Hayden takes third Superbike victory in a row; Rossi leads Honda World GP sweep; Binghamton MX results
AMA Roadracing: Pikes Peak International Raceway, Colorado Springs, CO August 25-26, 2001 2001 AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championships, Round 9, Sunday, August 26 Universal Studio's / Honda Racing's Nicky Hayden became the first rider this year to win three consecutive Superbike races in a row. The Owensboro, KY native started off the weekend by grabbing the pole position, his first of the season. As the riders took off on Sunday's main event, current series points leader Mat Mladin led the early laps with Hayden hot on his back wheel. On lap eleven, Hayden made an outside move going into turn three to take the lead away from Mladin. Once out front, Hayden stayed in control to claim the overall win. "It was just one of those weekends where everything felt good from the start", said Hayden. The young Red Rider is the first Superbike racer to win at Pikes Peak International Raceway while also setting pole. Parts Unlimited / PJ1/ Erion Honda Racing's Kurtis Roberts and Universal Studios / Honda Racing's Miguel Duhamel finished 6th and 8th place respectively. Colorado Springs, CO Superbike Race, Top Overall Finishers 1. Nicky Hayden - Honda 2. Eric Bostrom - Kawasaki 3. Doug Chandler - Kawasaki 4. Mat Mladin - Suzuki 5. Steve Rapp - Ducati 6. Kurtis Roberts - Honda 8. Miguel Duhamel - Honda AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship Point Standings, Top Riders 1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki - 359 2. Eric Bostrom - Kawasaki - 344 3. Nicky Hayden - Honda - 303 4. Doug Chandler - Kawasaki - 292 5. Miguel Duhamel - Honda - 274 9. Kurtis Roberts - Honda - 1224 2001 AMA / Pro Honda Oils 600 Supersport Final, Round 9, Sunday, August 26 Current points leader Eric Bostrom showed the 600cc Supersport field the fast way around PPIR, leading all 29-laps to take the win. Universal Studios / Honda Racing's Miguel Duhamel finished in 6th place position, ahead of Parts Unlimited / PJ1/ Erion Honda Racing's Jake Zemke. Bruce Transportation Group / Erion Honda Racing's Josh Hayes crossed the checkered flag in 8th place position, while his teammate Roger Lee Hayden rounded out the top ten with a 10th place overall finish. Parts Unlimited / PJ1/ Erion Honda Racing's Kurtis Roberts crashed twice in the main event, once during the original race and a second time during a re-start. While Roberts was unable to finish the 600cc Supersport race, he was able to compete in the Superbike final later on in the day. Duhamel trails Bostrom by 31 points with two races to go in the series. Colorado Springs, CO 600 Supersport Top Overall Finishers 1. Eric Bostrom - Kawasaki 2. Anthony Gobert - Yamaha 3. Aaron Yates - Suzuki 4. Tommy Hayden - Yamaha 5. Jamie Hacking - Suzuki 6. Miguel Duhamel - Honda Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Point Standings, Top Riders 1. Eric Bostrom - Kawasaki - 261 2. Miguel Duhamel - Honda - 230 3. Anthony Gobert - Yamaha - 229 4. Tommy Hayden - Yamaha - 214 5. Josh Hayes - Honda - 191 2001 Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Final, Round 8, Saturday, August 25 Jason Pridmore won his first Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme main event after suffering a leg injury at Round 3 in Braselton, GA. Parts Unlimited / PJ1/ Erion Honda Racing's Jake Zemke rode another solid Formula Xtreme main event finishing on the podium with a 3rd place for the day. Bruce Transportation Group / Erion Honda Racing's Roger Lee Hayden finished right behind Zemke to take 4th overall. Teammates Josh Hayes and Mark Miller finished 8th and 9th place respectively. Colorado Springs, CO Formula Xtreme Final, Top Overall Finishers 1. Jason Pridmore - Suzuki 2. Tom Kipp - Suzuki 3. Jake Zemke - Honda 4. Roger Lee Hayden - Honda 5. John Hopkins - Suzuki Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Championship Point Standings, Top Riders 1. Damon Buckmaster - Yamaha - Tied / 2. John Hopkins - Suzuki - 229 3. Grant Lopez - Suzuki - 200 4. Jake Zemke - Honda - 197 5. Josh Hayes - Honda - 191 Upcoming Rounds: September 16 - Willow Springs, CA September 30 - Alton, VA 2001 FIM World Grand Prix, Brno, Czech Republic, August 26, 2001 HONDA RACING PRESS INFORMATION Honda riders returned to action in the best-possible way following GP racing's five-week midseason break, leaving Brno at the head of all three World Championships. Miracle teenager Toni Elias (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team Honda RSR125) took a thrilling win in today's 125 GP to take over the lead of the 125 World Championship, joining fellow Honda leaders Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500) and Daijiro Katoh (Telefonica Movistar Honda NSR250) -- who have dominated their respective categories all season. Rossi won a famous victory at Brno today, leading a Honda one, two, three after arch-title-rival Max Biaggi (Yamaha) crashed out of the lead shortly after half-distance. The 22-year-old Italian now heads the 500 series by 29 points with six races remaining. Katoh may only have managed third in today's 250 GP but he still holds a 35-point advantage in the 250 title battle. Biaggi and Rossi had qualified first and second for this tenth round of the last-ever 500 World Championship, and the pair were out front in that order from the fifth lap onwards. Rossi had recovered well from a difficult first day of practice, when he'd been seventh fastest, his crew dialling in his NSRs for the epic Brno circuit. After a reasonable start he hunted down Biaggi and shadowed him lap after lap until his rival slid off on lap 13. From then on Rossi was untroubled, except by a bee that flew into his helmet, and finally crossed the line 3.374 seconds ahead of Alex Criville (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) who just beat Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500). Today's race winning time was an incredible 30 seconds faster than last year's Czech GP. "That race was very difficult because I knew Max wanted to go it alone out front and I risked a lot to stay close to him," said Rossi after his sixth win from ten races. "When I closed the gap Max was still pushing very hard, then he lost the front. A few laps later a bee flew inside my helmet, luckily it didn't sting me! We had a difficult time on Friday but the team worked well, changing a lot of settings to give me more grip at maximum lean. There's still six races to go, so we need to stay concentrated because there's some bad tracks as well as some good tracks coming up." Criville was just as delighted with his second place, his best result since he won the 2000 French GP last May. "After Germany I never imagined I'd be on the podium here, this result is like a win for me," said the Spaniard. "I had a good rest during the break and that helped a lot. The team worked well here and I've now shown that I'm not too old to race up front!" Tohru Ukawa (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) was another happy Honda man, finishing fifth to make it four Hondas in the top five. The Japanese rode a superb race after struggling to 13th in qualifying. Eleventh on lap one, he charged through the pack, crossing the line 2.5 seconds behind fourth-finisher Norick Abe (Yamaha). "We had a lot of chatter problems in practice, except with one type of rear tyre," he said. "We only had one of those tyres for practice but had another available for the race, so obviously we used it. The tire made a big difference, getting rid of nearly all the chatter, so I was able to push much harder." Race Results 500cc, top finishers: (22 laps - 118.866 km) 1. Valentino ROSSI/ ITA/ Nastro Azzurro Honda/ HONDA/45'01.044- 158.426km/h 2. Alex CRIVILLE/ SPA/ Repsol YPF Honda Team/ HONDA/ 45'04.418- 158.229 3. Loris CAPIROSSI /ITA / West Honda Pons/ HONDA/45'04.811- 158.206 4. Norick ABE/ JPN / Antena 3 Yamaha-d'Antin/YAMAHA/45'05.101- 158.189 5. Tohru UKAWA JPN/ Repsol YPF Honda Team/ HONDA/ 45'07.618- 158.042 9. Alex BARROS/ BRA/ West Honda Pons/ HONDA/45'25.776- 156.989 Fastest lap: Valentino Rossi, 2m 01.461s - 160.140 km/h (Unofficial new record) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS: 1 Rossi 195 2 Biaggi 166 3 Capirossi 127 4 Barros 107 5/6 Abe - Nakano 100 7 Criville 91 10 Ukawa 64 Upcoming Rounds: Sept. 9 Estoril, Portugal Sept. 23 Valencia, Spain ====================================================================== Grand Prix Moto Presse, Antoniestraat 81, 2011 CP Haarlem, Netherlands Tel: (31) 235512709 - Fax (31) 235512834 - E-mail: macdeb@compuserve.com For Honda Motor Company, Ltd - Motor Sports Division 1-1, 2-Chome, Minami-Aoyama, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan Photographs of Honda Riders are available on http://www.hondaproimages.com Please register first at: http://www.hondaproimages.com/registration.cfm 2001 AMA/Chevy Trucks National Motocross Series, Round 11: Broome-Tioga Sports Center, Binghamton, NY, August 26, 2001 Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael won Binghamton outdoor motocross national and the 2001 AMA/Chevy Trucks Outdoor National title on Sunday. The young Floridian went 1/1 on the day for an overall win that secured his second 250cc outdoor national championship. In moto 1, Universal Studios / Honda Racing's Sebastien Tortelli was hot on Carmichael's heals. At one point Tortelli had closed within three seconds of the leader. Eventually Carmichael would take the checkers with Tortelli in tow. Amsoil / Dr. Martens / Journeys / Competition Accessories / Honda's Mike LaRocco had a poor start, but charged hard and eventually finished 6th place. Ezra Lusk, riding his factory-prepped Universal Studios / Honda Racing CR250R finished inside the top ten for a 9th place position. As the gate dropped in moto 2, Carmichael wasted little time and put an aggressive pass on Kevin Windham to take over the lead and the eventual win. Mike LaRocco, riding the factory Honda CRF450R, was involved in a first turn pile-up and was forced to play catch-up. The "Rock" would eventually cross the finish-line in 8th place. Ezra Lusk rocketed out of the gate and rode well. The Georgia native finished moto 2 in 9th place position. Sebastien Tortelli high-sided on a downhill while chasing down 5th place finisher Stephan Roncada. The talented Frenchman was shaken but did not seem to be seriously injured. As a safety precaution, "Seb" was sent to the hospital for examination. No additional information is available on Tortelli's condition. Binghamton, NY AMA Motocross 250-class, Top 5 Overall Finishers (with Moto finishes) 1. Ricky Carmichael - Kawasaki - 1-1 2. Kevin Windham - Suzuki - 3-2 3. Tim Ferry - Yamaha - 4-3 4. John Dowd - KTM - 7-5 5. Stephan Roncada - 5-7 8. Mike LaRocco - 6-8 9. Ezra Lusk - Honda - 9-9 10. Sebastien Tortelli - Honda - 2-38 AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championships 250-class Point Standings, Top 5 Riders 1. Ricky Carmichael - Kawasaki - 490 2. Kevin Windham - Suzuki - 432 3. Tim Ferry - Yamaha - 397 4. Mike LaRocco - Honda - 369 5. Sebastien Tortelli - Honda - 339 11. Ezra Lusk - Honda - 198 Upcoming Rounds: September 2, Delmont PA (Final Round) END