Nicky Hayden once again proved he is a true champion in the making with his courageous ride on the RC51 at PPIR.
Hayden might have been better served by bringing a Kentucky mountain goat to ride at PPIR. Alt least the billy goat might have eventually quit trying to send Nicky into orbit as he entered every turn. And if you kick a billy goat hard enough, it might even respond to an adjustment, unlike the RC51.

Let's take a look at the hottest rider on the tour, Miguel DuHamel. He won at BIR and lead both Mid-Ohio races. At PPIR, he was never on the pace often times out of the top 10 in practice and qualifying. In the race, he pulled off just as he was being lapped, and afterward he pronounced the bike as un-raceable. The Kid ran at the front for 2/3 of the race on the same machine.

From the roof of the media center, one could see how much of a handful the RC51 was at PPIR. Watching The Kid circulate, the RC51 looked to be on a knife's edge when being steered. It looked as if the machine would not respond to being turned, then all the sudden it would flop over, sometimes causing the riders to "saw" on the bars to get the lean angle correct. The RC51 never seemed to improve all weekend, and the time sheets also bore this out. It certainly seems as if the RC51 has a more serious problem than a too-long swingarm.

As hard as he was pushing, it was amazing Nicky didn't crash in the race. In future years, we will all talk about the PPIR race as the one where "Hayden burned all the rubber off his tire."

Al Ludington returns to Superbike victory lane for the first time since Daytona '99. "It feels awesome. It feels great. We needed to do it for Kawasaki, Eric, and myself and the rest of the crew. So far this year, we've been the slowest of the fast guys. We've been struggling to get up there with those guys. Next we have two days testing at Virginia International Raceway, and two more at Willow Springs, and we will continue to try some new settings."

There is a semi-secret Dunlop tire test this week at Daytona. Thursday, the Yosh squad will shake down a 2001 version of the GSX-R750 Superbike.

Jim Leonard tells of his luckless Vance and Hines team's woes. "The fuel pump failed on John's bike. We took it apart, but didn't see anything obvious. But we're for sure that's what it was. Steve's bike was overheating on the water temperature, so he had some problems to deal with as well."

Kocinski on his sometimes-shaky relationship with the motorcycle press: "I am paid to do one thing: ride the bike. I try to rise above all the pettiness that can go on." John is looking to go back to a World Championship series for next season, and says he may test for Ducati Corse in the next few weeks.

Steve Rapp came home sixth. "I needed a finish. I didn't want a tire go bad like at Brainerd, not that Brainerd was a risky choice. Dave McGrath is the one that made the choices and they were the right ones. We wouldn't have done as well if it wasn't for him. This track is so weird. The tire spins all the time."

How tough is Mat Mladin? In the post race press conference, Mat opened a Pepsi can...with his teeth!

Jamie Hacking nipped Nicky Hayden at the end of the race. "I'm not disappointed with my performance this weekend, but I'm not happy about it either. I thought I could hang with those guys this weekend. I was running really well in the warm up, but right after the start, I couldn't go anywhere. I had no grip, then Pegram and Yates got by me. The tire never came in, so I just started to ride it. Pegram was all over the race track. His bike was pulling me, it was faster. I got by him, and then I tried Yates but I couldn't do anything with him. Kocinski came up on me and I wasn't about to let him get me. I was spinning it up, full throttle."

"When I saw Nicky take off after he had been struggling in practice, I new he couldn't last the race...I was sneaking a look at the leader board I could see him coming back. Then I got a glimpse of him and I made a charge. I know the Suzuki guys are happy. They owe me."

"I used the dual compound," said the 600 SS race winner. "I blistered the 501 (single compound race tire used by Bostrom) the other day in practice."

"It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn" Department: Jason Pridmore, John Kocinski, Miguel DuHamel and Scott Russell all broke or retired in the last handful of laps.

Trend setting: First we call Anthony Gobert "Tony G", so does the world; we call Ben Bostrom Captain America and next it's on the cover of Cycle News. After Brainerd, Jardine exhausts did a DuHamel win ad with the words "Return of the Warrior" burned across the top of the ad.