2006 Superbike Infineon Saturday Results

Superbike Race #1
There was one hell of a multi-rider battle at Infineon on Saturday. Unfortunately, it was for third place - but at this point, I'll take it.

I'm a big fan of predictability when it comes to my everyday life. I take the same route to work, eat at the same restaurants and wear clothes until they are so filled with holes to be viewed as socially unacceptable. But with my motorcycle racing, I like the not knowing.

In recent history, we've had to look back into the pack to find riders battling for position, as Mat Mladin would normally check out at the front. This year Mladin has found himself in the unusual position of racing for second. His young Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies has figured it out and been on a tear, winning the last four races heading into Race 1 on Saturday. When Spies got the pole earlier today by over six-tenths of a second, it didn't look like the streak would be stopped easily by Mladin or anybody else.

The rundown of the race goes something like this: Spies and Mladin got a huge jump on the field from the start, putting nine bike lengths on American Honda's Jake Zemke in third place. Spies built a 1.5-second lead on Mladin and held it steady until lap 6 or so when Mladin reeled him back in. The gap got down to less than a second when Spies must have gotten word that Mladin was closing. Spies dropped the hammer and built his lead back up and never looked back, finishing the event 7 seconds in front of the 2005 champ.

"I really wanted to set the pace and see what I could do," explained Spies. "The last few races we've followed and so it was good to lead a whole race. I don't know about Mat but I was pretty worn-out, muscle-wise. By the end, I was just focusing on trying to hit my lines, not making any mistakes and putting good laps together."

The real racing was happening behind those two - way, way behind. Mladin would eventually finish more than 16 seconds ahead of third place, and nobody in the second pack would threaten the Suzuki duo at any point.

"It was a good race today," said the defending champion. "Unfortunately I couldn't get up ahead of Ben. He rode a great race today. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will hold out and we'll come back with something for him."

But, as Neil Hodgson alluded to after qualifying, the battle for third was going to be a victory in itself. And as many as five riders gave it everything they had.

Zemke had third-place in the early laps, the Honda rider getting a good start, pulling away from Hodgson and teammate Miguel Duhamel in the early laps. Duhamel made a pass on Hodgson first and then started closing down on Zemke. Duhamel got by Zemke midway and that's when Zemke began to drop back rapidly and eventually finish eighth. Aaron Yates on the third Yoshimura Suzuki latched on to the Duhamel/Hodgson duo and separated themselves from the battle for sixth place between Ben Bostrom and Tommy Hayden.

Yates quickly became the man on the mission as he and Duhamel locked horns a couple times. The first incident happened as Duhamel ran slightly wide in turn two and Yates swept by with reckless abandon and close enough for Duhamel to state, "I though I might get my fingers stuck in his sprocket." Then Yates added insult to injury by getting off-track in a following turn and roosting Duhamel's body and bike. According to Duhamel, it ripped off his helmet vents and destroyed the CBR's fairing.

Hodgson would drop back from the Yates/Duhamel scrum to finish fifth. The battle raged on between Yates and Duhamel while the Canadian refused to settle for fourth place. Duhamel made his pass heading into the back horseshoe and rode hard to secure the podium finish.

Infineon Superbike Race 1 Results
1. Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki
2. Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki
3. Miguel Duhamel, American Honda
4. Aaron Yates, Yoshimura Suzuki
5. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati
6. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati
7. Tommy Hayden, Team Kawasaki
8. Jake Zemke, American Honda
9. Steve Rapp, Jordan Suzuki
10. Larry Pegram, Honda

Formula Xtreme
Last year the Formula Xtreme class was an all-Honda affair with Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke battling for the win at every event. With American Honda leaving the FX class to the Honda support team, Erion Honda Racing, and the arrival of the factory Yamaha squad, on paper it looks like the previously all-red squabble would turn blue this year. And while the Yamaha pilots Jason DiSalvo and Eric Bostrom have had differing levels of success this in the class, DiSalvo leads the points chase thanks in part to Bostrom's DNF at Daytona.

At the start of the Infineon round, Bostrom took the lead with DiSalvo in tow. The two R6 riders would battle nose-to-tail for the entire race, leaving the rest of the field to battle for the final spot on the podium. By lap 3, the Yamaha duo had a 4-second lead with privateer Suzuki rider Danny Eslick on the Matsushima Performance GSX-R, EMGO Suzuki's Michael Barnes and Erion's Josh Hayes tied together in the fight for third. The gap would eventually grow to 24 seconds between them and the leaders by the time the checkers came out.

Hayes took the fight to Eslick, demoting the privateer to fourth place on lap 7 and looked to pull clear aboard his CBR600RR. But Eslick had other ideas and did a remarkable job staying with the Honda rider. As the three-rider pack hit traffic, Barnes started making up ground on Eslick but never got close enough to make a solid attempt at a pass.

Up front, Bostrom held the point with DiSalvo looking like he was simply biding his time before he made his push. Lap 10 was DiSalvo's cue and he made a move in Turn 4 to take over the lead. DiSalvo pushed hard to break Bostrom's will, putting in multiple fast laps and gapping his teammate by 0.5 second at the end of lap 12. Bostrom wouldn't give up, though, and fought back through traffic to close the gap and make a race out of it again.

On lap 16 it was Bostrom's turn to make a passing attempt and he did so in Turn 7. The only problem was that DiSalvo refused to give in, and when E-Boz drifted wide after the outbraking move, DiSalvo slipped back under him and resumed his position at the front.

Lap 17, the last lap, would decide the fights for both first and third places. Bostrom got another great drive out of the Carousel heading to Turn 7, and when DiSalvo protected the inside line, E Boz simply went around on the outside. They were side-by-side in the middle of the corner when DiSalvo tried to get back on the gas early and nearly got ejected from the protesting Yamaha R6. DiSalvo visibly gave up the fight knowing there were only a few turns left, leaving Bostrom to claim his second win of the season.

Behind the battle for the lead, Eslick took back third place from Hayes and absorbed the pressure for the remainder of the lap to close out his Saturday with a hard-earned trip to the podium. Barnes finished the day in fifth, with Erion Racing's Aaron Gobert in sixth.

Formula Xtreme Results
1. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha
2. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha
3. Danny Eslick, Suzuki
4. Joshua Hayes, Honda
5. Michael Barnes, Suzuki
6. Aaron Gobert, Honda
7. Blake Young, Suzuki
8. Ryan Andrews, Honda
9. Tony Meiring, Suzuki
10. Ty Howard, Suzuki
 
Superbike Qualifying
On-track action got back underway after rain washed out Friday afternoon's proceedings. The Superbike riders would have to be satisfied with the single practice session they got on Friday as the AMA attempts to cram in today's proceedings in case the weather turns sour again.

The early favorites going into the single qualifying session for Superbike were Suzuki teammates Mat Mladin and Ben Spies. Not only have they dominated the series so far this year, but they set the fast times on Friday with Mladin heading the upstart.

And while both riders continued to be the class of the Superbike field, the order was switched as Spies took pole position with a new track record of 1:35.893. Behind him came Mladin, Neil Hodgson with his best qualifying result on the Ducati in 2006, and new Infineon Wall of Fame inductee Miguel Duhamel. The second row is made up of Aaron Yates (Suzuki), Jake Zemke (Honda), Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) and Ben Bostrom (Ducati).

Notably absent from the qualifying press conference was Mat Mladin, but here's what three of four riders on the front row had to say:

Ben Spies - "We've got the bike working a lot better with the new forks we've got on it and maybe me being more comfortable. We put on a softer tire today, which had a lot more grip, but it seemed to upset how we had the bike set-up. It was a little bit better. I wish we could have gone a little quicker than that, but it looks like we didn't need to today."

Neil Hodgson - "Everyone's in the same boat, so I think tire choice is going to be critical. I don't know which one I'm going to go for just yet. My set-up is okay. There's not a lot of grip out there, which is frustrating when you're out there trying to find the ideal set-up. I'm not throwing in my towel yet, but it's almost like there is a battle for the third place spot out there. Mat and Ben seem to have us licked at the moment, which is why we keep looking for the optimum set-up."

Miguel Duhamel - "I feel pretty good about it. Right of the truck we were really good, so that is comforting, especially with the conditions and lack of track time. Yesterday, I told the guys I was ready to race now. Today, the qualifying tire totally upset the bike and I could barely survive out there. It took everything I had to keep the bike on the track."

The revised schedule has the first Superbike race of the weekend kicking off at 12:45pm Saturday followed by the Formula Xtreme race at 1:50pm. If the weather holds, Superstock and Supersport qualifying will take place after FX in that order.

Infineon Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki, 1:35.893
2. Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki, 1:36.556
3. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati, 1:36.894
4. Miguel Duhamel, American Honda, 1:36.955
5. Aaron Yates, Yoshimura Suzuki, 1:37.013
6. Jake Zemke, American Honda, 1:37.449
7. Tommy Hayden, Team Kawasaki, 1:37.479
8. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati, 1:37.588
9. Steve Rapp, Jordan Suzuki, 1:37.646
10. Larry Pegram, Honda, 1:38.130

Superstock Qualifying
A trio of Yamahas heads the Superstock field for Sunday's race. Behind them come no less than four Suzukis, so brand warfare should be in full effect.

1. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 1:36.906
2. Eric Bostrom, Yamaha, 1:36.922
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 1:37.059
4. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:37.430
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:37.557
6. Jacob Holden, Suzuki, 1:37.622
7. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 1:37.755
8. Martin Craggill, Suzuki, 1:38.251
9. Josh Hayes, Honda, 1:38.396
10. Damon Buckmaster, Kawasaki, 1:38.727

Supersport Qualifying
Jamie Hacking and Ben Spies went back and forth in their tussle over the Supersport pole position. In the end, it was Hacking who put down the fast lap and nabbed the number one starting spot. Roger Hayden, riding on his recently pinned but still broken leg, only managed tenth fastest time.

1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 1:37.957
2. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 1:38.066
3. Danny Eslick, Suzuki, 1:38.610
4. Michael Barnes, Suzuki, 1:38.616
5. Geoff May, Suzuki, 1:38.743
6. Ben Attard, Kawasaki, 1:39.101
7. Opie Caylor, Suzuki, 1:39.920
8. Blake Young, Suzuki, 1:40.077
9. Damon Buckmaster, Kawasaki, 1:40.195
10. Roger Hayden, Kawasaki, 1:40.435