Puppy Love: Genetic Savings and Clone founder John Sperling with Missy, the animal who started it all.

PerPetUal Life

At the Sausalito-based Genetic Savings and Clone, your pet can be yours–forever

By Joy Lanzendorfer

In the techno-thriller The 6th Day, main character Adam Gibson, played by our now-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, goes to a company called RePet to see about getting his dog, Oliver, cloned before his daughter finds out that the animal has died. At RePet, all a person has to do is bring in a hair from the pet to be cloned. From that, the company can create an exact, full-grown replica of the pet that even has its predecessor’s memories and personality.

The RePet salesman assures Adam that the new dog will be so much like Oliver that his daughter won’t even notice the difference. But Adam is concerned about this strange creature coming into his house, pontificating about the cycle of life and calling the clone a “freak of nature.”

“Will it be dangerous? Will it have a soul?” he asks.

According to the subtitles at the beginning of The 6th Day, the movie is set in the “near future,” but “sooner than you think.”

To some extent, the movie was right. Only four years after its release, a company in Sausalito called Genetic Savings and Clone (GSC) is now offering to clone your pet cat for $50,000.

Of course, unlike RePet, GSC isn’t able to give clients an identical full-grown animal with the old pet’s memories. What they can do is take the donor pet’s DNA and, using that and only that, reproduce a new animal that is like the old one in physical appearance and behavioral tendencies.

Think of it as the older pet’s later-born identical twin.

This year, GSC will clone nine cats, six from clients and three from staff members. The cloning begins this month and will be completed sometime in November. The company expects it will be able to clone more cats next year and hopes the price will drop to $25,000 in the next two years. Eventually, GSC hopes the price will settle into the low five-figure or high four-figure sum.

Two years ago, GSC’s founder financed the world’s first and only cloned cat named CC, short for Carbon Copy. The company is also working on cloning a dog and hopes to have success later this year.

But the concern Schwarzenegger’s Adam Gibson voiced in The 6th Day is typical for many people. The word “clone” brings up a host of strong emotions, what with its depiction in science fiction and the recently released horror flick Godsend, the controversy swirling around stem-cell research and the serious ethical questions surrounding human cloning. On the GSC website forum (www.savingsandclone.com), one can read chiding posts with titles like “Inhumane” and “You guys are disgusting!” that range from talk of how God wouldn’t like cloning to how there are already enough pets in the world as it is.

The new technology of cloning could contribute to our understanding of the nature of life and personality, as well as help cure diseases and solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. On the other hand, it could also lead to dangerous complications and unprecedented moral and ethical problems. Either way, considering that there’s only a handful of cloned animals in the world, is it too early for this new technology to go commercial?

Along with cat cloning, GSC offers what is called “gene banking,” in which pet owners preserve the DNA of their cat or dog for possible future use with no obligation to clone. For a living pet, gene banking costs $895 plus a yearly maintenance fee of $100.

To gene-bank an animal, GSC sends the owner a kit to take to the pet’s veterinarian. The vet then uses the kit to take a small skin sample from the animal, probably from its stomach or mouth. The customer returns the kit to GSC, where technicians remove water from the sample cells, replacing it with a special liquid that keeps the cells intact when they are subsequently frozen with liquid nitrogen. Cells can be kept that way for decades until the client is ready to consider cloning the animal.

Dead pets can be gene-banked too, as long as there are still live cells in the body. If a client takes a pet to the vet within five days of its death, the doctor can take a larger tissue sample from the animal for gene banking. And because it’s a time-sensitive operation and there are more cells to maintain, GSC charges more to gene-bank a dead pet: $1,395 for the kit and a $150-per-year maintenance fee.

But for gene banking to work, clients have to make sure to store the pet’s body correctly before they get it to the vet. “Some people freeze their pets, thinking that’s the right way to preserve the body, but the ice crystals damage the cells,” says GSC spokesperson Ben Carlson. “Others don’t keep the body cool enough, and it decomposes, unfortunately.”

While this kind of talk is too Frankensteinian for many people, these are the sort of hard facts pet owners have to face when considering gene banking or cloning. But for many, the potential future options are worth the trouble, expense and general ickiness.

Jayne Lange of Menlo Park has gene-banked two of her dogs, Akeya and Waka, two Shiba Inus, a breed she got when she was living in Japan. While both dogs were alive when she gene-banked them, Akeya has since passed away.

A single mother of three, Lange says, “I wanted to be able to give my children the option that if at some point they wanted to clone an animal like our dogs, they could do that.”

Lange, who works in biotech, has realistic expectations about the cloning process, but many other people who approach GSC do not. “There are people who, because there are a lot of myths and misinformation out there about cloning, contact us thinking that we can basically bring their beloved pet back to life,” says Carlson. “When we become aware that this is someone’s motives, we explain to them what a clone really is. We always decline business from people who just want to bring their pets back to life.”

While GSC does not view cloning as a substitute for the grieving process, the company’s critics say that it nonetheless takes advantage of a grieving pet owner’s emotional state. “As the cloning is set up now, it’s a rip-off,” says David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. “The reason why people would want to have a pet cloned is to either have the animal live forever or to have one exactly like the one they have. But cloning cannot guarantee that.”

The new pet will only act like the old pet to the extent that genetics influence behavior, something that is still unclear after centuries of the nature-vs.-nurture debate. CC, for example, has a different personality than her donor, Rainbow. While CC is playful and outgoing, Rainbow is more reserved.

Even more startling, Rainbow and CC don’t look alike. Rainbow is a chubby calico with splotches of brown and black spots. CC is a slender tiger-tabby with gray-and-white stripes. The differences have to do with the way calico patterns in a cat’s coat develop. Identical genes produce different-colored cats because of random changes that occur in the genes as the embryo develops. Genetic Savings and Clone offers clients a money-back guarantee if the new kitten doesn’t look like the original donor.

The company explains the reality of cloning to its clients, but though some people may understand the situation intellectually, in their hearts they may still be hoping to get their old pet back.

“We recently lost a cocker spaniel that my wife and I got in our 20s,” says Magnus. “We were young and he was a puppy. As we grew older, we got more sedentary and so did he. If we got a clone of our dog today, we would have a healthy, rambunctious puppy again, and it’s likely we wouldn’t be happy with him because he would be different from our old dog. We would then treat him differently, and he would become a totally different dog.”

Genetic Savings and Clone, however, says its clients come for reasons other than to bring back a dead or dying pet. For example, in the case of pet owners with a mixed breed, cloning offers a way to reproduce the unique breed in a way that natural reproduction cannot.

The company has also seen interest from people with purebred pets who want to maximize a set of genes that have meshed particularly well with their family. Cloning may soon present breeders with some interesting predicaments. For example, there’s no precedent for showing a cloned purebred cat in a cat show, but what if someone wants to do it?

“There aren’t any rules about showing a cloned cat, but it would not be looked on favorably,” says Kay DeVilbiss, president of the International Cat Association. “We might not even know if someone cloned a cat–ethics can’t be legislated. But cloning a cat would take all the challenge and fun out of the quest of breeding the perfect cat.”

As anyone who has seen feral cats running around the neighborhood or who has worked with abandoned and homeless animals can attest, there are too many cats in the world. Because of this, many animal lovers are critical of pet cloning. It seems wrong to them to spend $50,000 on a cloned animal when there are so many that need homes.

“To me, cloning animals is obscene,” says Punky Pam, a member of Sonoma People for Animal Rights. “I think that if people lose an animal, they should honor that animal by going to a shelter and getting a new one.”

Genetic Savings and Clone claims it is actually reducing the pet population. The company buys the eggs used in cloning from spay clinics, waste that would otherwise be discarded. In receiving this new source of revenue, clinics can then spay hundreds of animals for every one animal GSC produces. The result is a net reduction in the pet population.

Critics counter that this is just an excuse.

“Whenever a company does something bad to animals, they say they are helping them,” says Peter Wood, a research associate for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “They’re not supporting shelters; they’re getting cheap tissue from animals who are killed to make more animals. That’s sort of like, I take you to the hospital after I run you over with my car.”

On the other hand, cloning does have the potential to help endangered species. While cloning is an inefficient means of preserving an animal population compared to such methods as habitat preservation and captive breeding, it may be able to increase the gene pool of an extremely bottlenecked population by cloning old or deceased animals.

Much of the concern surrounding cloning animals comes from the fact that a large percentage of the resulting animals suffer from “cloning-related illnesses.” These sicknesses vary from severe to mild, from brain defects to viral infections. Depending on whom you listen to, the percentage of cloned animals affected by cloning-related illnesses ranges from 25 percent to all of them.

“The number is much higher than 25 percent if you count animals that were malformed or died before birth,” says Magnus. “The record is not very good. There’s not one clear case of a cloned animal with a healthy, normal, full-functioning life.”

The first cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, was obese, had arthritis and died young. Some scientists have said her symptoms pointed to premature aging. It has been theorized that her cells still thought they were the age of her genetic donor.

Genetic Savings and Clone points to CC as an example of a healthy cloned animal. Furthermore, the company takes issue with the assertion that cloned animals age prematurely. “Because Dolly was so famous for being a clone, people often attribute any problem that she may have had to her having been cloned,” says Carlson. “But there’s no evidence that her illnesses had anything to do with cloning.” But GSC does admit that cloning produces at least some unhealthy animals. The company offers a money-back guarantee if certain common cloning-related illnesses occur in the animal.

As for what they do with the sick animals, GSC’s policy is to euthanize any suffering animals, but to otherwise find adoptive homes for them.

Animal rights activists find this policy unacceptable. “It’s cruel and irresponsible to do what they are doing,” says Wood. “To clone an animal that may suffer as a result of its creation is wrong.”

Whatever you think of cloning, you have to admire the science behind it. There are two methods for cloning an animal. One is called “nuclear transfer” and the other “chromatin transfer.” Nuclear transfer is the way in which Dolly and CC were cloned, with a scientist taking an egg from a cat and enucleating it–removing all genetic information so that it is like a blank slate. Then a cell from a donor cat, which contains all the DNA of the animal, is put into the enucleated egg. Next, the egg is stimulated so that it starts dividing as if sperm had fertilized it. Finally, it is transferred into a surrogate mother that, if all goes well, carries the fetus to term.

Very few embryos make it to term with nuclear transfer, according to Sonoma State University biology professor Murali Pillai. “Cloning has not been completely successful,” he says. “Only one out of 88 or so embryos transferred actually take, a little over 1 percent of the animals.”

But chromatin transfer, a new technology that GSC has licensed, has made cloning more efficient. “One of the reasons cloning is so inefficient is because a lot of cloned embryos never succeed in developing to term,” agrees Carlson. “Chromatin transfer reduces that problem.”

During nuclear transfer, an adult cell, one that has already grown up to be a muscle or skin cell or whatever, is placed into an egg; the egg then reverts the cell into its embryonic state (known as dedifferentiating), reprogramming it to become the cloned animal.

That’s a lot to ask of one little egg.

With chromatin transfer, the cell is treated by a group of chemicals so that it dedifferentiates before it is ever put into the egg. Thus, the egg’s only job is to program the cell forward to develop the clone. Genetic Savings and Clone is optimistic it will see better results with the new technique. It is this breakthrough that caused the company to bring the technology to the public.

A dog named Missy is responsible for the founding of GSC. The company’s founder, John Sperling, is the same entrepreneur who started the University of Phoenix educational franchise. He owned Missy. She was a beautiful dog, part border collie, who understood commands and reportedly had Lassie-like moments of leading humans through pouring rain to sick animals in need.

In 1997, shortly after Dolly was cloned, Sperling decided he wanted to find out about cloning Missy. He enlisted Mill Valley resident Lou Hawthorne, now GSC’s CEO, to look into the issue. “Lou came back and said it hypothetically might be possible to clone Missy, but it would cost millions of dollars,” says Carlson. “John said to go ahead with that.”

From that conversation, the Missyplicity Project was born. With a $3.7 million grant from Sperling, Texas A&M University began to try to clone a dog. But cloning a dog has proved to be very complicated, even by cloning standards. Unlike humans or farm animals, there is no major commercial interest in studying the reproductive physiology of dogs, so scientists were immediately faced with a gap in knowledge that made dog cloning difficult.

Dog cloning also comes with a group of logistical hurdles that make it more complicated than cloning other animals. For example, dogs go into heat irregularly, which makes it hard to predict transplant times of fertilized eggs. Dog ovum are transparent, so scientists have to find a way to literally see the egg before they can do their work. Also, spay clinics usually harvest immature eggs, but pregnancy in dogs can only happen in mature eggs. Thus, ways to mature ova must be produced before they can even begin to clone the dog.

The Missyplicity Project decided to clone the slightly less complex cat while still working on the dog. In 2002 the project reaped success with the birth of CC. So far, though she looks different from her genetic donor, CC seems perfectly healthy.

When word of the Missyplicity Project spread, Texas A&M was deluged with calls from people interested in getting their cat or dog cloned. Sperling, ever the entrepreneur, saw a business opportunity, and Genetic Savings and Clone was born.

Meanwhile, Missy died in July 2002 at age 15.

“It had been John’s hope that Missy and her clone would meet,” says Carlson. “John had hoped that if they could spend time together, the clone would take on some of Missy’s behavioral traits. But unfortunately, that’s not going to happen now.”

Many people dislike animal cloning because they see it as one step closer to human cloning. Research at GSC does not in any way aid human cloning, and, because of species differences, it is not likely to be used by scientists studying the subject. Still, as increasing numbers of animals are cloned, some are nervous that human cloning is not far behind. Whether it’s stem-cell cloning or a complete human clone, the potential benefits and problems of this issue are huge.

Aside from giving her children a chance to have a pet like their childhood dog some day, Lange sees gene-banking her dogs as a way of taking a stand on the issue of human stem-cell research.

“One aspect of gene-banking my dogs is as a political statement about all this nonsense against cloning human cells,” she says. “The therapeutic benefits of being able to clone human cells are endless. Imagine if we could get someone’s spine to regenerate, like if we could rebuild Christopher Reeve’s spine? People are naive about what stem-cell cloning is. They think it’s a test-tube baby. It’s just not. It’s just cells in a dish.”

Others, such as Daniel McConchie of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity in Chicago, look at all potential human cloning–whether just cells or an entire person–as problematic. “We do think animal cloning will help to make the technology more efficient, but there’s no way to do human cloning without experimentation on human beings, which is dangerous,” he says.

On its website, GSC itself seems cautious about human cloning, saying that since it spends millions making the technology safe for animals, the company views it “as ironic and highly problematic that no such investment in safeguards is occurring in the human cloning field.”

Sperling has so far invested $10 million into GSC and will probably put in another $5 million more. The company expects to break even next year. It is no longer associated with Texas A&M, but has labs in Austin, Texas, and San Diego. Though it has no current plans to go public, the company is open to the possibility. And if it does, it will probably keep its name, Genetic Savings and Clone.

“We know a lot of our clients don’t want to hear about petri dishes and all that,” says Carlson. “We’re serious about the science, but not always about everything.

“Pet cloning is supposed to be fun.”

From the May 19-25, 2004 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Photograph by Jimmy Katz

Fountain of Youth: Roy Haynes, the 79-year-old bebop master, is among the headliners at June’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

To Do List

Plan ahead for hot fun in the summertime

By Bohemian Staff

With the weather warming, festivals, fairs, live music, outdoor theater and the ubiquitous “more” beckon. Below we offer our highly selective annual guide to just some of the great things to do this summer.

Mostly Music

Luther Burbank Center
Summer starts strong with the 10th annual Pride Comedy show (June 5) and continues with Macy Gray (June 25) and Marc “Walking in Memphis” Cohn (June 26), while neighbor Boz Scaggs wanders over on his essential tour (July 17). 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. 707.546.3600. www.lbc.net.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival
Featured musicians this year include the Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain, the Roy Haynes Group, Geri Allen Trio and the Fred Hersch Trio, among others. June 5-13. Various downtown Healdsburg locations. Tickets are available online at www.healdsburgjazzfestival.com or by calling 707.433.4644.

Center Stage
Osher Marin JCC presents three outdoor concerts, beginning with Israeli troubadour David Broza (June 2), hot dawgs the David Grisman Quintet (June 23) and Afro-Cuban stylists Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca (July 10). 7pm. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. $17.50-$85. 415.444.8000.

Cotati Jazz Festival
Over 40 jazz artists infiltrate downtown Cotati. Yes, wine and food. June 19, noon to 9pm. Downtown Cotati. $10. 707.795.5508.

Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival
Joan Baez, Greg Brown, Chris Smithers, David Bromberg Quartet, Rosalie Sorrels and a host of others. Camping is encouraged. June 25-27. Black Oak Ranch, Laytonville. Tickets start at $18. 707.823.1511. www.cumuluspresents.com.

Cotati Philharmonic Orchestra
“Invitation to the Dance” is the theme for a pair of free Cotati Philharmonic concerts June 26-27. Both concerts will be held outdoors and will begin at 7pm. Saturday, La Plaza Park in Cotati; Sunday, Windsor Town Green in Windsor. 707.792.4600, ext. 664. www.cotatiphil.org.

Russian River Blues Festival
The legendary Etta James, back in hale and healthy form, returns for another year of rolling alongside the river. Other featured performers include Koko Taylor, Johnny Lang and Robben Ford on the big stage. Meanwhile, Mighty Mo Rodgers slays ’em in the wine garden each day. June 26-27. Johnson’s Beach, Guerneville. $47.50-$190. 510.655.9471. www.russianriverbluesfest.com.

Green Music Festival
This fifth season kicks off, as always, with the red, white, and boom of Independence Day on the Green’s patriotic favorites and fireworks. The popular four-event chamber-music series returns, and the Afro-Cuban master Poncho Sanchez also returns. July 4-Aug. 1. Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. 707.546.8742. www.greenmusicfestival.org.

Robert Mondavi Summer Festival
With proceeds benefiting the Napa Valley Symphony and music in the schools programs, featured performers this year include Cassandra Wilson (July 17), Dave Brubeck (July 31), Robert Cray (Aug. 7) and Chaka Kahn (Aug. 14). Robert Mondavi Vineyards, Oakville. $48-$65. 1.800.RMW.JAZZ.

Music in the Vineyards
Nationally known artists in residence perform chamber music in intimate winery settings. Aug. 2-22. 707.258.5999. www.napavalleymusic.org.

Reggae on the River
Bunny Wailer, Sonoma County’s own Wisdom, Steel Pulse and Michael Franti and Spearhead are just some of the performers at this annual event, which is already half sold-out. Aug. 6-8. French’s Camp, Piercy. 707.923.4583. www.reggaeontheriver.com.

Cotati Accordion Festival
Polkacide, the great Sourdough Slim, Dick Contino and a squeeze-box-enabled host of others crowd the park for this two-day tribute to accordions. The Lady-of-Spain-a-thon is not to be missed. Aug. 28-29 from 9:30am. Cotati Town Square, Cotati. $15-$25; children under 15 free. 707.664.0444.

Wine Country Vintage Jazz Festival
Formerly known as the Sonoma County DixieJazz Festival, this is a three-day blowout of traditional and Dixieland jazz, with old masters being joined by youth bands. Sept. 3-5. Doubletree Hotel, 101 Golf Course Drive, Rohnert Park. $15-$75. 707.539.3494.

Rides & Races

Dipsea Race
The 7.1-mile Dipsea Race began in 1905 and has changed little since, except that every year it becomes more and more popular. June 13 at 8:30am. Begins at Lytton Square, Mill Valley. 707.331.3550. www.dipsea.org.

Fitch Mountain Foot Race
The Healdsburg Kiwanis Club sponsors this 3K- and 10K-foot race and walk through quaint Healdsburg neighborhoods and around Fitch Mountain, bordering the Russian River. Both courses start and end at the historic Plaza Park. June 13. Registration begins at 7am; race at 8am. $20-$25. 707.576.6147.

Sonoma Valley 100K Liberty Ride
Ride a bike over scenic rural roads, then get massaged and pasta’d up. The 100K ride meanders through Sonoma and Napa valleys. Aug. 8. Ride begins at 7am. Sonoma Development Center, Arnold Drive, Eldridge. $35-$45. 707.938.6805.

Food for Good

Napa Valley Wine Auction
The world’s largest and most successful charity wine event, the auction attracts nearly 1,800 attendees and has donated over $50 million since its 1981 inception. June 3-6. www.napavintners.com.

Beerfest
Face to Face/Sonoma County AIDS Network’s Beerfest is a perennial favorite for suds ‘n’ grub lovers. June 5, 1pm to 5pm at the LBC, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $28-$32. 707.544.1581. www.f2f.org.

Summer Soiree
Kendall-Jackson Wine Center and Gardens is host to the Redwood Empire Food Bank’s Seventh Annual Summer Soiree. This is the Food Bank’s largest annual fundraiser and features wine from more than two dozen Sonoma County wineries, live music, a silent auction and appetizers provided by local restaurants and caterers. June 13. 5007 Fulton Road, Fulton. $75-$80. 707.523.7900. www.refb.org.

Sonoma County Showcase of Wine & Food
The live barrel auction and dinner is one of the main centerpieces of the Sonoma County Showcase of Wine and Food, a marathon of fine dining and drinking, July 15-17. This year’s theme is “Varietal Cinema, Take 14,” in honor of the valley’s film buzz and the 14 appellations of Sonoma County. Dinners, tastings and luncheons abound with the San Francisco Symphony bringing it all to a close. For details, call 800.939.7666. www.sonomawine.com.

Catalan Festival
The fastest trip to Barcelona possible, the annual festival at Gloria Ferrer features live flamenco guitarists and dancers, the winery’s own sparkling wine and tastings from many Spanish-influenced eateries. July 24-25, 11am to 4pm. Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves, 23555 Carneros Hwy., Sonoma. $24-$35. 707.933.1999. www.gloriaferrer.com.

Festivals, Fairs & Further

Marin Home Show
Three hundred home and garden retailers join a bevy of jazz bands, including Lee Press-On and the Nails. June 5-6. Saturday, 10am to 8pm; Sunday, 10am to 6pm. Marin Center Civic Center, San Rafael. $7; free for children under 14. 415.472.3500. www.marinhomeshow.com.

Petaluma Arts & Garden Festival
Local gardeners, artists and chefs convene to support the arts in Petaluma. June 6, 11am to 5pm, Fourth and A streets parking lot, Petaluma. Free. 707.762.9348.

Sonoma Lavender Festival
Open to the public for two days only, the Sonoma Lavender Barn invites guests to come and see a five-acre farm in full bloom with farm tours, lavender massage, craft making, lavender cuisine and a lavender marketplace. June 12-13, 10am to 4pm. 8537 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood. Admission is $5 per car. 707.833.1330. www.sonomalavender.com.

Health & Harmony Festival
Massive New Age tribal gathering with speakers, booths, kid stuff and more. Headlining musicians include Keller Williams and Dave Mason; speakers feature Starhawk, Ram Dass and our own Rob Brezsny. A special Saturday night techno-tribal dance features Lost at Last, DJ Zack Darling and other reliables from the Mystic Beat Lounge and other trip-hop venues. June 12-13; Saturday, 11am to 8pm; Sunday, 11am to 7:30pm. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. $20-$25. Dance, Saturday at 8pm at the Veterans Memorial Building across from the fairgrounds. $20. 707.547.9355. www.harmonyfestival.com.

Italian Street Painting Festival
See some 200 street painters transform downtown San Rafael. June 12-13, 9am to 7pm. Fifth and A streets, San Rafael. Free. 415.457.4878. www.youthinarts.org.

Sonoma-Marin Fair
With a wine competition that is rapidly becoming one of the largest in the state, a destruction derby, livestock exhibits, ugly dog contest, a petting zoo and rides, rides, rides, the fair stays close to its roots. Entertainment includes Credence Clearwater Revisited (featuring all original members except John Fogerty) and country hit makers Sawyer Brown. June 16-20. Petaluma Fairgrounds, 75 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma. $8-$14. 707.283.FAIR. www.sonoma-marinfair.org.

Healdsburg Lavender Festival
Presented by the North Coast Lavender Guild and now in its second year, this festival has sprawled out to two days of purple-tinged goodness. June 19-20, 11am to 4pm. Healdsburg Farmers’ Market, North and Vine streets. Healdsburg Plaza. Free. 707.431.7626.

Marin Art Festival
A self-described “lawn party for the arts,” with 200 professional artists in all media as well as live jazz. June 19-20, 10am to 6pm. Marin Center’s Lagoon Park, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. $8. 415.388.4386. www.marinartfestival.com.

Oh, Rapture–It’s Scrapture!
Scrapture, the highly anticipated annual recycling sculpture event, is open to the public, with prizes awarded in categories for all ages. June 26, 10am to 4pm. La Plaza Park, Cotati. Free. 707.795.3660. www.garbage.org.

San Anselmo Art & Design Festival
Some 51,000 folks flood downtown San Anselmo each year–hungry, thirsty, craft-starved folks. This year sees the addition of a home/design/garden element with demonstrations and booths. June 26-27, 10am to 6pm. San Anselmo Avenue between Bolinas and Tamalpais streets. 510.232.5030.

Marin County Fair
This year, the Marin County Fair scores high design points for its tribute to architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his impact on Marin, most notably with the buildings surrounding and included in the annual fair. Performances by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Tower of Power, War, the Village People and ending with a Rhythm and Roots fest on Monday. July 1-5, 11am to 11pm. Marin County Civic Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. $10-$12. 415.499.6400. www.marinfair.org.

Napa County Fair
Classic small-town country fair, including Mexican-style rodeo and live music, and ending with a parade through downtown Calistoga on the Fourth of July. July 1-4, noon to 11pm. 4135 Oak St., Calistoga. $3-$7. 707.942.5111.

Hot Air Balloon Classic
Ride in a balloon or stay grounded and just watch the grace. July 3-4, 5am to 11am. Dawn patrol begins at 5am; balloons launch at 6:30am. Keiser Community Park, Windsor River Road (between Windsor and Starr roads), Windsor. $5-$8. 707.837.1884. www.schabc.org.

Heart of the Forest Faire
Presented by the original Ren Faire family, this new experiment seems to work just as well. Crafts, jousting, plump women in low-drawn dresses, warbling English accents and plenty of puppets are guaranteed. Saturday- Sunday, July 10-Aug. 15, 11am to 7pm. Stafford Lake, 3549 Novato Blvd., Novato. $8-$20. 415.897.4555. www.forestfaire.com.

Sonoma County Fair
“There’s Magic in the Fair” is this year’s theme, meaning that the famed Hall of Flowers will be transformed into a floral Camelot. Horse-racing, free Clover ice cream, rodeo, rides, animals, cool 4-H kids, hot garlic and great music guaranteed. Smashmouth (July 27) and Los Lonely Boys (July 28) headline. The usual blues festival (July 31) has been complemented with a bluegrass fest (Aug. 2), and the local music scene is well represented on the Park Stage. July 27-Aug. 9. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. $2-$7; free for kids six and under. 707.545.4200.

Sonoma Salute to the Arts
Benefiting art in the schools, this yowza blowout of fine art, food and wine is in its 19th year with a full slate of disparate events. July 30-Aug.1, on and around the Plaza, Sonoma. 707.938.1133. www.salutetothearts.com.

All Nations Bigtime
The Petaluma Adobe’s seventh annual celebration of Native American culture offers music, dancing, crafts and food. Aug. 7-8, 10am to 5pm. Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park, 3325 Adobe Road, Petaluma. $3. 707.762.4871.

Great Petaluma Quilt Show
Among the largest open-entry craft shows in California. Aug. 14, 10am to 4:30pm. Kentucky and Fourth streets (craft fair in Walnut Park). Free. 707.778.8015. www.visitpetaluma.com.

Solar & Good Living Festival
SolFest combines fun with being eco-friendly. Musical headliners this year include Bruce Cockburn and Charlie Hunter; speakers, Democracy Now‘s Amy Goodman, local author Richard Heinberg and others. Aug. 21-22, Real Goods Solar Living Institute, Hopland. $12-$20. 707.744.2017. www.solfest.org.

Sausalito Art Festival
Known as much for the entertainment as for the art, the Sausalito Art Festival brings more than 20,000 original works of art together for one of the nation’s most popular outdoor art festivals. Sept. 3-6. Bay Model Visitor Center and Marinship Park, Sausalito. $5-$20. 415.705.5555. www.sausalitoartfestival.org.

Film

Film Night in the Park
A selection of movies screened outdoors on Friday and Saturday nights through the summer in San Rafael, San Anselmo, San Geronimo and Mill Valley. This year’s theme salutes films made in the Bay Area, which of course includes everything from American Graffiti to Shrek. June 26-Sept. 25. Movies begin at dusk (around 8pm). $5. 415.453.4333. www.filmnight.org.

Wine Country Film Festival
Sixteen days of eating, drinking and watching, the WCFF this year goes green with a special theme on sustainability and ecological practices both onscreen and off. In Napa, at COPIA and the Sequoia Grove Vineyard; Sonoma venues are Kunde Estate, the Sebastiani Theatre and the Kenwood Depot. Complete program to be announced June 14. July 22-Aug. 15. 707.935.FILM. www.winecountryfilmfest.com.

Theater

Shakespeare at Stinson
See great plays outdoors by the beach. This summer’s lineup includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream (May 21-June 27), The Fantasticks (July 9-Aug. 22) and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Aug. 27-Oct. 3). Stinson Beach. $14-$24. 415.868.1115. www.shakespeareatstinson.org.

The Mountain Play
Well-beloved summer tradition, this year’s performance is My Fair Lady, directed by the dynamic James Dunn. May 23 and 30, June 6, 13, 19-20 at 1pm. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Mill Valley. $20-$30. 415.383.1100.

Zarzuela!
One of the few places in the nation that stages the beloved Spanish operetta form of zarzuela, the Jarvis Conservatory pulls out all of the stops to put on shows teeming with humor, drama, songs and dance. This year’s zarzuela is Luis Alonso. June 24-27. Jarvis Conservatory, 1711 Main St., Napa. $30-$45. 707.255.5445.

Napa Valley Opera House
Summer highlights include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (May 28- June 13), monologuist and self-satirist Josh Kornbluth bringing his Love and Taxes to town (July 7-16) and Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues (Aug. 12-Sept. 5). 1030 Main St., Napa. 707.226.7372. www.nvoh.org.

Summer Repertory Theatre
One of the most prestigious training grounds in the nation. Bye Bye Birdie (June 17- Aug. 6); Present Laughter (June 25-Aug. 5); Our Town (June 30-Aug. 5); The Foreigner (July 6-Aug.4); Into the Woods (July 11-Aug. 4). Burbank Auditorium, Santa Rosa Junior College, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. $8-$17. 707.527.4343. www.santarosa.edu/srt.

Marin Shakespeare Company
Marvelous professional outdoor theater. This summer’s repertory encompasses Othello, She Stoops to Conquer and The Taming of the Shrew. Friday-Sunday, July 9-Sept. 25. Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, Dominican University, San Rafael. 8pm. $15-$26. 415.499.4488.

The Rep
Sonoma County Repertory Theatre offers two outdoor plays this summer, beginning with Squire Fridell’s comedic melodrama Dastardly Deeds at Yoursin Mine or Yukon Take It with You July 9-11 and 16-18, followed by the annual Shakespeare offering, which this year is young love’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Aug. 13-21. Both plays at Ives Park, Sebastopol. 7pm. $15-$18. 707.823.0177.

From the May 19-25, 2004 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Photographs By Rory McNamara

I’m No. 1: Heading into the Superbike Showdown, Suzuki’s Matt Mladin was the man to beat.

Duhamel’s Demon

Winning at Infineon requires skill, luck and divine intervention

By R. V. Scheide

It’s simple. You lost. Go home.
–T-shirt slogan seen at Infineon Raceway’s 2004 Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown

“I think I need a young priest and an old priest,” says a frustrated Miguel Duhamel. The second-winningest rider in American Motorcycle Association superbike racing history is convinced that his factory Honda CBR1000RR superbike is possessed by a demon.

It is Friday, April 30, the first day of qualifying for the 2004 Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown at Infineon Raceway. The 35-year-old French Canadian has just set the fastest time in practice for Formula Xtreme, one of four classes of motorcycles–Supersport, Superstock, and the prestigious Superbike class are the other three–competing this weekend.

Before Formula Xtreme practice, Duhamel had taken the superbike out on the tight, twisting 2.2-mile circuit nestled in the rolling green hills just southwest of Sonoma. The demon materialized almost immediately, chattering incessantly as a white-knuckled Duhamel struggled to hang on to the 200-plus horsepower motorcycle.

In the pits, his factory Honda mechanics fiddle with the suspension, swap out the front and rear wheels, and tweak on the motor to no avail. The chattering continues unabated, and the normally affable Duhamel is not happy about it.

“Do I have to talk about the superbike?” he asks a small group of race journalists. “I had my tooth fillings falling out in the corners. It’s vibrating like hell. I can’t see the track.”

Not an ideal situation when racing a motorcycle at speeds in excess of 150 mph. Duhamel and the Honda team are faced with the grim prospect of completely tearing down the bike in order to exorcise the chattering devil and have a shot at winning either of the two superbike races that weekend.

Earlier in the week, factory trailers, motorhomes and pickups towing motorcycle haulers began filing into the raceway, located near the junction of Highways 121 and 37. By Friday morning, a small tent city has sprouted on the tarmac behind the main grandstands: nonfactory racers called “privateers” work on their bikes right out in the open, motorcycle industry vendors sell everything from protective gear to custom exhaust systems and local dealers display the latest new models.

For North Bay motorcyclists, the Superbike Showdown is the event of the year, and hardcore fans snag test drives on the fleet of bikes brought by manufacturers Buell and Aprilla, stake out positions in the three enormous new grandstands situated around the track and linger around the paddock hoping to catch a glimpse and maybe even an autograph from their favorite factory superstar.

Superbike racing is to motorcycles what NASCAR is to automobiles, only more so. Both are forms of production racing, meaning that the vehicles to be raced are based on motorcycles and cars sold to the general public. But while Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Monte Carlo, with its full roll cage, racing chassis and 750 horsepower V-8 engine, hardly resembles the model sold on the local Chevy dealer’s showroom floor, the bikes raced by AMA pros are remarkably similar to machinery anyone with $10,000 or so to spare can buy.

Motorcycle manufacturers have a saying: “What wins on Sunday sells on Monday.” Duhamel’s Honda, aside from a few trick engine and suspension components allowed by the rules, is identical–right down to its paint scheme–to the CBR1000RR sold in Honda shops. Same goes for current AMA Superbike champ Matt Mladin’s factory GSXR1000 Suzuki, Eric Bostrom’s factory Ducati 999S and Josh Hayes’ factory Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. Santa Rosa privateer James Randolph turns up on what was essentially a stock Yamaha YZF-R1 with suspension modifications and the lights stripped off of it.

Calling the Shots: Honda’s Miguel Duhamel predicted he’d have something for Mladin on Sunday. He was right.

Aside from a smattering of BMWs and Harleys, such motorcycles–known as “sport bikes”–are the mounts of choice for the racing fans, men and women alike, attending the Superbike Showdown. The median age appears to be about 30, and because sport-bike riding is relatively affordable, Infineon has what might be the most racially diverse crowd in motorsports.

These thirty-somethings bring a certain sexual charge to the atmosphere. For the women, bare midriffs, pierced navels and tattoos across the small of the back (“Made in America,” one reads) are de rigueur. Fit skinny boys wear T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “Real Men Ride Twins,” referring both to the twin-cylinder Ducati 999S superbike pictured on the shirt and the identical Barbie-doll-proportioned amazons seen propping the bike up.

The flirtatious air is encouraged by the Umbrella Girls, a dozen models dressed in tight-fitting miniskirts engaged to provide shade for the factory racers waiting on the grid in the blazing sun for the race to start. Tugging at their hems to keep their skirts from creeping up, the Umbrella Girls mingle with the gathering crowd, attracting whistles and catcalls from middle-aged men.

Brand loyalty runs deep here, and many are in attendance to cheer on their respective makes’ top rider. Brothers Eric and Ben Bostrom (the latter is Duhamel’s factory Honda teammate), native Northern Californians who graduated from Petaluma High School and have since gone on to superstar status in the motorcycle-racing world, are clearly the sentimental crowd favorites. A few fans resent the fact that the American superbike series has been dominated for years by “foreigners” such as Australian-born Mladin and Canadian-bred Duhamel (both of whom now reside in the United States), and therefore cheer on the American with the best chance of winning. This weekend, that looks to be 28-year-old superbike rookie Jake Zemke, riding for Erion Honda, a factory satellite team.

If there is one question on the minds of discriminating race fans, it is this: Can anybody stop Suzuki ace Mladin? The four-time AMA Superbike champ has set a sizzling pace so far this season, winning the prestigious Daytona 200 for the third time in March and notching two more victories at the California Speedway in Fontana last month. Mladin broke Duhamel’s record for most career superbike victories (26) with his second win at Fontana, exerting the same dominance over the field that last year led to 10 wins in 18 starts, the most ever in a season.

With 12 challenging corners linked by relatively short straights and numerous elevation changes, Infineon is known as a rider’s track, a venue where skill and motorcycle setup are more important than sheer horsepower. But that fact only works to Mladin’s advantage, as he is arguably the most talented rider at the AMA Superbike today.

For Duhamel, who won a single AMA Superbike championship in 1995, there is plenty to lose. With three consecutive race wins, Mladin is intent on closing in on Duhamel’s record of six straight victories, set in 1995 at Infineon, then known as Sears Point. Moreover, the current champ has gained a significant points advantage in the race for the 2004 title. But it is still early in the season, and Duhamel is well within striking distance. The only thing standing in his way is the chattering demon that has seemingly possessed the CBR1000RR. Maybe calling in a couple of priests isn’t such a bad idea, after all.

Rubber on the Road: Dunlop supplied 80 percent of the tires, changing 1,800 racing slicks during the three-day event.

Competitive superbike riders can lap the 2.2-mile Infineon circuit in under one minute, 38 seconds. That averages out to roughly 93 mph, but average speed doesn’t come close to telling the real story. To understand how difficult it is to turn a 1:38 lap, it helps to recall Newton’s Three Laws of Motion.

First Law of Motion: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state unless an external force is applied to it.

See Miguel Duhamel’s shiny bright red No. 17 bike idling on the checkered stripe that marks the raceway’s start/finish line. Note the aerodynamic shape formed by the front wheel and the plastic bodywork, the massive aluminum swing arm that holds the fat six-inch rear racing slick steady under cornering loads. Underneath the plastic, an in-line four-cylinder engine cranks out enough torque and horsepower to propel Duhamel and the CBR to 192 mph on the long banked straights at Daytona. Nothing like that speed is reached on the shorter, tighter Infineon track, but it illustrates the potential lurking inside this red beast.

Of course, until an external force is applied–which can’t happen until Duhamel climbs on board–the superbike will simply sit there idling. The French Canadian’s wiry, 5’6″, 145-pound frame fits snugly into the contour formed by the gas tank and tail section, helmet tucked behind the small windscreen and chest resting on top of the gas tank to increase the bike’s aerodynamic capabilities.

Duhamel controls the superbike with his hands and feet and by shifting his body weight. Hands outstretched to the clip-on handlebars attached to the front forks and legs scrunched up awkwardly to fit the rear-set foot pegs, Duhamel pulls in the clutch lever with his left hand, snicks the six-speed transmission into first gear with his left toe, turns the throttle with his right hand while simultaneously releasing the clutch, and the CBR screams toward turn one, immediately kicking in Newton’s Second Law.

Second Law of Motion: The relationship between an object’s mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma.

Force equals mass times acceleration. Duhamel’s factory Honda weighs slightly under 400 pounds and can accelerate with all the violence of a pro-stock dragster. His bike’s engine howling at 10,000 rpm, Duhamel grabs second gear and 100 mph, acceleration pinning him back against the seat rest as he enters turn one, a 45-degree left-hander that heads sharply uphill.

Thanks to Newton’s First Law, the bike wants to keep going in a straight line right off the race track and into the gravel trap. To combat this, Duhamel countersteers slightly to the right just before the corner’s apex, hangs his body over the left side and leans the bike over so low that the fairing would scrape the asphalt if his left knee, protected by a plastic slider, wasn’t extended like an outrigger to guide the Honda through the corner. He grabs third gear up the hill and reverses the process for turn two, an off-camber 90-degree right-hand bend, spinning up the fat rear slick and laying a thick streak of rubber known as a “darkie” all the way to the entrance of turn three.

About 45 seconds through a hot lap, Duhamel rounds turn five and heads into turn six, a wide increasing radius curve known as the Carousel. Imagine hitting one of those 180-degree freeway off-ramps doing 120 mph, both wheels drifting as centrifugal force pushes the bike wide onto the “drag strip,” the longest straight on the track. Duhamel grabs fifth gear and 150 mph. Forget about driving by feel at this speed. With his peripheral vision, Duhamel searches for his braking marker, a preselected spot on the side of the track used to signal when to pull in on the binders before the next turn. Here, Newton’s Third Law of Motion makes itself known in spades.

Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Just as the bike’s fearsome acceleration throws Duhamel back into the seat rest, jamming on the brakes doing 150 mph compresses the suspension and slams him forward against the tank. He slows the bike to 80 mph entering turns seven and seven-A, a long wide curve that sends him careening down the track in the opposite direction, toward turns eight and eight-A, a series of high-speed esses–or “flip-flops,” as the Southern riders call them–that pass right in front of one of the new grandstands.

Watching riders hit the esses doing 130 mph–flipping right, flopping left, flipping right, flopping left–is one of the most exhilarating sights in motorsports. But hidden in Newton’s Third Law lies Duhamel’s demon. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Last year Duhamel, challenging for the lead in the 600 Supersport race (he still holds the record for most victories in the smaller displacement class), successfully completed the esses and was entering turn nine, the notorious Chicane, a short, sharp 90-degree kink designed to slow the riders down on the back straight. There, the demon struck, throwing him over the front of the bike, smashing him into the pavement and breaking his collar bone. He’s still not certain what unintended action prompted such a violent reaction, and remains wary of the Chicane.

Blasting through turn 10’s obtuse right-hand bend, Duhamel picks up speed for what many riders consider the most difficult corner on the course: turn 11, a treacherously slow hairpin that can be negotiated at no more than 45 mph, lest the rider run wide and slide out. Many a race has been won or lost in this corner since Infineon opened in 1968, and more than one AMA pro has been picked off in turn 11 by a hard-charging Duhamel on the last lap, watching helplessly as the French-Canadian superbike pilot swooped past them into turn 12 and onto the front straight, where he pulled his trademark standup wheelie across the finish line.

Duhamel has won the Superbike class at Infineon four times–in 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998–but Friday’s practice and qualifying session do not bode well for a fifth victory. Earning a top qualifying spot is important for three reasons. One, it determines the position on the starting grid, crucial at Infineon, where passing during races is difficult. Two, it helps riders and mechanics set the bike up properly. Three, qualifying for the top spot, the Pole Position, earns the rider one point, which can make the difference between winning and losing the overall championship at the end of the season, determined by the points earned for the finishing position in each of the 18 races.

Mladin owns the all-time record for career Superbike Poles with 34, and immediately begins setting the quickest times in practice, running consistently under 1:38, while Duhamel and the other contenders–the brothers Bostrom, Zemke, Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates–struggle to find the right setup. Near the end of the first 50-minute qualifying session, Mladin rips off a blistering 1:36:916, a time that would never be headed, earning him his 35th Pole Position for Saturday and Sunday’s superbike races.

Duhamel, beset by a mysterious, chattering demon his Honda mechanics cannot seem to exorcise, ekes out the fifth spot on the grid with a time of 1:37:633, more than a half-second slower than Mladin. That may not sound like much, but multiply that half-second by the 27 laps in a superbike race, and it translates into a 14-second lead by the end of the race. The 2004 Kawasaki Superbike Showdown was shaping up to be yet another Matt Mladin/ Suzuki GSXR1000 blowout.

Made in the Shade: Suzuki’s Aaron Yates was happy with third place in Sunday’s superbike race.

Shortly after 2:30pm on Saturday, 44 snarling superbikes bolt toward turn one, led by Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates, who qualifies as second fastest and proceeds to light up the rear tire on nearly every corner. Smoke boiling off a fat racing slick looks pretty bitchen, but it’s not the fastest way around the racetrack, and Yates is nipped by rookie Zemke on the second lap. Slow-starting Mladin passes Zemke at the Chicane on lap three and motors away from the field, winning the first superbike race–his fourth victory in a row–by a comfortable seven-second margin over Miguel Duhamel.

With the possible exception of the Suzuki GSXR1000 owners in the crowd, it is by no means a popular victory. “Anybody but him!” mutters one of the journalists in the press box. Besides being an Aussie, Mladin suffers from a malady his racing colleagues wouldn’t mind sharing: he wins too much. He’s one cool customer, and this confidence sometimes comes off as arrogance. When you’ve won 27 superbike races, perhaps you’re entitled to a little arrogance, but Mladin’s aloof personal style hasn’t won him leagues of adoring fans.

AMA superbike double-headers are structured so that the tension and excitement build throughout the weekend. Only the first superbike race is held on Saturday; Sunday features all four classes: Superstock, Supersport, Superbike and Formula Xtreme. The superbike race on Sunday is supposed to be the climax of the weekend, but Mladin’s consistency so far this season has the crowd gritting their teeth in anticipation of another ho-hum Mladin runaway.

But Duhamel has a different idea. His Honda mechanics have labored through the night on the CBR1000RR, stripping it down to a bare-framed skeleton and then meticulously bolting it back together. The demon is miraculously exorcised, and with six laps to go in Saturday’s superbike race, Duhamel passes Zemke for second and sets out after Mladin. He is gaining on the flying Aussie when he hits a false neutral in the Chicane, stretching the superbike’s chain and causing him to back off the pace and settle for second place. But at the post-race press conference, he promises he’ll have something for Mladin the next day.

“I’ve got tomorrow to back up what I just said,” Duhamel insists.

The largest crowd ever to attend an Infineon superbike event turns out Sunday for the grand finale, both men and women scantily clad in 93-degree heat. The temperature on the track is a nuclear 125 degrees. The Umbrella Girls, primping and preening in their miniskirts, are the only ones who seem to be enjoying the heat.

Shortly after 2pm, the howling beehive of superbikes once again funnels into turn one. As the riders came around the turn-11 hairpin to complete the first lap, Yates is in the lead, followed closely by Zemke, Ben Bostrom, Duhamel and Mladin. Zemke zaps Yates on the second lap; by lap seven, Duhamel has worked his way past Bostrom and Yates for second and sets out in hot pursuit of the rookie. The pair of Honda riders quickly begin to gap the field.

Mladin is mired in an uncustomary fifth position, and a report comes in from the pits that the Aussie might have a bent rim. There are no planned pit stops in a 27-lap superbike race, and the precious seconds he’d lose changing the wheel would almost surely preclude victory. But just when it looks like Mladin’s hopes for a fifth consecutive win are dashed, privateer Kenyon Kluge loses control coming out of the Carousel, wadding his bike in a serious high-speed get-off that brings out the red flag on the eighth lap.

A red flag stops the race so emergency crew workers can provide aid to injured riders and remove damaged machinery and debris from the track. During the stoppage, riders are allowed to come into the pits to add fuel and change tires. So much for Mladin’s bent rim. Kluge is carted off by ambulance and the riders return to the grid for restart. The gap Zemke and Duhamel had pulled on the field before the red flag is now negated. Advantage: Mladin.

Duhamel is having none of it. Forty-three superbikes roar into turn one together; when they emerge, the red No. 17 is at the head of the pack, followed closely by the black No. 98, Zemke. For the next three laps, the duo exchange the lead, Zemke passing Duhamel, Duhamel passing Zemke, until the rookie takes control on the 10th lap and begins pulling away from the French Canadian. Meanwhile, Mladin charges to the front, passing Bostrom for fourth on lap 10 and then teammate Yates for third on lap 11, with plenty of time left in the race to catch Duhamel and Zemke.

But the Aussie’s charge fizzles out. Perhaps he’s spent too much energy winning the previous day’s race in the sweltering heat. At any rate, the blue-and-white No. 1 Suzuki can gain no ground on the fleeing Hondas. It is not to be Matt Mladin’s day.

Although the good-natured Duhamel is one of the most popular riders on the circuit, the crowd begins pulling for California native Zemke, hoping the rookie might win his first-ever superbike race. Zemke does not disappoint, holding on to the lead as the pair begin weaving their way through lapped traffic. Coming out of the Carousel on lap 22 at more than 120 mph, both wheels drifting, Zemke zips around the inside of one lapper and the outside of another with a gutsy move that will be talked about by racing fans for years to come. By the last lap, Zemke has pulled a two-second gap on Duhamel, a margin that under ordinary circumstances would have sealed the win.

But having Miguel Duhamel on your tail is no ordinary circumstance. The wily veteran has been in exactly the same position many times before, snatching victory just when it looked like the jaws of defeat were set to clamp down. After the race, Zemke says he slowed down to preserve the win, a typical rookie mistake. Whatever happened, coming through the esses on the back straight and heading into the Chicane, Duhamel somehow gains the two seconds back and nips at Zemke’s heels. He stuffs his big red machine underneath the rookie in the turn 11 hairpin and motors on by, taking the checkered flag with his trademark standup wheelie, like he had planned it that way all along.

Standing on the podium with Zemke and Yates, who passed Mladin near the end to finish third, Duhamel refuses to take credit for the victory, instead thanking his Honda mechanics and plain old racing luck. He dedicates the win to the U.S. armed forces serving in Iraq. Duhamel, Zemke and Yates uncork bottles of champagne and spray the parched crowd with bubbly. Then, the small gold crucifix around his neck glinting brilliantly in the sun, Duhamel rides a red Honda scooter back to the paddock, where mechanics are preparing his Formula Xtreme bike for the day’s final race.

Just to prove that the superbike victory was no fluke, Duhamel wins that race too, once again passing Zemke on the final lap. Asked at the post-race press conference how he had managed to tame the demon residing inside the CBR1000RR, Duhamel thanks his mechanics and racing luck once more before adding with a grin, “We called in a priest, too.”

From the May 12-18, 2004 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.