Dunlop Report

Daytona International Speedway (DIS) delivered excitement and drama today as the first round of the AMA Superbike Series concluded Bike Week with a hotly contested Superbike event and a controversial late-race caution in the Daytona 200 that left the top five riders in disarray with just 10 of 68 laps remaining. Yoshimura Suzuki’s six-time AMA Superbike champ Mat Mladin and teammate Ben Spies dueled throughout the Superbike event, with Mladin eventually taking the win with a last-second draft pass at the flag; his margin of victory was just .032 seconds. Honda Racing’s Jake Zemke won his first-ever Daytona 200, surviving the charge of Erion Racing’s Josh Hayes by a slim margin of 1.561 seconds.

Dunlop arrived at Daytona with more than 2600 tires and 24 engineers, service technicians and tire-fitters to support five manufacturers--Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha--and their seven support teams: Erion Racing, Rockwall Honda, Attack Kawasaki, Jordon Motorsports, Matsushima Racing, Mladin Motorsports and Graves Motorsports. Collectively the teams represent the series’ top 24 riders, including 10 who compete in Superbike, 12 in Superstock, seven in Supersport and 10 in Formula Xtreme.

The surface at DIS places greater demands on motorcycle racing tires that any other racing venue in the world. The elimination of the west banking on the AMA circuit in 2005 was a positive step toward reducing tire temperatures, but the track--always known to generate a lot of wear and heat in the left portion of the rear tire--added more infield turns, most of them lefts, so wear on the left side of the tread is still evident. In addition, last May the track was repaved from turn one through the new infield section, increasing available traction and subsequently wear. For the Superbike competition, Dunlop brought two front and five rear tire compounds from which the teams could select. For the Formula Xtreme class, there were one front and five rear compound options offered.

The day’s first race was the Superbike event and Mladin enjoyed the pole position after setting a track record of 1:37.075 on Thursday. He rocketed into the lead at the start of the race on his Suzuki GSX-R1000, followed closely by Spies. With Spies nipping at Mladin’s heals throughout the race and a pack of riders--Honda's Racing’s Miguel Duhamel, Kawasaki Road Racing’s Tommy Hayden and Roger Lee Hayden and Parts Unlimited Ducati's Neil Hodgson--scrapping with each other just a few seconds behind, fans enjoyed a dogfight that lasted to the last lap. Following Mladin’s draft pass of Spies for the win, Duhamel crossed the line 5.1 seconds later to fill out the podium. “This race could have gone either way when it's that close,” said Mladin. “So it's good to win it, but you know, it's Daytona. Let's move on and get to the next races where the draft and these things don't come into play as much. And then let the championship play out.” It was a victorious race for Dunlop, whose riders collected all of the top 10 finishing positions.

The 65th running of the Daytona 200 was the weekend’s feature event and it played out as a battle of wits, determination, and strategy. Dominated in qualifying by 600cc four-cylinder machines, five-time winner Duhamel put his Honda CBR600RR on the pole with a record-setting qualifying time of 1.40.928. The early laps featured a back-and-forth battle between Duhamel, Yamaha Racing’s Jason Disalvo and Eric Bostrom and Duhamel’s teammate Zemke. Following the first set of pit stops for fuel and tires, Duhamel built a lead of as much as 12 seconds when, on lap 44, he high-sided violently exiting turn one, allowing Zemke to take the lead. Duhamel miraculously collected himself and the bike and managed to re-enter the race in fifth place. Zemke rode a determined race and avoided trouble, only to see his lead shrink to nothing when the pace car entered the course to slow the field as an accident was cleared. Confusion among race officials parked Zemke, Disalvo, Bostrom and Erion’s Hayes deep in the field while fourth and fifth place holders Duhamel and Bostrom were at the head of the column. When the green flag came out for the last 10 laps, the race leaders were mired in a large group of lapped riders while Duhamel and Bostrom had effectively lost any chance of improving their position. To his credit, Zemke masterfully worked through the field of lappers, holding off Hayes’ late-race charge; Disalvo was third in his first Daytona 200. “Everybody knows about the Daytona 200,”said Zemke. “It’s something, as a kid, that you always look at the names on the list of the winners and it’s a Who’s Who list. I am proud to put my name up there.” Dunlop was also victorious; its riders took the first six positions and eight of the top 10.

Next stop for Dunlop and the AMA Superbike road racing tour is the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, April 21-23. Round two also features a doubleheader for the Superbike series.

Suzuki Report

Defending Champion Mat Mladin headed a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 one-two at the opening round of the AMA Superbike Championship at Daytona in Florida today.

The six-time series winner beat team mate Ben Spies by less than 300ths of a second after 15 laps at Daytona Speedway after taking the lead early on. Spies briefly led on the seventh lap but the Australian retook him one lap later.

Third team rider Aaron Yates moved from ninth at the start to finish in sixth place.

Said Mladin: “It was a good race. It’s good to get the Yoshimura Suzukis up here one and two. In these races you can look really good or you can look really bad. Today came out good for us and now I’m ready to head on to the next round.”

Thursday’s qualifying session saw Mladin capture his third Daytona Superbike pole position by posting a record-breaking time of 1:37.075. Spies came in a close second with a fast 1:37.559 lap time. Yates, still suffering from a shoulder injury and conserving his energy for the afternoon’s Superstock race, posted a 1:39.429 time and carded a third-row grid position.

“The new Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is working beautifully,” said Mladin after qualifying. “It’s fast, the suspension is working well and the tyres are good. It’s a great motorbike to start the season with.”

In Saturday’s 15-lap race, Mladin showed exactly how good of a motorbike the GSX-R is by getting a great start and pulling quickly into the lead. He pulled away with Spies in tow. Mid-race, they swapped spots but a lap later, Mladin regained the lead. On the last lap, Mladin again let Spies go by but then passed him right before the finish line.

“With about five laps to go, I figured that’s what I would do,” Mladin said of letting Spies by at the end. “I tried to catch him by surprise. After I got going, I gave him a little more room on the banking because I wanted to make sure I didn’t pass him too soon.”

Said Spies: “Mat and I both got great starts on the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000s and I knew it would be settled between the two of us. I tried to make it work at the end but he caught me at the finish. But I was just happy to stay with him for the whole race and I’m glad we got out ahead of everybody.”

Yates, meanwhile, was still nursing the shoulder he broke at last month’s California Speedway test. Starting from the Daytona third row, he slotted in behind the lead groups and rode consistently to sixth place.

“I’m happy with my results,” said Yates. “Considering my condition, I’m pretty pleased with this outcome. Overall, we’ve made some progress with the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I’m looking forward to getting in condition so I can race with my team mates for the win.”

Daytona Superbike Results: 1 Mat Mladin (Suzuki), 2 Ben Spies (Suzuki), 3 Miguel Duhamel (Honda), 4 Neil Hodgson (Ducati), 5 Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki), 6 Aaron Yates (Suzuki), 7 Ben Bostrom (Ducati), 8 Jake Zemke (Honda), 9 Jason Pridmore (Suzuki), 10 Jake Holden (Suzuki).

Daytona Report

Honda rider Jake Zemke held off Erion Racing’s Josh Hayes in a nine-lap pace car restart to capture his first Daytona 200 By Honda victory on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.

“Everybody knows about the Daytona 200,” Zemke said. “It’s something as a kid that you always look at the names on the list of the winners of the Daytona 200 By Honda and it’s a who’s who list. I’m proud to put my name up there.”

While it was Zemke’s first Daytona 200 By Honda victory, it was Honda’s 11th in the prestigious motorcycle classic.

Zemke, riding the No. 98 Honda, held off Hayes, aboard the No. 4 Honda, over the final nine laps for 1.562–second margin of victory.

In Zemke’s previous two Daytona 200 By Honda starts, he earned second and third-place finishes.

Hayes was delighted with his runner-up finish. He said in his three previous Daytona 200 By Honda starts, he never made it to the first pit stop.

“I was gaining on him,” Hayes said of Zemke. “I really started trying hard. I thought I might have something for him. Once he realized I was there and coming, he picked up the pace. He won it honest.”

Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo earned a podium appearance in his first start in the Daytona 200 By Honda.

Miguel Duhamel had himself in perfect position for his record sixth Daytona 200 By Honda victory. Riding with a sizable lead, the Canadian rider took a hard spill entering Turn 1 on Lap 44. Despite a broken visor and wind screen, Duhamel continued to fight for the win but settled for a fifth place finish.

“I was just trying to salvage, to see if anything was going to go my way and have a shot at it still,” Duhamel said. “It was real disappointing. Nothing you can do. That’s racing.”

The top-finishing Buell rider was three-time Irish champion Jeremy McWilliams, who finished 52nd and earned the $10,000 Cal Rayborn Award.

Mat Mladin played the chicane the perfect way on his way to victory in the opening round of the AMA Superbike Championship on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.

Mladin, riding the No. 1 Suzuki, and his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies were able to break way in the 15-lap event. On the final lap, Mladin, not wanting to lead Spies out of the chicane, backed off allowing Spies to take the lead.

The Aussie then quickly hustled his Suzuki around NASCAR Turns 3 and 4 to nip Spies at the start/finish by .032 seconds.

“With five to go, I figured that was what I was going to have to do,” said Mladin, who earned his third straight Daytona Superbike win and his fifth overall. “I certainly didn’t want to slow up going into the chicane and try to let him by there because it’s just become silly. Everyone doesn’t know who wants to take the lead.

“I just tried to catch him by surprise. I made sure he had momentum when he went past so he couldn’t check up and if he didn’t, I would’ve been gone anyway. It worked well this time. That will go in his memory bank and probably won’t work next year. I’ll have to come up with another plan.”

Said Spies: “I was figuring I was going to be that guy who got drafted and beat at the line.”

Mladin, who is chasing an unprecedented seventh AMA Superbike championship, earns the maximum amount of points (38) this weekend at Daytona as he earned the pole, led the most laps and earned the victory.

Rounding out the podium was five-time Daytona 200 By Honda champion Miguel Duhamel.

HRC Report

American Honda’s Jake Zemke scored his first win in the Daytona 200 on a sun-filled Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, with Erion Honda’s Josh Hayes giving the Honda CBR600RR a one-two finish with a close second in the Formula Xtreme race.

The win, in the 65th annual Daytona 200, was especially sweet for Zemke, who’s finished second and third at Daytona, but never first. This completes his set of trophies, he said from the podium.

“Everybody knows about Daytona 200,” Zemke said after beating Hayes by 1.562 seconds. “It’s something as a kid, that you always look at the names on the list of the winners of the Daytona 200 by Honda and it’s a who’s who list. I’m proud to put my name up there.”

Zemke’s fortune coincided with the misfortune of his prolific teammate Miguel Duhamel. From a new lap record pole position, the reigning class champion built a 12 second lead before losing the rear end and high-siding in turn one on the 44th of 68 laps. Undeterred, the resolute Duhamel picked up his lightly damaged Honda CBR600RR and rejoined the fray, now second to Zemke.

“I was still in the hunt. I still had a shot at it,” Duhamel said. “The bike was good enough and I was still able to pound out some pretty good lap times.” When an accident brought out the pace car on the 54th lap, Duhamel was in the perfect position to fight for a historic sixth win. But a mistake by race officials put Duhamel, and not race leader Zemke, directly behind the pace car. It meant the French-Canadian, who now calls Las Vegas home, had to make up almost an entire lap when the field was released.

Fighting through the pain, Duhamel finished fifth in his only Formula Xtreme appearance of the year. He and teammate Zemke will now concentrate on winning the AMA Superbike Championship.

That quest began earlier Saturday morning with Duhamel finishing third in the 15-lap Superbike season-opener on the Honda CBR1000RR. He ran just behind the race leaders and fought off the challenges of former World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson to finish on the podium.

Teammate Zemke suffered arm pump early in the race and bravely hung on to finish eighth. A session with his physiotherapist during the two hours between the Superbike and Formula Xtreme races helped alleviate the condition.

The Superbike race was won by Suzuki’s Mat Mladin from teammate Ben Spies.

Jake Zemke, Formula Xtreme, 1st
I don’t know what to say. I got second the first year and third last year and there was one spot on the box that I’ve got to get. We’re there. There was some confusion with the pace car thing. They are supposed to let the leader get to the front and they never did. My pit board went from plus-4 (seconds) to plus 25 the next lap. I thought Josh (Hayes) must have stopped for gas. I’m cruising along and I come around and my pit board said 1.5 or .5 (seconds), but my eyes opened up about this big and I said, ‘There ain’t no way, as my friend Nicky Hayden would put it, and I put my head down. Josh was right there. That board said the last two or three lap, 0.5. Luckily, it never said, .0. It was great.

Miguel Duhamel, Formula Xtreme, 5th
Coming out of turn one, I’ll be the first one to admit it – I know what happened, but I’m not too sure why. The rear end just kicked out violently. It was the last stop of the stint on that tire, I don’t know if I hit some debris, a tear-off. I was tracking and powering on as I did every lap, but it just snapped so abruptly. I couldn’t believe how it got so far. I went to the lock trying to save it. It was like it got a shot of 1000cc of power. I’ll say it’s definitely the bonehead move of the world. A 10-second lead at Daytona with half the race done, you don’t do stuff like that. But that being said, the race was still pretty young and I didn’t want to start slacking off and give these guys a chance, but it caught me off guard.

Jake Zemke, Superbike, 8th
I have no one to blame but myself. I couldn’t hold on anymore - my arms pumped up. I think I figured out why. I realized that every time I came off the corner and was accelerating, my ass was sliding to the back of the seat and I was holding on with my arms. That’s no excuse. The bike was awesome today. I worked my way through the guys real fast and at that point, from where I had come from, I kept looking to see where Mat [Mladin] and Ben [Spies] were, and I could see that I was catching them. I’m just disappointed in myself. That’s all there is to it. The bike was good. It [the arm pump] started this morning. I tried a new set of leathers and they were a bit tight and my arms pumped up a little bit, and maybe they didn’t have enough time to recover in between.

Miguel Duhamel, Superbike, 3rd
My main goal here was to get points, maximum points. Winning would have been great, but realistically top three was what we were shooting for. I rode a B- race. I didn’t ride good in the beginning; I was a little too soft. I let them get away and the bike was good. At the end we were running the same times almost and could have been there for a win, but third is okay. The championship is our main goal, so we’re happy with third.

Daytona 200 FX:
1. Jake Zemke (Honda)
2. Josh Hayes (Honda)
3. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha)
4. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
5. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
6. Aaron Gobert (Honda)
7. Geoff May (Suzuki)
8. Eric Wood (Suzuki)
9. Blake Wood (Suzuki)
10. Will Gruy (Yamaha)

Daytona Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati)
5. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki)
6. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
7. Ben Bostrom (Ducati)
8. Jake Zemke (Honda)
9. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki)
10. Jake Holden (Suzuki)