Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The AMA Formula Xtreme race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was red-flagged on lap nine of 17 after Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke started smoking badly on lap nine and Zemke pulled off the track.

Zemke had a 5.8-second lead at the time his bike started smoking.

Miguel Duhamel and Ben Bostrom had been racing for second, but Duhamel was slowed by a broken shifter, which allowed Bostrom to move into second place.

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec was leading a tight group racing for fourth, consisting of Alex Gobert, Jason Pridmore and Doug Chandler.

Just before course control called for a red flag, Ben Bostrom came by the pits and made a hand signal to his crew.

During the red flag delay, Zemke’s and Duhamel’s crews were seen working on their motorcycles.

Both Duhamel and Zemke took the restart, but Zemke did so from the back of the grid, because he officially caused the red flag.

The restart wasn’t called until after Zemke’s crew had found and fixed an oil leak.

In the past, AMA Pro Racing’s Ron Barrick has said that he will delay restarts to allow crews to make bike repairs.



AMA Formula Xtreme Running Order (at the time of the red flag):

1. Jake Zemke, Honda
2. Ben Bostrom, Honda
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda
4. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki
5. Alex Gobert, Honda
6. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki
7. Doug Chandler, Ducati
8. Larry Pegram, Yamaha
9. Nicky Moore, Suzuki
10. Danny Eslick, Suzuki
11. Mike Ciccotto, Buell
12. Blake Young, Suzuki
13. Heath Small, Yamaha
14. Tom Montano, Honda
15. Ty Howard, Yamaha