Zemke and Duhamel dominate Brainerd, Campbell and Hengeveld lead a Honda sweep at Vegas to Reno desert race.

Honda Red Rider Weekend Report

Zemke and Duhamel dominate Brainerd road race national while Johnny
Campbell and Steve Hengeveld lead a Honda sweep at Vegas to Reno desert
race.

They say "the third time is the charm," and Erion Racing's Jake Zemke bears
witness to this axiom, clinching his first-ever AMA Superbike victory at
Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) on Sunday, June 27, the same track
where he collected his first AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme victories.
Add a convincing victory by Miguel Duhamel in Formula Xtreme
competition-his fifth of the season-and Honda Racing's weekend at BIR was
nothing short of spectacular.

The weekend's first race on the seventh stop of the 2004 AMA Superbike tour
was in the Formula Xtreme series. Honda Racing and Erion Racing have worked
diligently throughout the season to massage Honda's potent CBR600RR into a
600cc "Superbike" and the results are impressive. Trap speeds down the long
front straightaway at BIR indicated Duhamel's Al Ludington-tuned 600RR was
topping out at an amazing 179.2 mph. Duhamel captured the pole position in
Friday's qualifying session with a blazing 1:38.148 time.

"I don't think I had a good bike, I think I had a great bike," said
Duhamel. "The Xtreme class is still new and we're still working at it and
we're getting faster and faster. I think we're asserting ourselves in a
really serious class; our speeds are fast, lap times and even top speed. I
credit my team - Al, Trevor, Jason, Yuji, and Chris."

At the start of the race on Saturday, Duhamel and Zemke fought
tooth-and-nail throughout the race for the lead, with the duo often
swapping the lead along BIR's front straightaway and the fast right-hand
sweepers in turns one and two. At one point early in the race, Duhamel's
right knee-puck slider tore away, forcing him to alter his riding style
through the turns to protect his knee. No matter, Duhamel drafted past
Zemke on lap 11 and then ripped off the fastest lap of the race, 1:38.083
to hold the lead, taking the win by .375 seconds over Zemke.

"We were out there racing, we had a decent pace going, but I felt like
there was something more to the show," said Duhamel. "After a while I
thought, maybe I need to look back there, and I thought 'Whoa' I need to
pick up the pace because coming out of that really tight right hander after
the chicane he (Zemke) had a much better drive. There was no negotiation;
if I was second coming out of that corner I was done. So I tried to lead
the most laps. We were going back and forth, because I really thought he
could get me there. The CBR600RR was just fantastic and my guys have been
working so hard, and the Dunlop tires were working real good too. I'm
really pleased. It's a tough class to win."

Zemke added, "I knew it was going to be tough because Miguel has some motor
on us, but the boys worked pretty hard and we definitely closed the gap on
him from the last race to this one. I was having to ride really hard just
to stay where I was. In the end my tires were moving just a bit, because we
were having to work them pretty hard just to keep up at the front. It was a
good race, we'll move on to Laguna from here and see if we can close up the
points gap."

Erion Racing's Alex Gobert finished fourth in the race. Duhamel leads the
series with 250 points to Zemke's 235, followed by Gobert with 193.

Sunday's Superbike race result was foreshadowed by Zemke's pole qualifying
performance on his CBR1000RR on Saturday with a time of 1:35.655. A mishap
almost spelled disaster. "I went out on my first bike and had a problem
with it so I came straight into the pit and went out on my second bike and
did one warm-up lap. I was basically on my first good lap." Zemke and Larry
Pegram then bumped and both fell coming out of turn ten before the front
straight, effectively shortening Zemke's qualifying run to just ten
minutes.

"It kind of ruined the whole session for me. I got back to the pits and
they were already taking the linkage apart-I was trying a different linkage
on that first bike-they were switching back to the same linkage that was on
the bike I had just crashed. Basically we just threw a Q (qualifying tire)
on it and I went straight out on a Q, did one lap just trying to get my
mind back focused and get up to speed, then came in and threw a second Q
and ran that lap. Sometimes it's almost better if you can go out straight
away like that and not get yourself into a groove because a qualifying tire
is so much stickier than a race tire, sometimes you'll get into a groove
and you just don't want to pull the trigger as hard as you should, because
you are used to the tire spin that you would get with a race tire."

Sunday's Superbike race featured the most competitive action in the series
this year. After Josh Hayes led briefly, Zemke, series leader Mat Mladin,
and a charging Duhamel swapped positions frequently, with no rider leading
by more than a half-second. The Honda pair had a power advantage on BIR's
long front straightaway but Mladin challenged the Honda riders on the
circuit's tighter infield corners. Honda's Ben Bostrom lurked close behind
in fifth position. On lap six, Zemke took over the lead for four laps and
ran the fastest lap of the race, a 1:36.24, on lap eight. Lapped traffic
would soon put space between the lead trio, and Duhamel stepped up to
control laps 15-20, apparently headed to his fifth victory of the season.
As the race wound down to the last lap, Zemke slipped into the lead as
Duhamel ran wide exiting turn two. Two crashes ahead and rain falling in
the last three turns made the final charge to the flag treacherous, but
Zemke held on for his first-ever Superbike win.

"Brainerd's a pretty special place for me. I won my first Formula Xtreme
race here, I won my first 600 race here, and I've won my first Superbike
race here. Miguel made a little mistake there coming out of two, and when
he did that, it just opened the door wide open. Then I just came around to
the finish, the last two corners were awfully wet."

Duhamel added, "In turn two I just carried a little too much speed and went
a little wide, a bit wider than I thought. Just sliding a bit and Jake
jumped on the chance and passed. I was on him coming out of the tight
right-hander, the bus stop, but it was raining pretty bad. He got a slide
and I got a good drive on him. As you crossed the bridge and it was just
pouring rain. I got in front of Jake, and going through the corner I rolled
off and he went for it. I  braked a bit and ran wide. We just rode really
hard, everybody. For me it sure was a heartbreaker to lose the race, but I
don't think there's a more deserving guy [Jemke] in the paddock."

Finishing fifth was Ben Bostrom. "We had a bike that almost steered too
good. I could put it anywhere, but I couldn't get off any corners. When I
caught up I thought I'd hang and cool off the tire. But the longer I was
behind them the harder it was to stay there. What I noticed, though, is
that my entry speed is coming back. It's where I used to make time on
everyone. I see that coming back."

Zemke's win gives him 348 points and bring him closer to Duhamel, with 352
points, and series leader Mladin with 358 points. Next stop for the Honda
Red Riders and the AMA road racing tour will be the Mazda Raceway at Laguna
Seca in Monterey, California on July 9-11.

AMA Superbike Overall Results:
1. Jake Zemke - Honda
2. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
3. Mat Mladin - Suzuki
4. Eric Bostrom - Ducati
5. Ben Bostrom - Honda

AMA Superbike Point Standings:
1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki - 358
2. Miguel Duhamel - Honda - 352
3. Jake Zemke - Honda - 348
4. Eric Bostrom - Ducati - 262
5. Geoff May - Suzuki - 241
6. Ben Bostrom - Honda - 210


Best in the Desert Silver State Series
TSCO Vegas to Reno

Red Riders Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld led a Honda XR650R sweep of
the top three spots at the TSCO Vegas to Reno, round four of Best in the
Desert's Silver State Series. Their unofficial time for the 490-mile race
from just north of Pahrump, Nevada, to the finish line in Dayton was eight
hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds. It marked their first win in the series this
year and was just what they needed as the victory in this double-points
event also put them solidly at the top of the series points table with two
rounds to go.

"It was a good, solid day," Campbell reported. The one issue that hung over
them nearly the entire way was an exhaust leak that, at the finish, was
determined to be from a cracked head pipe and forced them to back off the
pace slightly. "Sometimes when you have an exhaust leak, the bike runs
different and has different things going on-popping and lean spots so you
have to back off a little bit and know that going into a G-out or popping
out of one, there could be some hesitation. The motor actually ran great,
minus the exhaust leak."

One personal issue that Campbell dealt with was a torn meniscus in his
right knee, the result of an incident during a photo shoot. "I didn't tell
anybody outside of our inner circle until now," he admitted with a laugh.
"I just wanted to keep it quiet so the competition didn't know I was
injured. But actually, the knee didn't bother me all day so hopefully I
won't have to have surgery. I was in therapy every day since it happened
last week trying to strengthen my leg as best I can in a week; we didn't
have much time, but what we did do in breaking down the scar tissue and
stuff definitely helped."

Hengeveld, who got the team off to the lead they never surrendered, added,
"My ride was really uneventful. I just tried to ride smooth and not make
any mistakes."

On the ATV side of things, Doug Eichner and Marc Spaeth took the Quad Pro
win in an unofficial 9:48:36, outdistancing the competition on their
TRX450R despite several flat tires.

Vegas to Reno unofficial results
1. Johnny Campbell/Steve Hengeveld-Honda XR650R-8:11:14
2. Christopher Blais/Quinn Cody-Honda XR650R-8:17:59
3. Chuck Dempsey/Andy Grider-Honda XR650R-9:06:30
4. Paul Krause/Elmer Symons-KTM 525 MXC-9:19:23
5. Clint Braun/Matt Gosnell-KTM 250-9:31:24