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GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Recap: Hayes Racks up Record Eight AMA Pro National Guard
SuperBike Wins in a Row at Red Bull U.S. Grand
Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
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DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (August 1, 2012) - The 2012 GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road
Racing season is quickly becoming a numbers game. That
is, the historic numbers two-time defending AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike
Champion Josh Hayes continues to accumulate as he storms through the '12
campaign in unprecedented fashion. The
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha-backed superstar was untouchable once again as he
continued to run roughshod over the competition at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
with the MotoGP World Championship paddock watching on shortly after contesting
the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
Hayes
was quickly out front and on the escape, at which point his lead continued to
pile up, just like the aforementioned numbers. The
checkered flag at the conclusion of the 23-lap runaway marked Hayes' fifth
consecutive max points haul weekend. It also represented his eighth consecutive
victory, a new single-season record which tied the absolute mark posted by Mat
Mladin ('08-'09).
The
win was Hayes' 28th in the premier class, moving him into a tie for third
all-time with three-time series king Ben Spies, who watched Hayes work on Sunday
afternoon. It
was also the 50th of his GEICO Motorcycles AMA Pro Road Racing career across all
classes (fourth all-time) and the 11th of the season, just one short of Mladin's
single-season record of '12 posted in 2007, with six races remaining on the
season slate.
Hayes
also continued his perfect run of pole positions this season, picking up his
eighth of the season and tenth consecutive overall dating back to the end of his
'11 title run.
Josh Hayes #1 leads Monster Energy Graves Motorsports Yamaha team mate Josh Herrin #2 and the rest of the field through the corkscrew at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the running of the AMA Superbike Championship final held there on Sunday, July 29. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
The
world class performance was appreciated by the visiting MotoGP contenders as the
Tech3 squad, for which Hayes' subbed last year and registered a seventh-place
performance in his GP debut, celebrated the Mississippian's blowout win on pit
wall. And
if Hayes continues in this fashion much longer, the focus will shift to numbers
required to clinch his third-consecutive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike crown
as he upped his advantage to 74. "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. 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. 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 reevaluate 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."
Even
if another Hayes breakaway felt inevitable, the fight for the remainder of the
podium kept the massive crowd on their toes.
Hayes'
teammate, Josh Herrin, did an admirable job to cling onto his more experienced
stablemate just long enough to get pulled free of the fight for third, but once
off the chase of #1, he eventually fell back into the pack battling for third
(and then second). And
the melee that absorbed #2 was intense. National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger
Hayden headed it for a time before machinery issues dropped him well off the
pace, but the fighting remained heated with the EBR 1190RSs of Team
Amsoil/Hero's Geoff May and Team Hero's Danny Eslick both in the mix, Jordan
Suzuki's Ben Bostrom getting a sniff of a potential podium at a track where he's
enjoyed his brightest moments as a professional, and Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake
Young once again finding his form just in time for the green light. As
he's done so many times already in his relatively short National Guard SuperBike
career, Young found a way to win the multi-rider battle with his rare instincts
for racecraft. Young and Herrin went back and forth on the final lap multiple
times but the Suzuki rider simply outfoxed the rookie and got a superior drive
to the checkered flag, edging him by inches at the stripe.
"It
was a pretty good race for us today. 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. "
Despite
getting reeled in and beat for second, the race still represented another strong
effort from Herrin, who now boasts nine podium results in his maiden SuperBike
season. "It
was a great last lap -- it was fun," he said. "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
notched up an impressive fourth, beating both resident track master Bostrom and
teammate May, who had gotten the better of the Oklahoman in their previous four
outings. Bostrom
completed the top five after giving the podium runners fits with his determined
effort to right what's been a difficult season at the circuit where he took his
first-ever World Superbike victory and two of his three career AMA Pro National
Guard SuperBike wins. "Of
course I'm disappointed not to have given the Jordan Motorsports boys a top
finish today," said Bostrom. "Now it's going to be a long six weeks until the
next race, but I still believe we will win one of these last races. Thanks to my
team as always for putting a great bike like the Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 under
me."
May
faded to sixth late but was still well clear of Riders Discount K&L Supply's
Taylor Knapp in seventh. After
showing such promise last time out at Mid-Ohio and looking equally strong in the
lead-up to the Laguna Seca showdown, Hayden was pushed all the way down eighth
due to a technical issue. Hayden,
who might have had the pace to finish second once again, chose to look on the
bright side, afterward, "I had a pretty good weekend at Laguna. All the way up
until the race. We were fast in qualifying and the Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 was
really working good. Unfortunately, in the race we had a little bit of a
problem. It's unfortunate because we had such good speed all weekend."
KTM/HMC's
Stefan Nebel registered his best AMA Pro performance to date. The German was
once again the sole rider for the team as Chris Fillmore gave it a couple laps
early in the weekend before deciding he would require further mending before
returning to action. Nebel
battled with Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram, who put in a
gritty effort despite cracking ribs a day earlier in a nasty fall during
qualifying in an oil-related incident that caught a number of runners off
guard. German
Nebel and his Austrian-made KTM RC8R ultimately overcame Ohioan Pegram on his
German-made BMW S1000RR for ninth as the two completed the top ten. Nebel
said, "I enjoyed racing this track today; it was a very challenging course but
very fun to ride. I have overcome my infection from the previous round and felt
great all week. I am happy to walk away with my best finish and hope to improve
upon that at the next race."
Yoshimura
Suzuki's Chris Clark struggled to 15th after turning heads on Friday, when he
ranked fifth fastest in free practice, outpacing the likes of Young and
Herrin. "Right
off the bat, we were two seconds faster than I was here last year. I was feeling
really confident with my pace for the race weekend and I got a pretty good start
in the race but I struggled with grip. Now, I'm looking forward to the down time
to try and put together a physio-training program to help build up my shoulder
muscles to help me feel more comfortable on the bike."
The
AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike contenders will take their summer break in
August before picking up the first of the season's final three GEICO Motorcycle
AMA Pro Road Racing doubleheaders at New Jersey Motorsports Park on September
7-9.
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Point
Standings (After Round 8)
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About GEICO Motorcycle
AMA Pro Road Racing:
GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro
Road Racing is the premier motorcycle road racing series in North America and is
universally regarded as one of the most competitive road racing organizations in
the world. The 2012 schedule consists of 12 rounds of competition on the
country's finest road courses. The Series is comprised of four production-based
classes: AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike, AMA
Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and the AMA Pro Vance & Hines
XR1200 Series. Learn more about GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing at www.amaproracing.com/rr/.
About AMA Pro
Racing:
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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