Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Hayden Wins Nail-Biter AMA Supersport Race at Laguna Seca MONTEREY, Calif. — Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Roger Hayden earned the AMA Supersport victory on the final turn of the last lap at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. Hayden, started the weekend on top when he set a new track record and captured the pole position. During the race, Hayden got a great start and took the lead after three laps. He was passed near the end of the race, but stayed close enough to make his move on the final turn for the win. “It was a great race,” said Hayden. “It was a fight to the finish but I knew that after the points leader went down, I wanted to get the maximum amount of points. This season my goal has been to win the supersport championship. I told my crew that I wasn’t going to take my focus away from it because I was riding the MotoGP.” With this win, Roger moves into the lead for the championship and opened up a 13-point cushion ahead of teammate Jamie Hacking. Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp also had a notable race aboard the Kawasaki ZX™-6R. His start kept him close with the front-runners and he was able to take advantage of a rider crashing out, finishing in third and obtaining his second AMA Supersport podium of the year. “I finally got a great start,” said Rapp. “I just tried to stay close and when the riders in front of me made mistakes, I would move up. It feels good to get this podium after crashing in practice earlier today.” Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Hacking had some trouble with his front tire but rode a great pace to finish just off the podium in fourth. “I was bummed because I was very confident this weekend, especially after breaking the track record in practice,” said Hacking. “After I realized I had a bad front tire, I just tried to put my head down and ride a pace I was comfortable with. But then, I lost the front-end so big on the second to last lap that I thought I was going to end up in Salinas. I was definitely happy too come across the finish and get some valuable points.” After crashing during the second round at Barber Motorsports Park, Hacking has come back with two wins and two additional podium finishes, helping him move up to second in the championship chase. Attack Kawasaki’s Ben Attard got stuck mid-pack behind a group of riders but was able to fight his way up to a ninth-place finish. AMA Superbike Championship Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, Calif. July 21, 2007 AMA Supersport Results 1. ROGER HAYDEN, OWENSBORO, KY., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI 2. Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha 3. STEVE RAPP, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF., ATTACK KAWASAKI 4. JAMIE HACKING, DENVER, N.C., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI 5. Geoff May, Gainsville, Ga., Suzuki 6. Aaron Gobert, Murrieta, Calif., Honda 7. Martin Cardenas, Miami, Fla., Suzuki 8. Blake Young, Madison, Wis., Suzuki 9. BEN ATTARD, MURRIETA, CALIF., ATTACK KAWASAKI 10. Tommy Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki AMA Supersport Standings 1. ROGER HAYDEN, OWENSBORO, KY., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI, 214 2. JAMIE HACKING, DENVER, N.C., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI, 201 3. Joshua Hayes, Gulfport, Miss., Honda, 185 4. STEVE RAPP, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF., ATTACK KAWASAKI, 178 5. Tommy Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki, 157 6. Geoff May, Gainsville, Ga., Suzuki, 150 7. Blake Young, Madison, Wis., Suzuki, 146 8. Aaron Gobert, Murrieta, Calif., Honda, 138 9. Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha, 135 More, from a press release researched and written for Honda Racing by Cycle News reporter and editorial columnist Henny Ray Abrams: HONDA RACING INFORMATION AMA News Results Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Climate: Sunny Temperature: 22 degrees C Crowd: 51,000 Hard fought fourth place takes Duhamel to third spot in AMA Superbike Series American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel moved to third in the AMA Superbike Championship with a hard fought fourth place on a difficult day at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Earlier in the day, during morning practice, Duhamel fell off the Gresini Honda which he was riding in place of the injured Toni Elias. The veteran tumbled repeatedly through the gravel trap, but was mostly unhurt. Duhamel later retired from the MotoGP race. But he was on the gas in the Superbike race, jetting from a third row straight into the fray and mixing it up with Corona Honda’s Neil Hodgson and Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates. Duhamel chased the Yates to the end, missing out on the podium by .345 seconds. Hodgson, the former World Superbike Champion, was fifth in his first race for the Corona Honda team. Still, Duhamel moved back into third in the AMA Superbike Championship, one spot ahead of teammate Jake Zemke. Zemke had a less than successful day. A clutch problem at the start of the race spelled doom for the Californian. And though he tried to soldier on, it was all for nothing and he was forced to retire. 17 Miguel Duhamel, 4th Place “Even myself, I forget that I qualified third row and we’re fighting for a podium. Hats off to my crew, the CBR1000RR and the guys working on the Marelli traction control system. We got lost this morning. It was a tough, tough morning for me. We just came back. The bike was great. I really felt like I lost the podium. I should have got that podium. I’m sure a lot of people through my career feel that way really. We got a great bike. I’m pretty excited for the rest of the season.” Jake Zemke DNF “I had a great launch; I was already side by side with Mat Mladin. I was already up into the front row and going and looking at the times I think we would have been good for a podium today or at least close. Then the clutch just started spinning up. Once I got the clutch and the throttle on, the thing just revved to the moon. I thought it’s a bit early for me to be hitting the rev limiter. So I grabbed another gear and nothing was happening. It was pretty bad. I think I stayed out for maybe five laps or something, tried to soldier it in, thinking maybe I could stay out till halfway or something. By then it was barely making it up the hills. Every time I’d get on the throttle it’d spin up. That’s the first clutch failure we’ve had in a long, long time. So it’s a little bit disturbing, because we’ve been able to get multiple starts out of the clutches we have now and be able to start hard on them.” American Honda Team Manager Chuck Miller “Jake had a clutch problem, so he retired early, which was kind of a bummer, because in qualifying and practice he was our strongest rider. The bike was working good. Sometimes they just get a little hot and heavy on the clutch at the start. That’s probably what made it cook. Miguel surprised us all. After crashing on a MotoGP and then racing earlier today. We didn’t know what cards we were going to have. But he did a great job and personally I think a lot of that was spurred on by Neil being right there and you got another Honda guy right in front of you and there’s one golden rule in racing and that’s beat your teammate. So I think he did step up just a little bit and gave Aaron (Yates) a run for his money and Neil (Hodgson). So a very competitive race, really happy with it. I think we need to have more Honda riders out there.” Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 5. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 6. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 7. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 8. Jake Holden (Suzuki) 9. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 10. James Ellison (Honda) Championship Standings: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 420 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 396 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 306 4. Jake Zemke (Honda) 293 5. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 292 6. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 276 7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 272 8. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 260 9. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 225 10. James Ellison (Honda) 215 98 Jake Zemke, DNF More, from a press release issued by Corona Extra Honda Racing: HODGSON TAKES CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING TO FIFTH WITH ELLISON TENTH AT LAGUNA SECA AMA SUPERBIKE In front of world Moto GP racers, fans and media circus and in perfect weather Corona Extra Honda Racing capped a great weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with 5th and 10th place finishes in the AMA Superbike race. The big news in AMA Superbike was the appearance of World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson on the Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR, in his first race outing for nearly a year and first time on a four cylinder in many years. Neil’s appearance was made possible by Team partners Honda, Parts Unlimited, Thetrackclub.com and Race Tech many thanks to all who helped. Hodgson and team regular James Ellison had their work cut out in getting the CBR1000RR Superbikes set up with almost no practice time allowed by Moto GP – 35 minutes on Friday, 60 on Saturday and 30 minutes for qualifying on Sunday. Both riders did their best with Hodgson getting eighth spot on the second row of the grid and Ellison two rows behind in fifteenth. After getting a great start and up to fifth by the end of the first lap, Hodgson quickly worked his way up to the dice for third between DuHamel on the Honda and Yates on the Suzuki. He took fourth on lap seven and then third on the next lap. Thereafter the three pulled away from the pack behind and their dicing was the highlight of the race weekend. It looked like Neil had the third podium slot for the taking but on lap eighteen he was briefly held up by a lapped rider which allowed the other two to slip by, dropping him to fifth. Almost immediately another lapped rider delayed a bid to take back the spots and gapped the two ahead just enough to make it impossible to for catch them by the finish. Neil said; “Everything was working really well and then I just chose the wrong side to pass this back marker. He moved over and blocked me. That was enough to let Miguel (DuHamel) and Aaron (Yates) by. I was close enough to get them but got blocked again and that was that!” Ellison also got a great start but was rammed from behind by the factory MV of Scassa and nearly knocked off. Scassa went down and out! From Twelfth on lap one James moved up to eleventh by lap twenty and one more spot three laps from the end, picking off Tommy Hayden and Ben Bostrom on his way to a 10th place showing. James said; “I got a great start and then got rammed big time by Scassa. I was so close to coming off! It took me a while to get back in the swing and I lost some ground on the guys ahead!” The 10th place finish moved Ellison up to 10th place in the AMA Superbike points battle. In other big news, the Corona Extra Honda Racing team received added attention when Corona Extra and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca made a major announcement prior to the Superbike race. The final round of competition for the 2007 AMA Superbike season will be held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on September 15-16 with Corona Extra the title sponsor The event will be the Corona Extra AMA Superbike Championship! Activities planned for the finale will include promotional appearances by Corona Extra Honda Racing, live music, the opportunity for fans to take a parade lap around the historic Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and a weekend-long party on the “Corona Island”. “Bring on the bikes, bring on the party!” More details will be coming shortly so keep checking the website. The Corona Extra Honda Team was pleased to host Cycle Gear for the weekend and in particular employees Mitch Darby and Jordan Spearman, winners of the Cycle Gear “Crew for Laguna” contest. They certainly found out how much work is involved racing to the lime! Thanks to both for their terrific help. “RACING TO THE LIME” More, from a press release issued by Jordan Suzuki: MICHAEL JORDAN MOTORSPORTS EARNS 1st SUPERBIKE PODIUM FINISH Yates Grabs 3rd Place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Aurora, IL (July 24, 2007) Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki rider Aaron Yates earned his team their first AMA Superbike podium finish in Sunday’s final event of the U.S. Grand Prix (MotoGP) weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Yates’ strong showing this weekend marks the first AMA Superbike podium finish from a non-factory team in recent memory. During the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, Yates proved his Suzuki GSX-R1000 had the speed to run up front with the factory contenders. The morning qualifying session on Sunday placed Yates just outside of the front row in fifth position. With a strong start in the 28-lap event, Yates quickly grabbed second place in the running order and engaged in a contentious battle for third place, where he finished. “It feels good to be on the podium,” said Yates. “I have a great group of guys behind me and it really motivates me to get up on the podium for the team.” Yates qualified his Dunlop-shod Suzuki with a time of 1:24.507 on Laguna Seca’s 2.238 mile, 11-turn road course, only .002 seconds away from earning his third front row start for Jordan Suzuki. Earlier this season, Yates grabbed the Superbike holeshot in race two at Road America, ran as high as second place at Infineon Raceway, and rode in third place for most of the 28-lap Superbike race at Barber Motorsports Park. Yates is currently 7th in overall points in the AMA Superbike Championship. “We came into the weekend feeling strong,” stated General Manager Ken Abbott. “The crew has been working very hard on our Superbike program and we felt good about a possible podium finish. It was great that Michael and many of our sponsors were on hand at Laguna to celebrate this achievement with us.” Teammate Jake Holden qualified his Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superstock bike in 10th place, row three, and finished the race in eighth place, giving the young gun his fifth top-10 AMA Superbike result of the season. The Jordan Suzuki team resumes racing action August 3-5, 2007 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio for a full race schedule, including a Superbike doubleheader. September 15-17, the AMA Superbike Championship returns to Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway for the series finale. For more information on the team, visit the race team website at www.23race.com. To learn more about the weekend’s events, visit www.laguna-seca.com. Legendary NBA star Michael Jordan formed Michael Jordan Motorsports in 2004 as a result of his passion for motorcycle racing. His mission is to bring a new level of excellence and style to the motorcycle racing industry. More, from a press release issued by Safety First Suzuki: Limited Schedule Gives Safety First Suzuki Riders Great Rewards Riding in support of one of the biggest international series can be a trying experience, with all the limits put on your track time and pit lane work restrictions, but the Safety First Suzuki riders of Bobby Fong and Scott Ryan made the best of it. Stockton, CA rider Bobby Fong continued his impressive freshman year in the AMA series by finishing 11th in front of some very seasoned racers with teammate Scotty Ryan also having a notable race weekend on the way to his 23rd place finish. Only the Supersport class that the team participates in was on the calendar in support of the MotoGP series, with Formula Xtreme being idle. Team Owner Kevin Hanson: “We are finding that with limited track time, Bobby and Scott really sit down, focus and get the job done. We saw them drop lap times every session, whereas in the past with the longer time available and with riding in two classes, they would sometimes peak on Saturday and not go any faster the rest of the weekend.” “I am real happy with the way both Bobby and Scott rode this weekend. For Bobby to finish 11th, right behind the factory Yoshimura rider of Tommy Hayden for the second race in a row and to be in front of racers like Danny Eslick, Ryan Andrews, Michael Beck and Cory West, it really shows what a talent he is on a bike. Factor in that he is the youngest rider in the series at 16 years old, 6th in points in Formula Xtreme and new to many of these tracks only reinforces that he is a name for the future.” “Scott is riding really well too. He works closely with our rider coach, Owen Weichel, and applies what Owen is seeing regarding line choice and set-up with the payoff being going faster in the race than any time prior. Scott is lowering his times significantly this year at tracks where he had some previous club racing experience.” Bobby Fong: Results: 11th – Supersport “It was a great weekend, my best ever for a Supersport event, and to be in front of the international audience that we saw last weekend was fantastic. I am happy that the circuit was repaved, as this is one of my favorite tracks. We were able to test here in the spring, which did help us get a good baseline. I am having a ball this year, loving every minute that I am at a race weekend and as soon as one is done, I am looking forward to the next race. The Safety First Suzuki team is really giving me some great equipment with Michelin adding to that formula with some awesome tires.” Fong currently is 17th overall in Supersport and remains in 6th place in Formula Xtreme, which was not racing this last race weekend. Scott Ryan: Results: 23rd – Supersport “I ended up in a pretty good dice the entire race. We had some AMA regulars along with some fast west coast guys that were all trying to put on a show for the world audience that attended and watched this round. My guys are really working hard for me and I definitely want to thank them, along with all the great support that Suzuki, Michelin, 4&6 Racing, Pit Bull, Komodo, Suomy and GP suspension are giving us. Its all our sponsors, large and small that are making this a very successful year for myself, Bobby, Kevin and the entire Safety First Suzuki team. “ Ryan remains in 19th place overall for Formula Xtreme and 31st in Supersport class. The team is looking ahead to the next round at Mid-Ohio being run from August 2-5. The Lexington, Ohio track is considered the second “home” track for the Chicago based Safety First team. Fong is spending time between Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio training in the heat and humidity of the Midwest with Lamont, IL teammate Ryan and team doctor David Boll in preparation of the grueling August race schedule. More, from a press release issued by Shift: AMA ROADRACING REPORT CORY WEST Check out privateer road racer Cory West’s latest report from Round 7 of the AMA Supersport Championship at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA. By Cory West Since the last AMA race in Salt Lake City, I have raced at a couple of different club races to do a little testing and get some more seat time on the motorcycle. The weekend after Salt Lake I headed straight to Road Atlanta for a WERA National. That track just got repaved during the off season and we figured it would be a good idea to try and get a feel for the new pavement before we head out there in August for the AMA races. The weekend went well and I ended up grabbing pole position and the race win in 600cc Superstock. After Atlanta I went straight up to Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the ASRA and CCS races. We already raced at Road America, but there was some good contingency money up for grabs so we decided to do it and came out with one win and two second place finishes. Both weekends were good practice and I gained a lot of confidence in the bike and had a good time staying busy. After the races in Wisconsin I drove back to California to get ready for the AMA weekend at Laguna Seca. I always get excited for Laguna because of the MotoGP weekend being the same weekend as our races. I was even more amped up for Laguna because of our not-so-strong performance at the last AMA race at Miller. I really wanted to get back to racing with the big boys and get another good finish under my belt. The races there are always really tough though, because of the small amount of track time we get. My schedule was to practice on Friday morning, qualify Friday afternoon, practice Saturday morning, and then race Saturday afternoon. With only an hour and a half of track time before the race, I knew I needed to get up to speed ASAP! The first time I hit the track on Friday, everything was going to plan except for the longevity of our tires. Laguna got repaved and just like most tracks that receive fresh pavement, it was chewing up tires before the laps got into the double digits. I was inside the top ten for the first practice session until the last few minutes, but I felt very confident that I could find more time because the gearing wasn’t perfect and the suspension wasn’t working perfect either. After the session was over I had a good debriefing with my mechanic, Chuck, and we figured out a plan for qualifying. We fixed the gearing and set the bike up differently, and I immediately started dropping time in my qualifying session. The gearing change helped a ton but the changes we made to the suspension were really hurting the bike on corner entries and exits. I still managed to drop a second off of my time from the morning session and I ended up 12th in the qualifying order which was good for a third row start. After the qualifier was over, Chuck and I decided to go back to where we started in the morning with our set-up. Saturday morning we had the bike set-up to where we thought it would work best and we were trying a different tire combination to see if it would work for the race later in the day. I got going half a second faster than what I had qualified as soon as I got on track and felt really good about the way the bike was working. I stayed out for the whole practice session because it was only 20 minutes long and the tires seemed to work pretty well. The tire we chose in that session was the fastest tire we had been on in all the sessions so I felt like it would be a good choice for the race. The tire didn’t look very beat up when I came in too, so I kept leaning towards it for my race tire choice. For the race I left the bike almost exactly the same as when I rode it in the morning, except for a few adjustments to the front forks. When the race got going, my start was good off of the line but I got pinched off when we went up the hill towards turn two. I got shuffled back just a few positions but managed to make most of them back up by going around the outside of a bunch of guys in turn two. I made a few more passes before we completed the first lap and I was around 11th place, right behind a pack of 5 riders. I was right behind Tommy Hayden and felt like I was faster than him, but I just couldn’t make the right move to get around him. A few laps later I got a good drive coming out of turn 4 and got underneath him on the brakes going into turn 5. As soon as I got by Tommy, I closed the gap on the pack in front of me and turned my fastest lap of the race at a 1:28.5. That was a full second faster than what I qualified at and I felt like I was going to catch the guys in front of me easily. Just about the time I started making time on them, I started sliding everywhere. I kept pushing as hard as I could but that just ended up in another big slide or me running super wide. My rear tire was shredded before the half way flag was out and I just had to hold on to what I had. I did my best to hang in there but my times dropped off into the 1:31s and I slowly went backwards. The last six laps felt like torture, because I knew what I could do if the tire just had some grip. I got passed and passed and passed, and ended up in 14th when the race was finally over. When I got back to Chuck and the rest of the crew on pit lane they all smiled and knew what had happened. We all looked at the tire and it was completely shredded on both sides. It was a bummer to have that happen in the race but picking tires can be a bit of a gamble sometimes. I won’t let the tire issue get me down, though. Mid-Ohio has always been a favorite of mine and I see a top five in my future soon!