Morning Update
AMA Pro Racing has revised Sunday's race schedule in an attempt to beat the rain forecasted for this afternoon. Today's races will take place as follows, keeping in mind the AMA's caveat – Pending weather, will be updated as needed.)
Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies leads the pack on the way to his sixth consecutive AMA Superbike victory.
11:40am - Superstock Race (17 laps)
12:45pm -
AMA Superbike Race 2 (28 laps)
1:45pm - Supersport (17 laps)
The track is wet from rain overnight but drying quickly as a fleet of official Infineon vehicles circle the course and the sun starts to peek out from the coulds.
Race 2 will be televised on Speed TV at 8:00 pm Pacific Time as long as the race actually takes place.
My Predictions
Since I don't really want to write the standard (read: boring) race report, I'm going to change it up and make a few predictions of today's races. After the race is over, I'll update the results and then you guys can tell me what a genius or idiot I am. All right, here goes:
Superstock is up first on the schedule and I'm going to pick Jamie Hacking as the winner. I think
Jason Disalvo and
Eric Bostrom will battle for the lead while Hacking lags back and bides his time. After Disalvo and E Boz have tired themselves out, Hacking will pounce and chalk up his second victory of the season. The dark horse will be Aaron Yates who qualified fifth but can easily come through the pack.
Superbike follows and it's hard to pick against Ben Spies, but that won't stop me from doing it. I'm going with Mat Mladin to break the streak and knock the kid down a peg. It's been a long time since I (and probably many others) have rooted for the Australian but he's mad and he's not going to take it anymore. Picking third place is tougher because there are about 100 other factory bikes that could challenge. I'll take Hodgson for the last spot on the podium just because he's got a cool accent.
Then comes the 600's in Supersport. Ben Spies is going to be angry as hell about getting beat in Superbike by Mladin and he's going to take it out on poor old Hacking and the entire Supersport field.
Danny Eslick and Michael Barnes will have a good privateer-like fight for third until Roger Hayden, working on adrenaline and painkillers will catch and pass them both on the last lap to take third.
Superstock Race
I'm feeling pretty good about my pick in Superstock. With five laps down,
Jamie Hacking is leading Erick Bostrom, Aaron Yates and Jason Disalvo by 2-seconds. There are still plenty of laps left in this race but it's obvious that Hacking is trying to pull a checkout move and break away from the second place group.
Eric Bostrom just ran wide up in turn four, allowing both Yates and Disalvo to slip by. Luckily I didn't attempt to pick the trifecta so I'm still in good shape. Hold up, Disalvo just crashed in the final turn ending lap six, right in front of the press box. He's back up and running sans windscreen. So now we have Hacking out in the distance followed by Yates, Bostrom, Geoff May and Jake Holden. Disalvo sits back in 19th place after his mishap and he's picking off mid-packers at a furious pace. The top six seem to be set and pretty well spread out as the Speed TV cameras pan back to Steve Rapp and Josh Hayes arguing over seventh place.
Okay, now it's all out the window as the AMA brings out the red flag and stops proceedings because of a blown motor. This will be Disalvo's big break as he'll get a chance to get the R1 repaired and with a good start he might just have a chance. No, wait! The AMA just called the race after about 40 minutes of attempting to clean up an oil spill in turn one.
Looks like I'm one-for-one on the day. Here are the Superstock results, now let's see how I do in Superbike. Since Mladin had a big crash in practice, it's not looking too promising.
Superstock Race Results
1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha
2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki
3. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha
4. Geoff May, Suzuki
5. Jake Holden, Suzuki
6. Martin Craggill, Suzuki
7. Steve Rapp, Suzuki
8. Josh Hayes, Honda
9. Matt Lynn, Suzuki
10. Aaron Gobert, Honda
Superbike Race 2
Well, the streak is broken. Not Ben Spies Superbike win streak of five in a row (now six) but my streak of picking one race winner in a row. This winning stuff is harder than it looks. So now I have to rely on Supersport to push me back over 500. If they even have the opportunity to race.
Early in the Superbike event, it looked like we might get a decent battle for the lead. Spies grabbed the holeshot followed closely by Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin and Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden. Hayden looked great on lap one, staying right on the back of Mladin and things were promising for Team Green early on. Tommy then ran wide in the chicane and while he didn't lose a position to Neil Hodgson on the Ducati, he was gapped by Mat.
Hodgson was getting plenty of pressure from Honda teammates Miguel Duhamel in fourth and Jake Zemke right behind. When Hodgson bobbled in the chicane and ran a bit wide on lap two, Miguel went by and took off for Hayden. Mladin was actually closing a bit on Spies and Hayden had separated from Miguel. With the top three this close, things were getting exciting. But it wouldn't last.
Aaron Yates on the third Yoshimura Suzuki was moving up through the pack, first catching Zemke who was going backwards as fast as Yates was going forwards. When Zemke ran wide in turn 11 on lap 8, Yates was by and into sixth place. Jake wouldn't be let off the hook either with Ben Bostrom on the Duc right behind him. Eventually Zemke dropped down to eighth place by the end.
Up front, Hayden closed on Mat with Miguel tied to the back of the Kawasaki ZX-10R. Spies had started to checkout and for all intents; the battle for the lead was over. Tommy made the same mistake in the chicane as he did on lap one, ran wide – this time through the dirt - and Miguel picked him off and moved into third place. Hayden would fade back further as the leaders ran into lapped traffic. First, he was passed by Hodgson on the Parts Unlimited Ducati 999R and then again by a hard-charging Aaron Yates shortly thereafter. Hodgson pushed in the interim and put a small gap on Yates which secured the fourth spot for the determined former World Superbike champion.
By lap 20 of 28, the order of the top-8 finishers was set unless something dramatic happened. It didn't. Fans were forced to look farther back in the pack to see some real action and the first duel worth mentioning was between Jordan Suzuki teammates Steve Rapp and Jake Holden. The pair had a good scrap for ninth and tenth, with Rapp getting the nod after stalking Holden for the majority of the race.
So, Ben Spies wins again, Mat Mladin has to live with another second place and Miguel makes the old guys feel good by getting the Honda on the podium – same as Saturday. Mr. Spies is now tied with Duhamel for the longest winning streak in AMA Superbike history with six and will have a chance to break the record at Road America on June 2nd. Here's what the top guys had to say after the race:
Ben Spies (First Place) – "If you would have told me that I was going to have six consecutive wins at the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm riding hard but the bike is great. We'll go to Road America in a few weeks and see if we can keep it going."
Mat Mladin (Second Place) – "It was a good race for us today. I'm glad the weather held off. We're trying our hardest. Ben is riding really good and we just got beat fair and square. We've got to catch up a bit because the championship is starting to get away"
Miguel Duhamel (Third Place) – "It was tough. It was a hard race and everyone seemed to have their act together. I wish we could have stopped Ben from tying the record but we had a great run today.
Superbike Race Results
1. Ben Spies, Suzuki
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki
3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda
4. Neil Hodgson, Ducati
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki
6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki
7. Ben Bostrom, Ducati
8. Jake Zemke, Honda
9. Steve Rapp, Suzuki
10. Jake Holden, Suzuki
Supersport Cancelled
After three laps the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race was red-flagged after the much anticipated rains started to come down. As soon as the red flag came out, third place rider Danny Eslick crashed in turn 10 and then nearly was taken out when a second rider, Chris Siglin also went down. Reports were that the injuries Siglin sustained were bad enough to rush him to the hospital. The race is considered a non-race after the AMA chose to call it a day. At the time, Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies was in the lead and looking to check out. Maybe next round Benny Boy.
