Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Despite breaking his collarbone in a crash during testing six days ago, Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking is optimistic about keeping his AMA Superstock Championship hopes alive at Laguna Seca. But he is not happy about the surface changes and curbing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, site of his crash.

“It was terrible. Just when you think they can’t make Mid-Ohio any worse, they did,” Hacking said of the recent surface grinding done at the Lexington, Ohio facility to smooth transitions on and off the many concrete patches in its 15 corners. “I thought it was going to be OK because all the bumps were gone, but it’s unrideable, really. I’m sure there’re riders out there who go down the highway with the grooves in the road and know how hard it is just to go straight-up-and-down. Imagine going around a corner at 50 (mph) on ‘em. It’s pretty crazy.”

Hacking, who was riding his YZF-R6 Supersport racer at the time of his crash, isn’t sure if the grooves in the pavement or the curbing on the outside of the track is more to blame in the incident.

“I can’t remember (everything) because I got knocked out,” said Hacking. “I was riding in the back section over that little hill (turn nine) and accelerated down that back side. There were a lot of grind marks back in (turn 10) there. I remember I lost the rear and saved it. It was no big deal. I was on it, but you know how high the curbings are there at Mid-Ohio. They had the curbing on the outside of the track, and I hit that. The thing just catapulted me over the handlebars and drove me straight into the ground.

“I was on top of the bike. If there hadn’t been that (curbing) there, I would’ve just ran off in the gravel trap, turned around and got back on the track. They’ve got it (curb) there so cars can berm off of it. That’s the only reason why that thing’s there.”

Soon after the crash, Hacking flew to California, where Dr. Athur Ting pinned the broken collarbone back together. Since that time, Hacking has been recuperating in the “re-hab hotel” near Ting’s clinic.

“I’ve got a bone stimulator and an ice water pressure pack on it,” Hacking told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday. “The last couple of days have been a struggle muscle-wise at the base of my neck. The collarbone broke so close to the base of my neck that he had to cut some muscles and kind of shift them around to get to it. But today I can move my neck a lot better and I feel a lot better about it.

“I’m looking pretty optimistic for this weekend. I think I can do a good job. But it’s kind of upsetting, you know, because I’m coming into one of my best tracks. I know that (if healthy) I could win there, but I’ve got to take whatever I can get.

“We’ll just have to see Friday. I’m not going to ride that much at first. I’m going to check it out and see how it goes. I want to do good, but then again I just want to come out of there and maybe salvage my points lead still and get this week off and then get back to business.”

Hacking heads into Laguna Seca with a 14-point lead in the AMA Superstock Championship over teammate Aaron Gobert, and he holds an 18-point advantage over Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden. If Gobert were to win and collect maximum points (by earning pole position and leading the most laps in the race) at Laguna, Hacking would have to finish sixth or better to hold his lead. If Hayden were to win and collect maximum points, Hacking would need to finish 10th or better to hold his point lead.

Although he doesn’t want to give up on the defense of his Supersport Championship, Hacking (who is currently third and 36 points behind the Supersport Championship leader Hayden) reluctantly admitted he may have to sit out the Supersport race at Laguna Seca.

“We’ll have to see. My main goal is Superstock right now,” said Hacking.

One thing in Hacking’s favor is that Dr. Ting (along with his Sports Rehab Specialist, Certified Athletic Trainer Tuan Nguyen) will be the official Chief Medical Officer at Laguna Seca and will be on-site during the entire event.