Josh Hayes established a new single-season record for consecutive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victories with a crushing performance to secure his eighth in a row on Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
The defending two-time champion was once again in a class of his own as he notched up yet another dominant victory. The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha superstar pulled his rookie teammate, Josh Herrin, clear of the chasing pack in the race's early stages before breaking Herrin's pursuit as well by lap 5 of the 23-lap affair.
Once free Hayes put it in cruise control early and still managed to take the checkered flag with a 9.084-second margin of victory.
The Mississippian continues to stake his claim in the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing record books. In addition to the historic win streak, Hayes has now notched up 11 victories this season, just one shy of Mat Mladin's all-time record with six races still remaining on the '12 slate.
Sunday's victory also sees Hayes move into a tie for third place on the all-time SuperBike wins list at 28, tying three-time champion Ben Spies, who was in attendance to watch Hayes' conquering ride following the day's MotoGP World Championship race.
"Good things are happening right now," Hayes said. "I'll ride the train as long as I can."
"If I get into a battle in a hard race, you're going to see me fighting for it for that individual race; it has nothing to do with streaks or race wins or anything like that. It's for that race win." he stated.
"I'm in a position where I can try for every single one of them. I don't have anything to worry about. I've got a points situation that I don't even think about at this point in the season." Hayes continued.
"I'm just focused on winning every race that I can. If I toss one down the road, or two down the road, then I'll re-evaluate how I'm going to approach it. But, right now, I just want to win everything.
"I'm still riding like I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I still remember last year very clearly. I remember if more clearly than I remember winning eight races in a row. It seems like things have happened pretty quickly and it doesn't feel like that to me. I'll just keep focusing, and trying hard, and pushing myself." he concluded.
While Hayes was out of reach, the battle for second still proved to be a thrilling affair. Herrin's early tow saw him race out to an immediate three-second advantage over a heated scrap for third, which involved National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden, Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Young, Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, Team Amsoil/EBR's Geoff May and Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick.
As Hayden went backwards and fell from the fight, Herrin faded as well and fell into the clutches of Young and company.
The race's final lap saw Young and Herrin trade second position multiple times with hard and tight passes. The nod ultimately went to Suzuki ace Young by a scant 0.023 seconds, thanks to a superior drive out of the final corner in the sprint to the flag.
"It was a pretty good race for us today." said Young, "I was making it harder on ourselves by not having great qualifying.
"It seems like we've let it slip a little bit this year, and I'm just finding myself getting it together at the beginning of the weekend, but I guess the good thing is, we definitely get it together by the end of the weekend in time for the race.
"I'm obviously happy with second, but I want to get back up to the front and get racing with Josh where I feel we belong." he added.
Herrin said of his late duel with Young, "It was a great last lap,it was fun. I wish I could have held him off but I just couldn't. He kind of outsmarted me there a little bit. We'll be back at the next race to try to beat him next time."
Eslick and Bostrom finished just fractions of a second behind in fourth and fifth, respectively.
After running as high as third, May dropped to a lonely sixth at the flag, while Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor Knapp also managed to work past the struggling Hayden, who ultimately finished a disappointing eighth on the heels of his Mid-Ohio breakthrough and subsequent strong weekend form here at Laguna Seca.
KTM/HMC Racing's Stefen Nebel won out in a fight for ninth with Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram, who completed the race's top ten.
Hayes continues his march to a third AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike title as he'll head to New Jersey Motorsports Park on September 7-9 boasting an imposing 74-point advantage.
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