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| More From The Fontana US Superbike Round
by wilber bice Wednesday, April 30, 2008 For Immediate Release Fontana, CA: Hot weather in April at Fontana, California is nothing new. However, this year the third round of the AMA Superbike Series held at the newly renamed Auto Club Speedway not only offered brutally hot temperatures but also dangerously strong wind gusts that made for tricky riding all weekend. Despite these impediments, the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki Superbike squad scored big as Ben Spies lead a team sweep of the podium on both Saturday and Sunday, although he had to work a lot harder the second time around to steal the win from Mat Mladin. The Erion Racing Honda duo of Jake Zemke and Josh Hayes likewise dominated racing in the Formula Xtreme class with Zemke claiming a whisker-close win over his teammate. Corona Extra Honda's Jake Holden earned a hard-fought victory by the barest of margins, the first ever for Honda in the Superstock class, and in the ultra-competitive Supersport class, Graves Yamaha pilot Ben Bostrom barely eked out a victory over Zemke. Dunlop brought nearly 1900 tires to California Speedway to arm the majority of riders competing in the Superbike, Formula Xtreme, Superstock and Supersport classes. Of the top ten positions in each of the five races, including the two Superbike rounds, Dunlop-shod machines collected an overwhelming 70 percent of the spots, 35 out of a possible 50. Early track action on Saturday foreshadowed the difficult times ahead. The ground temperature at 8:30 a.m. read 84 degrees Fahrenheit, soaring to 111 degrees by 1:00 p.m. along with an air temp of 94 degrees. Moreover, gusting winds made riding tricky, as Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki rider Aaron Yates observed after Superstock qualifying: "The wind gusts buffet the bike and can set off a wobble." Corona Extra Honda pilot Jake Holden affirmed that thought by saying, "The wind definitely played a key role in times out there." Indeed, by the close of the weekend virtually every rider in the paddock would echo those sentiments in various ways. When asked if the winds were affecting motorcycle setup in any way, one crew chief noted that hot weather along with strong winds do have an impact. He explained that when heading into the wind his bikes showed a drop in running temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius, caused by the extra airflow. A tail wind, in contrast, raised engine temps about 8 degrees. However, a strong cross-wind?present on the front straight and the back straight?muddled aerodynamic flow sufficiently to increase engine temperatures 15 degrees Celsius. Hence, even higher engine temperatures and attendant concerns about overheating. Superbike Race One Saturday's second Superbike qualifying session was cancelled due to wind-related delays, which meant provisional pole sitter and reigning champ Ben Spies, who had topped Friday's qualifying session, would keep his leadoff spot. When the race flagged off, Spies kept his advantage and lead the first eight laps before teammate Mat Mladin forced his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 to the front just past the finish stripe. While the pair cleared off from the rest of the field, another exciting race for third place was shaping up. Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki rider Aaron Yates first laid claim to the third podium spot, with Team Yamaha riders Eric Bostrom and Jason DiSalvo contesting the position aboard factory YZF-R1s. Soon American Honda's Neil Hodgson moved up with his CBR1000RR to first pressure Yates, then take over third. Meanwhile, up front Spies slid by Mladin with a tight inside pass that forced the number 66 bike off the track although Mladin recovered nicely?albeit now too far back to ever challenge for the lead again. Behind him, the battle for third raged on with Tommy Hayden, the third Rockstar/Makita Suzuki pilot, first challenging, then passing Hodgson for good to fill out an all-Suzuki podium. After the race, Spies said, "This weekend has just been going pretty good the whole time. Racing is hard out there?this is a pretty physical track and it's hot and it's windy. It was definitely hard racing." A surprisingly jovial Mladin made the weather the scapegoat by cracking a wry smile and responding, "I think the wind was blowing for me, but not for him." Superbike Race One Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 The Formula Xtreme race presented a dazzling display of racing prowess as two superior riders on nearly identical machines?Erion Racing Honda CBR600RRs, to be exact?freight-trained all around Auto Club Speedway in tandem, separated by scant tenths of a second and oft-times even less. Although Jake Zemke lead the overwhelming number of laps, 15 to Hayes' 2, that number fails to reflect the fierce pressure that reigning champion Hayes applied all race long. After clearing the last corner of the last lap, Hayes made his move to draft and pass Zemke on the fast front straight. But the 98 bike dove low onto the track apron, spewing up dust, grit and rubber chunks while guarding the inside line and forcing Hayes to climb up the banking to make the pass. That little bit of strategy paid off handsomely, as Zemke edged his teammate by a mere 0.013 of a second?just enough! After the race, Zemke said, "The Honda CBR600RR is an easy motorcycle to ride, and that makes my job easy. But it's going to be that way all year long, with Josh and me passing each other back and forth." Formula Xtreme Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 On Sunday, by all appearances Mat Mladin seemed to have turned the tables on his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki teammate Ben Spies. Mladin grabbed the holeshot and proceeded to lead the next 27 laps, enjoying a cushion of nearly four seconds at its fattest point. But Spies had other things in mind; with only 7 laps remaining he began a truly remarkable charge forward. At first, it looked as though the differential would simply be too great to overcome. But he inexorably closed the gap and on the final lap he used perfect timing to pass Mladin, drafting past at the finish line to barely win by a few inches, a gap of 0.011 of a second?an even tighter margin than the incredible Formula Xtreme race the previous day. After the race, Spies said, "This is one of the toughest races I've ever been in. I just couldn't make any headway. It's a little easier when you have someone in front of you because you can chase. But certainly the race didn't go the way I would have planned. The last ten laps, I was pretty much out of control. Mat definitely made me work for it. I can't believe how fast we were going. We had nothing left at the end of the race; we were pushing the whole time." Superbike Race Two Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 Ordinarily, a margin of victory of only 0.174 second sounds like a real
rarity, but incredibly enough it was the largest gap any winner would enjoy
the entire day on this remarkable Sunday. Late in the race, Corona Extra
Honda rider Jake Holden wielded his 2008 CBR1000RR to first take over the
lead and then fend off the repeated attacks of his former teammate, Yates.
On the last lap, Yates made a pass aboard his GSX-R1000 that looked like it
would stick, but Holden quickly retaliated and doggedly held on for the
well-deserved win. It was the first win for Holden at Fontana, the
first-ever win for the recently introduced CBR1000RR and the first-ever win
for Honda in the 1000cc Superstock class?significant landmarks all. When
asked to describe his win, Holden said, "The CBR1000RR is just so much
easier to ride around the track. We haven't spent much time with the bike
yet; we still have more testing to do. I just kind of paced myself."
The Supersport race had hardly begun when it was red-flagged due to a crash caused by a Martin Cardenas low-side, which also took out Tommy Hayden. Both riders were transported to the hospital, with no official word regarding their status as of this writing. On the restart, young Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin grabbed the holeshot for the second time with his YZF-R6, but Erion Racing Honda's Zemke quickly swooped in from the outside to take over the lead aboard his CBR600RR. Herrin's teammate Ben Bostrom latched onto the pair, and together the three riders distanced themselves from the pack in almost no time. For the next 16 laps, the three riders battled for the lead, passing and re-passing each other time and time again. Zemke led 9 laps and Herrin 4, but of the 3 laps Bostrom led, the last one was the most important?and he barely accomplished that feat! When Bostrom nipped past Zemke right after the finish line on the white-flag lap, many thought Zemke would take the opportunity to return the favor and draft past the 155 machine on the final charge to the checkers. However, it was not to be; Bostrom maintained his momentum out of the last corner and Zemke couldn't quite catch up, crossing the line only 0.080 of a second behind. A relieved and very happy Bostrom commented post-race: "This was a lot of work, you know. These guys were definitely going as fast as I wanted to go. But it was fun! Supersport Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 ******** PROGRESS FOR GOBERT AND ROCKWALL HONDA Rockwall Honda's Aaron Gobert finished a solid seventh in the Formula Xtreme race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California last weekend. He was 12th in the Supersport race, but gained a noticeable improvement in speed on his Honda CBR600RR in both classes since the last event. Gobert raced with a three-rider pack in contesting fifth place in FX. Although his result was one position lower than last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, Gobert finished 13.429 seconds behind the leader -- ten seconds closer than he was in Alabama. The former AMA Superstock champion earned valuable points and is now ninth in class after three rounds. "I think the team did a good job this weekend," said the Australian racer. "Not every result was what we wanted but we made some good progress. The field in Formula Xtreme is quite fast these days and we made a big jump in our lap times, even though the results might not show all of our improvements. We found ten seconds over the race distance since last weekend and that's promising. Supersport has us puzzled a bit and we need some more consistency in the lap times. I think we're working in the right direction. Our goal is to run up front." "This weekend was a big positive direction for us. We learned a lot and have a good direction for the next race at Infineon," said Rockwall Honda crew chief Gary Medley. "We're going to spend the time working on our engines and want to get little more power. With that, we'll continue to work on our suspension, too. In the Supersport race, we had some traction problems but we have some good data and good ideas. We're headed in the right direction. We just started out a little behind, but the crew and the rider are both working hard and we see progress." Gobert and Rockwall Honda will next race at Infineon Raceway May 16-18. ***************** Out-Of-Position Front Brake Lever May Have Triggered Cardenas-Hayden Crash At An out-of-position aftermarket folding front brake lever may have played a role in Martin Cardenas' crash on the first lap of the AMA Supersport race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California on Sunday. Cardenas collided with Steve Rapp on the approach to the corner where he crashed, ultimately sliding into Tommy Hayden and causing him to crash as well. "We went through the big left from second gear to fourth gear at full throttle next to each other and we hit," said Cardenas late Monday night, shortly after he awoke following hours of successful surgery to insert a titanium rod in his broken left femur. "When I reached the braking zone and went for the front brakes there was no lever, I am sure there was no lever. I didn't have front brakes. There was no lever. I tried to do the best I could. I didn't have anywhere to go because I was on the inside and there were a lot of people on the outside. I tried to hit the rear brake very hard and turn to avoid as many people as possible and I slid the bike but as soon as I touched the grass I crashed and then I don't know what happened. I am very sorry." When the bike came in off the crash truck and was examined by AMA tech officials the front brake lever was in position and the front brake system functioned normally. But closer examination by team mechanics on Monday revealed that the lever's forward-travel stop was broken near the pivot point, raising the possibility that the lever either folded up or was knocked forward during the contact with Rapp's machine, and was out of position when Cardenas reached for it with two fingers on his right hand. The lever may have been knocked back into position as the bike tumbled through the dirt or as it was picked up and loaded onto the crash truck. Folding levers are hinged in the middle and are supposed to fold instead of break in the event of a crash, increasing the chance that a crashed rider can rejoin a race after picking up his machine. "We may never know how it actually happened," said M4 EMGO Suzuki Crew Chief Keith Perry. "Our first guess was that a tankslapper kicked the pads back in the calipers but Martin says he doesn't remember any headshake before the crash and he is adamant that there was no lever when he went for the brake. The bike had a brake lever when we got it back, but it's a folding lever and the part of the lever that keeps it from rotating forward on its mount was broken. The only two things that make any kind of sense are the lever folding up when Martin and Steve Rapp collided, or the lever getting pushed forward enough to break its travel limiter and moving out of the reach of Martin's fingers. All we can do now is hope for Martin and Tommy to heal up quickly." Cardenas should be released from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, California later this week and plans to return home to Medellin, Colombia to recuperate. Well wishes can be sent to him through his website, www.martincardenas.com Cardenas will return to AMA Formula Xtreme and Supersport competition with M4 EMGO Suzuki when he has recovered from his injuries. In the meantime, Cardenas' Formula Xtreme racebikes will be ridden by his teammate, Cory West, who up to this point has been racing in the Supersport class only. Negotiations are now underway to have Cardenas' Supersport bikes ridden by Michael Barnes until Cardenas returns to action, and the team expects to reach a final agreement with Barnes this week. ****************** HONDA RACING INFORMATION
Hodgson Fights for Podium in Sunny Southern California American Honda's Neil Hodgson fought for podium positions in both rounds of the AMA Superbike Championship at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, but a mistake in the same corner in both races prevented him from finishing on the box. Still, he came away from the wind-blown, sun-baked weekend with a pair of fourth place finishes, his best since joining the American Honda team. Teammate Miguel Duhamel turned in his best laps of the weekend late in Saturday's Superbike race. But he'd put himself in a hole early in the race which didn't allow him to challenge as strongly as he might have. On Sunday, an engine problem put a premature halt to his race as he was making a run on the trio contesting fourth, one that included his teammate. Saturday's race saw Hodgson moving into third place on the ninth lap of Saturday's 28-lap affair and holding it until the 23rd lap. That's when Tommy Hayden, the older brother of Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, made a pass for the final podium position. Hodgson was making a run at Hayden when he overshot the transition from the banking into the infield. It didn't cost him a position, just time that he wasn't able to recover. On Sunday he didn't start as well and had to come from behind, which he did. Again he found himself chasing Tommy Hayden. And although he was able to shrink the deficit, he wasn't able to gain the position. And again he mistimed the infield approach. "In general I'm pleased," he said before heading back to his home on the Isle of Man for a quick visit. "Daytona we qualified tenth and finished seventh. Barber we qualified sixth and had two fifths. So we qualified sixth here and had two fourths. We have got a new motorcycle. No excuses. We're definitely making steps forward and we know where we need to improve the bike." Duhamel finished seventh on Saturday, improving his lap times as his fuel load decreased. Changes to the machine improved his confidence on Sunday, but an engine problem dropped him from the field on the 10th of 28 laps. The teams now have just over a week's rest before a test at Miller Motorsports Park, site of the American round of the World Superbike Championship in early June. From there they head to the wine country for the fourth round of the championship at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California on May 18. Neil Hodgson 4th, 4th We're getting definitely better with the bike settings and it's helping me ride a bit harder. Yesterday, as I was trying to pass Tommy, I hit the brakes going to my favorite corner. I instantly lost the front slightly. I released the brakes and knew I was not going to make the corner. Luckily there, you can kill a lot of speed by turning right up the banking. So I did that and it worked pretty good. Obviously, it didn't help my position. Tommy (Hayden) was better than me through that flip-flop and accelerating out of there, so I was always making it up on the brakes. But this time I think it was just a little more lean angle. The bike worked better today than yesterday. It was easier to change direction (and easier on the tires with just some geometry changes. No excuses. It's so different to a Ducati and I've got that much experience on one. The way the Ducati felt to me, this bike feels different. And I'm building confidence in it. I'm starting to enjoy myself now. Miguel Duhamel 7th, DNF Just a little bit of bad luck; that's racing. The engine was maybe running a little hot and I think something in the engine got a little tight and didn't like that. And it's unfortunate because we had a better start than yesterday and I was pretty calm and composed there, staying behind Matt (Lynn). I figured when he started losing some ground then I passed him and I saw Jamie (Hacking) was struggling, so I said, 'OK, I'm going to get up to Jamie.' I really felt confident, I thought I could get back up to around Neil (Hodgson) and Eric (Bostrom) and Jason DiSalvo, because it wasn't that far and I felt quite comfortable. So they picked up the pace, so it would have been hard to do. Before we could execute the plan we had that problem. Yesterday we went with a different set-up for the bike and when we had the full fuel load it was diving the front end too quickly. And I had no feedback from the front, so as the fuel load got lighter I got faster and the bike balance came back and then I was able to do those good laps at the end. But at the beginning it was impossible. It was overloading the front so much that if I just touched the front it wanted to tuck the front a bit. So I just survived through that knowing that if I get the fuel load, and the fuel load's going to get light, it should come back, and it came back quite good and I was able to put in a charge at the end. American Honda Road Race Manager Ron Heben Actually, a pretty encouraging weekend for our guys. Got back from Barber (Motorsports Park) and only had a really short week, but listened to the comments that Neil (Hodgson) and Miguel (Duhamel) had about the bike and looked at what we did here for the test. I think it shows how hard the team's working, it shows how hard Neil and Miguel are working. They don't like being where they're at and they want to keep working at it; it's the same with the team. So we go to Miller (Motorsports Park) for a test here in a couple of weeks and hopefully when we get to Infineon (Raceway) we can take the next step and start challenging a little bit more. It's a good weekend. We're pretty happy with what we've got. Obviously, we wanted to be on the box. We know we've got more work to do, but we're at least moving in the right direction. Saturday Superbike: Sunday Superbike: Championship Standings: ***************** Millennium/KWS Suzuki Rider Ben Thompson Injured at California Speedway **************** ENDS Post this story to: digg PRIVACY POLICY | HOME | RETURN TO TOP © 1997 - 2008 Hardscrabble Media LLC |
