AMA Supersport & Superbike (1997-2009)
Hacking entered the AMA Supersport Championship series in 1997 with a sponsorship with Kinko's Kawasaki and managed to qualify on the pole in Phoenix. In 1998, he moved on to Yamaha with a full factory ride where he finished 3rd at Daytona on his debut, and won the AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year despite missing much of the year through injury. In 1999, he took two AMA Supersport wins plus several Superbike podium finishes.
In 2001, Hacking joined the crack Yoshimura Suzuki team, and took his first AMA Superbike race win, at Road Atlanta. In 2003, he lost his ride with Suzuki in the Superbike class and returned to Supersport with Yamaha. This proved to be one of his best years, winning the AMA Supersport Championship with four wins and three further podiums. [2] He narrowly failed to defend the title in 2004, also finishing as runner-up in the AMA Superstock class. [3] In 2006, he won both the Supersport and Superstock AMA classes. [4] 2007 saw him move to Monster Energy Kawasaki where he would contend the Superbike and Supersport classes. He would finish the season 6th in Superbike and runner up in Supersport. In 2008, he scored six podium finishes in AMA Superbike, and briefly threatened the supremacy of Yoshimura's Ben Spies and Mat Mladin. [5]
