Duhamel, Zemke and Roberts Podium at Brainerd

AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series
Round 11: Brainerd, Minnesota
June 29, 2003

Duhamel and Roberts share podium

All three of the Honda RC51-mounted Red Riders in the Honda camp have
tasted the fruits of victory in one class or another at Brainerd
International Raceway (BIR). Miguel Duhamel of course, has won multiple
Supersport and Superbike races on the three-mile Minnesota circuit. In
fact, prior to this year's running of the BIR Superbike final, Duhamel won
the 600 Supersport race in convincing fashion. Before heading to Europe to
contest the World Superbike Championship, Ben Bostrom's last AMA Superbike
win was at BIR and Erion Honda's Kurtis Roberts won the Formula Xtreme race
at the same site in 2000. For all those reasons, the Honda team came to BIR
standing tall and when the 21-lap Superbike final was over, Duhamel and
Roberts stood even taller atop the BIR podium.

During qualifying, it was evident that Duhamel and Roberts were going to be
in the mix for the race win. Duhamel qualified second aboard his Al
Ludington-prepped RC51 and Roberts followed in fourth on his nearly
identically Dave McGrath-prepped machine. The stellar grid position set the
stage for a soon-to-be exciting battle for second place.

Bostrom, on the other hand, was relegated to the second row in the seventh
position when qualifying was completed. When the actual race started, the
second row starting position did not hinder Bostrom, but a wearing tire
did. The Californian was forced to pit with only four laps remaining. Worse
yet, the misfortune pushed him from inside the top five back to 12th in the
final standings.

"I was really bummed when I had to pit because up until that point it
looked like I was going to follow Miguel and Kurtis to the finish," said
Bostrom.

As it turns out, no one got very close to following Duhamel and Roberts to
the finish and the Honda duo did a good job of chasing down race winner
Aaron Yates, who at one time had a larger lead than the 2.7-second win
margin that he finished with. The real excitement was actually the race for
second place between Duhamel and Roberts. Up until the 15th lap, Duhamel
led the chase and Roberts waited patiently behind his more experienced
teammate. With six laps to go, Roberts made a move on Duhamel that would
end up sticking until the final lap when Duhamel retaliated.

"Kind of like the Supersport race earlier in the day, I just went into turn
three really deep," explained Duhamel. "I think Kurtis may have been
watching that race because he went in even deeper than I did, but it caused
him to go a little wide and that's how I got around him."

Both Honda teammates admitted that the race for second place got a little
too close for comfort and not since their epic Daytona 200 battle with
Bostrom had their RC51s been in a dog fight like that. "If it were anyone
other than those two guys, I would have been nervous," said a confident
Honda Team Coordinator, Ray Plumb.

The next stop on the AMA Superbike schedule is on July 10-13 at Monterey,
California's Laguna Seca Raceway. The event will not only be round 12 of
the AMA series, but it will also play host to round eight of the FIM World
Superbike Championship.

AMA Superbike Overall Results:
1. Aaron Yates - Suzuki
2. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
3. Kurtis Roberts - Honda
4. Eric Bostrom - Kawasaki
5. Giovanni Bussei - Ducati
12. Ben Bostrom - Honda

AMA Superbike Point Standings:
1. Eric Bostrom - Kawasaki - 321
2. Mat Mladin - Suzuki - 318
3. Aaron Yates - Suzuki - 313
4. Kurtis Roberts - Honda - 301
5. Ben Bostrom - Honda - 293
6. Miguel Duhamel - Honda - 278



AMA/Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series
Round 7: Brainerd, Minnesota
June 29, 2003

Duhamel Tops Brainerd

Honda Road Racing's Miguel Duhamel would make a great candidate for a tough
man competition. Duhamel broke his collarbone at round three of the AMA/Pro
Honda Oils 600cc Supersport Series in early May. Since then, the Honda
mainstay has had surgery to correct the injury and although he sat out two
Supersport contests, he still hasn't missed a lap in Superbike competition.
In fact, going into round seven of the Supersport series this weekend at
Brainerd International Raceway, Duhamel commented that the hardware used in
the surgery to repair his broken collarbone was painfully poking his skin
from the inside out. Regardless, the man who holds the AMA's all-time win
record went out and won the 600 Supersport final. It was his 41st
Supersport feat.

"I was worried about how my injury would feel this weekend," said Duhamel,
who qualified third for the event. "When I move my shoulder a certain way,
it feels like I'm getting stabbed. I'm going to have to take care of that."

First, Duhamel took care of the 600 competition. Mounted on the same Honda
CBR600RR that took him to a third place finish at Daytona, Duhamel never
fell below fourth place in the 13-lap event. By the completion of the
seventh lap, Miguel moved into second place behind Jamie Hacking and the
two began a battle for the lead that saw several lead changes. The
beginning of the 13th and final lap saw Hacking in the lead, but Duhamel
charged hard and deep into turn three and passed Hacking in the inside of
the tight corner. The pass stuck and Duhamel took the Brainerd Supersport
checkered flag for the fifth time in his storybook career.

"I didn't know if he'd retaliate or not," said Duhamel about Hacking," but
when I passed him in three, I went in so deep that it let him know I meant
business.

"Everything went great out there and during qualifying and practice,"
continued Duhamel, who complained of no collarbone discomfort during the
race. "The bike worked awesome and the team put me where I needed to be all
weekend. Qualifying on the front row didn't hurt either."

Erion Honda's Roger Hayden and Jake Zemke didn't make the front row, but a
second-row starting position for both CBR600RR riders was the next best
thing. Hayden, who has battled injuries of his own this year, completed the
first lap in the sixth position and stayed there for much of race before
eventually finishing seventh. While following Hayden, Zemke began suffering
tire problems and dropped out of the race, only completing seven laps. A
prematurely ended race was a hard pill for Zemke to swallow, since he had
won Saturday's Formula Xtreme race. Meanwhile, the youngest member of the
Erion team, Alex Gobert, started from the tenth position and improved his
final result by one spot.

With nearly two weeks before round eight of the series at Laguna Seca
Raceway, the Red Riders hope to ride the momentum created by Duhamel's
round seven victory. Duhamel has won the 600 Supersport class at the
Monterey, California racetrack three times. On the weekend of July 10-13,
the cagey Canadian plans to make it four.

600 Supersport Overall Results:
1. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
2. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha
3. Ben Spies - Suzuki
4. Jason Disalvo - Yamaha
5. Robert Jensen - Yamaha
7. Roger Hayden - Honda
9. Alex Gobert - Honda
12. Marty Craggill - Honda
13. Larry Pegram - Honda
14. Jason Curtis - Honda
15. Chris Rankin - Honda
23. James Kerker - Honda
30. Jake Zemke - Honda

AMA 600cc Supersport Points Standings:
1. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha - 214
2. Damon Buckmaster - Yamaha - 199
3. Tommy Hayden - Kawasaki - 160
4. Alex Gobert - Honda - 157
5. Jason Disalvo - Yamaha - 155
9. Roger Hayden - Honda - 139
10. Jake Zemke - Honda - 129
11. Doug Chandler - Honda - 110
12. Jason Curtis - Honda - 109
13. Miguel Duhamel - Honda - 105
15. Ty Howard - Honda - 65
16. Chris Peris - Honda - 59
17. Craig Connell - Honda - 54



AMA/Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series
Round 6: Brainerd, Minnesota
June 28, 2003

Zemke steps up

With the exception of Road America, Erion Honda's Jake Zemke has finished
no worse than third place at every round of the AMA/Lockhart Phillips USA
Formula Xtreme Series in 2003. Until this weekend's round at Brainerd,
however, a win has eluded the talented Zemke. But at the end of the 13-lap
race, Zemke's calculated charge on one of the fastest circuits in America
took him to the top of victory podium.

Zemke, the pre-season series favorite, turned the fastest lap throughout
the weekend's practice sessions. However, when it came to qualifying, the
#98 Honda CBR954RR ended up second on the grid. With a front-row start,
Zemke wasted no time getting to the front-running pack and duplicating his
fast practice laps.

"My bike was really fast out there," explained Zemke about the Formula
Xtreme final. "In fact, I should apologize to the crew for not riding it as
fast as it would go. I wasn't getting out of turn nine as fast as I would
have liked, but that wasn't any fault of the bike."

Zemke didn't necessarily need top speed in turn nine in order to hound race
leader Damon Buckmaster and second place Ben Spies around the three-mile
road course. For eight laps, he patiently waited and then passed Spies for
second position. Then on lap twelve, the 27-year old set up Buckmaster and
took the lead in turn three. The pass was precisely calculated because
Zemke was able to put lapped riders between himself and Buckmaster within
moments. He crossed the finish line with a comfortable one-second win
margin.

"I've waited for this win," beamed Zemke. "I've waited too long. It's great
that I've got so many podiums, but I had so many podiums last year. This
year I want race wins too!"

Zemke, who tied for the Formula Xtreme championship last year, but lost the
title on race wins, moved within 21 points of the 2003 Xtreme series lead
with his win at BIR. With four rounds remaining, Zemke's BIR win is what he
needed to boost his confidence level to new heights.

Bruce Transportation Group's Marty Craggill continued his strong Formula
Xtreme showing. The Honda CBR954RR-mounted rider qualified seventh and
finished sixth at BIR. Meanwhile, Erion Honda's Roger Hayden struggled a
bit with set-up, qualifying 12th and finishing the race in tenth.

Round seven of the Formula Xtreme Series now travels to Laguna Seca Raceway
on July 10-13. The defending Formula Xtreme race winner at the Monterey,
California racetrack is none other than Zemke. Along with Hayden and
Craggill, Zemke can't wait to take the CBR954RR around the fast and twisty
2.2-mile road course. "Our bikes really shine at Laguna," says Zemke.

Formula Xtreme Overall Results:
1. Jake Zemke - Honda
2. Damon Buckmaster - Yamaha
3. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha
4. Josh Hayes - Suzuki
5. Ben Spies - Suzuki
6. Marty Craggill - Honda
10. Roger Hayden - Honda
12. Jason Curtis - Honda
21. James Kerker - Honda

AMA Formula Xtreme Point Standings:
1. Damon Buckmaster - Yamaha - 182
2. Ben Spies - Suzuki - 174
3. Josh Hayes - Suzuki - 163
4. Jake Zemke - Honda - 161
5. Adam Fergusson - Suzuki - 153
6. Marty Craggill - Honda - 144
11. Roger Hayden - Honda - 108
12. Jason Curtis - Honda - 75
15. Ty Howard - Honda - 61
16. Craig Connell - Honda - 55
17. Doug Chandler - Honda - 52