Down, Not Out: Blake Young Crashes, Charges Through Field To Win AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 1 at Road Atlanta
BRASELTON, Ga. (April 21,
2012) - Blake Young scored one of the more
improbable and remarkable victories in AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike history
on Saturday at Road Atlanta in the opening half of the Triumph Big Kahuna
Atlanta presented by Dunlop Tire and LeoVince. The opening 13 laps of the battle
went exactly to script; title rivals Josh Hayes on the Monster Energy Graves
Yamaha YZF-R1 and Young aboard the Yoshimura Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 made a
rapid escape from the field and once again settled in for what seemed likely to
be a race-long showdown to the checkered flag.
Young sat in Hayes' tow for much
of the race's first half before making his move on lap 10 of 20. The two then
engaged in repeated duels entering Turn 10a and heading down the hill to Turn 12
with the lap leader point still up for grabs. Young was able to enter 10a on
either the inside or outside with success, but Hayes proved capable of
countering by swinging back under to out-accelerate Young heading down the hill
in order to reclaim the advantage.
The two did precisely that on lap
13 but disaster struck during the lap-14 encore. The leaders came together
heading down the hill as Hayes overtook Young; the Wisconsin native was slammed
down to the pavement as their bikes got hung up together with Young's front
wheel in the air. Blake's year-plus streak without a crash was ended in an
instant, along with his title hopes -- or so it seemed.
A red flag was immediately thrown
as the Suzuki star rolled around in obvious pain. However, Young gritted it out,
refused medical attention, and limped back to his fallen machine and rode it
back into the pitlane to prepare for the restart. At the same time Hayes stopped
and waited to check on his rival's condition.
Forced to regrid at the very back
of the field, Young somehow sliced his way up to fourth by the completion of the
opening lap of the restart. The fall didn't temper Young's aggressiveness in the
least -- if anything, he was only more determined. He quickly ripped past
National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden and Hayes' teammate (and two-time
holeshot winner), Josh Herrin, to glue himself right back on his nemesis' rear
wheel.
Young and Hayes resumed their
earlier heavyweight tilt, trading inside and outside overtakings to the final
lap. The Suzuki pilot made a slingshot maneuver into the lead on the
backstraight and then heavily defended through the chicane and down the
hill.
Hayes made a last-gasp attempt up
the inside of the race's final corner, but Young squared him up and leapt back
past as they accelerated to the stripe, winning by 0.293-seconds at the
checkered flag.
After winning the first Big
Kahuna race of '12, Young joked, "I could have used that surf board when I
surfed down the pavement."
"I wasn't too happy about
starting on the back row," Young said of the restart. "But I guess that's the
rule. It was a good race for us today -- I got a spectacular race. I tried to
settle in but I found myself trying to get a breath and it was pretty tough. I
was taking a lot of short breaths -- I don't know if it was a result of the
crash or because of the adrenaline.
"Once I got to the back of Josh,
it seemed like he had a pace that I didn't think I could keep up with but maybe
try to do something toward the end there and get a wheel in and mount a pass. I
would have been happy to come away with second today. "Josh came up in the inside on
the last lap. He came up there pretty fast and I knew it was going to be tough
to get slowed down there and I just squared him up and took it back."
In a show of sportsmanship, Hayes
bowed to the victorious Young on his victory lap.
Hayes said, "All-in-all, for me
it was a pretty good day. I'm not even that upset about losing the race. More
than anything I was really upset when me and Blake tangled up and I realized he
wasn't there. It scared me pretty bad. For him to be able to get his
stuff together and get back out there and race the way he did... bravo. Man, I
think it's a great story. It was a hero ride and it's great for our sport. Big
congrats to him."
Herrin and Hayden did an
admirable job to stick with the leading duo in the post-red flag sprint. Rookie
Herrin ultimately scored the first SuperBike podium of his career, finishing
less than a second behind the win. "At the first start I just didn't
have the pace to race with Josh and Blake -- they were riding really good,"
Herrin admitted. "When the red flag came out, it gave me a second chance and I
decided to take advantage of it. I felt really good going back out and just gave
it everything I had. I didn't give up at all. I was hoping for (the win). It
didn't come but I got on the podium, which was my main goal for the
weekend."
Hayden came home in fourth while
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May picked up an impressive top-five at his home
circuit. Chris Fillmore (KTM/HMC) finished
in sixth, with Steve Rapp (Attack Performance Kawasaki), Ben Bostrom (Jordan
Suzuki), Chris Clark (Yoshimura Racing Suzuki) and Danny Eslick (Team Hero EBR)
rounding out the top ten.
Former series champion Martin
Cardenas won his first AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike contest of the year on
Saturday. The GEICO Suzuki rider set pole and ran away with the 20-lap race,
although it was not without two drama-filled moments he experienced while riding
alone. The second near-miss saw Cardenas, then with a five-second lead, run
through the grass to keep from crashing. The Colombian quickly regrouped and set
his quick lap of the race the following time around, though.
"It was enough to win this race.
I thought it was going to be a big battle like always," said Cardenas, surprised
to have run much of the race by himself.
Dane Westby earned second with a
brilliant ride. Westby, on board the M4 Broaster Chicken Suzuki, got a poor
start and charged through the top 10 to second place. The Oklahoman's race was
reminiscent of his Mid-Ohio victory last season as he continued to gain momentum
throughout.
Tommy Hayden earned third in his
substitute ride on the Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha. Hayden had a race-long battle with
Benny Solis (Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki) who crashed at turn 10 on the
penultimate lap. Jake Zemke, riding for the local Ducshop Ducati team, followed.
Cory West (Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki) was solid on his way to fifth place,
ahead of former AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race-winner Bobby Fong (Meen
Motorsports) and Huntley Nash in his best ever GoPro Daytona SportBike result
for LTD Racing.
DAYTONA® 200 Winner
Joey Pascarella earned eighth in his first race for SGA Racing. J.D.Beach was
ninth for RoadRace Factory/Red Bull and Michael Beck (Full Tuck Racing) rounded
out the top 10.
James Rispoli (Orient Express
Celtic Racing) won for the second time in 2012. The reigning AMA Pro
Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport king emerged victorious in a hard-fought
battle with Jake Lewis (Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki) that took 16 laps to
decide. Rispoli and Lewis both led before Rispoli consolidated the lead at the
end to take victory.
Four riders comprised the next
group, with Castrol Triumph's Dustin Dominguez taking the spot and the last
place on the podium ahead of Travis Wyman (Harv's H-D Yamaha) and Stefano Mesa
(Kneedraggers.com Yamaha). RoadRace Factory/Red Bull's Hayden Gillim ran third
for much of the race, but faded to sixth.
Tyler O'Hara won pole for the AMA
Pro Vance & Hines Series at Road Atlanta. O'Hara, who won the Indianapolis
race last year, set a best mark of 1:39.478 on his Bartel's Harley -Davidson
XR1200.
Youth and experience were both
showcased as Kyle Wyman (KWR), Michael Barnes (Bartel's), and Steve Rapp (Harv's
Harley-Davidson) will round out the front row.
Tune In to
SPEED
Find out who will become the next
Big Kahuna in AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike and AMA Pro GoPro Daytona
SportBike by tuning in to SPEED for a set of same-day delayed broadcasts
scheduled to begin Sunday at 11:00 p.m. ET (8:00 p.m. PT).
Fans can also follow along live as the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series riders battle for their boards by logging onto http://www.speed2.com Sunday at 12:25 p.m. ET (9:25 p.m. PT).
SPEED2 is a
broadband service available to customers of Time Warner, Bright House Networks,
Cablevision, DISH and Cox.
For more information and instructions on gaining
access to all of the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com and AMA Pro Vance &
Hines XR1200 Series races, please review the SPEED2 FAQ located at http://www.speed2.com/faq.
Live Timing & Scoring of all
on-track sessions will be available at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/.
Between the races, stay connected with AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing.
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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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