Zemke clinches Xtreme crown

From amasuperbike.com

Erion Honda's Josh Hayes came out on top of a last-lap dogfight over his teammate, Jake Zemke, with a final-corner counterattack to score his third successive Formula Xtreme race win at Road Atlanta on Saturday.

However, the bigger picture victory goes to Zemke. After finishing in the championship top five 11 times, the top three nine times, and top two five times, the Californian has finally secured his first-ever AMA crown.

Following disappointment at the season-opening Daytona 200, Zemke has been a dominating force in the class, picking up four wins, four seconds, and four poles.

Even though Zemke knew he only needed a second-place run to lock up that elusive championship triumph, he couldn't resist challenging his teammate for the win at the flag, diving up the inside as the two entered the Turn 10 chicane. He wasn't able to hold the position, however, as Hayes responded with a braking maneuver of his own in Turn 12, and the two crossed the stripe separated by a scant 0.043 seconds.

Even so, Zemke now boasts 299 points compared with the newly second ranked Hayes' 254 -- an insurmountable advantage as the series heads to the Laguna Seca season finale.

The new champ said, "I was content just to follow Josh around. Josh is a great rider, but I didn't even want to mix it up or get myself involved with anything. I'm happy to bring the championship home today, so I was content to sit there. Josh was setting a great pace, so I was just kind of back there biding my time, biding my time...

"On the last lap, I just wanted to keep Josh honest -- make sure he didn't think he was going to run away today... I came down the back straightaway and was like, 'hmm, should I do this or not? I should probably just stay here and be safe.' I was having a full conversation coming down the hill."

Racer winner Hayes said, "It was a very entertaining race, I knew Jake had a lot to lose and I didn't. I can go for races wins, Jake's got to be a little more careful than that. If it came easy to him I'm sure he would take it, but fortunately, I was there to take it away from him and it was just a great race."

The Mississippian humorously noted that he was filled with dread rather than joy after the checkered flag, afraid that his teammate had crashed as they contested the win in the final corner.

"I do got to say there was a moment of terror in my mind for just a second. After I came through and I accelerated past the finish line, I didn't shut off the gas too early just in case he was close by. And I sat up and I looked over my left shoulder and there was nothing there. And I went, 'oh my god', and I started to look to see if there was a dust cloud in the last turn and about that time I sat straight on the bike, shaking my head already going, 'you got to be kidding me,' Jake was right there on my right. Yeah, there was a moment there I was pretty terrified."

Team M4 EMGO Suzuki's Martin Cardenas continued his late-season run of success, scoring a third-straight FX podium with a narrow win for the position over Attack Kawasaki's Steve Rapp. The Colombian beat the Californian to the line by 0.114 to grab the final spot on the podium.

Rapp's teammate, Chaz Davies, was a close fifth in the once red-flagged race, finishing 0.359 seconds in arrears of Rapp.

LeoVince Foremost Insurance Ducati's Larry Pegram outpaced Rockwall Honda's Aaron Gobert for sixth, while Graves-supported Michael Beck, Pirelli-backed Taylor Knapp, and Triumph-mounted Dane Westby rounded out the race's top 10.