the problems. In Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport final, Heath ran as high as 23rd when the intermittent misfire became bad enought that he felt it was safer to pull in than continue. “Our weekend went from good, to bad, to worse,” said Heath. “We went faster this morning on both bikes. About four laps into the Supersport race, I hit the shifter on the curbing. Another lap or two and I noticed that the bike was cutting out. I stayed out a few more laps, but it got really bad, so I pulled in.” In the Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme final, Heath finished 19th after running in tenth early on. “Same thing in the race,” said Small. “I didn’t hit anything. Third or fourth lap in, it started doing the same thing. It wouldn’t do it everywhere. It was pretty frustrating, but I stayed out there and got points.” Heath is 12th in points after running two of the three rounds so far this year. More, from a press release issued by Snarl Sport Racing Group: Snarl Sport Racing Group/CRS Tires Triumph Daytona 600 Crashes and Still Finishes Event Rider Eric Pinson highsides and carries on to complete his debut AMA Pro race San Francisco—Round 3 of the AMA’s Supersport race weekend at California’s Infineon Raceway began with extensive setup and tuning for Snarl Sport Racing Group’s (www.snarlsport.com) Triumph Daytona 600 to prepare it for new rider Eric Pinson. Pinson is known in local dirt track circles as a wild rider for Bill Bartel, and came to Snarl Sport through California Race Services, the west coast distributor for Pirelli tires. Chassis setup and engine tuning on the Dynojet Model 250 dynamometer was carried out over the first three days of the four-day event, which took place in California’s wine country. During this time, Pinson had to acclimate to riding a Supersport 600 while learning the layout of the highly technical track. Throughout practice, adjustments were made to both the chassis geometry and suspension settings. The chassis continued to show it’s previous responsiveness to change, prompting Pinson to echo teammate Charlie Hewitt’s comment that the bike is, “…easy to just jump on and ride.” “We haven’t had to do any major work on the suspension since we got it back from Aftershocks. The only changes that we’ve done have been to suit the bike to track and rider. The Race Tech valves that Phil (of Aftershocks) gave us along with his setup work have proven really top notch,” said team owner Karl Uribe. When it came time for qualifying, Pinson looked at the team owner and team manager and said, “I’m gonna’ put his thing on the grid…” Both team riders managed to do just that, after each making several stops throughout the session to receive minor suspension adjustments at trackside from Race Tech technicians. Unfortunately, Hewitt was plagued by chatter coming from the rear of his bike, later determined to be from an out-of-round tire. “We’re going to move Charlie over to Pirellis like what Eric is running. We’ve run Pirellis on other bikes in the past, and we’ve yet to run into any problems with them. Besides, it just makes more sense to have both riders on the same brand,” said Erik Rocha, the team manager. “Consistency is key.” Both riders started the race strong, but Pinson was thrown-off when his bike highsided him near the completion of the second lap. “The power (delivery) had been changing throughout those two laps, and then it just kicked-in like a turbo while I was just getting back on the gas,” said Pinson. Hewitt, who was following Pinson at the time, concurred. “Yeah, his bike was doing something funny. I could tell that there was definitely something going on there. I was right behind him when it happened, too, and I really had to work to not hit him!” It was determined post race that the ECU’s adaptive technology was the culprit for the crash by unpredictably changing the fuel and ignition maps while running. But Pinson determinedly picked-up his bike and re-entered the race. “I had to punch the handlebars back into position with my fists! I was like, there’s no way I’m not bringing this thing home across the finish line. I was hurting, but I was mad, too!” Pinson finished the race in 34th position out of a field of 41. Hewitt was forced to retire early when his brakes finally gave up, a problem traced to the master cylinder. Overall, the team was pleased with everyone’s performance, and is looking forward to their next event. More, from a press release issued by American Honda: Chevrolet Superbike Series Round 3: Sears Point, CA, Race 1 May 1, 2004 What a difference a year makes, especially at Infineon Raceway. Last year, Saturday was a wash-literally, as heavy rains washed out the entire day’s schedule. In 2004, sunny skies dawned on a newly altered track layout with new sections of pavement, changes that seemed to agree with the Honda Red Riders as Team Honda’s Miguel Duhamel took second place, Jake Zemke nailed down third and Ben Bostrom finished just off the podium in fourth place aboard his Honda CBR1000RR. Action at the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Round 3 double-header at Sears Point, California, got underway with plenty of lead changes and lots of fast action to follow. Aaron Yates claimed the holeshot but on the second go-round Erion Honda pilot Zemke took over the lead in commanding fashion in Turn 7, and Mat Mladin also quickly passed his teammate Yates. Team Honda ace Ben Bostrom was snapping at Yates’ heels, and Duhamel waited patiently in fifth place as the running order settled down. When Yates ran off the track on lap 4, Ben and Miguel took over third and fourth place, respectively. Lap 6 saw Mladin and Zemke trade the lead back and forth several times, with Mladin finally taking the lead for good. That running order held good for 10 laps before Duhamel finally worked his way around his hard-charging Honda teammate Bostrom. After the race, a visibly disappointed Ben said, “It wasn’t very good out there today. I was having fun out there at first, then I blistered a tire halfway through. After that I just tried to get around the track. “The tires just didn’t last for us. They were identical to everyone else’s tires. We didn’t do any endurance work with them, but other people did. We’re usually not too hard on tires, but we were today.” Although the front-runners now looked set with Zemke trailing Mladin by 3.2 seconds and Duhamel following the leader by about 7.4 seconds, the French-Canadian rider knows all about attacking tenaciously. As Duhamel later explained, “I just put my head down and caught up to Jake. He looked like he was just trying to get home; he wasn’t trying to ride very aggressively.” Indeed, Zemke was also struggling with his tire selection. After the race Jake said, “In practice this morning track temperatures were definitely cooler. They’ve been cool all weekend, so we were on the fence on what to do about tire choice. So we went with what we knew worked in practice, and it worked-for about 10 laps. We knew the softer tire was a good tire and it was one I was comfortable with, so we stuck with that one, hoping that it would come good for us. But it just got overheated and cooked itself. The track is now way more abrasive too, so that also makes the tire heat up.” Now with second place firmly in control, Duhamel continued his charge. He later said, “After I got by Jake I was just trying to get some good laps together and focus on doing my thing and I saw Mat coming back to me. I wanted to see if I could do something, and coming out of the chicane I got a false neutral. I slammed it into second like an amateur and stretched my chain out and then the chain was jumping over the sprocket. For the rest of the race I still tried to do some good laps, but then I thought it would be a shame to throw away this hard-earned second.” Second place is where Duhamel would indeed end the day, which was a big accomplishment in and of itself. “My crew worked so hard; they tore my bike down four times before the race. My race bike was working completely differently than the bike I had this morning.” As Duhamel’s crew chief Al Ludington explained, “Basically, we started with two different setups for the CBR1000RR at Infineon. We had one that steered real well but it had a chatter. Then we had another setup that didn’t have a chatter but wouldn’t steer worth a darn. So we mixed the two settings together. Between the last qualifying session and the race, we changed just about everything: we changed the triple clamp offset, the front and rear ride heights, the rear spring rate and we changed all of the clicker positions. We did leave the wheelbase alone, however,” he said with a laugh. As far as the end-of-day judgment regarding the newly reborn Infineon Raceway was concerned, Jake Zemke summed things up very well. “This new surface actually makes the track a bit tighter because we’re carrying higher speeds now,” he said. “In the past, the roughness of the track limited your speed, but now it’s a lot smoother so you can carry a lot more speed. But the track surface itself ends up being more abrasive. We saw this before at Barber Motor Speedway last year when it was brand new; it was just tearing tires up too. “When we finally arrived at Barber for the race it wasn’t nearly as bad because the track had gotten some races on it and had worn in a little bit. When asphalt’s new like this, it just tears up tires and makes things tougher. So you have more grip but you also have more tire wear at the same time.
“But overall, Infineon is great because the people here at this track really listened to the motorcycle guys. We appreciate the fact that Infineon kept us involved as they were making changes to the race track. They wanted to make this track good for motorcycles and they’ve done a really good job of doing that with the repaving job, by improving runoff areas and just making it safer altogether for us, which is really nice to see. At a lot of the tracks we’ve gone to for many years, the bikes keep progressing, but the tracks don’t. But this is one track that is progressing right with us and it’s nice to see the effort that they’re putting in.” AMA Superbike Overall Results Race 1: 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki 2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda 3. Jake Zemke – Honda 4. Ben Bostrom – Honda 5. Eric Bostrom – Ducati AMA Superbike Point Standings: 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki – 150 2. Jake Zemke – Honda – 117 (tie) 2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda – 117(tie) 4. Eric Bostrom – Ducati – 96 5. Geoff May – Suzuki – 86 14. Ben Bostrom – Honda – 53 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Series Round 3: Infineon Raceway, CA, Race 2 May 2, 2004 Ardent fans of AMA road racing who were not present at Infineon Raceway on May 2, 2004 will forever regret their absence. Because on this date, an epic battle was fought, a race that will go down in history as one of the all-time best. Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke first led the race, wielding his CBR1000RR with fierce determination and blazing speed. In short, he looked unstoppable-until a red flag halted the entire field. Upon resumption of action, it was Miguel Duhamel’s turn to take command, as he completed a seemingly impossible charge from behind to overtake Zemke in the second-to-last corner on the last lap-an awesome display of motorcycle racing prowess. And with that win, Duhamel raises his total career wins to 72, which surpasses the all-time AMA road racing tally of victories set by Rich Oliver. As the knot of racers entered turn 1 to begin the 28-lap race, Aaron Yates first grabbed the lead. On the next lap Jake Zemke squeezed his Erion Honda CBR1000RR past Yates, and then proceeded to pull away from everyone else. Riding with a deft and masterful touch, Jake had pulled out a gap of nearly three seconds over Miguel Duhamel, who had relegated Yates to third place on lap 7. Just as Zemke looked to take complete command of the event, the race was red-flagged when a rider went down. The break gave everyone a chance to mount fresh tires, which promised a 20-lap sprint to the checkers. At the second start Duhamel led the way but he was repeatedly challenged by Yates, and then Zemke. Mat Mladin followed behind in fourth place, with Team Honda’s Ben Bostrom rounding out the top five. Jake took over the lead once again on lap 11 with Duhamel following closely, trailing behind about a half-second or less all the way through lap 23. Then Jake caught a break; gliding deftly between lappers, he slipped through traffic and used the rolling roadblocks to gain a 2.5-second lead on lap 25. At that point, everyone thought the race was over. Everyone, that is, except one man: Miguel Duhamel. Duhamel made a small dent in Zemke’s lead, but the gap remained 1.93 seconds on the last lap-a seemingly insurmountable difference. But Duhamel dug deep. “On that last lap I just rode my you-know-what off,” he said. “I just rode as hard as I could. I was sliding, going over curbs and getting headshake but I kept it pinned, doing what you have to do to pull off something like that on the last lap. Jake rode a great race, but I just threw caution to the wind.” With all eyes averted to the duel for third place between teammates Aaron Yates and Mat Mladin, Duhamel suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere, glued on the tail of the #98 Erion Honda as the pair entered the chicane preceding the final short straight leading to the hairpin-shape turn 11. He flashed by Zemke on the inside, passing in the blink of an eye and held on by a scant margin of 0.196 second at the finish line. After the race, Jake said, “I was completely surprised when Miguel came past me. When I came across (the start/finish line at the white flag) I held up a little bit because I had a little over two seconds on him. I had come through traffic and I knew Miguel had to do the same so I really didn’t think he was going to be coming on. So on the last lap I really didn’t expect to see him.” Duhamel concurred, saying, “On the pass, it really didn’t look like he was expecting me. That was wonderful, because it’s a hard track for passing. He didn’t do anything wrong; he held a great pace. I was able to get a 37 out of my bike (a 1:37 lap), so again a lot of the credit goes to my crew. I figured, ‘What the heck, let’s give it a shot and I’ll see if I can surprise him.’ So coming out of that corner he used his usual race line and I got in tight inside of him. I was just real happy to pull that win off.” After the race, Zemke felt hugely disappointed with his runner-up position, but he was also magnanimous enough to give credit where credit was due. “To be honest, I can’t tell you the last time someone came from almost two seconds back in a race in one lap. He definitely caught me by surprise, for sure.” Once again, Duhamel was quick to give credit for his win to his crew, but crew chief Al Ludington said, “We didn’t make many changes from the setup we used Saturday, just a few small changes. We brought the front end up to try and get it to turn a little better, and we went to a harder tire this morning for a little better durability. It all seemed to work out okay.” To top off his masterful ride, Duhamel exhorted the enthusiastic Infineon crowd to look at the larger picture in life by reminding everyone, “The freedom that we have here is not free. Guys are out there fighting in the desert in Iraq, and I want to dedicate this win to those guys because they’re working a lot harder than we are.” AMA Superbike Overall Results: 1. Miguel Duhamel – Honda 2. Jake Zemke – Honda 3. Aaron Yates – Suzuki 4. Mat Mladin – Suzuki 5. Ben Bostrom – Honda AMA Superbike Point Standings: 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki – 177 2. Miguel Duhamel – Honda – 153 3. Jake Zemke – Honda – 150 4. Geoff May – Suzuki – 108 5. Lee Acree – Suzuki – 105 9. Ben Bostrom – Honda – 79 AMA Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Race Round 3: Infineon Raceway, CA May 2, 2004 Heat, dehydration and fatigue may deter mere mortals, but they pose little obstacle to the Honda Red Riders. With the Formula Xtreme race kicking off immediately after the draining second Superbike contest held Sunday afternoon at Infineon Raceway, it would seem only natural for Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke to show signs of fatigue. Instead, the two CBR600RR pilots staged yet another epic battle on the twisty and hilly circuit, with Duhamel completing the second dramatic come-from-behind victory of the day over Zemke. Meanwhile, Jake’s Erion Honda teammate Alex Gobert joined the pair on the podium with a strong third-place finish. Having just surrendered what appeared to be the first Superbike victory of his career, Erion’s Jake Zemke was in no mood to linger when the track went green for the Formula Xtreme race. Zemke immediately seized the holeshot, then quickly distanced himself from everyone, including Duhamel, who held the runner-up position. Within three laps Zemke had built a three-second lead, and he stretched that advantage to almost six seconds by lap 10 in the 17-lap event. As Jake explained after the race, “Straight from the get-go my bike was working well and the tires were working well. After that Superbike race there was no way I wasn’t going to ride 100 percent the whole race. Unfortunately, my tire just couldn’t hold up to what I was doing to it. In hindsight, I probably chose the wrong tire, but that’s just part of racing and part of winning.”
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Bruce Lind, 56, won the USGPRU 250cc race on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Classic Course Sunday.
Lind turned the fastest lap of the race, a 1:33.15, to pass Mark Watts and win on the 2.1-mile, 10-turn road course.
Ambient temperature was 96 degrees F.
Both Lind and Watts rode TZ250 Yamahas.
A long-time AMA competitor, Lind is one of many 250cc Grand Prix racers left without a class at AMA Nationals due to 2004 rule changes.
Details to follow when available from USGPRU.
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Howard Rolls At Wet MotorSport Ranch
By Shan Moore
After a slow start under sketchy conditions, Shogun Motorsports/Ride Smart-sponsored Ty Howard came on strong to claim $6350 in CMRA purse and Suzuki contingency money at round four of the CMRA Championship Roadracing Series, held at MotorSport Ranch near Cresson, Texas on May 1-2. Howard took wins in the C Superstock Expert, Formula 1 and A Superstock Expert classes en route to the cash and set a new track record (counter clockwise direction) of 1:16.33 along the way.
Michael Sanchez held the track record going into the event with a 1:16.51 and, after off-and-on rain on Saturday left track conditions less than favorable, it looked as though no one would come close to setting any records on the day, however, a warm Texas sun and a light breeze on Sunday gradually dried the track and lap times dropped as the day wore on.
“Early this morning it was dangerous in almost every turn,” said Howard, after setting the record. “But the track started to get more rubber down and luckily now there are only two spots on the track you have to be leery of.”
Strong winds on Friday evening blew canopies down and heavy over-night rains left small lakes in the parking area, nonetheless, 42 endurance teams and 589 entries filled the grids at the beautiful MotorSport Ranch facility which is located just minutes from downtown Fort Worth.
In the B Superstock Expert race, Sanchez (GSX-R750) took a flag-to-flag win from the pole position while Howard (GSX-R600) cautiously worked his way up to fourth from last place on the grid. Brett Champagne and Andy Galindo, both on GSX-R750s, finished second and third, respectively.
The C Superstock Expert race was the first of the Suzuki money races and also featured a $500 purse. Howard, on his GSX-R600, came from the sixth row to pass Sanchez (Yam YZF-R6), for the win. Craig Montgomery (Kaw ZX-6R) was third with John Orchard (Yam YZF-R6) and Jeff Grant (Kaw ZX-6R) rounding out the top five.
Sanchez, who is not known as a crasher, did just that during the Formula 1 race, handing the lead to a hard-charging Howard. Howard (GSX-R600) went on to take a 3.5-second win over Champagne (GSX-R750) and Galindo (GSX-R750).
The track had dried considerably by the time the A Superstock Expert race rolled around, enabling Howard to turn his fastest lap of the day, for the unofficial record, on his way to a come-from-behind win. Sanchez (GSX-R750) was second with Champagne, Galindo and Chris Waller, all on GSX-R750s, rounding out the top five.
Sanchez added wins in the A Superbike Expert and B Superbike Expert races, rounding out a successful day for the Shogun Motorsports-backed racer.
In other money races, Phillip Fisher (Aprilia RSV1000) took home top prize for winning the Heavyweight Twins Expert race after early leader Ronnie Lunsford had an encounter with a lapper. Jason Pirtle (Suz SV650) and Eric Falt (Suz SV1000) finished second and third. Later, Michael Nellis (Hon RC51) bested Falt (Suz SV1000) and Lunsford (Duc 999) to claim top money in the Mr. Corder Racing F40 Expert race.
In Saturday’s M4 Exhaust CMRA Endurance Series Presented By Shogun Motorsports race, which featured a $500 purse, Vinyl Edge Racing led every lap of the 5-hour event to claim the victory by a three-lap margin on their Honda CBR954RR. RaceTex.com (Kaw ZX-6R) took full advantage of the four red flags during the race and never once pitted under green to overtake Village Idiots (YZF-R6) for second position overall and first Middleweight Superbike during the final hour. Desert-Rats.net, riding a GSX-R750, finished fourth overall and topped the Unlimited Supersport class while Lone Star Track Days (Hon CBR600RR) finished fifth overall and first in Middleweight Supersport. Heavy D and the Boys (Suz SV650) finished first Lightweight Superbike and eighth overall.
On Saturday morning, Team OZ Racing (Hon RS80) won a wet 2-hour Mini Endurance event by four laps over Mystery Dance, also on an RS80. Red Spade Racing (Derbi GPR) was third overall and top F-5 while Indenile Racing (Muz SM125) finished fourth ovarall and top F6. Double D Express (Yam YSR50) was the first F7 team to cross the finish line, in ninth overall.
Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
The MotoGP movie ‘Faster’ is playing at the Vic Theatre at 3145 North Sheffield in Chicago on Sunday, May 16th.
The theatre is located about six blocks north of Wrigley Field and doors open at 4:30 p.m.
From a press release issued by Pirelli’s advertising and public relations agency, Plummer Menapace Group:
PIRELLI’S RACE MOMENTUM CONTINUES IN U.S., CHINA, GERMANY
Pirelli Is 4th, 5th, And 6th In AMA Superbike Points After Infineon; Earns Multiple WERA Victories in Nashville; Captures World Endurance Roadrace Win In China; Sweeps World MX GP Podium In Germany
(Rome, GA) Pirelli’s momentum continued this past weekend, gaining speed in race action in the United States, China, and Germany, in both road racing and motocross.
Prieto Racing’s Geoff May continued to impress fans and competitors alike with two more Superbike top-tens at Infineon. (He also caught the attention of the folks in AMA Tech Inspection who wanted a closer look into how the young, second-year AMA privateer could be going that fast that far up the racing order. Reportedly, all they found was a very tired, stock GSX-R1000 motor that had already done three races over the weekend.) May stands in fourth place in AMA Superbike points after five rounds. Fifth and sixth places also belong to Pirelli racers, with Empire Racing’s Lee Acree and Triangle Cycle’s Larry Pegram respectively. Pegram had two eighth-place finishes at Infineon; Acree, a 13th and an 11th .
Meanwhile, over on the right coast, reigning WERA National Endurance Series champions, and longtime Pirelli team, Vesrah Racing owned the top of the box after the four-hour National Endurance Series race at Nashville Superspeedway with riders Mark Junge, Tray Batey, and John Jacobi. Batey also won the 750 Superstock and Heavyweight Twins Superstock races in the National Challenge series. Other Pirelli race winners included Logan Young in 750cc Superbike (who finally bested Keith Marshall, also on Pirellis, after a race-long dogfight), Mark Biletnikoff in Formula Two, and Matt Furtek in Lightweight Twins Superstock.
Further east – much further east, in fact – the Pirelli-sponsored Yamaha GMT94 FIM World Endurance team won the first-ever “internationally-sanctioned motorsport championship to visit the People’s Republic of China”. They beat arch rivals Suzuki Castrol in the six-hour battle at the Zhuhai circuit, Suzuki Castrol unfortunately crashing out near the end.
In the weekend’s world motocross action, Pirelli racers swept the top four places in the MX1-class at the German round of the World MX GP championships in Teutschenthal. Brian Jorgensen won both motos to take the GP win. Current champion Stefan Everts was second, Cedric Melotte third, and Joel Smets fourth. Pirelli’s Mickael Pichon could do no better than eighth following a crash in qualifying. Everts and Melotte currently hold first and second respectively in the points standings; Pichon is fourth, and Smets is sixth.
It should also be noted that the Victory Gods smiled on Pirelli racers last weekend, too, as all three winners on Sunday’s shortened Formula USA National races at a cold and foggy Road America were on Pirelli tires. Michael Barnes lit things up by winning both the Sportbike and Superbike finals on his Pirelli-equipped Championsline.com/Prieto Racing Yamaha R6. Shawn Conrad, the former AMA Pro Thunder champion, finished third behind Barnes in Superbike, and won the Formula Sportbike race on his Lake County Powersports Suzuki GSX-R750. And Dan Bilansky won the Thunderbike final on his Hal’s Performance Buell Firebolt, going wire to wire for the win. And to finish off where we started, Geoff May – there he is again – Barnes’ Prieto Racing teammate, won the Unlimited Grand Prix Suzuki-contingency CCS race by over eight seconds on Saturday on his GSX-R1000 on Pirellis.
More, from a press release issued by Joe Rocket:
MIGUEL, MAT AND BEN LEAD ROCKET DOMINATION!!!
The AMA Superbike Championship returned to action this weekend for round 3 at Infineon Raceway, in sunny Sonoma, California. While the venue may have changed, the results did not as the Rocket Racing Team followed up on their success at California Speedway last month to put on an absolutely dominating performance and take eleven of the possible fifteen-podium position.
Four time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin started the weekend where he left off, breaking the Infineon Raceway Superbike lap record on his way to his 35th career pole and his 28th AMA Superbike win on Saturday aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. Mat was followed to the checkered flag by his Rocket Racing teammates Miguel Duhamel and Superbike rookie sensation Jake Zemke, aboard their factory Honda CBR1000RR’s. On Sunday’s Superbike event, Miguel showed why he’s called the “Living Legend”, charging back from a distant second on the last lap to slip by team mate Zemke for his 27th career Superbike win. The top spot of the podium must have felt pretty good to Miguel as he also rode his factory Honda CBR600RR to his third straight Formula Xtreme win of the season. Again Miguel was followed to the finish line by Zemke and Rocket Racing’s six time Canadian Superbike Champion Steve Crevier, in fourth.
Earlier in the day 19-year-old Superstar Ben Spies put on a clinic and took his GSX-R600 to a wire-to-wire victory in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport Class. Rocket Racing’s Tommy Hayden rode his Kawasaki ZX-6RR to a third place podium finish that puts him on top of the championship chase.
The Rocket Racing Team returns to action May 14-16, 2004 at Barber MotorSports Park, Birmingham, Alabama.
From a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:
TESTING CONTINUES FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI TEAM
The rain that so badly affected the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday had given way to clear skies as the Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team arrived at the Jerez circuit this morning, for the first day of a planned two-day test.
With a promotional event taking place this morning it wasn’t until the afternoon that Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann were able to take to the track for their first test run. With the track still damp in places after the torrential rain over the weekend, Nakano started out evaluating revised clutch components in his Ninja ZX-RR, before switching to tyre testing as the track dried out fully towards the end of the day.
Hofmann’s focus today was on evaluating revised engine components, designed to increase torque from the 990cc, inline four Ninja ZX-RR motor. The track conditions forced the 23-year-old German to curtail the test prematurely, but not before collecting valuable performance data on the revised parts.
Shinya Nakano:
“I had some trouble getting the bike off the line in South Africa, so today we tested some new clutch components in a bid to improve both reliability and feel, and I’m happy to say that these changes have made a significant difference. We also tested four new rear tyres from Bridgestone and collected a lot of data for their development programme. Tomorrow, if the weather stays kind to us, we will concentrate on evaluating the recent revisions made to the chassis.”
Alex Hofmann:
“We had been hoping to test some revised engine components thoroughly, but the track was still damp in places, which meant that only a short test was possible. I also managed to do an endurance run on a new tyre that we had planned to test over the weekend, but couldn’t because of the weather. We weren’t sure whether this particular tyre would have lasted race distance here, but after 26 laps today we now know we can add it to our list of potential race tyres. Bridgestone have been working overtime on development since the opening race of the season at Welkom, so tomorrow’s second day of testing will concentrate on evaluating their latest selection of tyres.”
Naoya Kaneko: Technical Co-ordinator
“Although Alex was only on track for a few hours today we still managed to collect a lot of detailed data on the performance of the new engine components. The initial results have been very positive, and the data will now be sent back to Kawasaki in Japan to be incorporated into the factory’s ongoing engine development programme. Shinya tested some revised clutch components today and the results were also very positive, but it is important that we test the reliability of these components further before using them in a race. Shinya also tested four new rear tyres this afternoon, in order to provide Bridgestone with the information they require for their own tyre development process. Tomorrow we will concentrate on bringing together all the new components we’ve tested up to now, to assess how much of an improvement they offer and in which direction we need to focus further development efforts. The right direction is more apparent each time we run the bike, and this bodes well for the future.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
GOOD WEATHER FINALLY HELPS DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM TESTING
Day 1 of testing
Jerez (Spain), 3 May 2004 – After a difficult race weekend, which was characterised by poor weather conditions, the Ducati Marlboro Team was finally able to get down to some serious testing work this afternoon on the first day of a two-day session at the Spanish circuit. Mild temperatures helped to create an ideal climate for the development of the Desmosedici GP4, which is slightly behind schedule due to the poor weather encountered during the last tests.
After the first positive signs that emerged during Saturday qualifying and yesterday’s warm-up, the engineers and riders of the Italian squad worked hard this afternoon, carrying out tests with a series of tyres, suspension and engine components and accumulating a substantial amount of data on which to work tomorrow.
Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi, who took to the track at 2 o’clock this afternoon, lapped virtually non-stop until 6 o’clock, putting in a total of 48 and 30 laps respectively. Both riders concentrated on testing the components and did not aim for quick times around the Jerez circuit.
Troy worked mainly on rear suspension set-up and engine management while Loris focussed on the Michelin 16.5″ front tyre, which he had not used since pre-season testing.
“We are quite satisfied with this afternoon’s testing and in particular with the improvement made by Troy, who on race tyres and without pushing really hard recorded quicker times than over the weekend,” commented Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “We preferred to let Loris focus on getting used to the 16.5″ front tyre. This evening we will analyse all the information accumulated and let’s hope that tomorrow’s weather will be as good as it has been today because we’ve got a lot of work to get through.”
More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda/Gresini Racing:
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA – test session nr 1
After a spectacular race on wet that saw Sete Gibernau to score the first position of the podium, the Team Telefonica Movistar Honda MotoGP went back to work on the andalusian racetrack today for a two-day test session.
On a dry track Colin Edwards shared the track with other MotoGP teams (HRC, Camel Honda Pons, Yamaha and Ducati). Sete Gibernau preferred to rest and he will test tomorrow and Wednesday.
#45 COLIN EDWARDS – 38 laps 1:42.4 his best time
“I’m happy with today’s work. We made some progress with the bike setting. We went out for almost forty laps this afternoon trying to find a good feeling.”
FABRIZIO CECCHINI, Edwards’ Chief Mechanic
We are working on the suspensions in order to reduce the chattering. We are still trying to find a good feeling with the bike.
The Team Telefonica MoviStar Honda MotoGp will continue to test tomorrow at Jerez de la Frontiera with Colin Edwards and Sete Gibernau.
From a press release issued by MonsterMob Ducati:
THINK! British Superbike Championship
Rounds 7/8
Oulton Park, Cheshire
2nd/3rd May
LAVERTY MAINTAINS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AT OULTON PARK
MonsterMob Ducati British Supersport rider Michael Laverty maintained the lead of the championship with a superb second place finish in front of a massive bank holiday crowd at Oulton Park, Cheshire today.
The 22 year old Ulsterman qualified the 749 MonsterMob Ducati in fourth position before leading the race early on as he and Honda rider Karl Harris battled for the race win.
Laverty was poised to take his second successive victory but a backmarker prevented the pass on the final corner meaning he had to settle for second place and in doing so he maintained a one point lead from Harris going into round five of the thirteen race series.
“I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t win but I rode a sensible race and I didn’t want to throw it away. I still think I could have won it and I thought I’d leave it until the last lap and catch Karl by surprise. I’m kicking myself now for not trying two laps before as a backmarker just messed me up but I’m still leading the championship and that is what matters” said Laverty.
Meanwhile it was a weekend to forget for Superbike rider Sean Emmett who ended up retiring from the second THINK! British Superbike Championship race after posting eighth place in race one aboard the 999 F04. Emmett struggled with a number of problems throughout the entire meeting and despite a number of radical changes for the second race he was forced to retire early on leaving him to languish in fifth in the championship.
Team owner Paul Bird had some tough words to say afterwards:
“This is the worst superbike weekend we have ever had and it is just not acceptable. Things will have to change from now on and I need to see some more improvement and effort from Sean’s side. Regarding Michael, I’m absolutely chuffed to bits for him. He’s leading the championship and had a great race and I’m just over the moon with his performance. We know he is going to go from strength to strength.”
The action moves on to Mondello Park in County Kildare, Ireland in three weeks time with hopes of a return to winning ways for the defending double British Superbike Champions.
Superbike Race One Result
1, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 26:14.357, 2, John Reynolds (Suzuki) +0.122s, 3, Michael Rutter (Honda) +19.521s, 4, Dean Thomas (Ducati) +21.156s, 5, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +29.181s, 6, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +29.658s, 7, Gary Mason (Yamaha) +30.031s, 8, Sean Emmett (MonsterMob Ducati) +34.898s, 9, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) + 1 lap, 10, James Ellison (Yamaha) + 1 lap.
Superbike Race Two Result
1, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 29:27.256, 2, John Reynolds (Suzuki) +0.124s, 3, Michael Rutter (Honda) +13.571s, 4, Dean Thomas (Ducati) +14.920s, 5, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +22.068s, 6, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +23.188s, 7, Gary Mason (Yamaha) +23.366s, 8, James Ellison (Yamaha) +25.724s, 9, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +29.215s, 10, Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) +34.001s. DNF Sean Emmett (MonsterMob Ducati)
Supersport Race Result
1, Karl Harris (Honda) 26:59.802, 2, Michael Laverty (MonsterMob Ducati) +0.535s, 3, Jay Vincent (Honda) +9.880s, 4, Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +10.185s, 5, Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +18.312s, 6, Leon Camier (Honda) +19.815s, 7, Pere Riba (Kawasaki) +21.059s, 8, Craig Jones (Triumph) +21.478s, 9, Luke Quigley (Suzuki) +21.634s, 10, Adrian Coates (Suzuki) +24.856s.
THINK! British Superbike Championship Standings (after Round 8)
1, John Reynolds (Suzuki) 167 pts
2, Michael Rutter (Honda) 149 pts
3, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 128 pts
4, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 90 pts
5, Sean Emmett (MonsterMob Ducati) 86 pts
6, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 76 pts
7, Dean Thomas (Ducati) 74 pts
8, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 51 pts
8, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 51 pts
10, Gary Mason (Yamaha) 49 pts
Supersport Championship Standings (after Round 4)
1, Michael Laverty (MonsterMob Ducati) 71 pts
2, Karl Harris (Honda) 70 pts
3, Jay Vincent (Honda) 59 pts
4, Pere Riba (Kawasaki) 51 pts
5, Luke Quigley (Suzuki) 45 pts
6, Simon Andrews (Yamaha) 40 pts
7, Craig Jones (Triumph) 35 pts
8, Kieran Murphy (Honda) 23 pts
9, Adrian Coates (Suzuki) 21 pts
9, Leon Camier (Honda) 21 pts
More, from a press release issued by MSS Discovery Kawasaki Team:
British Supersport/National Superstock Championships
Round four
Oulton Park
Monday, May 3 2004
MSS DISCOVERY’S RIBA FOURTH IN TITLE CHASE AFTER OULTON PARK BATTLE
MSS Discovery’s Pere Riba took a solid seventh place finish on his Oulton Park debut in round four of the British Supersport championship at the Cheshire circuit on Monday.
Kawasaki ZX-6RR-mounted Riba was involved in battles throughout the 16-lap race as he tackled the 2.69-mile circuit for the first time.
“I had two different parts to the race,” explained Riba. “I was held up with riders diving in front of me then going sideways into the corners so I was never going to make that much progress from the battle I was having for sixth place.
“And I was losing about half a second a lap just through not knowing my way around the circuit. I’m not happy with seventh place but realistically we knew I would struggle to challenge for victory on my first visit here.”
Riba concluded: “Now we have a three-week break before the next round and I’m sure we will improve the ZX-6RR even more people forget this is a completely new machine we’re dealing with a to be fourth in the championship is acceptable.”
Riba’s fellow MSS Discovery rider Rob Frost retired from the race at the halfway stage, all after making a stunning start from his 20th place on the grid.
Frost said: “I was up to about 12th place on the first lap before I was shunted onto the grass. I rejoined in 28th place and made it up to 16th before the machine went off song. I¹m not sure yet what the problem was, the team are looking into it.”
MSS Discovery’s Steve Allan finished sixth after a determined ride from ninth place on the grid in the 15-lap National Superstock championship race.
Allan powered the ZX-10R into a comfortable sixth place with three laps to go and the Scotsman now believes regular podium finishes in the series are not too far away.
Allan explained: “The ZX-10R worked really well in the race here at Oulton and it just gets better and better. As the machine gets better I’m feeling stronger and stronger in races. We¹ve now reached a consistent level with the machine’s set-up.
“I’m happy enough with sixth place. I got held up for a while and once I was into sixth place I realised that I could have lived with the two riders in front and maybe got fourth but I ran out of laps.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:
SUZUKI DOMINATES BRITISH SUPERBIKES!
Team Suzuki Press Office – May 3, 2004.
Yukio Kagayama and John Reynolds dominated today’s British Superbike fourth round at Oulton Park with one-two victories in both races.
Rizla Suzuki’s Kagayama won both races ahead of team mate Reynolds with less than a tenth-of-a-second separating them at the flag.
Yuki followed JR for most of the first race before passing and taking the win. Then in the second race, he made a break for the line with four laps to go; barely holding off JR at the chequered flag.
Reynolds extended his Championship lead over Honda’s Michael Rutter to 18-points while Yuki is looking ominous in third place and chasing hard.
Rizla Suzuki has now won six of the first eight races of the 2004 season, with each rider sharing three wins.
Yukio Kagayama:
“Today is good result, I am so happy. First race I follow John-san and study his riding. On the last lap I know where to overtake and win the race.
“In the second race I pass John-san with some laps to go. I try to break away and make many mistakes. I give too much gas and my body is tired, but I try my all and am so happy to win. After the race I am maximum tired, so much that I cannot stand up by myself. But good news is that now I return to Japan for small holiday with my family and will come home to Britain stronger. I can win – I have number one team. I have learnt new English words – piece of cake!”
John Reynolds:
“From a team perspective, it has been a fantastic day. On a personal level, I have been out-ridden and it isn’t often that happens.
“In the first race, Yuki snatched the win from me at the end, but in the second race he beat me fair and square. Yuki is proving he is going to be a big rival for me in 2004. He is a world-class rider and it is a privilege to be racing against him. It’s great that Rizla Suzuki is dominating but maybe I’m respecting Yuki a bit too much; next time, I plan to be the one with the double win.”
Paul Denning, team manager:
“As team owner, I am finding new levels of stress I didn’t think possible. Watching your two riders dicing for the victory at lap-record pace raises the heartbeat I can tell you…
“This is Crescent and Rizla Suzuki’s first ever double 1-2. Congratulations to both riders and the whole team; from mechanics to data acquisition; Dunlop tyre technicians to hospitality staff. They are the ones who have made this fantastic result possible.
“Rizla Suzuki has the GSX-R1000 and the overall package to win. Yuki leaves for Japan and a two-week break with the best possible results and we are off to Mondello Park next, a happy hunting ground for the team and in particular JR.
“Thanks to all our fans for their support. Today is dedicated to you all. We won’t be resting on our laurels, but this is a new peak for us all, and this evening, I will be sharing a few beers with the boys before getting back to work in the morning.”
Race One Result: 1: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) 26:14.357, 2: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.122, 3: Michael Rutter (Honda) +19.521, 4: Dean Thomas (Ducati) +21.156, 5: Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +29.181, 6: Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +29.658, 7: Gary Mason (Yamaha) +30.031, 8: Sean Emmett (Ducati) +34.898, 9: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +1lap, 10: James Ellison (Yamaha) +1lap.
Race Two Result: 1: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) 29:27.256, 2: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.124, 3: Rutter +13.571, 4: Thomas +14.920, 5: Smart +22.068, 6: Leon Haslam (Ducati) +23.188, 7: Mason +23.366, 8: Ellison +25.724, 9: Richards +29.215, 10: Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) +34.001.
Championship Positions: 1: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) 167, 2: Rutter 149, 3: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) 128, 4: Smart 90, 5: Emmett 86, 6: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 76, 7: Thomas 74, 8: Hill 51, 9: Richards 51, 10: Mason 49.
Suzuki racing round-up:
Andy Tinsley won the National Superstock race for Suzuki on a GSX-R1000 and is leading the Championship.
Race Result:
Andy Tinsley (Suzuki) 25:34.257, 2: Mark Heckles (Yamaha) +0.624, 3: Tristan Palmer (Suzuki).
From a press release issued by MSMA:
MSMA to propose a MotoGP rule change from 2007
At the start of the third year of the new era of MotoGP, with continuously growing interest in the series, the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association has decided to propose to the GP commission (composed of FIM, Dorna, IRTA and MSMA) a technical rule change for the near future.
In the interests of safety, the manufacturers have unanimously decided that it is necessary to place a limit on the increase in motorcycle performance. This will already start in the year 2005 when fuel tank capacity will be reduced from 24 to 22 litres, but in the long term this measure would not have been sufficient.
For this reason the MSMA has decided to propose a reduction in engine capacity from 990 cc to 900 cc, starting from 2007.
The intention is not to reduce performance but to prevent a continuous improvement in speed and lap times.
It has been proposed also a new weight rule from 2007 which is as follow:
2 Cylinders: 133 kg.
3 Cylinders: 140.5 kg.
4 Cylinders: 148 kg.
5 Cylinders: 155.5 kg.
6 Cylinders: 163 kg.
A possible reduction of the 22 litres fuel tank capacity will be defined during 2005.
MSMA wishes to express its gratitude to FIM, IRTA and DORNA for everything that has been done in the interests of safety in Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Thank you very much.
Takanao Tsubouchi
Secretary General of Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association
