AMA Pro Road Racing Superbike Championship Action From Infineon Raceway Sees Josh Hayes & Tommy Hayden Split Race Wins

Tommy Hayden on the #22 Team Kawasaki ZX-10R leads Josh Hayes on the #1 Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R during the AMA Repsol Moto Superstock Series final at Road America in June of '04.  Hayes led 9 of the 10 laps of the final event before Tommy Gun got around him to lead the last lap and pull out the win by just .018 seconds.  Tommy would go on to win the '04-'05 AMA 600 Supersport Championships while Graves Yamaha's Aaron Gobert would clinch the '04 AMA Superstock Championship.

After an almost two month break in on-track racing, the AMA Superbike Championship Series kicked off a doubleheader round over the weekend at Infineon Raceway's West Coast Moto Jam in round two of the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing Series.  And after the double wins by Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Young at Daytona, the racing picked right back up where it left off at the end of the 2010 season with rivals Josh Hayes and Tommy Hayden taking their version of the slugfest for the championship into the new season.
Hayes looked to add to his 14 series wins, as well as his win streak at Infineon by setting fast pace and getting the point for the pole, in spite of crashing his 'A' bike in final qualifying on Saturday morning.  The Graves team pulled out the 'B' bike, which hadn't seen any action yet this year, and Josh showed why he has that #1 plate on the front of his YZF-R1 and went out and pulled off the race one win over Tommy by 7.355 seconds, and winning his 15th race in the premier class.  Newcomer to the Superbike Series, Martin Cardenas on the #36 M4 Suzuki GSX-R1000 (and 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing Daytona SportBike Champion) bagged his first podium on the big bikes to come home 3rd on the day 20.135 seconds behind winner Hayes.  Daytona doubler Young finished 4th, .068 seconds behind Cardenas after a hard-fought race between the two Suzuki riders.

Of note, '98 AMA Superbike Champ Ben Bostrom on the #23 Jordan Suzuki slipped a chain and suffered a DNF while his team mate, Roger Lee Hayden on the #54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki, crashed out after being run into by David Anthony just 3 laps into the 22 lap race.  JD Beach made his debut on the big bikes after the retirement announcement of Eric Bostrom, to take the #10 Attack Performance/Cycle World
 Kawasaki ZX-10R to a fine 9th place finish in race one.  Taking advantage of the misfortunes of those in front of him, the youngster rode a smart race to finish 68.935 seconds behind winner Hayes and earn his first points in the premier series.  Bravo JD, great job!

Race two action on Sunday saw Tommy take the win after leading laps 1-3 and then 18-22 after Hayes bobbled, allowing Hayden around and to hold off the #1 Yamaha by a comfortable margin of 1.926 seconds.  Young improved a spot on his #79 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki by finishing 3rd in race two, 18.617 seconds back from winner Tommy Gun.  And Steve Rapp, in his first race in the premier class in a couple of years, came home 4th on the San Diego/Locust Powered by Lee's Cycle BMW S1000RR, 24.526 seconds behind the winner.  Larry Pegram rounded out the top 5 on his Pegram Racing/Foremost Insurance BMW S1000RR, 28.126 seconds back.

Of note, Ben Bostrom rode home in the 6th spot with team mate Roger Lee Hayden coming home 7th.  JD Beach was involved in a three rider crash and was reportedly run over by two of the other riders involved, but did not suffer any major injuries.  He reported at the end of the day on the FlatTrack.com forum that he was 'good to go' and would be in Springfield tomorrow for the test and tune session for the AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series upcoming TT race.  He said he would be doing his best to 'try' and ride the test session tomorrow depending on how sore he still was.

The AMA Pro Road Racing Superbike Championship Series heads to Miller Motorsports Park for round three over the Memorial Day Weekend with a tight points race after two rounds and four races.  Josh Hayes has an early lead with 107 points, Young lies in second with 101, and Tommy Gun is in third with 99 points.  2011 is starting off with a big bang and the excitement in the premier road racing series in the United States is getting ready to amp up even further, so stay tuned!
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Round 2 Race Report: AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, Race 2

SONOMA, CA (May 16, 2011) - Sunday's AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 2 at Infineon Raceway was red-flagged following two hugely dramatic first laps, which kicked off with Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Tommy Hayden swooping into the lead while teammate Blake Young rubbed elbows with Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes immediately behind. Within a minute, however, the M4 Suzuki team had lost both its riders, Chris Ulrich suffering a nasty crash in Turn 2 and Martin Cardenas sliding out moments later, his bike coming to rest atop the AirFence. It was the second get-off for Cardenas in one day, as a crash in morning practice had left him with a dislocated left shoulder just hours earlier.


Cardenas regridded at the back, determined to grab some all-important championship points, but his misfortune was quickly overshadowed by a big crash on the restart that collected JD Beach (Cycle World/Attack Performance Kawasaki), Tony Kasper (Team Iron Horse BMW), and Jeremy Burgess (ADR Fly Racing). All injured riders were treated at the at-track facility and released, save for M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich, who was transported by ground to the local hospital and is scheduled to be released today following treatment for two cracked lumbar vertebrae, a concussion, and internal bruising.

The track was cleared without bringing out the red flag, and Hayden tried to take advantage of his second holeshot to shake Hayes and Young, engaged in furious battle behind him. Hayes quickly bashed by Young, however, and set out after Hayden, passing via an aggressive move that nearly cost him. Once in second, however, Hayden didn't particularly seem to mind-he stayed close on Hayes' wheel through the following laps, periodically laying down a handful of the fastest laps the race saw and occasionally taking a look at the inside or outside of Hayes' line. When Tommy finally passed for the lead with just a few laps remaining, he put his head down and built some safety into his first National Guard SuperBike win of 2011, crossing the line with a margin of 1.926 seconds.

Hayes and Young brought their bikes home uneventfully in second and third, respectively, while several battles were decided behind them. Steve Rapp (San Diego BMWE) came out on top of his fourth-place battle with Foremost Insurance Racing's Larry Pegram, and Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, who'd diced throughout the second half of the race with National Guard Jordan Suzuki teammate Roger Hayden for sixth, took at least that version of a victory. Equally valorous, thought the results may not reflect it, was M4 Suzuki's Cardenas, who fought his way up to eighth from the back of the grid.
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AMA Superbike Championship Series race two action from Infineon Raceway sees Tommy Hayden on the #22 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 get the jump on defending champion Josh Hayes on the #1 Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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The top-ten finishing order was Hayes, Hayes, Young, Rapp, Pegram, Bostrom, Roger Hayden, Cardenas, Chris Peris (Iron Horse BMW), and Chris Clark (Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Graves Yamaha).

Young, 3rd: "I felt better on the first start. When I got up there on the second start, I thought, 'Maybe I can hang in here today and see where they go,' but I looked down at my lap timer and didn't think they were all that quick. I knew they were going to step up the pace, and I just don't think I was ready for it. I tried to keep my head down and ride my own race, but today I couldn't really stay there. I had to bring home third for my guys, at least get it on the podium, but I'm just looking forward to the next race already."

Hayes, 2nd: "Man, both of them just came off the line like rocket ships. I got a pretty good jump, but I just didn't get rolling as good as they did. I'm sitting here thinking about the race, and I really had a hard race. It's just, the bike was a bit of a handful today ... I think the red flag hurt me a little. Before that I felt pretty good, but on the restart, right in the beginning I had a couple of pretty big ones and I thought, 'Man, I've been this route before. I've been able to do pretty good laps, so I'm just doing to dig deep and ride this thing the best I can. Knowing Tommy, he's back there watching me, laughing at me, and getting ready to kick my butt,' which is what he did [laughs]."

Hayden, 1st: "Seemed like as the race went on it was coming to me a little bit. I made some changes for the race, so it kind of took me a couple laps to be 100 percent confident with what I had. About the time I was feeling decent, Josh came by, and I kind of settled into that. It was tough for a few laps, but then my bike really started working good-felt like it was working better and better. With about ten to go I was following pretty close; I had a couple looks in a few places kept kind of botching it up a little and falling back a couple of bike-lengths. I was close to going by a few times and didn't, and that hurt me a little bit, but I had two or three places I thought I could get by, so I was just trying to hurry up and do it and put my head down to the finish.
"This win today feels really good. I was really disappointed with my performance here last year, so I really challenged myself to come here this year and redeem myself, not give away the kind of points I did here last hear. That's not something you can do when you're racing guys like Josh and Blake, so this feels really good."

The AMA Pro Road Racing Series next travels to Utah's Miller Motorsports Park for the "Big M Weekend," where it will run alongside the World Superbike series in a combined May 28-30 event. For tickets and information, visit www.bigmweekend.com.

To learn more and be a part of AMA Pro Racing, please visit http://www.amaproracing.com/  and join us via facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing, twitter.com/AMAProSBK, and twitter.com/AMAProLIVE.

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

For additional information contact:
AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com
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Round 2 Race Report: AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, Race 1

SONOMA, CA (March 15, 2011) - Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes got some measure of revenge for going winless at AMA Pro Road Racing's opening 2011 round today, holding off a determined Tommy Hayden for the majority of the 22-lap AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 1 at Infineon Raceway. While Hayden stalked Hayes at the front, Hayden's Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate, Blake Young, put increasing pressure on Team M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas, who ultimately held off Young to take the first National Guard SuperBike podium of his career.

Cardenas' third-place finish was extra impressive in light of the fact that today's event was only the second SuperBike event the reining AMA Pro Daytona SportBike champ has contended. And while some predicted the Colombian rider would take time to settle into his new class, Cardenas has clearly demonstrated he's not impressed by learning curves.

It was Hayden who took the holeshot off the line, but he came immediately under attack from Hayes, who in turn had Young all over his back wheel. Young even claimed second briefly, sliding under when Hayes went wide, but Hayes almost immediately sandwiched himself back between the two Suzuki riders and took over the lead within a handful of laps.

Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, meanwhile, was looking stronger than he had through practice and qualifying, hanging with the then-top three and keeping a pile of riders behind him. That pile soon ceased to include Cardenas, who worked his way past Steve Rapp, then Bostrom, to set out after Young. Bostrom remained in contention, however, until he was relegated to the side of the track with a sprung chain with fewer than ten laps to go.

Bostrom's teammate, National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden, was holding steady in eighth when he was knocked out of the contest by ADR Fly Racing's David Anthony in Turn 11 after Anthony slid into his rear wheel, splaying Hayden onto the sidelines. Hayden wasn't able to reenter.

Cardenas, meanwhile, had kept up the pressure on Young and taken advantage of a mistake that sent Young way wide to slide under and take over third position. From there, the name of Martin's game was defense, as Young stuck to his rear wheel, clearly planning a late-race attack. While Young stalked Cardenas, Young's teammate, Hayden, put increasing pressure on race-leader Hayes and beginning to whittle away at Hayes' small lead.

Hayes, however, had no intention of being caught, laying down the quickest lap the race had seen thus far late in the contest and even managing to extend it by race's end, crossing the finish significantly ahead of Hayden, while Cardenas survived a last-lap, last-corner attack from Young to take third by .068.

Rounding out the top ten were Blake Young, Chris Peris (Iron Horse BMW), Steve Rapp (San Diego BMW), Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing), Geoff May (EBR Racing), JD Beach (Cycle World/Attack Performance Kawasaki, in his career first National Guard SuperBike race), and Team M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich.
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AMA Superbike Championship Series race one action from Infineon Raceway shows Josh Hayes on the #1 Monster Energy Graves Yamaha leading Tommy Hayden on the #22 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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Cardenas, 3rd: "[The adjustment to a new class] has been good. The team, since I rode the bike for the first time, has worked very hard to adjust it to my riding style, and also I'm trying to change a few things in the way I ride because you have to ride this bike a little different from the 600. But it's been good, and every time I go on the bike I feel more comfortable, especially since the Miller test, where we found something that helps me go a little faster.

"At the beginning of the race I didn't make a good start; I lost some positions and had to work my way up. When I reeled in Blake I stayed with him for a few laps and then I made a decision and tried to maintain. I pulled a little bit of gap, but I made a few mistakes in some corners, He got me again and kept the pressure all the way to the end, but lucky me, I could maintain the position and be here on the podium."

Hayden, 2nd: "The start was good. I really was kind of concentrating on the start, because I know here it's important; passing is not easy and the last thing I wanted to do was get a couple of people between me and Josh. I felt pretty good all weekend and thought unless he stepped it up and went faster, I could at least go with him if I started with him, so that was for me really important, and that worked out well.

"I led a couple laps and then Josh came by, and we kind of see-sawed back and forth. I started fighting things a little bit on the entry, and it getting a little harder for me to maintain the pace, and then I made a couple mistakes and lost about a second. From there I didn't have enough left to try to make any kind of runback. Overall, I'm fairly happy with today. We definitely made a big step-last year this was my worst track by far, so this year it was important to me to come in and go in the right direction. Obviously I would have liked to win, but fairly happy with the weekend so far."

Hayes, 1st: For the most part I had Tommy in front of me, and I felt confident I could run the pace, whatever it may be. It looked like he and I would kind of be able to do our own thing over the weekend. I got a little antsy on the first lap and Blake jumped on me, but I got back really quick; I wanted to get that done immediately and stay close to Tommy. I guess I'm a little impatient, but I like leading. I'm a little more comfortable being in the front ... when you're back there, you never know what might happen. Our bike was just like last year: it's a very strong bike that basically allows me to just go out there and ride well."

For tickets to or information about today's Round 2, Day 2, at Infineon Raceway, visit www.infineonraceway.com. To learn more and be a part of AMA Pro Racing, please visit www.amaproracing.com and join us via facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing, twitter.com/AMAProSBK, and twitter.com/AMAProLIVE. 
AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

For additional information contact:
AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com
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Cycle News.com's Paul Carruthers was on the scene at Infineon Raceway over the weekend for the West Coast Moto Jam round of the 2011 AMA Superbike Championship Series action.  He filed the following reports on the races.

SBK race two report:

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2011/05/15/hayden-beats-hayes-in-race-two/

SBK race one report:

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2011/05/14/hayes-takes-infineon-race-one/
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Official results from AMA Pro Road Racing for the Infineon Raceway round of the AMA Superbike Championship Series in Sonoma, CA.

SBK race two results (standard version):

http://amaproracing.com/rr/events/results.cfm?year=2011&eid=2011011110&discipline=RR&class=SB&type=F&rnum=2&class_sort=all

SBK race two results (PDF version):

http://results.amaproracing.com/xml/rr/events/R1110/sbf2press.pdf

SBK race one results (standard version):

http://amaproracing.com/rr/events/results.cfm?year=2011&eid=2011011110&discipline=RR&class=SB&type=F&rnum=1&class_sort=all

SBK race two results (PDF version):

http://results.amaproracing.com/xml/rr/events/R1110/sbf1press.pdf
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Video highlights from the doubleheader round of  the AMA Superbike Championship races at Infineon Raceway.

SBK race two action:

http://www.speedtv.com//video/moto-racing/ama-sbk-infineon-2-2011-945122632001/1

SBK race one action:

http://www.speedtv.com//video/moto-racing/ama-sbk-infineon-1-2011-944262966001/1
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Thanks to SpeedTV.com and ace photog Brian J. Nelson for the links to the photos from the Infineon Raceway round of the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing Superbike Championship Series races.

SBK race two action:

http://photos.speedtv.com/gallery/AMASBK_Infineon_Superbike_Race_2_0511

SBK race one action:

http://photos.speedtv.com/gallery/AMA_SBK_Infineon_Superbike_Race_1_0511

Race weekend wrap-up photos from Infineon Raceway courtesty of SpeeTV.com and Evan Williams:

http://photos.speedtv.com/gallery/AMASBK_Evan_Williams_Infineon_Gallery_0511//
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