AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship Preview Laguna Seca
Top three riders virtually even as the series moves to Monterey, California
Laguna Seca, CA, July 9-11th - After the upcoming Honda Superbike Classic, July 9-11 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship will be two-thirds complete. As the championship makes the turn for the homestretch the battle for the number one spot is heating up. Defending champ Mat Mladin is in the familiar spot of leading the championship, but the Suzuki ace is being hotly pursued by 1995 AMA Superbike champ Miguel Duhamel and first year factory Superbike sensation Jake Zemke, both on Hondas. The top three riders are covered by just 10 points with seven rounds remaining. The Honda Superbike Classic is part of the annual combined AMA and World Superbike weekend bringing together the top superbike riders from around the world.

An exciting subtext to Sunday’s race is Eric Bostrom’s opportunity to tie Freddie Spencer for the most AMA Superbike wins at Laguna Seca. Bostrom won the race in 2001 and 2002 aboard Kawasaki and this year he’s looking to put his Ducati Austin bike on top. The legendary former world champion Spencer won his last race at Laguna Seca in 1995. It was his third AMA Superbike win on the famous Monterey circuit.
The top three AMA Superbike riders have all tasted victory at Laguna Seca. Mladin and Duhamel in Superbike and Zemke on a Formula Xtreme bike in 2002. Zemke is coming off his very first AMA Superbike win last week in Brainerd, Minn. Duhamel had won three of the previous four rounds before that, but Mladin hasn’t had a win since mid-May in Birmingham, Ala. It’s the longest stretch Mladin has gone without winning since his unmemorable 2002 campaign when the Yoshimura Suzuki rider went winless the entire season.
"I've still got the points lead as we head off to Laguna Seca for the next round and see what we can do,” said Mladin, the only rider to have won four AMA Superbike Championships. “You're powering up hills out of tight turns there. So it won't be easy again, but we'll be trying our best as we always do and will be chasing the win there for sure."

Eric Bostrom is a distant fourth in the series standings and is now concentrating on getting race wins. If he manages to be victorious at Laguna Seca it would mark Ducati’s first AMA Superbike win at the track in five years.

Privateer Geoff May is ranked fifth coming into this weekend. May is hoping to become the first since Dale Quartereley in 1995 to be a non-factory rider finishing the season ranked in the top five. May has shown amazing consistency on his Team Prieto Racing Suzuki this year scoring top-10 finishes in all but one round this year. His best result was a fifth at California Speedway in early April. May, last year’s AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year, proved to be a quick learner on the challenging Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca road course last year. He qualified 39th, then charged all the way to 15th in the race.

Two established AMA Superbike stars are still trying to find their way this year. Both Ben Bostrom and Aaron Yates are experiencing seasons they’d just as soon forget. That all could change with a win at Laguna Seca. Bostrom burst onto the world radar by unexpectedly winning a round of the World Superbike Series at Laguna in 1999. Bostrom, who is ranked sixth in the current AMA standings, would love to get his season turned around with a win at one of his favorite tracks. Ben and his brother Eric grew up in the nearby San Francisco Bay area.

Yates is another rider hoping for good things at Laguna. His past results at the twisty circuit have been mixed and unfortunately he is best remembered at Laguna Seca for the unbelievable triple-digit speed high-side crash he had coming out of turn 10 a few seasons ago that made the highlight shows. He’s also infamous for crashing in the first turn of one of the World Superbike races last year at Laguna causing a chain reaction that left several riders on the ground. A win for Yates would be more than just a simple victory; it would mark redemption of sorts for the Georgian.

The race will be broadcast live nationally on July 11, at 5 p.m. Eastern on SPEED Channel.
For ticket info contact Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at (800) 327-SECA or visit the website www.laguna-seca.com.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, July 8
7:00 - 5:00 - Registration: Crew, Sponsors & Guests (Embassy Suites, Seaside)
8:00 - 5:00 - Tech Inspection
11:50 - 12:50 - FIM Track/Medical Inspection
Friday, July 9
7:30 - 4:00 - Registration: Crew, Sponsors & Guests (Embassy Suites, Seaside)
8:00 - 5:00 - Tech Inspection
8:30 - 9:10 - AMA Repsol Superstock Practice
9:20 - 10:00 - Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Practice
10:00 - FIM Track/Medical Inspection
10:30 - 11:30 - WSBK Practice
11:30 - 12:20 - Lunch
11:40 - Mandatory Rider Briefing All Classes
12:20 - 1:05 - Chevrolet Superbike Practice
1:15 - 2:00 - Pro Honda Oils Supersport Practice
2:15 - 3:15 - WSBK Qualifying
3:25 - 3:55 - AMA Repsol Superstock Qualifying, Group 1
4:05 - 4:35 - AMA Repsol Superstock Qualifying, Group 2
4:45 - 5:15 - Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Qualifying, Group 1
5:25 - 5:55 - Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Qualifying, Group 2
Saturday, July 10
7:30 - 4:00 - Registration: Crew, Sponsors & Guests (Embassy Suites, Seaside)
8:30 - 5:00 - Tech Inspection
8:30 - 9:30 - Practice: 1. Pro Honda Oils Supersport; 2. AMA Repsol Superstock Practice
9:30 - FIM Track/Medical Inspection
10:00 - 11:00 - WSBK Qualifying
11:10 - 12:00 - Practice: 3. Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme; 4. Chevrolet Superbike Practice
12:00 - 12:50 - Lunch Break
12:00 - 12:15 - Stunt Show (Front Straight)
12:50 - AMA Repsol Superstock Race (60k – 17 laps)
2:00 - 3:00 - WSBK Practice
3:15 - WSBK Superpole
4:10 - Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Race (60k - 17 laps)
5:00 - 5:30 - Chevrolet Superbike Qualifying, Group 1
5:40 - 6:10 - Chevrolet Superbike Qualifying, Group 2
6:15 - Stunt Show (Turns 4 & 5)
Sunday, July 11
7:30 - 12:00 - Registration: Crew, Sponsors & Guests (Embassy Suites, Seaside)
8:30 - Tech Inspection Opens
8:10 - FIM Track/Medical Inspection
8:40 - 9:10 - Chevrolet Superbike Practice
9:20 - 9:40 - WSBK Warm-up
9:50 - 10:20 - Pro Honda Oils Supersport Qualifying, Group 1
10:30 - 11:00 - Pro Honda Oils Supersport Qualifying, Group 2
11:10 - 11:40 - Fan Ride/Keith Code Lap
12:00 - WSBK Race #1 (100.856k - 28 laps)
1:00 - 2:00 - Lunch Break/Stunt Show (Turns 4 & 5)
2:00 - Chevrolet Superbike Race (100k - 28 laps)
3:30 - WSBK Race #2 (100.856k - 28 laps)
4:30 - Pro Honda Oils Supersport Race (60k – 17 laps)
5:15 - Stunt Show (Front Straight)

Ben twists the Corkscrew on the Formula Xtreme CBR600RR

Ben Bostom Wins Laguna Honda Superbike Classic
Doubles in Formula Xtreme
Laguna Seca Raceway, CA, July 11th - American Honda’s Ben Bostrom returned to form at the scene of one his greatest triumphs, winning both the Superbike and Formula Xtreme races on a bright and sunny weekend in the Honda Superbike Classic at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Bostrom’s wins came on the same weekend that Chris Vermeulen won both World Superbike races on his Honda Fireblade, the first double of the young Australian’s career.

Joining Bostrom on the red-flag interrupted Superbike podium was American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel, who came third. Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke led the opening lap and was second for much of the race, but suffered electrical gremlins that dropped him to seventh. Hondas also swept the top four spots in Formula Xtreme, Bostrom leading Duhamel, Zemke, and Alex Gobert in another race that was red-flag interrupted.

Bostrom’s win was his first in America in nearly five years, though he had a string of five World Superbike wins that began here at Laguna Seca in 2001. In a season that’s been hampered by various physical problems, a healthy and focused Bostrom began his return to form in the previous race at Brainerd International Raceway. It continued here on the Monterey Peninsula when he took the pole position with a new AMA lap record. When the race was red-flagged on the 17th of 28 laps, Hondas were a charging two-three-four. The race would be a 13 lap sprint and Bostrom led every one of them, never seriously challenged for the win, Honda’s sixth of the year. Duhamel took third from Aaron Yates with two laps to go after a racelong battle. Zemke came seventh. The electrical problems that cropped up in the first segment of the race never abated, despite the best efforts of the team during the red flag break. It was only the second time this season that Zemke’s been off the podium and it was his first mechanical problem.

By taking the point for pole position and finishing in front of championship leader Mat Mladin, third today, Bostrom denied the Suzuki rider maximum points. The series heads to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in two weeks with Mladin holding a 10-point lead, 391 to 381, over Duhamel, with Zemke at 372. There are three double-header rounds, six races remaining. Hondas also stand first through third in Formula Xtreme, Duhamel with a 17 point cushion on Zemke with Alex Gobert third at 220.

Ben Bostrom, First Place
This place has been pretty good to me. Today was one of the funner days I’ve had. We got a great start and jumped out there. I tried to put as much time on them as I could and I had short gap and I knew they’d be coming after me. He [Mladin] kept me real honest. It’s really fun when you’re out there racing and you have to push hard every lap and you’re nervous. I was so tense the last few laps, I couldn’t remember what it was like to win a Superbike race. I saw everybody leaning over the wall and cheering me on and I said, ‘We can actually do this.’ And here we are.

Miguel Duhamel, Third Place
It was just a good battle, but I looked at the board and saw that the race was pretty short. I said, ‘I gotta get by (Yates).’ I got by him, he got back by me and I got back by him. We were swapping back and forth, nice and clean, and it was just hard racing. He was going everything he could to put it on the podium and hat’s off to him for putting it together there at the end. I was hoping to get in front of him earlier to make a run at Mat [Mladin] and Ben [Bostrom]. My bike was working pretty good, but I ran out of time. I’m very happy. Laguna has always been tough on me and I always do decent here. Third is very decent again.

Jake Zemke, Seventh Place
It was good for a little while until the problem arose. It was either electrical or fuel. The bike was cutting out pretty badly. They changed a bunch of stuff when we came in for the red flag and I was hoping we would have something, but on the warm-up lap it was still doing it. We just limped home and that’s all she wrote. It began right after I passed Mat (Mladin). The next lap it started. I passed him and he passed me back. I instantly lost touch. It did it once and I thought maybe it was just something weird. But it kept getting worse and worse. I just waved Ben (Bostrom) by in case he had a shot at Mat. I didn’t want to hold him up.

Our official SBK World Superbike Ducati Corse umbrella girls at Laguna Seca, from left to right: Miss Great Britain Nicki Lane, Andra Cobb, and Miss Texas "Rockin' Robin" Cunningham. Andra also served as umbrela girl for Attack Kawasaki's Josh Hayes in AMA Superbike where Josh asked Andra for a date on the starting line, and was so distracted he actually blew the start.