Dunlop Motorcycle Tires Race Report: 2006 AMA Superbike Series, Round Eight, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
August 6, 2006 Dunlop Motorcycle Tires Race Report: 2006 AMA Superbike Series, Round Eight, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio - Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies was dominant in two victories at the eighth stop of the 2006 AMA Superbike Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 4-6. The quiet Texan took his ninth and tenth victories of the season and simultaneously established a nearly insurmountable lead in his quest for his first Superbike championship. It was also a phenomenal weekend for Factory Yamaha/Graves Motorsports Yamaha and Jamie Hacking. For the third consecutive time, Hacking topped the charts in both the Supersport and Superstock races while teammate Eric Bostrom collected his fifth victory in the Formula Xtreme series. The oppressive heat that gripped much of the eastern U.S. for the last week greeted the riders on Thursday, threatening a repeat of Mid-Ohio's steamy 2005 weather. But a front passing through late in the day brought cooling relief and low humidity for the rest of the weekend - in other words, near-perfect racing conditions. The other big change at Mid-Ohio was 50,000 tons of new asphalt, one of a number of track improvements undertaken in 2006. Anticipation was high in the paddock and the new track surface did not disappoint, providing significantly more traction and predictability compared to the older surface with its grooved, concrete patches. Despite the fact that the new tarmac was particularly abrasive on the front tires, Dunlop riders set new pole records in every class: Superbike 2005 - 1:26.058 - Mat Mladin, Yoshimura Suzuki 2006 - 1:24.917 - Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki Formula Xtreme (reformulated class effective 2004) 2005 - 1:28.628 - Jake Zemke, Honda Racing 2006 - 1:27.675 - Jason Disalvo, Graves Motorsports Yamaha Superstock 2005 - 1:27.578 - Disalvo, Graves Motorsports Yamaha 2006 - 126.210 - Jamie Hacking, Graves Motorsports Yamaha Supersport 2004 - 1:29.074 - Ben Spies, Yoshimura Suzuki 2006 - 1:27.954 - Jamie Hacking, Graves Motorsports Yamaha The faster lap times were also a nod to the superior tractability and consistent performance of Dunlop's tires. With more than 1700 tires on hand to support the factory teams and support riders in the Superbike, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes, Dunlop riders had a number of compounds from which to choose. In addition to their qualifying performances, the riders also posted some remarkable times in practice. In the Saturday morning practice session for Formula Xtreme, Eric Bostrom ran 35 laps (more than double the race distance) on his race tire and turned his fastest time - 1:27.619 - on lap 34, faster than teammate Disalvo's record pole time of 1:27.675 set the day before. In another demonstration of Dunlop tires' unceasingly uniform performance, Jamie Hacking ran 35 laps on his race tire during Saturday's Superstock practice - again, more than twice the race distance - and turned his fastest time, 1:26.799, on lap 34 to set the fastest lap of the session. By the weekend's conclusion it all came down to the race results and once again Dunlop-sponsored riders were nearly untouchable, collecting all but one of the 15 podium positions and claiming 40 out of a possible 50 top-10 finishing positions. Superbike Race One Saturday's first race was one of two scheduled Superbike competitions and Suzuki's Ben Spies was unstoppable in the red-flagged, two-stage affair. He simply ran away from the field from the outset on his GSX-R1000, eventually building his lead to nearly 10 seconds over teammate Mat Mladin and Honda Racing's Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke before the race was stopped on lap 16 of 26. Whatever optimism the respite stirred in Spies' competitors was dashed soon after the restart as Spies took over the lead from Duhamel on turn six and once again built a sizable lead. He clocked the fastest lap of the race, a 1:25.188, on lap 19 and took the win by 5.713 seconds over Mladin, with Duhamel mustering third. "The bike and the Dunlop tires made my job easy this weekend," said Spies. "I want to thank Suzuki and my crew for doing such a good job and it's great to see Yoshimura Suzuki one-two on the podium again." Spies' ninth win of the season was significant because it gave him a 40-point lead over six-time AMA champ Mladin going into Sunday's second race. Overall, Dunlop-shod riders swept the podium and took the top eight finishing positions. Superbike Race Results, Saturday: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Ben Spies - Suzuki 2. Mat Mladin - Suzuki 3. Miguel Duhamel - Honda 4. Aaron Yates - Suzuki 5. Tommy Hayden - Kawasaki 6. Steve Rapp - Suzuki 7. Jake Holden - Suzuki 8. Roger Lee Hayden - Kawasaki Formula Xtreme Race Fresh off his fourth Formula Xtreme win at Laguna Seca, Yamaha's Eric Bostrom grabbed the lead with a daring outside pass going into turn one and he never looked back, taking the win over Erion Racing Honda's Josh Hayes by 2.256 seconds. Bostrom was so strong on his YZF-R6 that he ran the fastest FX lap of the weekend, a 1:27.613, on just the second loop of the 2.4-mile course. "Sometimes when you roll up to the starting line you know that everything is right and today was one of those days," said Bostrom. "The setting felt so good on the warm-up lap, I really felt like the bike couldn't put a wheel wrong. My team did a fantastic job." Bostrom's fifth triumph was also his 14th career Formula Xtreme victory, giving him the most wins ever earned in the class. Teammate and series leader Disalvo was third, just .049 seconds adrift of Hayes. The championship contest is now very close - DiSalvo leads with 254 points while Bostrom and Hayes are tied with 250 points each. On the day, Dunlop riders took all three podium slots and collected eight of the top 10 positions. Formula Xtreme Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Eric Bostrom - Yamaha 2. Josh Hayes - Honda 3. Jason DiSalvo - Yamaha 4. Aaron Gobert - Honda 6. Danny Eslick - Suzuki 7. Ryan Andrews - Yamaha 8. Blake Young - Suzuki 10. Tony Meiring - Suzuki Superstock Race Sunday's support class action was anything but predictable, starting with the 1000cc Superstock series. After a restart following Jordon Motorsports Suzuki Steve Rapp's lap one crash on the front straight, Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Eric Bostrom took the lead and led 14 of the 16 laps, leaving fans to wonder if he would win his second race of the weekend. Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates, the 2005 champion who is running second overall in this year's series, was hot on his heels and Bostrom's teammate Jamie Hacking - the current series leader - was close behind Yates. The trio was never separated by more than a second and they maintained their fierce pace, as evidenced by Yates lap eight time of 1:26.162, which eclipsed Hacking's Saturday qualifying time. Then on lap 13 Hacking took advantage of a mistake by Yates, slipping into second aboard his YZF-R1LE. On the penultimate lap he went by Bostrom and held him in check to take the checkered flag by a scant .176 seconds. Just a half second back was Yates, completing the Dunlop podium sweep. "The first thing I want to say is just thanks to my crew for doing a heck of a job and Dunlop tires for providing us with these unbelievably grippy race tires," said Hacking of fifth victory of the year (he has not finished below second). "Right now we're definitely on top of our game, and it feels good. All we can do is keep doing it and doing it and go on to the next race." Eight of the top 10 positions went to Dunlop riders. In the series, Hacking stretches his lead over Yates by 27 points (282 vs. 255) with three races remaining. Yates' teammate Disalvo holds down third with 222 points. Superstock Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha 2. Eric Bostrom - Yamaha 3. Aaron Yates - Suzuki 5. Jake Holden - Suzuki 6. Jason DiSalvo - Yamaha 7. Aaron Gobert - Honda 8. Josh Hayes - Honda 9. Marty Craggill - Suzuki Supersport Race A virtual replay followed in the Supersport competition with Jamie Hacking once again coming from behind to claim victory, this time on a Factory Yamaha YZF-R6. Fourth after two laps, Hacking began his charge on lap three and held third position until a red flag on lap five forced a restart. On the restart he found himself in third again but he soon passed Kawasaki Road Racing's Roger Lee Hayden and then on lap nine he caught and passed race leader Michael Barnes (Team M4 EMGO Suzuki). The two swapped the lead again when Hacking missed a shift, but by lap 10 Hacking had the lead for good and he set off on a torrid pace, exemplified by his lap 13 time of 1:27.965 that was nearly as fast as his pole-setting qualifying time. At the flag Hacking had his second win of the day and his fifth consecutive Supersport victory for the season. "This is a dream come true," said Hacking. "I owe it all to my crew. those guys did a great job and the Dunlop tires just worked great." Second went to Hayden, 4.102 back, followed by Barnes to fill out the podium. Overall, Dunlop riders represented seven of the top 10 positions. Hacking now leads the championship with 256 points to Hayden's 197, with Eslick in third with 181. Supersport Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Jamie Hacking - Yamaha 2. Roger Lee Hayden - Kawasaki 5. Danny Eslick - Suzuki 6. Ben Attard - Kawasaki 7. Ben Spies - Suzuki 8. Blake Young - Suzuki 10. Josh Herrin - Yamaha Superbike Race 2 Suzuki's Ben Spies slammed the door on his competitors in the second Superbike race of the weekend. His 10th win of the season resulted from a perfect start and a hard-charging pace that left second place Mladin and third place Duhamel wondering what they could do to slow Spies' hunt for his first Superbike title. Officially Spies won by 4.255 seconds while Mladin and Duhamel waged an entertaining battle for second place. Mladin barely prevailed, crossing the line just .606 seconds ahead of Duhamel. With a commanding 45-point lead over Mladin in the series, the 22-year old Spies now controls his own destiny. "These two guys, they've been on posters on my garage wall ever since I've been growing up," said Spies. "Where I'm at right now, it's pretty special and this weekend is definitely a special weekend." With five races to go, Spies has an excellent opportunity to surpass Mladin's record of 11 Superbike wins in a season. Once again, Dunlop riders swept the podium and amassed nine of the top finishing positions. Spies leads the series with 501 points, Mladin has 456 and Duhamel holds third with 387. Superbike Race Results, Sunday: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 1. Ben Spies - Suzuki 2. Mat Mladin - Suzuki 3. Miguel Duhamel - Honda 4. Jake Zemke - Honda 5. Neil Hodgson - Ducati 6. Jason Pridmore - Suzuki 7. Tommy Hayden - Kawasaki 8. Roger Lee Hayden - Kawasaki 9. Jake Holden - Suzuki Next stop for Dunlop and the 2006 AMA Superbike road racing tour is Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia, August 18-20. Round nine includes two Superbike races. About Dunlop Tires Dunlop Tires is the largest supplier of original equipment and replacement motorcycle tires in the U.S. and the only manufacturer of motorcycle tires in North America. With North American operations headquartered in Buffalo, NY, Dunlop has been making and selling high quality tires in the U.S. since 1923. For more information, please visit www.dunlopmotorcycle.com.