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ALL HAIL HACKING!!!!!!
By
Aug 11, 2006, 10:21

August 10, 2006

Chris Martin

Up until now the cover shot and lead story in this year’s issues of TMCC have been dedicated to whoever was triumphant in the main event. We’re going to give the Superbike (and last week MotoGP) aces a break in this edition, however, and turn the spotlight on another truly deserving subject:

All Hail Hacking!

Yamaha USA’s Jamie Hacking is currently enjoying an epic season on the undercard. I’m still digging through my memory banks and the archives, but if he finishes out the season in his current form, TMCC is leaning towards proclaiming it the single greatest support class performance in the history of the AMA Superbike Championship season.

Disagree? Throw your alternative nominations this way: tmcc@amasuperbike.com

Let’s consider what he’s done: Now in complete control of both the Pro Honda Oils Supersport and Repsol Superstock classes, Hacking has scored a combined ten wins in fifteen attempts this year (there was no Supersport race at Infineon, remember? That would have made it eleven, trust me).

Those other five results? All runner-up finishes.

And he’s shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, Jamie is peaking, having ripped off seven wins in a row and taken the first three ‘Sport/‘Stock weekend sweeps of his career.

It’s not as if he’s doing the business against scrubs either. In Superstock he’s taking it to a pair of former multi-time race winning, AMA Superbike Championship runner-ups in Yates and Bostrom, a pair of former class champions in Aaron Gobert and Josh Hayes, and one of the series’ most highly touted up and comers in Jason DiSalvo.

Sure, Supersport has gone a little more his way with Superbike title leader Ben Spies more worried about his premier class performances and preseason favorite Roger Hayden going down to injury after winning the first two races of the season. Still, at Laguna Seca where Spies had finished up his Superbike duties on Saturday, the Texan still had nothing for Hacking and Hayden -- now closer to full health and with nothing to lose -- is still struggling to keep ‘the Bulldog’ in sight during the Supersport contests.

I would like to say it’s hard to remember that this is the same rider who was terrifically inconsistent earlier in his career, but it’s not. That impression is so deeply ingrained in the heads of observers that we’re still trying to get a grip on the current podium-scoring machine that is Jamie Hacking.

The fact of the matter is Hacking has been a near flawless undercard performer since his ’03 Supersport-title winning breakthrough season. Only a testing mishap and training injury have prevented him from picking up more crowns since then.

The fact of the matter is that Jamie was a late-bloomer, getting his start in racing much later than most of his rivals. He was blessed with natural speed, which enabled him to quickly climb through the ranks despite his inexperience, but that still showed through in his tendency to destroy equipment all too frequently and make head-shaking mistakes in close races.

Now he’s developed that savvy and racecraft that most other riders pick up on while still largely out of the public eye.

What Next?

Yamaha is widely expected to make a Superbike return in 2007, and Hacking, a former AMA Superbike race winner himself, is currently outshining his super-talented teammates Bostrom and DiSalvo, who have been tipped for the assignment.

So does Hacking make a return to the big leagues following his support class redemption a la Tommy Hayden? Not so fast. Jamie has said that he’s not interested in developing a bike that won’t be immediately competitive and is more interested in winning races and championships now that he’s in his mid-thirties.

Whether or not his dominating 2006 season and the goading from training partner Spies can change his mind remains to be seen. 

Not Just the Best on the Undercard…

Besides reigning supreme in AMA Supersport and Superstock, Hacking might just be the most successful British roadracer in the world this year. The British Superbike series is being controlled by Japan’s Ryuichi Kiyonari and Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla (Leon Haslam is second but without a win), and the queen’s sole representative in MotoGP, James Ellison, is struggling mightily. Britain’s one-time great 250 hope, Chaz Davies, is currently on the outside looking for a gig, and Parts Unlimited Ducati’s Neil Hodgson can only watch as the Suzuki’s rip away at the front week-in and week-out.

Hacking’s stiffest competition for the ‘honour’ would have to been 2004 World Superbike champion James Toseland, who is currently third in the Superbike World Championship and probably earning more believers with his season at Ten Kate Honda than he did while taking the title for Ducati a couple years back.