BOSTROM FIGHTS TO FOURTH IN FONTANA, HODGSON A COURAGEOUS FIFTH Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom and Neil Hodgson had an eventful Sunday at Fontana. Bostrom was fourth after fighting for a podium position and Hodgson finished fifth, a gutty ride for the Isle of Man resident. Neil spent most of the day in the track medical center before being cleared to race his Ducati 999 Superbike and he returned to the medical center immediately after the 28-lap event. “That was the hardest race of my life,” said Hodgson. “It was hard to concentrate. I was just trying to finish.” Hodgson had been sick all weekend, but Neil took a turn for the worse Saturday night. While he insisted he wanted to race to keep his championship hopes alive, it appeared doubtful he could make it. Still, the doctors agreed to clear him medically. Hodgson started the race, completed it, and was remarkably competitive. Neil is now third in the championship, but gained ground to first place despite being ill all weekend. “It’s all about the championship. It hasn’t been the best weekend but the championship hasn’t been a negative,” he said. Team engineer Luca Ferraccioli said Hodgson’s performance was inspiring to the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin squad. “Neil had an unbelievable race. He fought very hard. He had the IVs before the race and the doctors told us he might not be able to finish. It was the best race he could possibly do. It was very important for him to finish for the championship. He’s still very close to first position. What he did was very important and inspiring for the team. He’s a tough rider.” Eric Bostrom was a fine fourth on the day, a solid result and his best yet in 2005. Bostrom, however, was less than satisfied because he wanted a podium finish. “I had a rough time with traffic,” said Eric. “I think I could have been in a position to race them and in hindsight I wish I had done a better job keeping Spies and Yates behind me because I lost ground to them in traffic.” Bostrom and his crew continued to fine-tune the race version of the Ducati 999 for the American racetracks. “It’s the fastest the bike has been this year,” said Eric. “The front end was working well and we have more grip than yesterday. That was a big improvement. This is the best the bike has been yet under the brakes, which is promising. It seems like each weekend we’re making progress.” “Eric had some bad luck with the backmarkers and would perhaps have had a shot at getting a podium spot if he had gotten a couple of breaks,” said Ferraccioli. “He’s improved and the fact that he’s fighting for a podium spot is good.” The teams will race next at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California May 13-25. Fontana Race Two Results — 1. Mladin (Suzuki), 2. Spies (Suzuki), 3. Yates (Suzuki), 4. ERIC BOSTROM (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 5. NEIL HODGSON (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 6. Zemke, (Honda) Superbike Points (after 5 of 17 rounds) — 1. Spies (Suzuki) 155, 2. Mladin (Suzuki) 152, 3. NEIL HODGSON (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 146, 4. Yates (Suzuki) 143, 5. ERIC BOSTROM (PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999) 122, 6. DuHamel (Honda) 118 More, from a press release issued by Hotbodies Racing Honda: Superbike Double-Header at California Speedway, Fontana, California At the California Speedway double-header of the AMA Superbike series, Hotbodies Racing Honda teammates Larry Pegram and Jeremy Toye had an up and down weekend. Or rather, a down and up weekend. Larry Pegram Larry Pegram qualified his #72 HRC-kitted Honda CBR1000RR in 16th place for the Superbikes races, after being unable to finish Saturday’s qualifying round. Pegram suffered an electrical failure on the first lap of Race One, but with the bike running properly he took tenth in Race Two. Pegram said, “Jimmy [Filice] helped us out a lot this weekend coaching us, especially in getting the bike set up better. I ran as fast in Sunday’s race as I did in qualifying. So were making strides. I had hip replacement surgery in December to fix and injury from ’93. I’m still recovering from that and the surgery has helped my riding a lot. I’d lost a lot of motion but now it’s nearly all back so my riding is better than it’s been in a long time.” Pegram is now 12th in points with 72 of them, matching his well-known number plate. Jeremy Toye Jeremy Toye was able to put his Honda on row six in 22nd place, for the Superbike races. Race One saw Toye’s #57 HRC-kitted Honda CBR1000RR overheat after the third start from the repeated red flags. In Race Two, Toye finished 25th on a borrowed bike that wasn’t set-up to his riding style. Toye said, “We were up all night and we finally found out the head was warped from the overheating. So I borrowed a friend’s bike and it wasn’t anything close to mine. I rode it carefully looking for points and making sure not to hurt a friend’s machine. I’m doubled down now but having Jimmy there definitely helped us. Things are getting better and Filice made a positive difference for us. After we get the quirks out we can plan for better results.” Justin Filice New Hotbodies Racing Honda rider Justin Filice took tenth in Formula Xtreme after qualifying 20th. It was his first top ten in the series. Filice said, “I had a very good start and probably passed a full row, or so, right off the line. As the race progressed, I saw five guys in front of me and two were pulling away. So I got by a few of them and went after the others. I was running four seconds faster in the race than I had in qualifying. I had nothing to chase until the race so I think those riders inspired me and pulled me along.” In Supersport, Filice qualified 20th and finished there too. “I was running 16th and on the last lap I was passed. I tried getting the place back and about went on my head. I was a good two feet above the bike. It’s great now to be with this team for the first weekend, with everyone helping each other. Even Larry helped me before the race with some set-up tips.” More from a press release issued by Team Hotbodies Racing: Cory West #187 Cory West, the 2004 Superbike Rookie of the Year, put his 2005 Suzuki GSX-R1000 on the Superbike grid in 20th place. In Race One, West finished 30th, while doing twice as good in Race Two by taking 15th. West said, “I had a good start the first time but I kind of fried the clutch. We tried backing it off but it was still slipping. After the two additional starts it got weaker. I ran as high as 15th in the race before it slipped too much to continue so I was confident about Sunday. In Race Two I had another good start. I was pushed out in a couple corners and dropped back a bit but then I had a good race and started catching some fast guys. It was good to get a good finish under my belt. I’ve never run Pirellis before and these tires make it easy to predict the slides.” Nicky Moore #28 Racer Nicky Moore did three of the four classes at Fontana, adding Superstock to his usual Formula Xtreme and Supersport weekend. Additionally compounding the difficulty of this were a couple early crashes that put his left arm in severe pain for the duration of the weekend. Moore qualified his Yamaha YZF-R6 in sixth for Formula Xtreme, finishing the race in fifth, putting him in a tie for fifth in points with Taylor Knapp, and one point from fourth. Moore said, “That was my best finish ever in the national series. It was a good race. I don’t really know how I did that well. At the end I planned my pass and took the place from Oppie Caylor. It was fun but my arms were about to fall off after the flag and I had to get checked out. I was so swollen I had to take the pads out of my suit to be able to race Sunday.” In Superstock, Moore qualified 13th and finished a painful 11th. “It was my first Superstock race of season. I was hurting from my fall in qualifying and also from the one last weekend. This fall messed up my left arm pretty badly. I just went for it and we were pretty surprised by how I did, but of course my arm held me back.” Moore was 14th on the grid in Supersport and finished tenth. “It was a good race. I kind of picked off the guys just ahead of me one by one and got up to Buckmaster and caught him at the end. I’m sore but I had to do it. As soon as I came in I was straight on the ice. Before the race I couldn’t even put on my helmet or leathers on by myself. I have to thank J & D Automotive for all they’ve done. I wouldn’t be here without them.” Taylor Knapp #38 By qualifying his Yamaha YZF-R6 in 17th for Formula Xtreme, and finishing 11th in the race, Taylor Knapp is now in a tie for fifth in the points. Knapp said, ” I’d never been to this track before so I started by just trying to learn the track. I didn’t qualify as well as I wanted to so I had to work with what I had. I got a good start and passed a lot of guys on the first lap. I was eighth at one point but my motor was getting tired. It’s the same engine we used for tire testing and the 200. So I fell back but got some points.” On his other R6, Knapp qualified 25th in Supersport and finished 18th. “It was not as good a start as I’d like. I lost touch with group ahead of me. While learning the track we had made a lot of changes to the bike and tried raising rear ride height just before race. It was taking a chance but we made a good call there. We used the Superbike time for practice. It was hard to go back to back between the two bikes and I didn’t want to do the Superbike race on Saturday so I didn’t go out for the second qualifying. It was good for the extra track time. Now I have to fly home for school for two weeks.” Knapp is a high school senior. Heath Small #27 Although Heath Small is doing a limited AMA schedule, he’s leaving a big impression. In Formula Xtreme, Small qualified his Yamaha TZF-R6 in ninth and finished in eighth. Small said, “I like the track, it has a lot of fast turns and good tight ones too. It also requires being good on trail braking. At about the third lap I found a pace and ran 29s during the race. It’s my third season to do some of the AMA series, but we’re focused right now on the club level because that’s where some of our sponsors want us. I’ll miss the next round but be at Pikes Peak.” In Superbike, on his R1, Small qualified 27th. In Race One he finished 33rd and in Race Two was ten places up in 23rd. “In the first race I fell in the right-hand carousel. There’s a dip in it and I got on the gas a little too soon and the bike spun up and I high sided. Race Two was going well but maybe I had the wrong tire pressure. We moved up some places but I think we got the tires a little hot and they started going away.” More, from a press release issued by Freeman/McCue Public Relations on behalf of Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI MAKES A STRONG SHOWING AT FONTANA Tommy Hayden and Roger Hayden finish second and third in Supersport class Reigning AMA Supersport champion Tommy Hayden and series runner-up Roger Hayden gave a crowd pleasing performance aboard their Kawasaki NINJA® ZX-6RR motorcycles as AMA motorcycle road racing returned to California Speedway last weekend. In AMA Supersport action, Tommy qualified on the pole while Roger rounded out the front row by qualifying fourth. When the race began Sunday afternoon, both Haydens were at the front of the pack. Tommy kept his Kawasaki ZX6-RR right on the back tire of Jamie Hacking for the duration of the race as Roger moved into third on lap five. On the final lap, Tommy began a charge for the lead but was unable to close the gap and finished second as Roger held onto third. Attack Kawasaki rider Ben Attard finished seventh. “I started out good and tried to set a decent pace,” said Tommy. “This is a tough class; if you win a race you really earned it,” he continued. “My Kawasaki was running great and I stayed on him (Hacking) for a while but it just didn’t work out.” “I didn’t get the start I wanted,” said Roger. “In this kind of racing you have to keep up because the bikes are so fast,” he continued. “I’m just glad that I worked my way up, kept my head down and brought my Kawasaki home on the podium.” In the AMA Superstock race, Tommy and Roger battled with several riders after the start with Tommy in fifth and Roger in sixth at the end of the first lap. Unfortunately, Roger crashed on lap three and was forced to park his Kawasaki for the remainder of the race. Tommy made a formidable charge on the lead group for a majority of the race ultimately finishing fourth. During Saturday’s AMA Superbike race, Attack Kawasaki rider Josh Hayes kept a consistent pace with the rest of the field as he rode to a seventh-place finish in the 28-lap event. Hayes’ teammate Ben Attard qualified third for Saturday’s AMA Formula Xtreme event but was disqualified when his Kawasaki ZX6-RR was found to be under the minimal allowable weight. Hayes also competed in the second Superbike race on Sunday but crashed on lap 11. Though uninjured after the incident, Hayes pulled out of the race. Racing resumes when the teams head to Sonoma, Calif., May 13 15, for a Superbike doubleheader at Infineon Raceway. More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: Learning Weekend for Zemke and Duhamel American Honda’s Jake Zemke won his second Formula Xtreme race in a row and added a pair of sixth place Superbike finishes in round three of the AMA Superbike Championship at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Teammate Miguel Duhamel, who rode his Honda CBR600RR to second behind Zemke in Saturday’s Formula Xtreme final, just missed a podium in Saturday’s Superbike race, then fell while challenging the leaders on Sunday. For Zemke, it was positive step forward after last weekend’s frustration. Electrical problems knocked him out of both races at Barber Motorsports Park. This weekend the Honda CBR1000RR ran strongly in both races, though Zemke himself was slightly detuned after a front end shake in Saturday’s Superbike main aggravated an old shoulder injury. Always in search of the perfect set-up, Duhamel and his crew created a different motorcycle on Sunday than he’d ridden to fourth on Saturday. The new set-up is clearly a step in the right direction, but Duhamel’s lack of familiarity caused him to crash on the third lap of Sunday’s race. Saturday’s Superbike race was won by Suzuki’s Ben Spies over teammate Aaron Yates and Ducati’s Neil Hodgson. Suzuki’s Mat Mladin won Sunday’s race with teammates Spies and Yates second and third. Miguel Duhamel, 18th ,Sunday Superbike Today we went with something completely different; different fork, different length of the bike, different gearing. I think I got caught out a little bit. Yesterday I was really good on the brakes, I was able to brake really deep and make some time on some people, on Neil and the bike didn’t turn so good. Today the bike seemed to turn pretty good, but it didn’t stop as well and those two laps I didn’t have enough time to re-set my head, I didn’t have one of those close calls where I could say ‘OK, I need to pay attention to this.’ I think it’ll be better for the year. We really hit the nail on the head as far as the Showa guys. I’ve got to make a point of saying how they’ve been working so hard and this was one of their solutions they came up with and it works so good. On the other side, if I’m looking into tomorrow I’m looking into going out there and pursuing this new avenue that we have, which is a bike more that I think we need to go out racing, win some races, collect as many points as we can for the rest of the season. I think that at least we have a shot at it. Jake Zemke, 6th, Sunday Superbike I definitely wasn’t 100% today. My shoulder was still sore after yesterday’s incident. I injured it Easter weekend. It actually hadn’t been bothering me at all, but yesterday it got knocked loose a little bit and took a couple steps back on that. But especially with a bike that’s not working properly, it’s so physically demanding at this track. It’s physically demanding anyways, but when your bike’s not working it’s that much worse. It was a little bit of a struggle to get around the racetrack for sure, but we definitely have more work to do on the bike. Miguel Duhamel, 4th, Saturday Superbike I was hooked up with Neil (Hodgson) and had a little battle there and was going faster than I qualified and I’m really pleased with what we accomplished. Once they got the gap on me, it was really frustrating because they were two, three-tenths faster a lap. And that was about it. We’re making progress again, it’s just man, it’s tough. It’s a lot of work, but hopefully it’ll be paying off pretty soon. Jake Zemke, 6th, Saturday Superbike Coming through the chicane, the modified chicane going to the signal area, I got a huge tank slapper. That one wasn’t fun. I actually for a second lost the handlebars it was so violent. I had actually injured my shoulder back at Easter time and it just kind of re-aggravated that really bad. So after the re-start it made it really hard to get through the fast chicane there on the entrance to turn one. Jake Zemke, 1st, Formula Xtreme Hat’s off to Miguel (Duhamel). I mean he really stepped up come race time and was right there and was pushing hard. I thought I was going to have an easy ride, but he foiled my plan. But it was a good race. Most of these Formula Xtreme races always seems like that. It usually comes down to the last lap. Those last laps, yeah I could see those three riders up ahead and I could see getting through those three guys was going to be super important to be bale to finish the race strong, and luckily enough I got through there OK and took it home to the finish. Miguel Duhamel, 2nd, Formula Xtreme I was happy that my team gave me such a great bike. Obviously Jake had something on us all weekend. And at the end there, that’s the first time I ran that set-up all weekend. And obviously that’s the way to go. As soon as we started doing 26’s I tried getting in front and collect the point for most laps led. Unfortunately I think I missed out by a lap or two. And then I was just trying to maybe try to break away and put some pressure on Jake. He was staying right there. We were going really hard obviously. Unfortunately behind him I clipped the curbing in turn one and it moved actually. But I clipped it really hard and got into a real severe tank-slapper. Sunday Superbike Final 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 4. Eric Bostrom (Ducati) 5. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 6. Jake Zemke (Honda) 7. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 8. Marty Craggill (Suzuki) 9. Clint McBain (Suzuki) 10. Larry Pegram (Honda) Saturday Superbike Final 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 3. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 5. Eric Bostrom (Ducati) 6. Jake Zemke (Honda) 7. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki) 8. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 9. Marty Craggill (Suzuki) 10. Vincent Haskovec (Suzuki) Superbike Championship Standings 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 155 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 152 3. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 146 4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 143 5. Eric Bostrom (Ducati) 122 6. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 118 7. Martin Craggill (Suzuki) 105 8. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 92 9. Lee Acree (Suzuki) 89 10. Eric Wood (Suzuki) 81 Formula Xtreme Final 1. Jake Zemke (Honda) 2. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 3. Vincent Haskovec (Suzuki) 4. Danny Eslick (Suzuki) 5. Nicky Moore (Yamaha) 6. Opie Caylor (Suzuki) 7. Alex Gobert (Honda) 8. Heath Small (Yamaha) 9. Ryan Andrews (Ducati) 10. Justin Filice (Honda) More, from a press release issued by Paine P.R., on behalf of Yoshimura Suzuki: Team Yoshimura Suzuki swept the second AMA Superbike race of the weekend at California Speedway in Fontana, CA, on Sunday, with five-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin winning, Ben Spies coming in second and Aaron Yates finishing in third. “It was a good race for us,” said Mladin, after snagging his fifth Fontana victory. “It was good to be back out and have a race win, especially after having to DNF from a mechanical in yesterday’s race. But you can’t change that and we won today and it was good to see three Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000s up here on the podium today.” Mladin started the race from pole position, took the lead and immediately began pulling away from the field. Teammate Spies had started from the third spot on the grid and tried to get away with Mladin. He put up a good fight, but by the 28-lap race’s end, Mladin had led every single lap and was ahead of second-place Spies by five seconds. Said Spies afterward, “I’d like to thank my team and Suzuki. It’s great to be up here with two other Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-Rs. I got a good start and we were in good shape, the Dunlop tires were just taking all the abuse we could throw at them but I had a tough time with the lappers. I was just glad I was on the same motorcycle as Mat and tried to keep him honest. This is my first year in Superbike and I’m just trying to learn as much as I can.” Like Spies, Yates started from the front row in second position and he was also up front with his teammates for the first few laps. But he began fading back a little bit at about mid-way through the race. Nonetheless, Yates held on and rounded out the Yoshimura Suzuki podium with a third-place finish. “It’s great to be up here on the podium,” said Yates. “In the race, I got a pretty good start and settled in behind Mat, and then Ben got by me. I really wanted to go harder than I could. These guys were going for it and I was trying to just keep it up for third. But having three Suzukis up on the podium you can’t get much better than that. I’d like to congratulate my teammates for doing such a great job out there.” Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #1 1st Place AMA Superbike 2nd Place — Overall Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #20 3rd Place AMA Superbike 4th Place Overall Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #11 2nd Place AMA Superbike 1st Place — Overall AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers: 1. Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 2. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 3. Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 4. Eric Bostrom, Ducati 5. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 6. Jake Zemke, Honda 7. Steve Rapp, Jordan Suzuki 8. Marty Craggill, Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki 9. Clint McBain, Suzuki 10. Larry Pegram, Suzuki More, from a press release issued by Paine P.R. on behalf of Yoshimura Suzuki: For Team Yoshimura Suzuki, Ben Spies flew the proverbial flag in the production-class based AMA SuperSport 600 race at California Speedway in Fontana, CA, on Sunday afternoon. He came away with a solid sixth-place finish. During Saturday’s qualifying session, Spies carded a second-row start in fifth place, thanks to posting a 1.27:473 lap time. In the 17-lap race, he got a good start and took off with the lead group. As the leaders gapped the field, Spies quickly settled into fifth position and then eventually into sixth. “I don’t know if I was thinking about the Superbike race that was right after the SuperSport race or what,” admitted the young Texan. “But the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 is a good bike and we gave it everything we had today. I’m just looking forward to Infineon in two weeks, because I feel confident about that track and hopefully we can get the win.” Team Yoshimura Suzuki will campaign the fourth round of the AMA SuperSport Series at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, May 13 – May 15. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600, #11 6th Place AMA SuperSport 5th Place Overall SuperSport Top 10 Finishers: 1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha 2. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 3. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki 4. Jason Disalvo, Yamaha 5. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha 6. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 7. Ben Attard, Kawasaki 8. Geoff May, M4 EMGO Suzuki 9. Chris Peris, Yamaha 10. Nicky Moore, Yamaha More, from a press release issued by Paine P.R. on behalf of Yoshimura Suzuki: Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates was this close to winning the AMA Repsol Lubricants SuperStock race at California Speedway in Fontana, CA, on Sunday when the aggressive rider fell with two laps remaining. Yates recovered his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and finished in 10th position. “You know,” the Georgian drawled, “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was running great. I was able to pass for the lead and I got by and then I just tried to ride smart and keep the bike hooking up and be smooth.” Yates started the 17-lap race from the front row in third position after posting a 1.25:903 lap time. Furthermore, Yates took the lead within the first five laps and led the most laps in the race before falling. “We had just two laps to go and we were coming into lappers,” Yates explained about the get-off. “I was pushing pretty hard but at the same time, I didn’t do anything different than I had been doing on every other lap. Luckily, I was able to pick up the bike and bring it home in 10th.” Finally, Jordan Suzuki rider Steve Rapp rode a strong race and came in third, carding a podium finish. Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #20 10th Place AMA Repsol Lubricants SuperStock 5th Place Overall SuperStock Top 10 Finishers: 1. Jason Disalvo, Yamaha 2. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha 3. Steve Rapp, Jordan Suzuki 4. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 5. Vincent Haskovec, M4 EMGO Suzuki 6. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha 7. John Haner, Suzuki 8. Jake Holden, Suzuki 9. Eric Wood, Suzuki 10. Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: MAY AND HASKOVEC SCORE AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY Team M4 EMGO Suzuki dug deep on Sunday at California Speedway to complete another successful weekend despite the stiff challenge they were presented with. Without the luxury of testing at the Southern California track prior to the race meeting, set-up issues dogged the team right from the start. Rather than panic or get frustrated, the team steadily pushed forward and ultimately put in a solid performance that kept their AMA Superstock championship aspirations very much alive. A day removed from a Formula Xtreme podium performance, Vincent Haskovec gave a gritty effort to secure his second consecutive fifth-place Superstock finish aboard his fire-breathing GSX-R1000. Those two rides combined with his season-opening Daytona victory currently see the Czech Republic tied for second in the class championship with 88 points. Afterwards, Haskovec said, “It’s getting very tight and we’re staying in the game. This is definitely not our favorite place; right out of the gate it was a struggle. I was happy to really improve over the weekend and get a decent result. The beginning of the race, someone stuffed in front of me and I had to stand it up and four guys went by me. It was a tough race. What was left on the track, I took. I went for it and gave it everything I got.” Geoff May had a tougher time in Superstock, crashing but remounting to soldier on to 18th. The Georgian regrouped to put in a fine ride in the following Supersport final, claiming a very solid eighth-place result aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600. Team Crew Chief Keith Perry commented, “We struggled here all weekend and still came out in the top five in Superstock. I feel pretty good about that. Naturally it’s not a podium, but we keep saying over and over that we just got to keep plugging away and getting those top fives — that’s our goal. And we were able to do that.” “Everybody kept their heads down,” he continued. “We had some adversity and it’s easy to get frustrated with all that and cause even more problems on yourself. But the guys continued to work hard and came through again this weekend.” Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will next race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California May 13-15. More, from a press release issued by Proforma on behalf of Millennium KWS Suzuki: UP AND DOWN WEEKEND FOR MILLENNIUM KWS SUZUKI AT FONTANA Lee Acree of the Millennium KWS Suzuki team put himself at a disadvantage with a high-speed crash in Thursday’s promoter practice for Round 3 of the AMA Superbike Championship at California Speedway in Fontana, California, April 28-May1. Acree got into a headshake through the chicane on the back straightaway, losing control of his GSX-R1000 in the grass and causing him to impact the trackside haybales. While nothing was found to be broken, Lee rode the weekend with a sore shoulder, back and wrist, limiting his performance. Teammate Blake Young had an inspired ride to beat Lee in the Superstock race, but tucked the front end and crashed unhurt early in the Supersport race that followed. Both riders used the power of their KWS Motorsports-tuned GSX-R1000 engines to record the second (Blake – 178.99 mph) and fourth (Lee – 177.88 mph) fastest trap speeds during the Superstock final. Lee Acree Saturday’s Superbike Final – 14th Place “I had skipped a fair bit of practice on Friday and Saturday morning, even qualifying, trying to conserve my strength and let my body heal as much as possible,” said Lee. “All three starts (due to red flags during the race) were good, and I made good choices in turn three, as far as making time on people and staying out of trouble. I got hooked up with Geoff May and stayed with him for the rest of the race. I could run with him but I couldn’t get around him.” Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 13th Place “The tire I chose didn’t work,” admitted Lee. “I just didn’t have the grip at full lean to pick up the throttle and drive off the corner like I did with the other tire. I rode a steady pace, and it was pretty much uneventful until Blake (Young, teammate) drove past me on the way to the line.” Sunday’s Superbike Final – 12th Place “I got a good start,” said Acree. “I hooked up with Eric Wood pretty early on. We both got held up behind Scott Jensen, then Eric got through and pulled away a bit. Kurtis Roberts and I ran down Eric, then something happened to Kurtis. I passed Eric, then let him follow, then set him up and passed him on the way to the line to get him by four thousandths of a second.” Blake Young Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 12th Place “I got a pretty good start, and started picking guys off,” sixteen-year-old Blake said. “Nicky (Moore) got out ahead, and I was behind Lee, but I couldn’t quite get around them. I made a good move on Lee on the last lap to get him at the line for 12th place.” Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 36th Place/DNF “I came through the turn one/two chicane,” said Blake, “and I thought I was off of the painted line going into (turn) three. There’s a groove in there and I just tucked the front.” More, from a press release issued by Vreeke & Associates on behalf of Dunlop: Tight racing and surprises abound at Round 3 of the AMA Superbike Series The monsoon season in Southern California ended its 100-year-record rains just in time for racing at California Speedway in Fontana. Preceded by rain on Thursday, the warm and sunny weekend was filled with close racing and big surprises as Yoshimura Suzuki’s Superbike Rookie Ben Spies won the Saturday race and finished in second place on Sunday behind teammate Mat Mladin to take over the points lead in the series, 155 to 152. Lively racing also filled the bill in the support events as Honda Racing’s Jake Zemke barely eked out another victory over his Honda teammate Miguel Duhamel in the AMA Formula Xtreme class, Jason Disalvo took the Superstock victory aboard a Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1 and Team Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking came out on top of the Supersport fray. In the process, Dunlop claimed 14 of the 15 podium spots over the course of the weekend. Dunlop brought more than 2050 tires to support the factory teams and support riders, and this wealth of tires was put to good use over the recently revamped California Speedway, a course known for its high speeds and heavy left-turn bias. Based on rider input and in the interest of competitor safety, AMA Pro Racing modified the exit of the chicane (turns 10 and 11), and the curbing at turn 1 was modified on Friday to allow for a safer racing line. As a result, the track adopted a smoother flow, which also reduced lap times significantly. To put it mildly, the 28-lap Superbike event on Saturday turned out to be a race full of surprises. To begin with, Eric Bostrom grabbed the holeshot aboard his Ducati Austin 999R with a unique inside-line dash from his fifth-place position on the starting grid. However, an unruffled Mat Mladin quickly assumed the lead at the end of the first lap as he wielded his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 with masterful dexterity. His Team Suzuki mates, Ben Spies and Aaron Yates, similarly surged toward the front ahead of Bostrom, but on the fourth lap the red flags flew for a downed rider. At the restart, Yates grabbed the holeshot, but Mladin took command once again, making his move just past the start/finish line. Yates soon had his hands full, as the young Spies pressed him hard for second place and made the pass, only to see a second red flag emerge a few laps later. The upcoming third start spawned a frenzy of pit-lane activity as crews quickly changed out clutches; with more than 200 horsepower on tap, two race starts sap the life out of even the best of today’s racing clutches, regardless of brand or manufacturer. As the third start waved off for the now-shortened race, Yates sped off in the lead once again, but Mladin soon assumed control for the third time, with Yates, Spies and an under-the-weather Neil Hodgson from Ducati Austin mixing it up in a tight knot behind him. Suddenly, with just a handful of laps remaining, Mladin slowed and coasted to a stop with clutch problems after working furiously at the bike’s clutch adjuster to no avail. Revitalized, Yates, Spies and Hodgson immediately went to work, swapping the lead up until the last lap as they all squeeze through traffic. After passing the waving white flag for the final go-around with Hodgson in the lead, the Ducati rider unfortunately overcooked the corner in turn 3. Ben Spies never hesitated; he took control of first place and went on to win his first AMA Superbike race, with Yates nipping at his rear tire. Despite the error, Hodgson still had time to recover and finish about 3 seconds behind the pair of Suzukis for third. Team Honda’s Miguel Duhamel crossed the line in fourth place and his teammate Jake Zemke finished sixth, the two sandwiching Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom, while Jordan Suzuki’s Steve Rapp nailed down seventh. After the race, a jubilant Ben Spies said, “That’s not the way I wanted to do it (win his first race), but I’ll take it. I feel for Mat. If he hadn’t had problems and we hadn’t, I think it could have been a good race. I just rode my butt off. Bad luck for Neil too. He made a mistake at the end. I almost wish he hadn’t, so we could have raced it out. It was a wild race, but I’ll take it. It was a weird win.” Neil Hodgson concurred, saying, “That was the weirdest race ever! I enjoyed the race; I just screwed up. One little mistake cost me. These guys are tough, and it’s a credit to them. I made a mistake going into the chicane and went through in a gear too high. I went into that second turn a little too fast, probably five miles an hour faster, and just started drifting to the side and was pretty much a passenger on the bike. And after that, the race was over. That’s racing; we’ve all done it and I’ll probably do it again.” The lengthy Superbike race forced a late start for Saturday’s final event, the Formula Xtreme contest, which flagged off at about 5:50 pm. There was still plenty of daylight left, but the track was beginning to cool, which negated any concerns about tire wear. Team Honda rider Jake Zemke garnered the holeshot; he had qualified about one second ahead of the number two man, teammate Miguel Duhamel, but no one ever counts out Duhamel. The French Canadian carefully stalked Zemke for six laps, then he made his move to take over the lead. An incredibly entertaining swapfest followed, as the Honda duo took turns one-upping each other aboard their heavily modified CBR600RRs. While chasing Duhamel, Zemke flat-tracked through a number of corners, leaving big, lurid black swatches on the pavement as he lit up his rear tire, backing his bike into the turns. This epic dual continued until the last lap, when suddenly a batch of lapped riders appeared right on the racing line. While trailing Jake, Miguel got balked by a rider who neither slowed down nor made way after Zemke rocketed past. Unfortunately for all, this body-block destroyed any opportunity for the fans to enjoy an epic drafting battle to the finish line down California Speedway’s ultra-fast front straightaway. Jake Zemke took the win with relative ease, Duhamel followed 1.49 seconds behind, and Vince Haskovec rounded out the podium as he crossed the line 37.4 seconds in arrears. The strong turnout of fans enjoyed a trio of races on Sunday, beginning with the Superstock event. At the start, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates jumped into the lead with his GSX-R1000 and although Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking soon slipped by, Yates was not to be denied and he quickly regained first place. Jason Disalvo, also mounted aboard a Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1, moved up to pressure Yates, but the Suzuki rider looked like a man on a mission and he worked out a bit of breathing room””just barely more than a one-second gap. After leading for 11 laps, Yates looked like he had the race in the bag””until he tucked the front end in turn 3, just two laps from the end. The patient Disalvo now inherited the lead, and he made sure not to squander his good fortune as he nursed his lead over teammate Hacking, enjoying a margin of more than 4.5 seconds at the checkered flag. Behind Hacking, Jordon Suzuki’s Steve Rapp barely fended off Kawasaki Road Racing’s hard-charging Tommy Hayden on his ZX-10RR, who missed the final podium spot by just a whisker””0.045 of a second, to be precise! Close racing was again the order of the day in the always-competitive Supersport race. This time Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden took advantage of his pole position to snag the lead with his ZX-6RR, but he suffered assaults by Jason Disalvo aboard his Yamaha Motor Corp-prepped YZF-R6. Hayden fended off these challenges successfully, but then Jamie Hacking came charging into the lead aboard his factory-prepped YZF-R6. Tommy trailed in second, followed closely by his brother and Kawasaki teammate, Roger Lee Hayden. Gradually, Tommy closed the gap on Hacking, with just 0.3 second between the two on lap 10. But once again, lapped traffic entered the picture, and Hacking made a timely break as he slipped past a slower rider, and he stretched out just enough breathing room so that he would never be seriously challenged by Tommy Hayden again. Meanwhile, the fight for third place had tightened up, as Roger Lee Hayden worked overtime to outrun Jason Disalvo. The young Yamaha rider never backed off, but the younger of the Hayden brothers managed to squeak out a podium finish, this time by 0.086 of a second””tight racing indeed! Winner Jamie Hacking summed up the state of the Supersport class by saying, “Rarely do you get any breathing room in this class. I didn’t think anything was in the bag until the start/finish line.” For those who live in Suzuki-land, the racing universe returned to its normal orbit once more during the second Superbike event, as Mat Mladin put on a masterful demonstration of racing prowess yet again. This time, no red flags or mechanical gremlins raised their ugly heads, and the talented Aussie took the victory with consummate exactitude, leading from flag to flag to claim his fourth victory this season over the course of five races. Although teammate Ben Spies repeatedly attempted to mount a charge, each time Mladin would reply by wicking it up just a little more, widening the gap once again with surgical precision. Aaron Yates rounded out the Suzuki trifecta, a smooth-riding Eric Bostrom looked very comfortable in taking fourth place – his best finish of the season – and fellow Ducati rider Neil Hodgson came home in the fifth spot. Honda’s Jake Zemke took the checkers in sixth, while his teammate Miguel Duhamel low-sided in the early going but still collected points by soldiering on to the finish line in 18th place. After the race, Spies said, “I tried to keep Mat honest and tried not making too many mistakes, but he just ran away with it. I wish I could have had a better start and not gotten caught behind some lappers. The lappers weren’t super good to me today.” Mladin explained, “It was a good race for us. I was a little disappointed about yesterday, but that’s the way it goes. Yesterday is yesterday; today is today. We’re living and breathing fresh air and it’s that old saying, racing is racing. “The race today was really good. When you’re at the front you have to set the pace. So I tried to run it pretty consistently and just stretched it out a little bit and had enough, and then stretched it out a little bit more and made it comfortable for the last five laps.” Regarding his fine accomplishment for the day, Eric Bostrom said, “Yeah, this was my best finish of the year. We made a big improvement over yesterday, because I had more grip. We changed rim width and went to a different tire, which were big improvements.” When complimented on moving up to fifth place in the points standings, Bostrom said, “I’m not really thinking about points right now. I need to win races to be in contention for the championship. And that’s what I’m planning to do: Get on top of the podium and stay on top.” Next stop for Dunlop and the AMA Superbike road racing tour is the Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California, May 13-15, which features a doubleheader for the Superbike series. More, from a press release issued by Jason DiSalvo’s publicist: DiSalvo leads SuperStock Championship with a win at California Speedway Jason DiSalvo from Stafford, New York had a stellar weekend April 29, 30 and May 1st at California Speedway while competing in the American Motorcyclist SuperBike Championship. During practice and qualifying Jason was consistently the fastest rider, breaking the SuperStock track record with a blistering 124.688 seconds giving him the pole position for the SuperStock event. With a strong field of factory riders Jason broke away with the lead trio taking the lead with 2 laps to go winning the race by a 4-second margin. This moved Jason into the Championship lead in the 1000cc SuperStock series. Immediately following the SuperStock event, Jason starting from a front row position in the 600cc SuperSport race again showed his ability to run with the lead pack claiming 4th place at the finish line. His consistent front running moved Jason into third place in the 600cc SuperSport Championship. The SuperStock and SuperSport races will be aired on Speed Channel Tuesday, May 10th at 2:00 pm and 4:00 am With a two week rest the Yamaha team will participate at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA on May 13, 14 and 15. Speed Channel will be showing this race Sunday, May 15th at 12:00pm and Monday, May 16th 4:00am. More, from a press release issued by Plummer-Menapace Group on behalf of Pirelli: PIRELLI SCORES ANOTHER PODIUM AND SEVERAL TOP-5 AND TOP-10 FINISHES AT FONTANA Team M4 EMGO Suzuki Leads The Way, Privateers Continue To Move Up In Points (Rome, GA) Pirelli continued to improve in AMA road racing points this past weekend at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. The company’s top-ranked team, Team M4 EMGO Suzuki, scored its third consecutive AMA podium finish, and its league of fast young privateers again showed well against the factory iron. Despite having no testing time at Fontana, which greatly elongated the search for the right set-up, Team M4’s Vincent Haskovec and his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600 delivered their second consecutive Formula Xtreme podium finish, coming home in third place behind the two factory Hondas just like he did at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend. Pirelli’s hard-charging privateer corps gave the company three of the Formula Xtreme Top-5 positions. Dirt tracker Danny Eslick earned another fourth place to go with the stunning fourth he took in the Daytona 200 FX race, as the top privateer. Teenager Nicky Moore on his Yamaha R6 came home fifth. Team Hotbodies Racing’s Heath Small was eighth on Pirellis, an impressive finish for the young rider running only a limited AMA race schedule this season. In Fontana’s Superstock final, Pirelli put three in the top 10, lead again by Haskovec and his Team M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000 with a solid fifth place, again battling set-up due to the lack of testing time at the track. “This is definitely not our favorite place. Right out of the gate it was a struggle, “the transplanted Czech-Republic rider said. “It was a tough race. What was left on the track, I took. I went for it and gave it everything I got.” Lion Racing teammates John Haner and Jake Holden finished seventh and eighth respectively. The three riders also give Pirelli three of the top-10 AMA Superstock championship-points standings. With two fifth-place finishes to go with his Daytona Superstock win, Haskovec is now tied for second place (with Factory Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking); Holden is seventh and Haner eighth. Geoff May, Haskovec’s teammate – and the Pirelli privateer who shocked last year’s AMA Superbike field by finishing fifth in the championship earned a respectable eighth place in the Supersport final. It was a typically gutsy performance from May, who had crashed in the previous Superstock race and remounted to finish 18th in the 34-rider field. Nicky Moore earned his second top-10 finish of the weekend, in tenth. The talented veteran Lee Acree of KWS Racing, finished 14th and 12th in the two Fontana Superbike finals on his Pirelli-equipped GSX-R. The results were enough to move Acree to ninth place in the championship. Acree will appear on “Greg’s Garage” tomorrow evening on Speed TV. Bob Henderson, Pirelli North America Road Race Coordinator was pleased with the progress of his tires and riders. “The new SupercorsaPRO DOT radial is coming on well in only its third outing on American tracks. The riders seem especially pleased with the new front tire’s sharper profile. He also commented on the new Pirelli slicks and Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s aid in the development of the company’s next evolution of race slicks. “We proved right off the bat in Daytona, when we won the Superstock race, that we have tires right now that can win at the highest levels of AMA racing. But Pirelli wants to go further, developing race tires here in America for American racers. That’s the mission. And Team M4, with the experience, professionalism and riders they have, is a big part of that. More, from a press release issued by WMG Management: JAKE ZEMKE WINS SECOND Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme RACE AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY Jake Zemke came to California Speedway looking for a second consecutive win in the Formula Xtreme Class. With round 3 of 10 now history, Zemke appears to be the one to beat in 2005. Zemke sent notice to his competitors by qualifying in the top spot for the main event. The polesitter and his American Honda teammate, Miguel DuHamel separated themselves from the field early on creating a one-on-one showdown that was reminiscent of the 2004 race season. Late in the race, Zemke was able to make a final surge creating enough breathing room to secure the top spot on the podium for the second straight week. “The race was really good,” Zemke commented. “Hat’s off to Miguel, he really stepped it up come race time, and was right there pushing hard. I thought I was going to have an easy ride, but he foiled my plan. But it was a good race. Most of these Formula Xtreme races turn out like that — they usually come right down to the last lap.” Zemke currently holds a 1-point advantage over DuHamel (104 vs. 103) in the Formula Xtreme Class. More, from a press release issued by Topline Printing Yamaha: The Topline Printing Racing Report: Bittersweet Weekend in Fontana There’s never a good time for an engine failure, but the rare failure of the crankshaft that took Young Gun Chris Peris out of third place in Formula Xtreme at Fontana was a heartbreaker. The teenager had qualified third quickest, next to the Hondas of Zemke and DuHamel, and launched into a strong third place off the line. Two laps later the Topline Racing Yamaha sat quietly against the front-straight wall and Peris’ third-place point standing was history. “The engine was about 100 kilometers short of our scheduled replacement, but most of the miles on the engine were from Daytona,” Fernando Peris reflected later. “Daytona miles are tough. The saddest part of the whole deal is that we had the new replacement engine sitting on the ground in the pits, and had plans to change it out Saturday night after the FX race. We only needed 12 more laps out of it, and Chris would have had his first AMA podium. To say ‘THAT’S RACING’ was never more true.” The Topline Team bounced back from Saturday’s disappointment to finish ninth in the star-filled SuperSport field. Chris ran a strong seventh during the opening laps and was overtaken by two fellow competitors as the race wore on. With about 8 laps to go in the 17-lap event, Chris ran a string of laps quicker than his qualifying time and put his Yamaha on the rear fender of May, hoping to make a bid for eighth and perhaps seventh place. Unfortunately, the plug for the electronic shifter worked itself loose and began to intermittently kill the engine, in turn killing any chance for eighth. “Yeah, it would have been great to try and race Geoff and Ben for seventh, but just running close to those guys means we’re going in the right direction,” Peris said. “Max McAllister of Traxxion Dynamics has really helped. McAllister adds, “I believe that once you’ve got the chassis combination right, it shouldn’t change much track-to-track. We got this thing dialed in at Daytona (fifth place in the 200) and haven’t touched too much since. I continue to be impressed with Chris’ ability to feel even the smallest changes. Each weekend, I pick out a different guy that typically runs in front of Chris, and tell him ‘Don’t finish behind this guy!’ He always comes through, and basically only has 18-wheeler-type guys left to pick off. There isn’t any privateer on the circuit he hasn’t got covered at this point.” “We are really seeing some excitement in the paddock about Chris”, according to Lead Mechanic Willy Vaas. “Yamaha Factory and Graves Motorsports have been keeping a close eye on us, and have been very generous with little bits and pieces of information and occasional parts when we need them. They even gave us passes to the factory hospitality tent this weekend, which was A LOT better than track food! Dunlop has assigned a technician to give us advice on tires. So even though we are still just a privateer team with a pickup and a trailer, we felt a lot of love this past weekend from the big guys.” Topline Racing left Fontana with high hopes for the rest of the year. “We have a lot of fans in California because I’ve been racing just about every month at Willow Springs,” Chris said. “We kept a couple of bikes in Southern California and I’d fly in during the winter to stay sharp; even though I live in Calgary, I felt like a local!” Peris came to Fontana slightly more relaxed even though he had to drive the truck and trailer by himself from Barber, he had just written his final exams for his first semester of Business Administration at the University of Calgary. The Topline Team has high hopes for Infineon Raceway in two weeks, when the AMA Pro Series returns to action.