For the first 27
years of AMA Superbike racing no rider could crack the three-championship
barrier. As the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited
takes the green flag on Saturday, March 12, at Daytona International
Speedway, Aussie racing sensation Mat Mladin embarks on his quest to
win an unprecedented sixth title.
Mladin, the defending
champ and Daytona Superbike winner who turns 33 on Thursday of Bike
Week, is the pre-season favorite on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000.
This year Mladin will face a deep Superbike field. Eighteen factory
or factory-backed riders are slated to compete at Daytona, in addition
to a number of very good privateer entries.
Mladin turned in
another record-setting season in 2004. He tallied eight victories in
the 18-race championship and finished the season tied with Miguel Duhamel
atop the all-time AMA Superbike wins list with 32- career victories.
He hopes to carry that momentum into the 2005 season. He was the fastest
rider in the first two days of pre-season Daytona tire testing before
suffering a crash and breaking his left ankle. In spite of the accident
Mladin was positive about his off-season.
"Aside from
this incident, the opening two days of the test were very promising
for us," said the three-time Daytona Superbike winner. "The
new Suzuki GSX-R1000 was very good and was quick through the speed trap
there, so it's all shaping up very nicely in that regard at present.
We were quickest at the end of each day, which is always good. As with
any of these tests where you are preparing a new bike there are lots
of things to work through and so far so good."
Mladin will come
to Daytona this year not only as a rider, but a team owner as well.
Mladin Motorsports is backing fellow Australian Marty Craggill, a former
Australian Superbike champ, and the team will debut at Daytona.
"I am grateful
for the opportunity to race in the United States for the 2005 season",
said Craggill. "To be associated with Mat Mladin Motorsports for
the up coming season has really given me a boost, and I'm excited to
be racing the new for 2005, Suzuki GSX-R1000."
Neil Hodgson, a
former World Superbike Champion from Great Britain, is coming to America
to contest the AMA series on the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin squad
as teammate to Eric Bostrom. Hodgson is the highest profile rider in
years to move from the world championships to AMA Superbike racing.
The colorful Brit is hoping to give Ducati its first Daytona Superbike
win in 28 years. Cook Neilson, Cycle Magazine editor at the time, rode
a Ducati to victory in the 1977 race.
"I would like
to make history and be the first rider ever to have won the British
and World Superbike Championships and the AMA Championship," Hodgson
said. "Being back on the Ducati 999 is going to be so natural for
me." Hodgson rode a Ducati 999 to victory in World Superbike in
2003.
Another rider people
have been waiting for several years to see full time in AMA Superbike
is 20-year-old Texan Ben Spies. The former AMA Horizon winner and 2003
Formula Xtreme champ is expected to be a serious contender in his first
Superbike season on the Yoshimura Suzuki. Spies will team with Mladin
and Aaron Yates forming what many consider to be the strongest team
in the series.
If having Hodgson
and Spies as new additions weren't enough, the late arrival of Kurtis
Roberts to the Erion Racing Honda team brings another true title contender
to the game. Roberts closed out the 2003 AMA Superbike Championship
with two wins in the final three rounds before a disappointing season
racing for his father's MotoGP team last year. The three-time AMA road
racing champ is enthused about racing the Honda CBR1000RR. He twice
won the Formula Xtreme title on the Honda CBR900RR.
Miguel Duhamel and
Jake Zemke are back on the factory Hondas. Duhamel, who would like to
pull ahead of Mladin as the all-time AMA Superbike wins leader, is always
a threat to win at Daytona and Zemke is anxious to score his first win
at the Speedway.
Kawasaki will be
represented by Josh Hayes on the Attack Kawasaki. Hayes scored a slew
of strong finishes on the team's ZX-10R in 2004. He's confident that
with a season of development under its belt the team will be even stronger
in '05.
Basketball legend
Michael Jordan has assembled perhaps the strongest factory-support team
in the history of the series. His Jordan Motorsports Suzuki squad will
be three riders strong at Daytona headed by Jason Pridmore. Pridmore,
35, is a former AMA 750 Supersport Champion and Formula Xtreme Champion
as well as 2003 FIM World Endurance Champion. He will try to follow
in his father Reg Pridmore's footsteps to become the first father/son
combination to earn the AMA Superbike Championship. Steve Rapp and Montez
Stewart will compete on Jordan Suzukis alongside Pridmore.
There are a number
of solid factory-backed teams entered for Daytona. Larry Pegram, a former
AMA Superbike race winner, has his strongest ride in years with the
Team Hotbodies Racing Honda.
Two-time AMA Superstock
champ Jimmy Moore will team with Eric Wood on the Hooters Suzuki. Two-time
Superstock race winner Chris Ulrich is riding with backing from Suzuki
as well on the Roadracingworld.com entry. Former AMA Horizon Award winner
Tony Meiring is racing the Daytona Superbike event with Corona Suzuki
and 2004 AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year Cory West kicks off his sophomore
season on the Team Hotbodies Suzuki.
Daytona 200 mileage
leader Rick Shaw is entered in the Daytona Superbike event, as is former
AMA Supersport great Mike Smith.
The race will be
nationally televised live on SPEED Channel starting at 11 am EST, Saturday,
March 12. (AMA)
SUPERSPORT
PREVIEW: HAYDEN LOOKING TO FOLLOW UP CHAMPIONSHIP WITH DAYTONA WIN
Last year Tommy
Hayden attained one of the goals he set out to accomplish when he began
his professional career, and that was to win a national title. On Thursday,
March 10, Hayden will try to cross off another long-time goal by adding
a Daytona Supersport trophy to his collection. Hayden kicks off his
title defense at Daytona International Speedway in round one of the
Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship presented by Shoei.
Ever since AMA Supersport
began at Daytona in 1987, it has usually been the most competitive race
of Bike Week. The list of past winners reads like a who's who of racing
and includes two world champions. Hayden knows a good result at Daytona
can give the kind of start to a season that's needed to win the championship.
"I never really had much luck in the Daytona Supersport race,"
said Tommy, the oldest of the three racing Hayden brothers from Owensboro,
Ky. "Last year I finally got a podium there and I went on to win
the championship, so it's important to get the season started strong
with a good result at Daytona."
The race will run
for the first time on the new 2.95-mile road course. Hayden likes the
new configuration. "The new track is a lot more technical than
the old course," he said. "I think it's going to reward the
better riders. With the old track you could lose quite a bit in the
infield section and still make it up with all the drafting on the banking.
Now you're going to have to be fit and ready to work really hard in
the infield section to do good there." Hayden hopes to become the
third Kawasaki rider to win the Daytona Supersport final. Miguel Duhamel
won the race on a Kawasaki in 1993 and Doug Chandler accomplished the
feat for the team in 1998. "It would mean a lot to me to win the
Supersport race at Daytona," Hayden continued. "It's one of
those races that's really important to the manufacturers and if you
win it shows that you've done the work you needed to do in the off season.
But the biggest thing is it puts you in a great position in the championship."
Hayden sees his
biggest competition coming from his brother and Kawasaki teammate Roger
Lee Hayden. The youngest Hayden brother finished 2004 with three wins
in the final four rounds and was runner up to Tommy in the final standings.
Roger Lee was injured in a bicycle training crash last month, but is
expected to be fit and ready to race by Daytona.
Yamaha returns with
the same four riders, Damon Buckmaster, Jason DiSalvo, Aaron Gobert
and Jamie Hacking, who raced for the team in Supersport last year. DiSalvo,
21, of Stafford, N.Y., is the defending Daytona Supersport winner. He
gave Yamaha its first Daytona Supersport victory in 14 years and was
the fastest of the Yamaha riders in pre-season testing at the Speedway.
Yoshimura Suzuki
fields Texan Ben Spies. Spies was the only Suzuki rider to score a victory
in Supersport last year.
A strong field of
privateer teams hopes to challenge the factory riders at Daytona. Chief
among them is Florida's own Michael Barnes on a Prieto Racing entry.
The racing veteran is a former Daytona Supersport winner and was extremely
quick in pre-season testing at Daytona.
Former AMA Superbike
Rookie of the Year Geoff May will make his debut on the Team M4 EMGO
Suzuki GSX-R600 at Daytona. Aussie Ben Attard is expected to be a front-runner
on the Attack Kawasaki. Team Hotbodies Racing's Taylor Knapp turned
a lot of heads at the Daytona tire tests and the young Michigan rider
could be ready for a breakthrough season.
The Pro Honda Oils
Supersport Championship presented by Shoei is set for national live
television coverage on SPEED Channel at 4:45 EST, Thursday, March 10.
(AMA)
