Suzuki Report

Team Yoshimura Suzuki was absolutely on fire in the second AMA Superbike race of the double-header weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Va., on Sunday. Defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin won the race, while teammate Aaron Yates picked up his first Superbike podium of the year with a second-place finish. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies, racing with a fractured right hand, still brought home a strong fourth place and maintained his AMA Superbike points lead.

“After Mid-Ohio, I said all we could do is try to win as many races as possible and that’s what we did this weekend,” said Mladin of his fifth victory of the season and his fifth win at VIR. Overall, this win marks Mladin’s 48th career win.

Starting from pole position, Mladin got a good start but then fell behind on the first lap. Working his way up from ninth, the six-time AMA Superbike Champion eventually found his way into the lead.

“My start on my Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was awesome,” said Mladin. “But I braked early in the first turn. I finally got a good start and look what I did with it. As for the championship, the only way we can win the title is if Ben loses it. The championship is in Ben’s hands. No matter what, it’s good to get a couple wins.”

Teammate Yates also got a good start and led the first eight laps of the 28-lap race. Once Mladin got past him, however, Yates tucked in behind his teammate and the Yoshimura Suzuki duo finished together.

“I don’t know why everything came together here at VIR,” said Yates of his first 2006 podium. “We found some things for the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 at the Road Atlanta test last week. And I knew I had to get a good start because I’ve had a tough time passing here. I have to thank my crew for doing a great job getting the Suzuki set up for me.”

Meanwhile, Spies was suffering from a hand injury that he got from crashing in Superbike qualifying. Determined to maintain his points lead in AMA Superbike, however, the young Texan rode a strong, consistent race and finished in fourth.

“I have to admit, these are the two worst races of my life,” said Spies of competing while injured this weekend. “But I knew that I had everything under control by running in fourth and I just needed to focus on the championship. We have a week and half to heal and come back ready for Road Atlanta.”

AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:
1. Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki
2. Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda
4. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki
5. Jake Zemke, Honda
6. Ben Bostrom, Ducati
7. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki
8. Jason Pridmore, Jordan Suzuki
9. Matt Lynn, Suzuki
10. Eric Wood, Suzuki

Dunlop Report

The 2006 AMA Superbike Series crowned its first champion at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Va., August 18-20, as Factory Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking won his second career Pro Honda Oils Supersport title. In the premier class, Yoshimura Suzuki’s six-time AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin racked up career wins 47 and 48. It was a very good weekend for Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Eric Bostrom, who took the wins in the Formula Xtreme and the Superstock support classes.

For Dunlop Tires, the results were impressive: of the top ten finishers in each of the five races, 44 rode on Dunlop tires, a remarkable winning percentage of 88.

The track at VIR is enigmatic. The well-paved surface provides substantial grip, so much so that significant heat is generated in the right side of the rear tire along the front straightaway as the riders curve to the right approaching turn one at speeds exceeding 160 mph. The heat builds through turns one and two, both right-handers, and remains a constant as the racers circulate the predominantly right-hand circuit. On top of that, the track surface absorbs abundant heat in the afternoon sun, a condition which is not present in the morning test sessions. Too much heat can reduce traction and these factors conspire to make optimum tire selection difficult at race time. To provide the teams with a number of choices, Dunlop brought more than 1800 tires to support the factory and support-team riders in the Superbike, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes. The Superbike teams had four front and three rear tire options, the Formula Xtreme teams selected from three front and four rear compounds, and the Superstock riders had six front and five rear tire compound choices.

Superbike Race One
The weekend’s inaugural race was the first of two Superbike competitions. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies, who came to the race with a 45-point lead over teammate Mladin, suffered a right-hand fracture during Friday’s qualifying session, throwing into doubt his ability to defend his margin in the championship run over the remaining five races. Spies rode through the pain, however, qualifying second behind Mladin on Saturday and leading the race from the green flag for the first three laps. But Mladin was on a mission this day, overtaking his teammate on lap four and simply disappearing from the rest of the field over the remaining 24 laps on his GSX-R1000. His margin of victory at the checkered flag was 19.530 seconds, the largest so far this season. Spies soldiered on to take second and Parts Unlimited Ducati’s Neal Hodgson was third. “The bike felt really good. We found a couple of things last week at the test (In Atlanta – ed.) that made me feel a bit more comfortable on the bike,” said Mladin, who maxed out the available points with the pole (the 50th of his career), the most laps led and the win. Shaving six points off of Spies’ lead, he commented, “Now we just need to keep the momentum for tomorrow’s race.” For Dunlop, the results were as dominant as Mladin’s: the first 11 riders across the finish line were on Dunlop tires.

Superbike Race Results, Saturday: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10
1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki
2. Ben Spies - Suzuki
3. Neil Hodgson - Ducati
4. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
5. Aaron Yates - Suzuki
6. Jake Zemke - Honda
7. Jason Pridmore - Suzuki
8. Tommy Hayden - Kawasaki
9. Roger Lee Hayden - Kawasaki
10. Steve Rapp - Suzuki

Formula Xtreme Race
The second race of the day was the proverbial barn-burner. Title contenders Jason DiSalvo (Graves Motorsports Yamaha), teammate Eric Bostrom and Erion Racing Honda’s Josh Hayes came to VIR with just four points separating the trio. DiSalvo collected the pole and all three qualified on the front row. Bostrom, with five wins under his belt, rocketed into the lead at the start but he could not shake a determined Hayes, who took the lead on lap four. Though Bostrom was never more than a half-second back, it appeared Hayes would notch his second win of the season. But Bostrom slid underneath Hayes at the start of the 17th and final lap on his YZF-R6 and held off a determined Hayes for the win by just .121 seconds. DiSalvo took third. “Amazing job for Josh, amazing job for my Yamaha team,” said an enthused Bostrom. “Obviously these guys beat us in qualifying yesterday by almost a whole second, and we were able to gather it up and go race with them. It was a lot of fun. Atlanta and Mid-Ohio are going to be interesting.” With two races to go, Bostrom takes over the points lead with 286 while DiSalvo is just two back with 284 and Hayes at 283. Dunlop riders delivered a near-perfect finish, collecting all but one of the top 10 finishing positions.

Formula Xtreme Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10
1. Eric Bostrom - Yamaha
2. Josh Hayes - Honda
3. Jason DiSalvo - Yamaha
4. Aaron Gobert - Honda
6. Ryan Andrews - Yamaha
7. Eric Wood - Honda
8. Chris Peris - Yamaha
9. Ty Howard - Honda
10. Blake Young - Suzuki

Superbike Race Two
A change in the schedule by AMA officials to avoid inclement weather put the second Superbike race at the top of Sunday’s schedule. Unlike race one on Saturday, the outcome of race two was anything but certain for the most of the 28-lap affair. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates got an excellent start and took command early on, leading the first 11 laps. A determined Miguel Duhamel (Honda Racing) followed just tenths of a second behind. Meanwhile Mladin, who finished the first lap in seventh position, gunned his GSX-R1000 through the pack, overtaking Duhamel on lap 11 and then teammate Yates one lap later. Mladin would eventually ease away to take the win by 5.279 seconds—the 48th of his career—while Yates secured second and Duhamel nailed down third. “It was hard work, especially after I got past Miguel and Aaron,” said Mladin. “Everyone can talk about the young guys as much as you like, but you’ve got three of the most experienced guys up here and experience counts for something.” Collecting the maximum amount of Superbike points for the weekend allowed Mladin to pull within 29 points of Spies (560 vs. 531), who finished fourth—another remarkable finish given his right-hand fracture. Duhamel maintains his third-place standing with 443 points. Dunlop riders took nine of the top ten spots, giving them all but one of the top 10 Superbike finishing positions for the weekend.

Superbike Race Results, Sunday: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10
1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki
2. Aaron Yates - Suzuki
3. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
4. Ben Spies - Suzuki
5. Jake Zemke - Honda
6. Ben Bostrom - Ducati
7. Roger Lee Hayden - Kawasaki
8. Jason Pridmore - Suzuki
10. Eric Wood – Suzuki

Superstock Race
The 1000cc Superstock machines went off the line next and the closely contested series featured some incredibly close action between the Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1s piloted by series leader Jamie Hacking, teammates Jason DiSalvo and Eric Bostrom and the defending champion, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates. Bostrom led from the start but was held in check throughout the race, first by Yates and then by a charging Hacking. Hacking nearly overtook Bostrom on the final lap but Bostrom held on for the win by .506 seconds. DiSalvo was third, giving Yamaha a podium sweep. “It was a fantastic race, the Graves Yamaha R1 was unbelievable,” said Bostrom of his second win of the weekend and his first Superstock victory. “I was trying really hard to hang on this time. Thanks to my team and Dunlop tires, they were incredible.” With two races remaining in the series, Hacking’s lead over Yates increases to 32 points (314 vs. 282) while DiSalvo is third with 252. Dunlop-shod riders dominated the finishing order with eight of the top 10.

Superstock Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10
1. Eric Bostrom - Yamaha
2. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha
3. Jason DiSalvo - Yamaha
4. Aaron Yates - Suzuki
5. Josh Hayes - Honda
6. Steve Rapp - Suzuki
9. Damon Buckmaster - Kawasaki
10. Marty Craggill – Suzuki

Supersport Race
The best was saved for last this weekend with the crowning of the season’s first champion. Factory Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking went back out on the track immediately after his gutty performance in the Superstock race and took command of the Supersport competition aboard his YZF-R6. Hacking’s nearest competitor in the trophy hunt, Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden, crashed out midway through the competition, giving Hacking an opportunity to back off and play it safe to clinch the title. But Hacking would have nothing of it. He led 15 of the 17 laps and fended off serious challenges from M4 Emgo Suzuki teammates Geoff May and Michael Barnes. Hacking was not to be denied, taking the win by 1.752 seconds over May and Barnes, respectively. “Hats off to every single one of these guys in the blue shirts, the Yamaha guys,” said Hacking of his second Supersport title. “They’re the one that gave me this bike, that I could go out there and ride like this every single weekend at 100 percent.” Hacking’s win also cemented Yamaha’s fifth Supersport championship. The points tally at the end of the race gives Hacking an insurmountable lead of 90 points over MPT Performance’s Danny Eslick (294 vs 204), with Hayden just one point back with 203. The tally for Dunlop among the top finishers was eight of 10.

Supersport Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10
1. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha
4. Chris Peris - Yamaha
5. Ben Attard - Kawasaki
6. Blake Young - Suzuki
7. Damon Buckmaster - Kawasaki
8. Danny Eslick - Suzuki
9. Jeff Wood - Suzuki
10. Tony Meiring - Suzuki

Next stop for Dunlop and the 2006 AMA Superbike road racing tour is Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia, September 1-3. Round 10 includes two Superbike races.

Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports

Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki rider Marty Craggill captured his seventh top-10 finish of the 2006 season in the AMA Repsol Superstock race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Va., on Sunday afternoon. With this finish, Craggill is a mere two points away from taking over seventh-overall in the Superstock Series.

The weekend began with qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Craggill posted a fastest lap time of 1:27.064 and carded a third-row spot on the VIR starting grid. True to form, Craggill had more success on race tires than on qualifiers so the Australian used the session to focus on the race track.

“VIR is a good track,” he said post-qualifying. “It’s relatively safe, there are a couple of hard-braking spots and I enjoy those. It’s a pretty fun track and the Virginia fans are great.”

Sunday afternoon’s 17-lap race was rescheduled due to potential bad weather and saw Craggill get a rough start.

“That’s the worst start I ever had,” said Craggill. “I let the clutch out too fast and did a big wheelie. I finally got the front wheel down and everyone came past me. But I worked my way up and felt like I rode pretty good.”

Although he found himself far back in the field, the Australian put his head down and rallied on the Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superstock bike.

“The bike was good,” Craggill said. “I’m happy with the way I rode. This was one of my best rides this year. I came through, I didn’t fade and my lap times were really consistent. The last three races, I’ve been sick and at the end of the races I was going backward. Here, I felt like I was going forward.”

Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki's next AMA Repsol Superstock race will be at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., the weekend of Sept. 1-3, 2006.

HRC Report

Crowd: 50,000 (Three days)
Track: 37 degrees
Climate: Warm, overcast

American Honda's Duhamel Podiums Again

American Honda's Miguel Duhamel scored his sixth podium of the year on the second day of racing at Virginia International Raceway, site of the 15th and 16th rounds of the AMA Superbike Championship.

The podium, American Honda's 12th of the year, solidified Duhamel's third place championship position with three races to run.

"I'm definitely in the right mindset to hopefully bring third in the championship this year, but in the bigger picture next year, using this new mentality I have, the way I look at racing, I think I'll be a much bigger threat for the championship next year," Duhamel said.

Building on Saturday's fourth place finish, Duhamel gated perfectly, jumping quickly into third from 10th on the grid at the start of Sunday's 28-lap race on the twisty 17-turn, 2.25-mile road course.

Duhamel pressured race leader Aaron Yates (Suzuki) for ten laps, believing he had the motorcycle to finish one step higher on the podium.

"To be honest, I think I could have been a little closer to Aaron and try to keep some more pressure on him," Duhamel said.

But the pressure came from behind and Duhamel had to cede his position to eventual race winner Mat Mladin (Suzuki), who passed Duhamel on lap 11, then took the lead on the next lap.

Teammate Jake Zemke finished two spots behind Duhamel and one spot better than he'd finished on Saturday.

"It was a little better than yesterday," Zemke said. "At least the tire had some grip in the beginning of the race. And you know we're struggling and struggling in a lot of areas."

A confounding front suspension problem hampered Duhamel on Saturday.

"We couldn't find out what was wrong with the bike," he said. "We have 130 millimeter forks and no matter how hard I brake I'm using up only about 121."

Zemke struggled with grip from the start of Saturday's race. Rather than give up, Zemke redoubled his efforts with hard riding, eventually wearing out his front tire as well. He finished sixth.

Mladin also won Saturday's race, from teammates Ben Spies and Aaron Yates.

Miguel Duhamel 4th/3rd
Saturday
Saturday was one of my best races ever, because I was a hair from falling everywhere. The only thing I could do is brake like a maniac straight up and down and then come to a stop and then tip it in because the front end didn't want to go down. It just started chattering. It chattered so bad the whole race that it loosened up the steering head. It was unscrewing the front end of the bike. But I was really proud of what I was able to accomplish. Afterwards, we went through the forks and the guys couldn't find anything wrong with them. We'll just take that out of the equation and go with the 'B' bike Sunday.

Sunday
Aaron (Yates) was doing a great job of keeping Mat (Mladin) really honest.
I got bad luck in traffic. I knew from yesterday's Dunlop tire data that we could overheat the tire I was using. (I used the same tire). And I know the pace I ran today I was probably doing that. So, you know when you have 14 seconds on fourth and you're from the third row- tenth place to third-you starting thinking about these things a bit. I'm not saying by any means I could have got Aaron or Mat, but I could have been a little closer. But the risk factor I thought was too high, so I backed it down a bit.

Jake Zemke 6th/5th
Saturday
Knowing that I didn't have much grip coming from the rear, I used up everything I had on the front. I overabused the front tire, the front brakes, everything. By the end of the race I couldn't even tip into the corners without losing the rear. Even the rolling corners in the back section, I'd just turn the bike in and I'd just immediately lose the rear.
I lost it huge down there at the bottom coming onto the front straightaway for a couple of laps.

Sunday
The bike at least was a little more comfortable to ride today and I was at least able to sustain the pace to the end, whereas yesterday there was no way. We used up the whole motorcycle before the race was over. Today the motorcycle, after the first few laps, after the tires dropped, at the end of the race we could still do the same times as earlier in the race. That was a little bit better. But we were also a couple of seconds off the pace.
We'll be looking to make some big improvements at the race at Road Atlanta, for sure.

Sunday Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
4. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
5. Jake Zemke (Honda)
6. Ben Bostrom (Ducati)
7. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki)
8. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki)
9. Matt Lynn (Suzuki)
10. Eric Wood (Suzuki)

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

Championship Standings:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 560
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 531
3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 443
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 393
5. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 387
6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 384
7. Jake Zemke (Honda) 376
8. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 332
9. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 329
10. Larry Pegram (Honda) 299