Results AMA Superbike Championship, Laguna Seca

2007-07-23 06:00
Hard fought fourth place takes Duhamel to third spot in AMA Superbike Series

American Honda's Miguel Duhamel moved to third in the AMA Superbike
Championship with a hard fought fourth place on a difficult day at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Earlier in the day, during morning practice, Duhamel fell off the
Gresini Honda which he was riding in place of the injured Toni Elias.
The veteran tumbled repeatedly through the gravel trap, but was
mostly unhurt. Duhamel later retired from the MotoGP race.

But he was on the gas in the Superbike race, jetting from a third row
straight into the fray and mixing it up with Corona Honda's Neil
Hodgson and Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates. Duhamel chased the Yates to
the end, missing out on the podium by .345 seconds. Hodgson, the
former World Superbike Champion, was fifth in his first race for the
Corona Honda team.

Still, Duhamel moved back into third in the AMA Superbike
Championship, one spot ahead of teammate Jake Zemke.

Zemke had a less than successful day. A clutch problem at the start
of the race spelled doom for the Californian. And though he tried to
soldier on, it was all for nothing and he was forced to retire.


17 Miguel Duhamel, 4th Place
"Even myself, I forget that I qualified third row and we're fighting
for a podium. Hats off to my crew, the CBR1000RR and the guys working
on the Marelli traction control system. We got lost this morning. It
was a tough, tough morning for me. We just came back. The bike was
great. I really felt like I lost the podium. I should have got that
podium. I'm sure a lot of people through my career feel that way
really. We got a great bike. I'm pretty excited for the rest of the season."

Jake Zemke DNF
"I had a great launch; I was already side by side with Mat Mladin. I
was already up into the front row and going and looking at the times
I think we would have been good for a podium today or at least close.
Then the clutch just started spinning up. Once I got the clutch and
the throttle on, the thing just revved to the moon. I thought it's a
bit early for me to be hitting the rev limiter. So I grabbed another
gear and nothing was happening. It was pretty bad. I think I stayed
out for maybe five laps or something, tried to soldier it in,
thinking maybe I could stay out till halfway or something. By then it
was barely making it up the hills. Every time I'd get on the throttle
it'd spin up. That's the first clutch failure we've had in a long,
long time. So it's a little bit disturbing, because we've been able
to get multiple starts out of the clutches we have now and be able to
start hard on them."

American Honda Team Manager Chuck Miller
"Jake had a clutch problem, so he retired early, which was kind of a
bummer, because in qualifying and practice he was our strongest
rider. The bike was working good. Sometimes they just get a little
hot and heavy on the clutch at the start. That's probably what made
it cook. Miguel surprised us all. After crashing on a MotoGP and then
racing earlier today. We didn't know what cards we were going to
have. But he did a great job and personally I think a lot of that was
spurred on by Neil being right there and you got another Honda guy
right in front of you and there's one golden rule in racing and
that's beat your teammate. So I think he did step up just a little
bit and gave Aaron (Yates) a run for his money and Neil (Hodgson). So
a very competitive race, really happy with it. I think we need to
have more Honda riders out there."


Superbike:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
7. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha)
8. Jake Holden (Suzuki)
9. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
10. James Ellison (Honda)


Championship Standings:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 420
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 396
3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 306
4. Jake Zemke (Honda) 293
5. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 292
6. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 276
7. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 272
8. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 260
9. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 225
10. James Ellison (Honda) 215


98 Jake Zemke, DNF

Team Manager Chuck Miller

Source: Honda Pro Image

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story