AMA Superbike Championship at Laguna Seca

2008-09-29 00:01
American Honda's Neil Hodgson and Miguel Duhamel ended the season sixth and seventh in points after finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, in the final race of the 2008 AMA Superbike Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The pair started the 28-lap final, held on the same 2.238-mile road course that hosts the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, in a five-rider pack contesting second. But as the race went on, the veteran teammates gradually fell off the leaders and into a fight of their own.

In their own personal battle, Hodgson was in front from the start with Duhamel pressing from behind. The pair of Honda CBR1000RR-mounted teammates ran in tandem until there were six laps to run when Duhamel felt a slight hesitation, which he thought might be a fuel issue. It wasn't, but it put him off the back of Hodgson, who went on to finish a disappointed fifth.

But Duhamel's excitement wasn't over. With three laps to go he overshot the famed Corkscrew, running through the sand and down the hill. After gathering himself up without losing a spot, he was soon under attack by Eric Bostrom (Yamaha).
Bostrom made his move with a better drive onto the front straight, relegating Duhamel to seventh.

The race, the final one in the current AMA Superbike Championship format, was won by Suzuki rider Mat Mladin.

The 2009 AMA Superbike Championship will have a different look, with the class structure as yet decided. An announcement of the classes and technical rules is expected in the week following the season finale.

Neil Hodgson, 5th Place
Obviously I were going as hard as I could. It's hard to ride a race as hard of that, and I sort of enjoyed the race, but finished fifth, which I wasn't satisfied with. And I didn't know Miguel (Duhamel) was behind me. On the last lap, when I nearly hit Johnny Rock Page, I lost three seconds in one lap and I just thought, I just thought to myself, 'Neil, you are a fool.' Because I'd done all the work to ride around, I could ride around my last two laps. And I started my last lap assuming whoever was behind me was on my wheel. I don't know if he was or not. But I ended up ten seconds in front of them.

Miguel Duhamel, 7th Place
I was trying to make a move on Neil (Hodgson) and every time I did that I wound up almost off the track in the dirt, just because I just ran wide. Neil rides obviously pretty good and he's good on the brakes. Then I thought I ran out of fuel. The bike almost turned itself off going through the Corkscrew one time. That's where I lost the most time, with about six laps to go. So I thought, 'What the hell? I can't be running out of fuel.' So that really threw me off a bit. And then I started charging back and he was doing a good job. He smoothed out and he was going faster. We were both going fast. And when I caught up to Johnny Rock Page, I got on the brakes, and I don't know if I got a tailwind or what. I couldn't stop the bike in the Corkscrew. I went way off the track into the sand all the way down. By then I knew it was over. When I got on the track I took off and Eric (Bostrom) caught me. So when Eric was on me, he just passed me. My bike was slow coming off the corners. I don't know why. I couldn't stay with those guys. I was on them, on them, and then I just got yarded. It's too bad.

Team Manager Ron Heben
The boys didn't start out very well. They didn't qualify like we wanted to qualify. But certainly they had some great starts and made it exciting up there in the front. It shows a glimmer of hope out there that we've got to keep working at it and putting the little things that were off on and trying to make some progress. Obviously, we don't know what's going on for next year. They both got up there and they both gave 100% the whole race, and that's what we're here to do.


Superbike:
1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
2. Ben Spies (Suzuki)
3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
8. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha)
9. Jordan Szoke (Kawasaki)
10. Chris Peris (Yamaha)

Championship Standings:
1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 652
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 557
3. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 463
4. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 445
5. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 421
6. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 419
7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 412
8. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 372
9. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 365
10. Geoff May (Suzuki) 357

Source: Honda Pro Image

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