After a period of total domination by seven-time AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Champion Mat Mladin and Ben Spies, the 2010 National Guard SuperBike season has been a battle between a number of different players.
Six different riders have won races this year and only after about the fourth event of the season did a picture of the championship and its main characters start to become apparent.
After a quiet Daytona International Speedway round in terms of results, current points leader Josh Hayes (426 Points) hasn't finished out of the top three since the fifth race at Road Atlanta. And his seven wins leads the series along with his three pole positions certainly underline Josh's absolute speed and overall ability on his Team Graves Yamaha.
Tommy Hayden's brother Nicky is the only rider to disrupt the Maldin/Spies championship run from 1999 (Nicky was SuperBike Champion in 2002) and once again, the Hayden name could top the charts as Tommy goes for his first AMA Pro SuperBike championship.
Tommy took a couple of solid second places at Daytona on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki and he then took his first career SuperBike win at the next event in California to stamp his mark on the series for 2010. But it was at Road America where he took his second win and he and Josh Hayes began their private battle for the 2010 title. Tommy is currently second in the standings with 404 points.
It was Jake Zemke riding for Michael Jordan's National Guard Suzuki team that opened up the year with two dramatic victories at Daytona. Jake continued to run well and he topped the points standings until Road America when Tommy Hayden took over with Hayes right behind him.
After Tommy and Hayes traded wins at the next race at Mid-Ohio, the die was cast, these two competitors were going to take the championship all the way to the end. Another race winner early on was Larry Pegram on his Foremost Insurance Ducati when he won at Auto Club Speedway.
After Hayes and Hayden began trading race wins, Ben Bostrom injected himself in to the process with a win at his beloved Laguna Seca. Competitive every week on his Pat Clark Motorsports Palms Casino Yamaha, Ben has taken the fight to Tommy and Josh and could be the deciding factor this weekend as the title will be decided at the 2.38 mile Barber Motorsports Park natural terrain track. Bostrom took a pair of third place finishes at Barber last year as the race was run much earlier in the season.
Tommy Hayden will have the benefit of his Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Blake Young. Blake won a couple of races earlier this year at Road Atlanta and is in his second race back after a testing injury. The points difference is 22 points with a total of 63 points available over the course of the doubleheader race weekend. The first battle will be for the precious pole position point which will be set on Saturday morning after Friday's first round of qualifying. This will also settle another competition within the sport as the MotoConnect SuperBike Pole Award will be determined also. Currently Josh Hayes holds the edge in the competition for the $10,000 MotoConnect Award.
All eyes will be on these two superb athletes as they take to the track this weekend. Both will be using the considerable expertise of their respective teams and manufactures, both Yamaha and Suzuki are providing their riders with every possible advantage and with the teams and riders working diligently to find the best possible technical solution to the challenges of the Barber track, this will be a memorable weekend for every fan of competitive motorcycle racing.
No matter which rider wins the title, both have ridden and raced with considerable class and skill and the real winners are the fans of motorcycle racing around the world as these two great champions fight to put their claim on the valued AMA Pro Number One Plate.
