From AMA Pro Racing press releases:

NICKY HAYDEN’S RUN TO TIE DUHAMEL’S SIX-RACE
WIN STREAK STARTS OVER AT ROAD AMERICA

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – Honda Racing’s Nicky Hayden has been at the point of tying teammate Miguel Duhamel’s six-race win streak twice in 2002, but luck has not been on his side. He comes to Rounds 9 and 10 of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship this weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. in hopes of starting start yet another streak.

Hayden’s first opportunity came at the series’ second round in April at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif., where he could muster no better than a third-place finish. But he started right back where he left off by winning the second race of that doubleheader event and went on to win the next four rounds. That left him with another chance last weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway, and with an 80-point series advantage in hand.

Fast all weekend, Hayden’s winning ways came to an abrupt stop after he tucked the front and went down early in the race. With Road America being the home of Hayden’s first-ever Superbike wins (he won both races of the doubleheader event in 2000), the 20-year-old Owensboro, Ky. native is on a mission to start yet another winning streak this weekend.

But another streak will have to go through Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. Bostrom and his crew appeared to have their bike setup and race strategy figured out last weekend when he got the holeshot and never looked back, easily winning
the 49-lap event by 15 seconds. But Road America is a track that Bostrom has yet to win an AMA Superbike race at.

Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Aaron Yates and Jamie Hacking are also both coming to Elkhart Lake after podium finishes in Colorado. Both riders have notched superbike podiums this year and count on seeing both of them going for the win at this weekend’s doubleheader event.

Three-time defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin of the Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki team won the first race of last year’s doubleheader at Road America. The 30-year-old Australian is winless in 2002 and he hasn’t been shy about his frustration he’s endured this season. Even though he is 72 points out of the championship, he hasn’t given up the fight to notch his first victory of the year.

HMC Ducati’s Doug Chandler is also showing strong potential for a podium finish despite the struggles he’s been having with getting back to 100 percent after a crash in qualifying at Road Atlanta. The three-time AMA Superbike Champion could be considered the rider hungriest for a win after the 2002 season opener in Daytona Beach, Fla. started without him.

Pascal Picotte’s new ride with the Austin Blue Bayou Ducati team has seen him with top-five finishes and it will only be a matter of time before the Canadian puts his No. 21 on the podium.

Still on the injured list is in the AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike Championship is Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert, who broke his right fibula after crashing during superbike qualifying at Road Atlanta three weeks ago. Erion Racing’s Kurtis Roberts is going to sit out another race weekend too. Roberts has been recovering from a knee injury suffered at California Speedway in April.

In Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship competition, Aaron Yates and his Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 still have a strong hold, despite a fifth-place finish last weekend in Colorado. He arrives in Elkhart Lake with a 50-point advantage over second and on a mission to get back to his winning ways.

Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden sits second in points thanks to his win in the fiercely competitive AMA Supersport class at Pikes Peak. Hayden’s teammate Tony “The Tiger” Meiring notched his first podium of the season at PPIR in his first year with the big team. Meiring is building his confidence and will be vying for a podium finish at Road America.

Filling the Yamaha Supersport void is Graves Yamaha pilot Damon Buckmaster. The likeable Australian suffered mechanical woes last weekend and fell from third in points to seventh, marking the first time in the last three races he hasn’t finished in the top five.


JIMMY MOORE LOOKING FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE
WIN AT ROAD AMERICA

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – Defending Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock champion Jimmy Moore is fresh off a win from Pikes Peak and plans on taking his Corona Extra Suzuki GSX-R750 to another win at Road America as well as closing in on current points leader, Lee Acree, who has a 16-point advantage. Moore is the defending Superstock winner at the four-mile track in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Team Cruise America’s Jason DiSalvo has been on the gas in his first year on a Suzuki GSX-R750. The 18-year-old Stafford, N.Y. native took second at the last round, the first podium for him in the class, and continues to get faster with every race.

Arclight Suzuki’s Craig Connell also had his first podium of the season at Pikes Peak, finishing third and three spots in front of his teammate and series leader Acree. Connell’s season has been hampered by a shoulder injury, but it appears that the Australian is on the mend as well as the throttle of his Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R750.

Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden and Tony Meiring have both been running strong in Superstock on their factory-prepared 600cc machines, with Hayden being the only rider in the history of the class to beat the 750cc machines on a 600cc-machine. Meiring is in his first year with the factory team and finished fourth at PPIR, his best finish yet in the bar-banging, elbow throwing class.

The Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme class points leader Damon Buckmaster had his first race on a completely new Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 at Pikes Peak, and it looked like he would have a top-five finish on the unproven motorcycle. Unfortunately on the last lap, he slowed dramatically with his bike ultimately coming to a stop. He ended up ninth, and though the friendly Australian was frustrated, his crew scurried back to its race shop in California this week to sort out the problem. The defending Road America Formula Xtreme winner will be sure to have a bike ready for him to defend his title this weekend. Buckmaster also set a new track record for the class in last year’s race with a lap time of 2:10.231.

Attack Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore won the last weekend’s Formula Xtreme race and comes to Road America confident that he will be on the podium again. Pridmore is sitting third in the points battle and a win in Elkhart Lake will help him
close the gap on his 18-point deficit. With the power of his Attack Suzuki GSX-R1000 and his natural talent, he is a considerable threat for the championship.

Bruce Transportation Group’s Jake Zemke is sitting second in points and only 13 down from first. This 23-year-old Paso Robles, Calif. native has continued to put in strong performances in the 1000cc class.

Erion Racing’s Mike Hale is showing that a few years off the bike hasn’t hindered him much in his first year back, as he has earned several top-five finishes on his Erion-prepared Honda. Hale’s early successes in road racing came on a Honda and he is showing that he adapted quickly to the new CBR954RR.


KIRK MCCARTHY TAKES TO ANOTHER NEW TRACK
LOOKING FOR WIN IN BUELL PRO THUNDER

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – Advanced Motorsports Ducati rider Kirk McCarthy continues to prove he is excellent at adapting to unfamiliar conditions. Taking pole position and the win in the second round of the Buell Pro Thunder Series last weekend, McCarthy will arrive at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. with a 15-point advantage over second place.

But the former Australian Superbike Champion McCarthy will have to do battle with Woody Kyle Racing’s David Estok, who had a great run last weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway finishing second. After suffering a mechanical DNF at the opening round in Daytona Beach, Fla., Estok, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., will be on the gas at Road America to make up for his points deficit.

Hal’s Performance Advantage Buell rider Mike Ciccotto is sitting 15 points behind McCarthy and wants to close in on the Australian Ducati rider at Road America as he has been coveting this championship since last October. Last year he lost the series title by a mere two points to Thomas Montano.

Montano, the defending Buell Pro Thunder Champion, is having a hard start to the season. A fall in the opening round at Daytona International Speedway and mechanical trouble at PPIR have left him behind the eight ball in points and he will arrive at Road America’s four-mile road course with some work to do to get back into the hunt.

Going into the last round of the MBNA 250 Grand Prix class last weekend, no one expected to see four-time class champion Rich Oliver at the track, let alone on his Team Oliver Yamaha 250. Oliver suffered a compound fracture to his right forearm and lost two toes on his left foot after a bad fall a month ago at Sears Point Raceway. But the 40-year-old Oliver took the pole position and went on to lead every lap to win the race.

Stargel Aprilia’s Chuck Sorensen is maintaining his lead in points, 34, after a third place last weekend. Sorensen is looking to get the No. 1 plate back on his bike after Jimmy Filice took the title away from him last year. If Sorensen can win the title, he would be the first rider to give Aprilia an AMA U.S. Championship. The friendly, Sunnyvale, Calif., native is easy to spot in the pits as he and his team don colorful Hawaiian shirts as part of the official team apparel.

The surprise of the series has to be Simon Turner. The native of Northern Ireland is fresh off his first podium finish of the season and will arrive in Elkhart Lake looking for his second.

For ticket information visit Road America’s website at www.roadamerica.com or call (800) 365-RACE (7223).

For immediate post-race results, points, and live transponder scoring from each race in the championship, log on to amaproracing.com’s Superbike Mediacenter, the official home of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Bruce Transportation Group’s Jake Zemke will ride Kurtis Roberts’ Honda RC51 Superbike at Road America this weekend.

“The bike’s been vacant for a while,” American Honda/Universal Studios Team Coordinator Ray Plumb told Roadracingworld.com in the Road America paddock Thursday. “Kurtis’ recovery is going slower, it helps the sponsors – Erion Honda, PJ1, Parts Unlimited – Jake’s riding good. So we thought we would give him a chance, a one-shot deal.”

When asked if Zemke would ride all three classes; Supersport, Formula Xtreme and Superbike, Plumb said, “No, he’ll probably bail on the 600 (Supersport) race.” Plumb added that Zemke will work with Roberts’ normal Superbike team led by Crew Chief David McGrath, engine builder Bob Reichmann and chassis man Danny Hull.

The move to put Zemke on the Honda Superbike could be a precursor to a full-time Superbike ride for the 23-year-old Californian. Eric Bostrom, Nicky Hayden and Kurtis Roberts all received guest rides on Honda factory Superbikes before moving to the American Honda team full-time.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Thursday practice started at 8:30 a.m. today at Road America. The practice day, organized and run by the racetrack itself, cost riders $200 per bike, per group, with four 20-minute sessions per group.

That’s relatively high, considering that riders got about the same amount of track time at Pikes Peak last Thursday for $50 per rider (not bike) and that the Team Hammer Pro Practice day scheduled on the Thursday before the AMA National at The Colonel’s Brainerd International Raceway later this month will cost $150 per rider (not bike) with five 30-minute sessions per group.

The difference in available track time may be due to how the on-track groups are structured. At Road America, practice is divided into five groups, Supersport, 250 Grand Prix, Superbike/Formula Xtreme, Superstock and Pro Thunder.

At Pikes Peak and Brainerd, practice was/is divided into three groups:

Supersport/250cc Grand Prix
Superbike/Formula Xtreme
Superstock/Pro Thunder

Those groupings seem to work fairly well and nearly double each group’s track time.



This Just In:

The afternoon sessions at Road America will combine Supersport/250cc Grand Prix, Superbike/Formula Xtreme, and Superstock/Pro Thunder.

From a press release issued by the organizers of the Superbike World Championship Series:

Round 7 – Germany – EuroSpeedway
7-9 June 2002
Lausitz, 6 June 2002

Second Time Around

The Eurospeedway Lausitz race facility is truly impressive to behold, and on SBK’s first visit in 2001, which launched the new track to the world at large, all new visitors were impressed by the scope and scale of the entire project.

Designed from the outset as the most impressive new motorsports facility in Europe, Eurospeedway Lausitz is a venue worthy of this respect. The towering grandstands, vast site area, Daytona-style Tri-oval layout and impressive facilities – for fans and the travelling paddock circus alike – put it on the cutting edge of modern circuit design.

Not a natural motorcycle track, due to its almost flat topography, continuous slow turns, and the need for car-racing barriers in some strategic points, the Lausitzring is nonetheless a tricky circuit to get right for even the best competitors on only their second visit.

Despite the many corners, the average speed is somewhere in the region of 150km/h, no slower than most other SBK tracks.

The 4.265 km track, with a 650m front straight, is mostly based on the infield of the huge encircling tri-oval, used by the open wheel racecar fraternity.

The Lausitz tarmac, proved to be highly abrasive in the dry but curiously less than porous in the wet, provided a unique challenge for the competitors and made for some unexpected results in qualifying.

Steve Martin (DFX Ducati) is the current holder of the fastest qualifying lap, with a 1:40.036 (153.480km/h) but in race conditions, the official lap record stands to Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) at 1:40.599.

The same two men who shared race wins at Lausitz in 2001, and battled it out for that year’s championship, are the same two who have been putting so much into their campaigns this year. Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) have been not just fast, but fast every single weekend, in every session, in every possible way.

The other championship challengers may have been dismayed by the consistent brilliance of Bayliss (nine wins from 12 attempts) and the dogged excellence of Edwards, but seldom have the leading duo had their own way throughout an entire half season.

Many have tried, however, and many more will doubtless continue to try.

Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) is using last year’s factory Ducati this season and despite any performance differentials, has been fighting hard throughout to keep his receding hopes of an eventual top two finish alive. Sitting third at present, 74 points behind Edwards, he has had dramatic on-track battles and feuds with those in front and behind him.

Closest chaser is the ebullient Japanese Samurai Noriyuki Haga (Playstation2 Aprilia) who has yet to win this year but has shown it is more than possible, if circumstances would allow. First time at Lausitz for Haga may count against him, but for fifth place man Ruben Xaus, Bayliss’ team-mate, he knows his way round. A mercurial genius on his day and a self-destructive force of nature when it’s not, Xaus is nonetheless one of the most popular men in the paddock. Coming from a podium finish in Silverstone, he may just be a threat in Germany; Ben Bostrom (L&M Ducati) may also challenge, if his Dunlop-shod Ducati can perform at its best – and the rider can rekindle the kind of staggering form that gave him five wins in a row last season.

James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) has been learning the ways of top-level Superbike racing for two years now, and learning pretty quick. Despite a single podium finish, his consistency has been immense, with only one no-score for one so young.

Three Brits in the top eight means that Chris Walker has jumped up the table after his fourth place finish at Silverstone. The Kawasaki Racing Team pilot has had many problems, medical and otherwise this season, but his sheer will to kick-start his career has been a feature of his debut SBK year. It has also made him the top four-cylinder competitor in the SBK Championship, ahead of Spain and Alstare Suzuki’s Gregorio Lavilla, his compatriot Juan Borja (Spaziotel Ducati) and the still-injured Hitoyasu Izutsu. Possibly the most popular man in SBK racing even now is Pierfrancesco Chili. The veteran Italian on the NCR Ducati has been impressive enough but recovery from a broken collarbone has halted aspirations for the podium positions this season.

A whole phalanx of fast Ducati-equipped privateers have made themselves occasional thorns in the sides of the factory-equipped men this year, but for high flier Bayliss, on 260 points, he has only been rivalled by one man, Colin Edwards, on 231.

In the Supersport Championship, the three way fight for the lead has been joined by a few others recently, with James Whitham (Yamaha Belgarda) winning at Silverstone, but it appears that (season-long at least) the title will be decided between Stephane Chambon (Alstare Suzuki), Fabien Foret (Ten Kate Honda) and reigning champion Andrew Pitt (Kawasaki Racing Team).

At Lausitz last year rain-specialist Kevin Curtin won the event for Honda, and he returns this season on an OPCM Yamaha.

From a press release:

GREAT DAY GOES BAD FOR PROTON MEN

Round 5: Italian GP, Mugello Sunday June 2, 2002

Nobuatsu Aoki: DNF
Jeremy McWilliams: DNF

Proton Team KR riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Jeremy McWilliams both retired from the Italian GP – Aoki crashing out of a superb seventh place on the tenth of 23 laps of the 5.245km Mugello circuit in the Tuscan foothills, and McWilliams pulling into the pits with five laps remaining.

Both riders had engine problems, for different reasons. Aoki’s motor seized abruptly, throwing the Japanese rider off, fortunately without injury. McWilliams’s motor suffered from lubrication starvation as an indirect consequence of excessive tyre wear, and also nipped up – though the Ulsterman was able to anticipate the problem and declutch, to coast safely into the pits.

It was a double disappointment for Proton Team KR, after strong qualifying performances at a track where the very long and fast straight is prejudiced against the three-cylinder 500cc lightweight KR3, which finds its advantage through fast corners and in more technical going. In spite of giving away more than 25km/h in top speed to the new powerful heavyweight MotoGP four-strokes, the Proton KR3 riders had qualified on the third row of the grid.

Aoki capitalised best on his good position, finishing the first lap in ninth, and pushing through to a strong seventh when he fell. McWilliams was not so quick off the line, but was well up in a points-scoring 11th before dropping back two places with tyre wear problems. He was 13th before he retired.

The race was run in baking sunshine and 30-degree heat, watched by 68,000 excited Italian fans, who watched defending World Champion Valentino Rossi’s Honda defeat fellow-Italian Max Biaggi’s Yamaha. Tohru Ukawa was third, on another four-stroke Honda.


NOBUATSU AOKI
“Everything was working perfectly – the chassis, the tyres, the suspension and the engine. I was really enjoying the race, and I had even got past Kenny Roberts Jr. on the Suzuki four-stroke when I crashed. I had a little warning that the engine would seize, but I could do nothing about it. It was just before the last right-hand corner off the hill, and when it locked up I hit the ground so fast. Luckily, I am not hurt. It was a very disappointing end to the weekend.”


JEREMY McWILLIAMS
“I had expected to run into some tyre problems because of the heat – it’s normal. But I had a strange problem as a result. Because the rear had gone away so badly, I wasn’t able to give the bike full throttle, and that starved it of lubrication. In the end, it paid the price – it locked up with hardly any warning. I was right in the middle of the fast chicane at the top of the hill, at about 120mph. I managed to get the clutch in quick enough. I was very lucky to get away with it … and I was going so fast I was able to coast from there to the pits.”


KENNY ROBERTS- Team Owner
“A bad day. Obviously we had a crankshaft problem with Nobu’s bike. The heat didn’t help, nor the long straight. We had a bit of a tyre problem as well, that led to Jeremy’s retirement. The whole thing has to be improved to bring it up to the level of the riders.”

From an e-mail:

Over the past two years, I have raced with Daryl on numerous occasions. He is an extremely clean rider. I race a modified Honda CR-500 dirt bike, which allows me to take many shall we say “creative” lines. In passing and (more often) being passed by Daryl there has never been an issue, even with him going around the outside of my somewhat sideways bike. I’ve enjoyed every encounter I’ve had with him on the track.

I sincerely think that this was a “RACING INCIDENT” which should not have a negative effect on our perception of either Yates or Woodward.

Thank you,

Sean Alexander
CCS #11 Expert
Simi Valley, CA

From two press releases, one issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist and one issued by American Honda:

MAT MLADIN Racing – MEDIA INFORMATION
For immediate release
Sunday, 2 June 2002

Round 8, 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, Colorado, USA
Race Report

TYRE PROBLEMS FORCE MLADIN OFF PIKES PEAK PODIUM

Fountain, Colorado, USA: After holding down second place for much of the race, defending American Superbike champion, Australian Mat Mladin was forced to ease his race pace to preserve his rear tyre as it blistered badly in the sweltering conditions at Pikes Peak International Raceway to finish fourth at round eight of the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship.

The race win went to Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom who led each of the 48-laps finishing 15.28 seconds clear of a trio of Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750s led by Aaron Yates who was followed by Jamie Hacking and Mladin.

Championship point’s leader Nicky Hayden (American Honda) crashed out of the race on lap sixteen and failed to score any additional points. Bostrom’s win, his first of the season, takes him to second on the points table with 211, ahead of Yates (204) and Mladin (181).

With track temperatures soaring to 125ºF tyre selection was always going to be critical around the tight 2.12km (1.315miles) course. Starting from the outside of the front row of the grid, Mladin got away well and was immediately in with the lead group. He held second place behind Bostrom, but on lap 22 began to experience problems with his rear tyre. Easing the pace slightly to preserve the tyre, Mladin was passed initially by teammate Jamie Hacking and then by Aaron Yates who was forced to undergo a stop / start penalty for jumping the race start. Yates passed Hacking on the final lap of the race to take second, while Mladin coasted to a safe fourth.

“Unfortunately it has been another frustrating race for me this year,” said Mladin. “We’ve had a few tyre problems this year and today was another. The tyre has just blistered all the way around one side and there was nothing I could do about it. It was the same tyre as the others were using, but mine just gave way at about mid race distance while the others looked good at the end of the race. The race got off to a good start for us and I was holding second place quite easily. Eric was very fast out front and I don’t think I could have got close to him anyway.

“The team has worked very hard to get on top of the handling problems that we’ve had lately and going by what has happened this weekend I think we’re definitely heading in the right direction now. I’ve moved up to fourth in the championship, but there is still a lot of work to be done if we want to get even closer to the front.”

The AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship heads to the Road America circuit at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin next weekend (June 8 & 9) for another Double-Header Superbike round for rounds 9 & 10 of the championship.


And now Honda’s release:

HONDA RACING NEWS

Rocky Day in the Rockies

Temperature: Sunny, 32 degrees
Crowd: 5000

American Honda’s Nicky Hayden leaves the Colorado Rockies with a 42 point AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship lead, despite ending the day with a fiery crash early in the Superbike race. Hayden was unhurt, but his Honda RC-51 was too badly damaged to continue and his winning streak of five Superbike races in a row ended in flames at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Teammate Miguel DuHamel had a slightly better day, though he also fell. The resilient French-Canadian crashed out of fourth place in the same slow left hand corner as Hayden, but with less damage. DuHamel picked up his RC-51 and soldiered on to finish fifth. The race was won by Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom, Hayden’s nearest championship challenger and the 2001 championship runner-up.

Bruce Transportation Group’s Honda CBR-954-mounted Jake Zemke finished a close second in the Formula Xtreme race, closing to within 0.369 seconds of race winner Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) at the checkered flag. Erion Honda’s Roger Lee Hayden was fourth. Roger Lee, the youngest of the racing Haydens, finished third in the Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport race, won by his oldest brother, Tommy, on a Kawasaki.

Nicky Hayden, 20, of Owensboro, Kentucky, came to Colorado riding a five-race winning streak and looked to match the record of six, held by teammate DuHamel, the winningest rider in AMA Superbike history. Hayden qualified second, but didn’t have a great feel in the front end around the tortuous 1.315-mile PPIR road course, a seven-turn bull ring set in the middle of a one-mile banked oval. As the race began, Hayden gated badly and was back in fourth, soon to move to third. With a race length of 48 laps, and 55 second lap times, Hayden was patient, up to third by the ninth lap and gaining on the leaders. It all went wrong at the end of the back straightaway, a hairpin first-gear left-hander with surface irregularities and concrete patches. Hayden was instantly down and the machine was on fire before it stopped. Corner personnel arrived immediately and doused the flames, but his day was over.

Though he lost significant points in the championship, he still leads race winner Bostrom 253 to 211 after eight of 15 rounds. DuHamel is sixth in points after his crash and re-start.

Having also suffered front end problems in practice, DuHamel, who celebrated his 35th birthday just prior to the race weekend, tried a different set of offsets in the race. The result was less front end traction, which resulted in his turn three spill on the 38th of 48 laps. A quick inventory showed no damaged, and DuHamel brought the scuffed motorcycle home in fifth.

The pair will have a chance to redeem themselves next week at Road America, a high-speed four-mile road course where Hayden earned his first two Superbike wins.

Nicky Hayden, DNF
Got a bad start again, which is bad. And just got in there and was trying to ride hard, trying to catch up. Just kind of tipping it in. I didn’t have my knee down or anything. Just let the front get away from me. I’ve been fighting the front end all weekend pushing the front a lot. No excuse, I just made a mistake and it’s just one of those deals. It’s tough around here to make up time. I was just riding hard to try to catch up. I don’t know what happened, why it caught fire. I was still sliding, trying to get away from the bike and it was on fire. I was kind of hung under the bike and the thing was on fire and I was trying to get out from under it. I’m OK.

Miguel DuHamel, Fifth Place
We kind of took a big gamble before the race and we changed offsets and we made it two or three clicks worse than it was before the race. We hung in there and obviously it would have been interesting to see where we finished if I didn’t tip over in that corner. There’s a lot of tire patches and asphalt patches in that corner, turn three, where everybody’s fallen. I think it’s a corner if you do nothing wrong, and you hit the wrong line, you’re probably going to go down. I tried to save it with my knee and my elbow. There was nothing I could do. The bike didn’t want to get back up. But I kept it running and got back up and came around and caught Pascal Picotte. He was having bigger problems than I was I guess. We got a top five finish, that’s not bad.

Superbike:
1. Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki)
2. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
3. Jamie Hacking (Suzuki)
4. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
5. Miguel DuHamel (Honda)
6. Pascal Picotte (Ducati)
7. Brian Parriott (Suzuki)
8. Ricky Orlando (Suzuki)
9. Vincent Haskovec (Suzuki)
10. Brian Livengood (Suzuki)

AMA Superbike Championship Standings:
1. Nicky Hayden (253)
2. Eric Bostrom (211)
3. Aaron Yates (204)
4. Mat Mladin (181)
5. Pascal Picotte (190)
6. Miguel DuHamel (172)
7. Jamie Hacking (160)
8. Brian Livengood (159)
9. Brian Parriott (151)
10. (TIE) Anthony Gobert/Rich Conicelli (118)

From a press release:

Superbike World Championship
Round seven: EuroSpeedway Lausitz
Wednesday 5 June 2002
Event preview

Mid-season showdown at EuroSpeedway

The seventh round of the 2002 Superbike World Championship takes place at EuroSpeedway, Lausitz this weekend (7-9 June). The HM Plant Ducati/GSE Racing team arrives at the German circuit with riders Neil Hodgson and James Toseland currently occupying third and seventh place respectively in the championship.

Hodgson is eager to continue his fine run of form and is hopeful of taking a first World Championship victory outside of the UK.

“Lausitzring was a bit of a lottery last year,” said Hodgson. “The weather was dodgy and it was a new circuit, so we didn’t have any data, let alone a decent wet set-up. I can’t predict the weather for this weekend but I can say that this round should be a very different story. The HM Plant Ducati/GSE Racing team has as much information on the EuroSpeedway as any of the other teams and, thanks to the fantastic British climate, we’ve had some pretty intense wet weather experience. I proved that I can perform at this circuit when I came second in race two and I’ve already shown that I can run at the front this year. I’ve had a much better start to the season this time around and I’m looking forward to tackling this demanding circuit with all the advantages that we as a team now have.”

James Toseland is also in a much stronger position than he was when he visited the Lausitzring for the first time at the mid-point of last season.

“EuroSpeedway is a tremendous facility but it doesn’t exactly hold fond memories for me,” said the 21-year-old Yorkshireman. “I was unlucky in race one and I just remember race two as being really difficult. That said, it all seems a long time ago now and I’ve learned a lot in the meantime. The circuit itself is a bit scrappy, but its definitely one that I’ll enjoy mastering over the weekend. I want a couple of good finishes that will help me defend my championship position and challenge for sixth place.”

Circuit length: 4.265km

Lap record: 1:40.599 T. Bayliss (Ducati) 2001

2001 results
Race one:
1. C. Edwards (Honda) 38:47.683
2. T. Bayliss (Ducati)+0.663
3. T. Okada (Honda) +2.810
8. N. Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) +28.008

J. Toseland (GSE Racing Ducati) DNF

Race two:
1. T. Bayliss (Ducati) 45:57.65
2. N. Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) +0.229
3. C. Edwards (Honda) +22.922
17. J. Toseland(GSE Racing Ducati) +1:29.399

From a press release:

SuperBikers2 exhibition at RA between AMA racing

Tentative Schedule
Thursday June 6
TBA

Friday June 7
9:00 Race and exhibition
10:30 Race and exhibition
2:30 Race and exhibition
4:10 Race and exhibition

Sat June 8
11:00 Race and exhibition
12:35 Race and exhibition
1:35 Race and exhibition
3:00 Race and exhibition

Sun June 9
9:30 Race and exhibition
11:20 Race and exhibition
12:30 Race and exhibition
3:00 Race and exhibition
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