SBK
Dunlop Race Report: AMA Superbike Series, Virginia International Raceway
20 agosto 2007 VIR is predominantly a fast "right-hand" track that generates significant heat in the right side of the rear tire, particularly along the front straightaway which curves to the right after the start finish line and all the way through turns one and two. To tame the tarmac, Dunlop brought approximately 2300 tires to fortify the factory and factory-support teams competing in Superbike, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme. Among them were a number of next-generation N-Tec multi-compound front and rear tires designed to improve grip and enhance feel. By the conclusion of the race weekend, Dunlop riders had collected all but one of the 15 podium positions and secured 39 of 50 possible top-10 finishing positions. Superbike Race One Mladin began his assault on teammate Ben Spies series' lead by snagging the provisional pole position on Friday with a time of 1:24.372 on his GSX-R1000. It was considerably below his 2005 record of 1:23.986. "The track's slippery," he said. "We can't get any grip on the edge of the tire at all. The tires we're using, we've used them now at a couple of races and they're very, very good, better than what we've had before. So we just can't get the thing to hook up anywhere and obviously nobody can." In Saturday's morning qualifying session, the track was cooler and rubber was accumulating on the racing lines, helping Mladin set a new pole record with a time of 1:23.698. "We made some changes and we were pretty sure what we needed to do, just by looking at the data, where the bike needed to be for it to feel a little bit better and that seemed to happen straight out of the pits this morning... We have essentially four rear tires here and they're all possible race tires." At the start of the race, Jordan Motorsports Suzuki's Aaron Yates and Kawasaki Road Racing's Jamie Hacking jumped into the lead. Both were passed by Mladin and Spies by lap two and Yates and Hacking fought tooth and nail throughout the race for a podium position. Spies stayed close to Mladin until, with 10 laps to go, a mistake allowed Mladin to pull a gap and the six-time Superbike champ rode flawlessly to take the win over Spies by 10.359 seconds. "It was a good race for us," Mladin said of his sixth VIR victory. "There was definitely some slippery going out there today but the lap times weren't too bad. Commenting on his 60th career win, he added, "It was only three years ago or so that I had about 30 wins and we've had a lot of wins in the last few years on the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R and boosted that number up. No way do I think that 60 is going to be my last win. I'm certainly working as hard as I can to extend my career and continue to be a force in Superbike racing." Third place went to Hacking, who held off Yates by a scant .098 seconds, followed by 10 more riders on Dunlop tires. Of special note Honda Racing's Miguel Duhamel, third in the series coming into VIR, suffered internal injuries in a crash at an August 8 test session at Road Atlanta and did not attend. He is recuperating at his home in Canada. AMA Superbike - 28 Laps Superbike Race One results, Saturday, August 18: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki 2. Ben Spies - Suzuki 3. Jamie Hacking - Kawasaki 4. Aaron Yates - Suzuki 5. Roger Hayden - Kawasaki 6. Eric Bostrom - Yamaha 7. Jason DiSalvo - Yamaha 8. Jake Zemke -Honda 9. Tommy Hayden -Suzuki 10. James Ellison - Honda Formula Xtreme Race Erion Racing Honda's Josh Hayes continued his nearly flawless defense of the 2006 Formula Xtreme title with a dominant race performance on his Honda CBR600RR. At the outset the competition was lively as Pegram Racing Ducati's Larry Pegram took the initial lead with Hayes in hot pursuit. Hayes slipped past him after one lap but Pegram stayed close for the first half of the race. Meanwhile Boulder Motorsports Ducati's Marty Craggill put on a charge and closed the gap on Pegram late in the race. In the process he set the fastest lap of the race with 1:27.028 on lap 13. Hayes crossed the finish line with a 3.8 second margin of victory over Pegram, who held off a charging Craggill by just .005 seconds. "The Dunlops are so good and they worked really well, I was able to maintain my pace throughout the race distance," said Hayes of his first-ever win at VIR. "Dunlop's done a fantastic job and so has the crew that has worked on my bike. Honda's built such a great bike this year and I'm riding the best I've ever ridden in my life." Indeed, with a 63 point lead and two races remaining, Hayes needs to finish only 18th or better at the next round to salt away the title. In addition to sweeping the podium, Dunlop riders numbered six in the top 10. AMA Formula Xtreme - 17 Laps Formula Xtreme results, Saturday, August 18: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Josh Hayes - Honda 2. Larry Pegram - Ducati 3. Marty Craggill - Ducati 6. Chaz Davies - Yamaha 8. Aaron Gobert - Honda 10. Jeff Wood - Yamaha Formula Xtreme Championship Points after 8 of 10 races: Top three riders 1. Hayes - 286 2. Rapp - 223 3. Gobert - 209 Superstock Race The Superstock series went into a summer siesta this season with no scheduled round at Laguna Seca and a rainout at Mid-Ohio. But for Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies and his GSX-R1000 the layoff made no difference as he continued his series' domination with his sixth win in seven tries. Factory Yamaha's Ben Bostrom took the lead off the start but Spies, M4 EMGO Suzuki's Geoff May and Jordon Motorsports Suzuki's Aaron Yates slipped by on lap one. Spies slowly built a gap on Yates and he was never challenged, winning by over three seconds ahead of Yates. Third went to Yates' teammate Jake Holden, who charged through the pack from a seventh-place start. "It was a good race for us," said Spies of his first win at VIR. "We just put in the fastest lap we could on the first lap and got a gap. That's definitely the hardest I've ridden the bike all year... It was slick but the Yosh boys put together a good GSX-R1000 and the Dunlop tires were good all the way to the end." A seventh-place finish or better at Road Atlanta is all Spies needs to clinch the title. Dunlop's podium sweep was complemented by a seven-out-of-10 performance in the finishing order. AMA Superstock - 17 Laps Superstock results, Sunday, August 19: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Ben Spies - Suzuki 2. Aaron Yates - Suzuki 3. Jake Holden - Suzuki 4. Ben Bostrom - Yamaha 5. Blake Young - Suzuki 6. Danny Eslick - Suzuki 8. Ben Thompson - Suzuki Superstock Championship Points after 7 of 9 races: Top three riders 1. Spies - 254 2. Bostrom -203 3. Yates - 202 Supersport Race In the red-flagged, two-segment Supersport race, Erion Racing Honda's Josh Hayes rode a tactical pace on his CBR600RR to capture his third win of the season and tighten the championship points chase with two rounds to go. Hayes led at the start but was closely followed by Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Josh Herrin, who turned the fastest lap of the race, a 1:27 flat, on lap three. Herrin passed Hayes on lap seven but Hayes countered on lap eight. Several turns later Herrin crashed, forcing the red-flag restart. On the restart Hayes immediately went to the lead again, this time passing Matsushima Racing Suzuki's Blake Young and M4 EMGO Suzuki's Martin Cardenas on the first lap. From there he slowly pulled away to win by 1.448 seconds over Cardenas. "Fortunately for me, he (Cardenas) had to race against my Honda," said Hayes of Honda's first Supersport win at VIR. "This is the Pro Honda Oils class and it's great to win for those guys... Formula Xtreme is looking good and each bike carries over to the other and I just have to keep my momentum going until the end of the year." Kawasaki Road Racing's Jamie Hacking took third and Dunlop took six of the top 10 positions. AMA Supersport - 17 Laps Supersport results, Sunday, August 19: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Josh Hayes - Honda 3. Jamie Hacking - Kawasaki 4. Roger Hayden - Kawasaki 6. Chaz Davies - Yamaha 8. Chris Peris - Yamaha 9. Jeff Wood - Yamaha Supersport Championship Points after 8 of 10 races: Top three riders 1. Hayden - 241 2. R. Hacking - 230 3. Hayes - 223 Superbike Race Two Mat Mladin's 10th win of the season and his 61st career Superbike win came with little theater and yet the result injected a great deal of drama into the championship chase with just three races to go. Mladin had an uncharacteristically flawless start on his GSX-R1000, a result he attributed to a recent change in clutch designs. He led every lap while his teammate and series points leader Ben Spies struggled from a sixth place start to finally work his way into second position by lap six. Mladin's 5.59-second win over Spies put an exclamation point on his charge back into contention for the championship. "I enjoy racing at the front and I enjoy when someone's behind me trying to push hard to catch me and overtake me," said Mladin. "I'm enjoying this season more than any I've had so far because it's such a good challenge to race Ben and to get the measure of him. I hope we can win the next couple in Atlanta because I really want to go to Laguna Seca and winner take all." Jordon Motorsports Suzuki's Aaron Yates claimed the third podium slot, assuring a podium sweep for Suzuki and putting him in contention for third in the championship. As in race one on Saturday, Dunlop took all of the top 10 finishing positions. AMA Superbike - 28 Laps Superbike Race Two results, Sunday, August 19: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki 2. Ben Spies - Suzuki 3. Aaron Yates - Suzuki 4. Jamie Hacking - Kawasaki 5. Tommy Hayden - Suzuki 6. Jake Zemke - Honda 7. Luca Scassa - MV Agusta 8. Matt Lynn - MV Agusta 9. Jake Holden - Suzuki 10. Roger Hayden - Kawasaki Superbike Championship Points after 16 of 19 races: Top three riders 1. Spies - 550 2. Mladin - 544 3. Zemke - 390 The next stop for Dunlop and the 2007 AMA Superbike Series is Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., August 31-September 2. Round 10 features a Superbike doubleheader. |
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