Chaos at Mid-Ohio

Photo: amasuperbike.com

AMA Superbike race 1 at Mid-Ohio was shaping up to be a great contest. Yes you read that right. A good AMA Superbike race. This was thanks to Jamie Hacking actually RACING the Rockstar Makita Suzukis of Ben Spies and Mat Mladin- even putting up the same or faster lap times early on. Not trying to keep up; actually challenging for the win. Alas, it was not meant to be.

The race started and immediately Spies, Mladin and Hacking looked the most comfortable with the track, with the rest of the riders fighting for 4th place. Then Neil Hodgson's motor blew out and the track had a nice layer of oil and "fluid" lathered across the entry to a corner with virtually zero runoff room before a row of hay bails. Several riders go down or off the track, and reportedly the incompetent track workers were afraid to throw a flag until they got word from track central command, resulting in a rider (Robertino Pietri) literally running up and ripping the red flag away to wave to the other racers. Very heroic. Shane Narbonne and Dean Mizdal hospitalized.

The race was then restarted and just as things get going between Mladin and Hacking again... both crash out, Mladins bike is left laying in the middle of the track. A "fan" reportedly had the clever idea of emptying out his beverage cooler on the bridge directly over the track, showering it. Red flag again.

We get going again, but not for long, Matt Lynn crashes out and his gas tank is punctured, setting his bike on fire. Duhamel follows him into the same gravel trap. Red flag out as if by reflex.

A couple things should be noted... more incompetence from the Mid-Ohio track workers. Hacking was left to push his bike around half the circuit back to the pits as nobody was "given the word" to hitch him a ride. Hacking, exhausted after restarting a race multiple times and running his Kawasaki back to this pits is seen screaming in anger. Also, lets not forget Ben Spies is recovering from abdominal surgery. Reportedly in avoiding one of the crashes, he aggravated the injury and was riding in moderate to severe pain, even though by the end of the race he didn't look much more tired/slow compared with anyone else. One more thing: the location of the hay bails on the first red flag crash should have been an extremely obvious candidate for an airfence. AMA Superbike is not some minor club racing event, and even many of those have air-fences nowadays. After the first rider went down, several of the hay bails were moved exposing bare wall.

The final 9 laps went green after another restart and heres how it finished up, an incredibly awkward race somehow landed with another predictable and bland result. Not to take anything away from Mladin and Spies, they rode well as always, but Hacking being right up there with them made him the obvious star of the day.

1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 19 laps, crash
2. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -1.965 seconds
3. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, -2.423, crash
4. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -7.940
5. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -8.729
6. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, -11.526
7. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -11.653
8. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -15.569 *
9. Chris Peris (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -20.666 *
10. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -21.922
11. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -25.192
12. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -31.441 *
13. Ryan Elleby (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -31.888 *
14. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -32.128 *
15. Scotty Van Hawk (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -60.066
16. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop
17. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000)
18. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -5 laps
19. Matt Lynn (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -9 laps, DNF, crash
20. Kenny Noyes (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -9 laps, DNF, mechanical *
21. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -10 laps, DNF, crashed twice
22. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -12 laps, DNF, mechanical
23. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -12 laps, DNF, crash *
24. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -12 laps, DNF, crash *
25. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -12 laps, DNF, crash
26. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -19 laps, DNF, crash

Superbike Race 2 Results, no big story here:

1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, 26 laps
2. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -6.357 seconds
3. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, -20.617
4. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -27.827
5. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -30.492
6. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, -31.425
7. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -52.772
8. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -66.266 *
9. Chris Peris (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -73.657 *
10. Kenny Noyes (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -85.880 *
11. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -1 lap
12. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -1 lap, -4.341 seconds *
13. Ryan Elleby (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -1 lap, -7.196 *
14. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -1 lap, -14.218 *
15. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -1 lap, -47.040 *
16. Scotty Van Hawk (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, -76.789
17. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -2 laps
18. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -3 laps
19. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, -9 laps, DNF, crash
20. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Dunlop, -13 laps, DNF, mechanical
21. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -15 laps, DNF, crash
22. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), Dunlop, -18 laps, DNF, mechanical
23. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), Pirelli, -24 laps, DNF, retired *
24. Matt Lynn (Hon CBR1000RR), Dunlop, DNS
25. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, DNS *
26. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), Dunlop, DNS

Josh Hayes took Formula Xtreme after Garret Carter had a scary crash and was reportedly out for 2+ minutes, prompting officials to stop the race. Aaron Yates wins in superstock. Ben Bostrom looks dominant in Supersport aboard the Yamaha, but Zemke and Honda have petitioned for the AMA to inspect illegal modifications to Bostom's motorcycle. Hayden Gillim took the Red Bull Rookies Cup race.