Two-time defending AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike king Josh Hayes hit the quarter-century mark on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, registering the 25th victory of his SuperBike career.
The Mississippian's AMA Pro Road Racing double win at the Triumph SuperBike Classic presented by America's First Federal Credit Union also marked his eighth triumph of the season and his fifth in succession.
While much was made of the learning opportunity Hayes' Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate, Josh Herrin, enjoyed on Saturday by racing on the SuperBike champ's rear wheel, Hayes was made all the wiser by that experience as well.
Unwilling to give Herrin a chance to cling on again, Hayes raced exceptionally hard early and quickly eliminated any hope Herrin or any other rival might have entertained about sticking with him today.
Hayes ultimately took the checkered flag with a 4.988-second margin of victory.
"I got a decent start and slotted in right behind Josh," Hayes said. "I eased up inside of him in Turn 4 and got in there. At that point I just tried to get back into a rhythm."
"Things were going pretty good, at one point I opened up a second on Josh and was kind of holding it there for a couple laps. When I saw that he took it back, I said, 'okay, don't deviate from your game plan,' because I was doing a good pace and not making mistakes." he explained.
"I wanted to keep up a good steady pace and see what happened and then I came around and saw a three-second gap. There you go. It's so hot and so slippery, there was the mistake I was waiting to see if it would happen. I maintained my gap and stayed clear and had a good smooth race." Hayes concluded.
Despite Hayes' determination to shake free at the start and make an early escape, Herrin gave it his best effort to reel his teammate back in and paid the price. Attempting to make up an early one-second deficit, the National Guard SuperBike freshman ran off track in Turn 4 on the race's fifth lap and was instantly dropped back to ninth.
That's the same position Yoshimura Racing Suzuki's Blake Young had held on the race's opening lap, suffering from a poor start and almost falling outside the top ten. The Wisconsin rider sliced his way up the field, however, and was in position to take control of second when Herrin made his error.
Herrin made a similar charge and by lap 11 was right on Young's rear wheel. The Suzuki and Yamaha men waged a closely-matched duel from there to the flag. Herrin reclaimed second on lap 19 but handed it back the next lap again after running wide in Turn 4.
He mounted another charge and made a stab for second on the final lap, again in turn 4, but was unable to hold his line and Young dipped right back through and held on to ultimately claim the runner-up position.
"Well, the start was a little bit of a struggle and I found myself quite a ways back in the pack." said Young. "I just thought, 'wow, I really messed up and made a lot of work for myself that I really didn't want to have to deal with today."
"That's how it goes. You have a plan before the start but it never goes according to plan ever. I wasn't expecting that but I put my head down and felt better on my GSX-R1000 today." he added.
Herrin had a couple off close moments throughout the race but leaves the round with plenty of motivation.
"It was a crazy race. I just made way too many mistakes in the race today and lost too many positions due to it." said Herrin. That's the first time I've had any close moments on the 1000 all year, but luckily I was able to recover from it and come back from way back. That felt really good and I have a lot of motivation."
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May continued his mid-season run of impressive performances, working his way past Michael Jordan Motorsports teammates Ben Bostrom and Roger Hayden on successive laps and then breaking away to claim a clear fourth.
Hayden stormed past Bostrom on lap 19 of 21 to steal the final position in the top five.
Attack Performance's Steve Rapp ran with the freight train of heavy hitters early before fading back to a lonely seventh. Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram took his BMW S1000RR to eighth while Kneedraggers.com/Motul/Fly Racing's David Anthony and M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich completed the top ten.
Hayes now leads the points 320 to 283 over Young.
AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike
Cameron Beaubier pulled the perfect weekend in AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike at Barber Motorsports Park, winning pole, both races and both lap leader points for Y.E.S/Graves/Yamaha in Alabama.
Beaubier cleared off in the last couple of laps to win over Dane Westby by 2.163 seconds in a repeat of the top two finishers from Saturday.
After a post-Daytona injury sidelined him, Beaubier has returned to competition with a vengeance. The Californian has been a factor in recent GoPro Daytona SportBike races but took his first pole and wins this weekend. Westby made a bid with four laps to go, but Beaubier was able to rally and consolidate the lead.
"It feels awesome to get my first win and then back it up the next day," said 19-year-old Beaubier. "It was weird because my first lap wasn't very good at all."
"I then got through a few guys and got out front and I felt pretty good out front. I didn't feel very good in second because it was super easy to get shuffled back." he continued.
"Out front I felt really comfortable, I tried to save my tires as much as I could, and towards the end I put my head down and pushed really hard to get away." Beaubier concluded.
After the race, Westby said he wished he'd waited until the final lap to make his charge but was positive about his form this weekend.
Points leader Martin Cardenas took his GEICO Suzuki to third place and expanded his points margin over second place points man Jason DiSalvo who finished sixth. DiSalvo now trails Cardenas by 51 and fell into a tie with Westby.
Early leader Tommy Hayden of Y.E.S/Graves/Yamaha took fourth, ahead of Bobby Fong, rewarded with a top five result.
AMA Superbikes Race one:
1 1 Josh Hayes Monster Energy Graves Yamaha Yamaha R1
2 2 Josh Herrin Monster Energy Graves Yamaha Yamaha R1
3 79 Blake Young Yoshimura Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000
4 99 Geoff May Team Amsoil/Hero EBR 1190RS 1
5 54 Roger Hayden National Guard Jordan Suzuki
6 72 Larry Pegram Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing BMW S1000RR
7 69 Danny Eslick Team Hero EBR 1190RS
8 6 Chris Clark Yoshimura Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000
9 15 Steve Rapp Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-10
10 25 David Anthony Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000
AMA Superbikes Race two:
1 1 Josh Hayes Monster Energy Graves Yamaha Yamaha R1
2 79 Blake Young Yoshimura Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000
3 2 Josh Herrin Monster Energy Graves Yamaha Yamaha R1
4 99 Geoff May Team Amsoil/Hero EBR 1190RS
5 54 Roger Hayden National Guard Jordan Suzuki
6 23 Ben Bostrom Jordan Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000
7 15 Steve Rapp Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-10
8 72 Larry Pegram Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing BMW S1000RR
9 25 David Anthony Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000
10 18 Chris Ulrich M4 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000
AMA Superbike Championship Standings:
1 Josh Hayes 320 Pts
2 Blake Young 283 Pts
3 Josh Herrin 197 Pts
4 Geoff May 159 Pts
5 Roger Hayden 158 Pts
6 Larry Pegram 151 Pts
7 Ben Bostrom 126 Pts
8 Chris Clark 124 Pts
9 Danny Eslick 121 Pts
10 Steve Rapp 115 Pts
11 David Anthony 105 Pts
AMA Sportbike Race one:
1 6 Cameron Beaubier Yamaha Extended Service, Graves, Yamaha
2 5 Dane Westby M4 Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600
3 22 Tommy Hayden Yamaha Extended Service, Graves, Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6
4 40 Jason DiSalvo Team Latus Motors Racing Triumph Daytona 675
5 36 Martin Cardenas Geico Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600
6 50 Bobby Fong Meen Motorsports Racing Yamaha YZF-R6
7 20 Benny Solis Kneedraggers.com/Triple Crown Industries
8 98 Jake Zemke Ducshop Racing Ducati 848
9 95 JD Beach Road Race Factory/Red Bull Yamaha YZF-R6
10 61 Michael Beck Team Beck Racing Yamaha YZF-R6
AMA Sportbike Race two:
1 6 Cameron Beaubier Yamaha Extended Service, Graves, Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6
2 5 Dane Westby M4 Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600
3 36 Martin Cardenas Geico Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600
4 22 Tommy Hayden Yamaha Extended Service, Graves, Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6
5 50 Bobby Fong Meen Motorsports Racing Yamaha YZF-R6
6 40 Jason DiSalvo Team Latus Motors Racing Triumph Daytona 675
7 95 JD Beach Road Race Factory/Red Bull Yamaha YZF-R6
8 98 Jake Zemke Ducshop Racing Ducati 848
9 20 Benny Solis Kneedraggers.com/Triple Crown Industries Yamaha YZF-R6
10 132 Jake Gagne Road Race Factory/Red Bull Yamaha YZF-R6
AMA Sportbike Championship Standings:
1 Martin Cardenas 243 Pts
2 Jason DiSalvo 192 Pts
3 Dane Westby 192 Pts
4 Tommy Hayden 179 Pts
5 Cameron Beaubier 152 Pts
6 Jake Zemke 150 Pts
7 Bobby Fong 140 Pts
8 JD Beach 138 Pts
9 Joey Pascarella Pts
10 Cory West 115 Pts
Top Image: Josh Hayes leads the field early on his way to a double victory over the weekend
Credit: Brian J. Nelson
