From a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates, Dunlop’s advertising and PR agency:
Zemke tastes first Superbike victory at Brainerd
Brainerd, MN – Erion Racing’s Jake Zemke clinched his first-ever AMA Superbike victory at Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) on Sunday, June 27 – the same track where he collected his first AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme victories. All-in-all it was a superb weekend of racing for Dunlop-sponsored riders in the four series campaigned here as Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel notched his fifth victory in Formula Xtreme, Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking collected Superstock victory number four and Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden notched his fourth win in Supersport competition.
The Minnesota summer welcomed the seventh stop of the AMA’s 2004 Superbike tour with cool and occasionally damp weather. BIR is known for turns one and two, arguably the fastest in the AMA Superbike series, and corners of varying camber. The surface is noted for its numerous seams, which create a harsh ride, and the relatively old pavement. To meet the demands of the track, Dunlop arrived with over 1500 tires to support the factory and support teams of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. .
The weekend’s first race in the Formula Xtreme series took place Saturday afternoon. In this class, highly-modified 600cc four cylinder and 750cc twin cylinder machines dominate the front rows. Duhamel and Zemke fought tooth-and-nail throughout the race for the lead aboard their CBR600RRs, with the duo often swapping the lead along BIR’s long front straightaway and the fast right-hand sweepers in turns one and two. At one point early in the race, Duhamel’s right knee-puck slider tore away, forcing him to alter his riding style through the turns to protect his knee. No matter, Duhamel drafted past Zemke on lap 11 and then ripped off the fastest lap of the race, 1:38.083 to hold the lead, taking the win by .375 seconds over Zemke. “The Dunlop tires were really good actually, I was concerned when we picked up the pace a bit and Jake was right with me the whole time, I was trying to stay in front and not use them up too much. At the end there, I bested my qualifying time on my last lap so I was really pleased with my tires and their performance.” Emgo Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec took third, followed by Erion Racing’s Alex Gobert in fourth. Duhamel leads the series with 250 points to Zemke’s 235, followed by Gobert with 193.
Sunday’s slate of three races began with the 1000cc machines of the Superstock class. Dunlop brought five rear tire compound selections, ranging from medium to hard, and three front tire compounds from which the riders could select. Series point leader Hacking started from the pole with a devastating qualifying time of 1:36.232 on his R-1, eight-tenths of a second ahead of the defending Superstock Champion, Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes on a ZX-10RR. Hacking and Hayes jostled for the lead along the front straight and through turn one on the first seven laps of the 13-lap race before Hacking went around Hayes for good, breaking Hayes’ draft with the race’s fastest lap of 1:36.885. He stretched his lead to an eventual margin of victory of 2.837 seconds over Hayes.” He (Hayes) was tough going into turn one and was hanging it out through there, he was definitely hooked up. I just backed off coming down into the last corner. It was close, when I pulled out from the draft…but that’s what I had to do. The Dunlop tires were working really good on it.” Hacking’s teammate Jason Disalvo closed rapidly to finish less than three-tenths of a second behind Hayes. Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden and brother Roger Lee finished fourth and fifth while Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies took sixth on his GSX-R1000 and Yamaha’s Aaron Gobert was seventh. Gobert’s brother Alex finished ninth on an Erion Racing CBR1000RR as Dunlop-supported riders took eight of the top ten positions. Hacking now holds the series lead with 218 points to Aaron Gobert’s 204, followed by Tommy Hayden with 200.
The highly-competitive 600cc Supersport series did not disappoint fans as the first six laps of the race featured numerous lead changes between Kawasaki’s Hayden duo on ZX-6RRs and Yamaha’s Hacking on an R-6. The action behind the leaders was just as competitive when rain forced a restart and set-up a seven-lap sprint to the checkered flag. While Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden fought for the lead, Yamahas’ Gobert, Disalvo and Hacking were close behind. Tommy Hayden slipped past his brother on the last turn before the checkered flag, winning by just .095 seconds. “Coming into the last turn I figured at least I was going by, whether or not he’d pass me back I wasn’t sure. But I was braking after he did and luckily I was able to get it stopped and I squared it up just ahead of him.” Disalvo, Hacking and Gobert finished third through fifth, respectively, while Suzuki’s Ben Spies and Aaron Yates took sixth and eighth on GSX-R600s. Only 1.872 seconds separated the first six finishers as Dunlop-shod riders took eight of the top ten positions. In series points, Tommy Hayden has 237 points to 208 for teammate and brother Roger Lee. Hacking is close behind in third with 201 points.
For the Superbike competitors, Dunlop brought five rear tire compound selections ranging from medium to hard. The teams also had seven front tire compounds from which to select. Sunday’s Superbike race result was foreshadowed by Zemke’s pole qualifying performance on his CBR1000RR Saturday with a time of 1:35.655. “I went out on my first bike and had a problem with it so I came straight into the pit and went out on my second bike and did one warm-up lap.” Zemke and Larry Pegram then bumped and both fell coming out of turn ten before the front straight, effectively shortening Zemke’s qualifying run to just ten minutes. “Basically we just threw a Q (qualifying tire) on it and I went straight out, did one lap just trying to get my mind focused and get up to speed, then came in and threw a second Q and ran that lap.”
Sunday’s Superbike race featured the most competitive action to date this year. After Kawasaki’s Hayes led briefly, Zemke, series leader Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin on his GSX-R1000, and a charging Duhamel on his Honda Racing CBR1000RR swapped positions frequently thereafter. The Honda pair had a power advantage on BIR’s long front straightaway but Mladin passed them repeatedly on the circuit’s tighter corners. Lapped traffic would put space between the trio but Duhamel controlled laps 15-20 and appeared headed to his fifth victory of the season. As the race wound down to the last lap, Zemke slipped past Duhamel coming out of turn two as Duhamel ran wide. A crash ahead and rain falling in the last three turns made the final charge to the flag treacherous but Zemke held on for his first-ever Superbike win. “Brainerd’s a pretty special place for me. I won my first Formula Xtreme race here, I won my first 600 race here, and I’ve won my first Superbike race here. Miguel made a little mistake there coming out of two, and when he did that, it just opened the door wide open. Then I just came around to the finish, the last two corners were awfully wet.” Though upset with the lack of a red flag on the last lap, Duhamel and Mladin were gracious in their tribute to Zemke. Finishing fifth was Honda Racing’s Ben Bostrom, followed by Hayes and Suzuki’s Yates. Mladin’s lead in the series has narrowed with 358 points to Duhamel’s 352 and Zemke’s 348.
Next stop for Dunlop and the AMA road racing tour will be the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on July 9-11.
More, from a press release issued by Plummer Menapace, Pirelli’s advertising and PR agency:
PIRELLI TIRE RACE REPORT: AMA BRAINERD AND WORLD MX GP RESULTS
Solid Top 10s Across the Board At Brainerd;
American Jeff Dement Gives Pirelli A Third in Belgian MXGP
(Rome, GA) Pirelli’s privateers continue to be the thorn in the factory’s sides in 2004. And this past weekend at the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Series round at Brainerd International Raceway was more of the same, a continuing theme that hasn’t abated since the opening round in Daytona.
In Formula Xtreme, Pirelli now holds six of the top ten championship points positions as a result of taking the sixth through twelfth race positions at Brainerd. Triangle Cycle’s Larry Pegram is fifth in points, but it was Michael Barnes and his Kosco HD/Buell-sponsored Buell XB9R that gave Pirelli its top Brainerd Formula Xtreme position in sixth. Behind Barnes came Young America Suzuki’s Blake Young, Pegram, HAS/Shogun Racing’s Heath Small, Lion Racing’s Nicky Moore, Hester Racing’s Nathan Hester, and Mach 1/EMA’s Perry Melnecuic – all Pirelli mounted. Behind Pegram in the points are Lion Racing’s Jake Holden, still in sixth even though this is the second straight Formula Xtreme race he’s not started, choosing to concentrate on other classes. Nathan Hester is seventh, followed in order by Melnecuic, Barnes, and Small.
“Barney” Barnes and his Pirelli-shod Prieto Racing Yamaha R6 added a ninth place finish in Sunday’s Supersport final, keeping him in eighth place in points in the highly-competitive, factory-dominated Supersport class. Teenage chargers Nicky Moore, who switched to a Suzuki GSX-R600 a few weeks ago, finished 12th, and Blake Young, 15th.
While over in Superstock, Jake Holden was the top non-factory finisher, in eighth, moving him up to ninth in points.
Holden was also Pirelli’s top Brainerd Superbike finisher, taking ninth, one position ahead of Pirelli’s habitual Superbike Top-10er, Geoff May. Newlywed May finished 10th, keeping his 2004 streak of top-10 finishes intact, and solidly holding his amazing fifth place championship points position, the top privateer. “We struggled with set-up at the beginning of the weekend, we were just behind, but it all paid off when the race came. We had something for ‘em. We ended up running the 17s (17-inch Pirelli slicks instead of the 16.5s he usually runs), they were great!”
Pirelli’s perennial domination of World motocross Grands Prix continued this past weekend at the Neeroeteren, Belgium GP. Longtime Pirelli riders Mickael Pichon and current champion, Stefan Everts swapped wins in the MX1 class, with Pichon taking the overall win. Everts, however, still holds a commanding 102-point lead in the championship. But the big news for American MX fans was Jeff Dement, riding an SRS Honda in the World Championship, giving Pirelli a third place in the MX2 class. All three were on Pirelli’s new Scorpion front tire and MT32 rear.
More, from a press release issued by Moto Primo Suzuki:
Moto Primo Suzuki Racer, Jessica Zalusky, qualified and finished respectively at her home track, Brainerd International Raceway for the 7th round of the AMA Superbike Championship Series, racing in the Superstock and Supersport classes.
Racing in two competitive classes, Jessica juggled her schedule between racing her familiar Suzuki GSX-R 750 and taking her time to familiarize herself once again with her Yamaha YZF-R6 after a yearlong absence.
Jessica started Friday practice strong in Superstock with laptimes of 1:45s, placing her 19th amongst the field of riders. During qualifying for Superstock, Jessica was not able to break her practice times due to mechanical issues suffered with her Suzuki GSX-R 750 and qualified in 22nd position.
On Sunday for the Superstock race, Jessica encountered an early mishap and lost her contact lens for her left eye due to dry eyes. Jessica was able to maintain her lap times and finished in 20th position.
During practice and qualifying for Supersport, Jessica encountered and overcame mechanical issues now with her Yamaha YZF-R6, which only allowed her a limited amount of laps, resulting in the 33rd position for qualifying.
For the Supersport race, Jessica was able to regain focus, but shortly suffered once again the loss of a contact lens. After a brief spout of rain the Supersport race was red-flagged and Jessica was able to correct her lack of vision and finished the race in 29th position.
In the points chase for 2004, Jessica boosted to the 30th position for Superstock and 65th for Supersport. Due to scheduling constraints, Jessica may only race one more round in the AMA series for 2004. For 2005, she will have more of a full schedule and will include more rounds with AMA series.
For more information about Jessica Zalusky, visit www.roadracinggirl.com
© , Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.