AMA Road Racing: Blake Young Wins SBK R2 and Herrin Takes DSB R2 at Barber

Young Takes Revenge on Sweltering SuperBike Race
at Barber Motorsports Park

BIRMINGHAM, AL (June 19, 2011) - After settling for third in yesterday's rain-soaked AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike contest, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Blake Young demanded a swap from Race 1 winner Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) and went right through Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes to get it. With all three riders visibly exhausted after the extremely hot race, Young -- who started from the second row -- said, "I just kept thinking to myself, 'If I'm hurting this bad and this tired, he's gotta be hurting too, so just keep after it.'"

As sapped as the podium trio felt post-race, however, a pair of Hayden bothers -- Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Tommy and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger -- undoubtedly felt worse. Tommy, who got the holeshot off the start and lead through the first third of the race, was handed sudden misfortune when his bike began spewing smoke and flames, sidelining the eldest Hayden.

Roger, who'd been running a very strong fourth before a ride through the grass relegated him to a much more distant sixth, had been making up impressive ground on the frontrunners -- closing the gap from over two seconds to less than a half-second -- when a crash ended his race with seven laps to go. Although the Jordan rider walked away shaking his head, however, one thing his Barber runs have made clear is that the SuperBike class could soon see a new contender for front-runner status. 

Hayes and Young, meanwhile, continued to trade the lead while testing each other's lines, often running just inches apart and swapping spots in consecutive corners. With six laps left in the race, Young took back the lead and tried desperately to shake the Yamaha rider off, and he was able to eek out just enough of a margin to keep himself safe while the pair made their final charge up the front straight.

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AMA Superbike Championship Series race 2 winner at Barber Motorsports Park, Blake Young gives the teams, fans and sponsors a smokey treat after taking home the win on a hot and humid afternoon in Leeds, AL.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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"I knew he'd be there," said Hayes -- "he always is. Blake knew the areas where I was fast, and I really thought maybe the end would come my way a little bit because it seemed like he was having to use his bike more defensively than me. But at the end, I think we were both in hot water: pretty hot, pretty tired, and the bikes were getting extremely hot. I made the best run I could at him, but he rode a smart race, and he beat me."

"Today conditions were very extreme, very hot," Cardenas agreed, "and I think today's race was even tougher than yesterday's because we were sliding even a bit more than yesterday, so it was very difficult to maintain the pace. Roger and Tommy and Josh and Blake were running very fast and gaining some time over me in Turn 2 every lap, so I had to push very hard each lap to close the gap. But at the end I was just exhausted, and the last eight laps were very difficult for me to move on the bike because I was very tired and dehydrated. But third is a very good result, and we were closer than ever to the frontrunners, so I am very happy.

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Blake Young #79 leads Josh Hayes #1 and Martin Cardenas #36 in AMA Superbike Championship Series race 2 action at Barber Motorsports Park.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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Behind Cardenas, Steve Rapp (San Diego BMW), Ben Bostrom (Jordan Suzuki), Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing), Geoff May (Amsoil EBR Racing), Chris Clark (Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Graves Yamaha), Chris Peris (Iron Horse BMW), and JD Beach (Cycle World Attack Kawasaki) rounded out the top ten.

The points race has tightened considerably, with Young trailing Hayes, 233 to 235. Tommy Hayden sits third with 182 as the AMA Pro Road Racing Championship next heads to Lexington, Ohio's Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the July 8-10 weekend, Round 6 on the series calendar. For tickets and information, visit www.midohio.com or call (419) 884-4000.

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

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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Herrin Takes Sunday Daytona SportBike Victory,
Eslick Takes Points Lead

BIRMINGHAM, AL (June 19, 2011) - Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Herrin had something to prove -- and points to regain -- in today's AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Race 2, and when the light went green at Sunday's Barber Motorsports Park contest, that's exactly what he did. After stalking GEICO Powersports/RMR Suzuki's Danny Eslick through the majority of the hard-fought race, Herrin turned the misery of yesterday's DNF into a very sweet .022-second margin of victory, then celebrated by scaling an enormous fence to cheers from fans.

"I consider this my home race, and I was really excited," said Herrin. "I did the Track Walk yesterday and told a couple fans I'd climb the fence, and they were pretty excited about it. So, I thought I would be nice to the fans," added the rider who'd just taken a win in 96-degree heat, "to get them out of the shade up there."

Saturday's seized engine may come back to haunt Herrin in the overall points chase, but for today, the Yamaha rider -- followed across the line by Eslick and Jake Holden Racing's Cameron Beaubier -- is back on top. Only on top of the Barber podium, however, as it's Eslick who's taken over the championship points lead now, becoming the fourth rider to do so this year.

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Danny Eslick, Josh Herrin and Cameron Beaubier celebrate on the podium at Barber Motorsports Park after race 2 in the Daytona SportBike Series.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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For Celtic Racing/Fast by Ferracci's PJ Jacobsen, today's event was eerily and unpleasantly similar to yesterday's, in which he crashed out early in the race after leading briefly. In today's contest, he lost that lead to a string of other riders before sliding out, but he was far from the only front-runner to suffer sideline fate: M4 Suzuki's Dane Westby followed suit after running as high as third, with former points-leader Cory West (Vesrah Suzuki) ran off just minutes later while trying to move up from fourth. (West was able to reenter, ultimately finishing 20th.)

As Herrin put steadily increasing pressure on Eslick while clearly planning a last-minute attack, it was Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Grave Yamaha's Tommy Aquino who grabbed the spotlight, putting on a performance unlike anything the 19-year-old's shown the paddock this year. Though Beaubier ultimately got him at the last minute -- "It was a little close," said Beaubier, "but I had to do it" -- Aquino demonstrated he's still got what it takes to land on the box.

When the white flag flew and the last lap unspooled, Herrin's attack, which he later labeled part of a "just I hope I can get it, and hope it'll stick" strategy, let loose on the string of final corners, delivered Herrin to the finish-line less than three tenths ahead of Eslick. "I can say I got beat," Eslick said later, laughing. "There's not much else to it. I led every lap down to the last corner pretty much, and he was definitely in a good position. After following me for 20 laps, he knew exactly where I was going on every lap. He definitely had options, and I didn't know where [the attack] was going to come from, but at that point I knew it was coming pretty quick."

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Josh Herrin #8 leads Danny Eslick #69 in race 2 action in the AMA Pro Road Racing Daytona SportBike Series Championship at Barber Motorsports Park.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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When asked how the riders handled today's heat, Eslick quipped, "The same as we do whenever it's cold -- we're not the smartest people out here."

Third-place finisher Beaubier later described his strategy as "just trying not to make any mistakes at the beginning. I knew if I didn't charge hard enough at beginning, I wouldn't be there at end," he continued. "It was a really tough race. I had a couple hard moments trying to keep up, but it was an awesome race."

Behind Beaubier, Aquino, Taylor Knapp (Vesrah Suzuki), Jason DiSalvo (Latus Motors Racing), Kris Turner (Turner's Cycle Racing), Tyler O'Hara (GP Bike Parts Racing), Barrett Long (Longevity Racing), and Tyler Odom (Don Odom Racing) rounded out the top ten.

The AMA Pro Road Racing Championship next heads to Lexington, Ohio's Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the July 8-10 weekend, Round 6 on the series calendar. For tickets and information, visit www.midohio.com or call (419) 884-4000.

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

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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Complete results (PDF versions) can be found, for the entire weekend's events at the Barber Motorsports Park round of the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing Series, here:

http://results.amaproracing.com/live/results/pdfresults/rr/2011/R1125/default.aspx
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