Biker Zemke rebounds from crash to post win

TOOELE — Saturday he crashed; Sunday he won. That, they say, is superbike racing.

On Saturday, Jake Zemke went down on the asphalt track halfway through the 21-lap race, slid into the dirt and watched as his Honda 1000 flipped end-over-end. He was able to right the bike, re-enter the race and finish 8th overall.

Sunday he used a restart after nine laps to his advantage, passed the two heavy favorites — Saturday's winner Ben Spies and runner-up Mat Mladin, both riding Suzukis — and took the checkered by an impressive 4.1 seconds ahead of Mladin, of Henderson, Nev., and 9.6 seconds ahead of Spies, of Longview, Texas.

Sunday's race was the second in the Honda Summit of Speed, the first major event at the newly opened Miller Motorsports Park. Events included supermoto, supersport, formula Xtreme and the main, the superbikes.

There were, after Saturday's crash, questions about whether or not Zemke would be able to run on Sunday.

"I want to thank my crew," said Zemke, from Paso Robles, Calif. "They stayed up all night putting the bike back together. They did a great job."

The second race started very much like the first. The four fastest qualifiers — Ben Bostrom, Mladin, Zemke and Spies — jumped into the early lead. Less than seven-tenths of a second separated the first three bikes after two laps.

On the third lap, Spies passed Bostrom, with Zemke and Mladin right behind.

On the sixth lap, the race took its first twist. Bostrom hit the inside of the track on the third high-speed turn, flipped off the bike and rolled in the dirt. Before the lap was over, a red flag noting dangerous conditions was waved. Bostrom's bike left oil on the track, so the race was stopped.

At the time, Spies held a good lead over Zemke and another second back was Mladin.

On the restart, Spies took the lead with Mladin and Zemke only a few yards behind. After 10 laps, Mladin passed Spies and took the lead. On lap 15, Zemke passed Spiers and was pressing Mladin. Only 15-hundredths of a second separated the two leaders at this point.

Then with five laps to go, Zemke made his move. He passed Mladin on the inside on the first turn after the long straight. From that point on he simply widened his lead. He was 44-hundredths ahead with four laps, then 75-hundredths with three to go, then 1.1 second ahead going into the final lap.

At this point, Mladin and Spies knew the race was over and backed off the throttle.

Mladin and Spies said at race end that this was one of those days when Zemke put everything together. The restart, which brought all the riders together, didn't help.

Consensus among those riders polled was that the new track was one of the best on the superbike circuit. It offered speed — on the straight the bikes were hitting upwards of 185 miles per hour — and plenty of places to pass, as evident by the exchange of the lead.

Shane Turpin of Salt Lake City finished 23rd. He started in 16th position.

In the second event held, Jamie Hacking of Denver took a big lead to the finish of the supersport class.

The next big race at the Miller Motorsports Park will be in July.

---

E-mail: grass@desnews.com