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Chris Martin
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AMA FX: Zemke Beats Hayes in Another Thriller
Written by: Chris Martin   
05/17/2008 - 09:33 PM
Sonoma, CA
 
Erion Honda's Jake Zemke and Josh Hayes (Photo: Brian J Nelson) ยป More Photos

This afternoon at Infineon Raceway Erion Honda's Jake Zemke overcame intense pressure from teammate Josh Hayes for a third consecutive Formula Xtreme race to claim victory.

Despite looking to be at a disadvantage during practice and qualifying, Hayes tracked down Zemke in the race and took control of the lead for laps 10-13 of the 17-lap affair. Zemke swung back into first but Hayes closed right back in on the final lap, looking for an opportunity to overtake on numerous occasions as they raced to the checked flag.

Hayes tried to get a superior drive out of the final corner as Zemke defended his line but the Californian managed to hold on by a meager 0.067 seconds at the flag.

Afterwards, Zemke said, "Josh always steps up come race time. That's the sign of a true racer. We had a little gap on him this morning, but when we get out there together on the racetrack, either one of us could a second off each other, but if that guy's doing it, you know you can do it too because you're on the same bike. It's been really great racing. Like I said before, you're going to see it all year long."

Commenting on the thrilling last lap, Zemke said, "I knew he was going to be coming somewhere. I could hear him back there and I knew he was right on my tail the whole lap. I just had to defend where I could. With both of us being able to run the same pace, it didn't matter if you ran the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, we're both going to be in the same place. I just really had to defend what I could and hope I was strong enough getting off the corner than he couldn't get me going into the next one. Luckily it worked out for me."

Hayes again was forced to accept a narrow defeat as he looks for his first victory of the '08 season. "Beating Jake’s just…I’m still figuring out what that’s going to take. He’s racing really
well and I know I’ve got it in me to race with him well too, but he’s pretty good on riding the defensive. There’s not a lot of guys that can do that and Jake’s doing that really good right now in the last few laps. I’m just going to have to learn some new tricks I guess."

Attack Kawasaki's Steve Rapp rounded out the podium. His run to the final step on the box was made a bit easier when his pursuing teammate, Chaz Davies, suffered a late mechanical failure and was eliminated from podium contention.

Rapp said, " I got a good start and then they came by me pretty quick, so I didn’t get a lot of chance to see really what was going on. But they were riding great. Chaz was riding good and unfortunately he didn’t finish the race; I don’t know why. But you know that’s kind of the way the races have been going lately. They kind of gang up and we kind of team up and it seems like, for whatever the reason, that’s the way it’s been. No fault to anyone. I think the bike’s working great, I think the Pirellis are working great too. It’s just we’re still working and trying to make improvements."

Team M4 EMGO Suzuki's Cory West also benefited from Davies' misfortune, elevating his already-impressive debut ride on the team's FX machine to a career-best finish of fourth place.

Leo Vince Foremost Insurance Ducati's Larry Pegram rounded out the top five on the team's 848cc Italian twin sporting it new livery.

MPT Racing's Danny Eslick took sixth, followed by Moto Uno's Nicky Moore, Eslick's teammate, Garrett Carter, South American Fernando Amantini, and BMW-mounted Brian Parriott.

Zemke's third win of the season extended his lead to 132-114 over Rapp. Pegram is third at 111 followed by Davies at 95. Defending two-time champ Hayes is fifth with 89 points.
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