Auto Club Speedway Fontana, CA April 25-27, 2008
VICTORY! CORONA EXTRA HONDA’S HOLDEN FIRST TO THE LIME IN AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY SUPERSTOCK RACE
Jake Holden demonstrated extraordinary talent this weekend, taking his Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR to victory in a thrilling Superstock race that was settled on the last corner of the last lap.
The historic victory marks the first ever in 1000cc Superstock for Honda and the first for the new-for-’08 CBR1000RR. Teammate Matt Lynn also had a great weekend, netting a pair of nines in Superbike.
Jake also entered one of the Superbike events in order to qualify for the Laguna Seca event and netted an amazing tenth on his Superstock machine. Superbike qualifying saw both the yellow Corona Superbike and the green Superstock machine on the track and both quickly up to speed! Eventually, Matt took ninth with Jake a tick behind in tenth. Most impressive was the fact that both machines were well into the 1m 25’s with only 0.6 second separating Jake from 7th qualifier Eric Bostrom on the factory Yamaha!
At the green flag for the first race the Corona bikes were in the thick of the action and up with the front pack. Matt spent much of the race dicing with Miguel Duhamel, leading him from lap nine through twenty-three with Jake right behind and looking for any mistake to make a pass! Miguel got past Matt and managed to break away over the last four laps leaving Matt to settle for ninth with Jake a scant few seconds behind.
Matt said, “We opted for a soft tire and it went off near the end so I couldn’t keep up my pace and Miguel got by me!” Jake was happy with his tenth place finish. “The bike ran great. We made some changes before the race and they worked well. It was tough because the bikes in front all had a lot more horsepower and kept gapping me on the straights!” he said.
In the second Superbike race, Lynn again battled with the factory bikes of Duhamel, DeSalvo and Hacking until an electrical gremlin slowed down his charge. He limped home, and in a race dramatic for its attrition, got himself an excellent ninth place at the checkered flag. These finishes move Lynn up to eighth in the Superbike championship.
The Superstock race was the talk of the weekend. Holden had qualified second on the grid, a red flag which terminated qualifying early having preventing his final qualifying “Q tire” run. At the green flag, Jake dropped a couple of positions but quickly worked back up to second before a red flag came out. In the full race restart, he fluffed his start and found himself in fifth on lap one. But there was no stopping Jake as he picked off one rider at a time through the race, getting fourth on lap four, third on lap eight, second on lap ten and passing leader Robertino Pietri for the lead on lap fourteen. Barber race winner Aaron Yates chased him to the front and put on a terrific fight for the lead over the last couple of laps.
In a final banzai pass attempt by Yates on the penultimate turn, Yates ran just wide enough to give Jake an opportunity to dive inside and hold the pass to the checkered flag - only 0.17 seconds ahead of his rival.
An elated Jake Holden revealed, “I made a couple of mistakes on the last laps and Aaron caught me. He tried a pass at the end, I was thinking he’s going into the corner too hot so I went inside and got the drive to the flag!” On the top of the box Jake credited his crew and the “fantastic” new Honda CBR1000RR. He finished with his signature “Rock and Roll” rendition to the delight of the crowd.
Then it was off to the lime and ice cold Corona’s for a much deserved celebration! Jake is currently second in the Superstock Championship points.
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