DUNLOP MOTORCYCLE TIRES RACE REPORT: 2006 AMA SUPERBIKE SERIES, ROUND SEVEN, LAGUNA SECA RACEWAY Monterey, Calif. The biggest weekend of motorcycle racing in America descended on the spectacular rolling hills of coastal northern California for the U.S. Grand Prix/AMA Superbike Championship, July 21-23. Headlining the three-day event was the American round of the World MotoGP Championship, which drew 145,111 spectators. The fans were equally entertained by the four-race card featured on the 11-city AMA Superbike Championship Series. When the racing extravaganza concluded, Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden had won his second consecutive MotoGP at Laguna Seca and extended his lead in the hunt for his first World Championship. On the AMA front, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies earned his ninth Superbike victory–and eighth of this year–to extend his series lead in just his second full season of premier-class racing. Factory Yamaha’s Eric Bostrom collected his fourth Formula Xtreme victory of the season and placed himself within striking distance of the class title. And Bostrom’s teammate Jamie Hacking was doubly successful, taking wins in the Supersport and Superstock classes to strengthen his lead in those series. Dunlop-sponsored riders reigned supreme all weekend, sweeping the four AMA podiums and collecting 34 out of a possible 40 top-ten finishing positions for a winning percentage of 85. In preparation for the MotoGP round, a number of significant improvements were made to the track to augment safety, including an expanded runoff area at the end of the front straight heading into turn two and a reconfigured approach to Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew. With the repaving of the entire course just completed, the race teams had high hopes that were partially deflated by an unexpectedly bumpy surface. Mother Nature brought unseasonably hot temperatures to the region, adding more uncertainty to the racing equation as the track surface degraded from the blistering horsepower and heat. As the teams grappled with the added tire wear occurring from the abrasive new surface and the tread-straining track temperatures — not to mention the AMA’s recent ruling allowing traction control veteran race watchers were hard-pressed to accurately handicap the contests. Superbike Race Unlike most of the venues on the AMA schedule, round seven at Laguna Seca featured just one Superbike competition, a 28-lap affair run on Saturday. Nevertheless, series-leader Spies made the most of it, grabbing the pole position Friday with a 1:24.946 on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 and backing that up with a domineering race performance. A red flag on the first lap following Honda Racing’s Miguel Duhamel’s rocket-like holeshot allowed Spies a second chance and he took the most of it, leading from flag-to-flag after the restart to win by 3.1 seconds. A magnificent scrap ensued for the remaining podium positions between Duhamel, Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden (who clocked the fastest lap of the race, a 1:26.100), Parts Unlimited Ducati’s Neil Hodgson and his teammate Ben Bostrom, and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates. Hayden was rewarded with a hard-fought second place, a personal best and the team’s best showing in its first year back in the Superbike fray. Third went to Hodgson, his first podium finish of the season. Dunlop-sponsored riders collected an impressive 10 of the top 10 finishing positions. With the win, Spies extended his lead to 34 points (426-392) over his nearest rival, teammate and six-time AMA champ Mat Mladin, who suffered a miserable start and fought his way to a sixth place finish. Duhamel holds down third in the championship with 329 points. Superbike Race Results, Saturday: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 3. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 5. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 6. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 10. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) Formula Xtreme race Earlier on Saturday, the highly-tuned 600cc four-cylinder Formula Xtreme machines dominated the series’ seventh competition of the year. The championship has been hotly contested all season. Factory Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo put his YZF-R6 on the pole with a time of 1:28.048, but it would be teammate Eric Bostrom who would demonstrate his mastery of the challenging Laguna Seca road course, collecting his fifth career victory here. Bostrom led every lap of the 15-lap race on his way to his fourth FX win in the last five outings. The victory also ties him with Honda’s Duhamel for the most-ever wins in Formula Xtreme at 13. Disalvo rode well and finished second; he still maintains the series lead, 224-to-218, over Erion Racing Honda’s Josh Hayes who finished third. Bostrom is just five points back with 213 and four contests to go. Notably, Dunlop-shod riders took the first seven finishing positions. Formula Xtreme Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 2. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 3. Josh Hayes (Honda) 4. Ryan Andrews (Honda) 6. Ty Howard (Honda) 7. Aaron Gobert (Honda) Supersport Race Yamaha’s good fortune continued on Sunday as Jamie Hacking rode to victory virtually unchallenged in the Supersport race, collecting his fourth consecutive win in the series aboard a YZF-R6. In so doing he stretched his championship points lead to 54 over Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden. Hayden, in his first healthy appearance since fracturing his leg at the second round in Birmingham, ran a strong race and held off Ben Spies by .268 seconds at the line. Matsushima Performance’s Danny Eslick is just 10 championship points behind Hayden with 155. Overall, Dunlop riders took eight of the top 10 finishing positions. Supersport Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Jamie Hacking (Yamaha) 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 3. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 4. Ben Attard (Kawasaki) 6. Danny Eslick (Suzuki) 8. Blake Young (Yamaha) 9. Tony Meiring (Suzuki) 10. Josh Herrin (Yamaha) Hacking did it again in the Superstock event, this time aboard Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s mighty YZF-R1LE. He battled early on with the 2005 Superstock champ, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, and Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May before pulling away for good halfway through the 17-lap race and winning by a comfortable 6.846 seconds. Third went to Hacking’s teammate Eric Bostrom. Dunlop-sponsored racers rode away with nine of the top 10 positions. In the championship hunt, Hacking has 245 points to Yates’ 226, followed by Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo with 197. Superstock Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Jamie Hacking (Yamaha) 2. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 3. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 4. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 5. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 6. Jake Holden (Suzuki) 8. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 9. Marty Craggill (Suzuki) 10. Josh Hayes (Honda) Next stop for Dunlop and the 2006 AMA Superbike road racing tour is Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, August 4-6. Round eight includes two Superbike races. More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki : SOLID BUT FRUSTRATING DAY FOR TEAM M4 EMGO SUZUKI Team M4 EMGO Suzuki closed out the U.S. Grand Prix weekend at Laguna Seca with a frustrating day in which the squad was unable to capitalize on the terrific speed they displayed. While Michael Barnes and Geoff May both claimed solid placings, their results weren’t representative of the podium-caliber form the riders proved they had during the races. Racing in extreme heat in front of a massive crowd (the weekend attendance was greater than 140,000), both May and Barnes got away quickly aboard their Pirelli-shod GSX-R600s in the Supersport contest, running as part of a pack of riders fighting for second. Georgian May charged up from seventh to briefly take control of second, only to crash after overshooting the Corkscrew in an attempt to secure the position. He managed to remount and come home in seventh. Barnes ran as high as fourth but lost time after coming together with a rival in Turn 11 on lap 7 of 17. The Floridian held on for fifth, his second top-five finish of the weekend. Shea Fouchek finished 18th, five spots higher than his qualifying position. In the Superstock contest that immediately followed the Supersport race, May looked determined to make up for his earlier disappointment. He challenged for the lead aboard his GSX-R1000 and ran in the top three for 11 of 17 laps but a set-up gamble didn’t fully pay off and he faded as the race went on. At the conclusion of the final May claimed seventh, his first finish outside the top four in the class all year long. Team Crew Chief Keith Perry said, “Neither race reflects what the riders, bikes, and team have in them. We had such promising starts in both those races. Geoff really, really wanted second in that 600 race. He got a little over anxious and made a little mistake. I can’t fault him for trying. We had great tires, a great bike, and I’m proud about how hard he was riding. Barney had a good ride too but I know he was disappointed with the result. Still, he rode strong and consistent.” Perry continued, “In Superstock we took a little bit of a gamble because of the weather. We gambled and it was awfully good for half the race, but it was all Geoff could do to hang on at the end. It was good that he was able to bring it home and get a result.” Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will be back in action in two weeks time at Mid-Ohio on August 4-6 for the eight round of the 2006 AMA season.