American Honda’s Jake Zemke moved into third place in the AMA Superbike Championship on a consistent weekend of inconsistent weather at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Zemke was fifth on an overcast Saturday, after the performance of his race bike changed dramatically and for no reason.

“This morning’s bike was right back where it was supposed to be yesterday, so I was kind of disappointed not to get a dry race today, but we’ll move on,” he said of Sunday’s rain-lashed Superbike race.

Sunday’s ninth leg of the AMA Superbike Championship began in atrocious conditions before slightly improving. The team gambled on the rain tire choice, opting for the harder of the two rear compound choices with the hope that the track would change. With the track not drying as quickly as he’d hoped, Zemke’s rear tire struggled to find grip until the final stages of the 16-lap race.

Duhamel nearly earned his fifth podium of the year on Saturday. The veteran, a five-time Superbike winner at Road America, ran third past the halfway point and was back in the spot in the final corner. But a small problem on the run up and over the hill to the start-finish line allowed Tommy Hayden, the younger brother of Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden, to draft past. The difference was .027 seconds.

Duhamel fell victim to the weather and inconsistent paving on Sunday. The first attempt to start Sunday’s race saw Duhamel, who excels in the rain, jetting into second place. But lightning forced race officials to stop it before two laps were completed.

When the race was re-started, Duhamel was a close fourth on the second lap when he hit a slick spot Braking for the first turn. Instantly and without warning he was on the ground. The rider just behind did the same thing, in the same spot. Duhamel tried to re-start his CBR1000RR, but it was too badly damaged to continue.

Suzuki’s Mat Mladin beat teammate Ben Spies in the dry on Saturday. Spies won Saturday’s wet race, with Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) second.

Zemke moved up to third place in the championship, after nine of 19 rounds, with Duhamel now in fifth, but only eight points behind his teammate.

After two weekends’ break, the series resumes at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah on June 24.

Miguel Duhamel, 4th Place, DNF
Sunday
I’m not too pleased about it. We can’t be racing on a racetrack with that many different surfaces in the corners. I was Braking straight up and down and hit one of the tar patches that I guess they have for the cars. Straight up and down and I just locked up the front and I fell. And I wasn’t the only one. Matt Lynn fell in the same spot and Tommy (Hayden) fell also. I noticed when I got into the sand that it was wavy and not big waves, but big enough to tumble and destroy my bike. I think we got lucky. We dodged another bullet and nobody got hurt.

Saturday
I had a good race and I thought for sure we’d have a podium. It came down to the last lap with me and Tommy (Hayden). I thought I had him, but I had some issues coming up the hill. The bike wanted to wheelie and he was able to draft past me at the start-finish line. It’s really disappointing because I really wanted to get a podium for the team.

Jake Zemke, 5th Place, 6th Place
Sunday
Well, going into it we actually gambled a little bit. I saw the sun on the horizon and I was gambling that the sun was going to get here and start drying things out before it did. Only problem was when the sun came out it was still raining and it just kept raining with the sun being out. But all in the all the race itself was fine. I was pretty much by myself the whole time. We went with a little bit harder rain tire than everybody else used and I just didn’t have any grip. I was hoping for a dry line to form. I think we would have been in a lot better shape, for sure. Just probably the last four laps, my tire started working. But before that, I just couldn’t even lean the bike over. But just from the race in ’05 here that we had in the rain as well, I just knew it was going to be a long race and there would probably be a lot of attrition in that race. Sure enough, there was. Keeping her upright, we got some good points. Kind of disappointed, I really wanted a dry race. Because after yesterday’s race we found some things that were wrong with the bike.

Saturday
Something happened with the bike. We rode the same exact bike that we qualified on, we didn’t make any changes to it. But something happened to the bike, it wasn’t the same bike. It was a two second a lap slower bike. I’m sure the team can figure it out once we get some time, but it was truly baffling. I’m hoping for a dry race tomorrow so we can make sure that we’re going in the right direction.

Ron Heben, Road Race Team Manager
It was kind of an up and down weekend for the Honda team. Obviously yesterday we felt we should have been up there on the podium. Jake (Zemke) qualified third and Miguel (Duhamel) put in a lot of good laps and we were looking forward to today. In morning practice, Jake and Miguel both put in quicker times than they did in the race yesterday. Obviously the rain changes everything for all the teams out there. The first start, Miguel had a great set-up. He came from the second row and was in second. We learned a couple of things for Jake. And the re-start, everything kind of changed around for the Honda, with Miguel going down on the second lap and taking his chances away. And then Jake kind of struggled out there. I don’t know if they made the right tire choice or not. Obviously the conditions changed from the beginning to the end of the race. You do your best guesstimate on what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. Today didn’t work out. We go to Mid-Ohio for a couple of days to test and get ready for the next round at Miller Motorsports Park.

Saturday Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
5. Jake Zemke (Honda)
6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
7. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki)
8. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha)
9. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
10. James Ellison (Honda)

Sunday Superbike:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
2. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
3. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. James Ellison (Honda)
6. Jake Zemke (Honda)
7. Jake Holden (Suzuki)
8. John Haner (Suzuki)
9. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
10. Dominic Jones (Honda)

Championship Standings:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 307
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 305
3. Jake Zemke (Honda) 232
4. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 225
5. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 224
6. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 206
7. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 203
8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 197
9. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 188
10. James Ellison (Honda) 153