AMA Road Racing: Tommy Hayden & Danny Eslick Take Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca Wins

Aggressive Tommy Hayden Takes Third 2011 SuperBike Victory on Red Bull USGP Stage

MONTEREY, CA (July 24, 2011) - The final race of the Red Bull USGP weekend was arguably the best of the event, as AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike rider Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) spun out 23 laps that were a perfect mix of patience and aggression. Taking the win over Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes, Hayden lofted his third first-place trophy of the season in front of his well-known father, Earl Hayden, even more famous brothers, Nicky and Roger, and thousands of cheering Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca fans.

"We were going pretty fast," said Tommy; "it definitely wasn't an easy pace. Once he took his rhythm, I just settled in and followed him around for a while. The last lap was obviously pretty intense -- I couldn't have crossed over by more than an inch or something [on the last pass], then I got it picked up and just tried to hold him off. I think I'm maybe fighting a little harder at the end [in recent races]; being a little more aggressive. I feel like I had the speed all year -- like I could have easily won five or six races this year -- so I'm just going to go to New Jersey and try to keep it going."

Off the start, the race quickly split into a pair of battles, Hayes and Tommy Hayden fighting over first while Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Blake Young and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden tore through a contest for third. M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas was bringing up the chase pack in fifth when he flew off into the gravel after just a handful of laps, reentering the race in tenth. Up front, Hayes continued to lead lap after lap while stalked by Tommy Hayden, while Roger tried desperately to find a way past Young for third.

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Tommy Hayden on the #22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki leads Josh Hayes on the #1 Monster Energy Grave Yamaha during AMA Pro American Superbike Championship Series action at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on July 24, 2011.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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As Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom moved up to assume the fifth-place spot, the riders behind him began to spread out, with the exception of ERB's Geoff May, who refused to let go of Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Graves Yamaha Chris Clark. With eight laps to go there came a change toward the front, as Roger Hayden slid up the inside to take third from Young.

With five laps to go -- as Cardenas sailed past May and began gunning for Clark -- Tommy capitalized on a mistake from Hayes in the Corkscrew and regained the lead as the duo exited the world-famous track feature. Holding the Yamaha rider off through the next three laps, Tommy took the white flag while threading through traffic. Hayes wasn't ready to concede defeat, however, taking the lead back oh-so-briefly and then trying again in the race's final turn. Slicing across Hayes' front wheel, Tommy slammed the door on the defending champ and tore across the finish line, taking the win by .233 seconds.

"I really thought that if I could get up to top of Turn 5 ahead of him, I had a pretty good shot," said Hayes. "But out of the Corkscrew he got a little gap on me, and I tried to get the best drive I could, but at that point it was pretty much his race once we got in the last turn. I tried really hard, but I came out second today."

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Josh Hayes, Tommy Hayden and Blake Young celebrate on the podium after the AMA Pro American Superbike Championship Series event at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on July 24, 2011.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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The margin that would decide Tommy's brother's race fate was even narrower: Roger Hayden and Young charged the finish side-by-side, Young suddenly diving a wheel forward to claim third by .045. "Roger rode a very good race," said Young; "he definitely didn't give it to me at all. On the last lap I thought he might be a little defensive and ride the inside line of the last turn, like is pretty typical here, and that's what he did. So I just really buried it into the turn pretty deep, got it squared up, and I think he got a little bit of a wheelie that slowed his drive. And with that, I ended up bringing home the third."

Behind Roger Hayden, Bostrom, Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing), Steve Rapp (San Diego BMW), Cardenas, Clark, and May rounded out the top ten.

Today's race results have narrowed the points margin between championship leader Young and runner-up Hayes to five, 311 to 306. Tommy Hayden's win boosts his points tally to 263. Hayden's expressed determination to keep collecting wins promoted a smiling Young to quip, "I'm glad I have a teammate and [Hayes] doesn't."

The AMA Pro Road Racing Championship next travels to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Red Bull Indy GP August 27-28, where the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 class will represent the series. For AMA Pro's remaining classes, the season will culminate at New Jersey Motorsports Park September 2-4, where the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, Daytona SportBike, and Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport East Coast Division Championships will be decided.

For Red Bull Indy GP tickets and information, visit www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com or call (800) 822-INDY. For New Jersey Motorsports Park tickets and information, visit www.njmp.com or call (856) 327-8000. To be a part of the AMA Pro Road Racing Championship, 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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Victory for Eslick, Heartbreak for Herrin in Daytona SportBike Red Bull USGP Contest

MONTEREY, CA (July 24, 2011) - When the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike light went green at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Team Latus Motors Racing's Jason DiSalvo seemed on a mission to obliterate all memory of recent lackluster results. But while the Ducati rider held the front-runner position through the majority of the Sunday race, it was GEICO Powersports RMR Suzuki's Danny Eslick who blazed through a red-flag-strewn event to take ultimate victory.

"I got off to a little bit of a rough start," said Eslick. "For some reason it took me a few laps to get in a good rhythm and start hitting my marks. But being basically a fifteen-lap sprint race [after the restart], we didn't have much time to mess around -- I had to get up there and get up to speed. Race wins definitely help the championship ... and this place has a special spot in the motorcycle world, so it's pretty neat."

Eslick's fortunes proved vastly different from Monster Energy Graves Yamaha pilot Josh Herrin's, who was running a very aggressive chase from second before being forced to retire mid-race with a smoking bike. The resulting loss of points will be enough to crush the Yamaha rider's championship hopes, as there remains but one double-header round at which to strike back.

DiSalvo, having earned the pole position in Saturday qualifying, sliced past Herrin off the line for the first start to claim the lead heading into Turn 1. With a red flag throw moments later, as Jake Holden (JHR/RidersDiscount.com) and Paul Allison (Triple Crown Industries) went down in Turn 2, the twenty-rider field again prepared to launch from the three-rider-wide, MotoGP-style grid. Dominating the restart, DiSalvo headed the field for the majority of the race, with Herrin, Eslick, and an increasingly aggressive Cameron Beaubier (JHR/RidersDiscount.com) giving chase from behind, until Herrin's mechanical misfortune signaled a shake-up in running order.

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Cameron Beaubier, Danny Eslick and Jason DiSalvo celebrate on the podium after the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Series race at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on July 24, 2011.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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With clear track ahead, Beaubier suddenly dove into the lead, leaving DiSalvo and Eslick to wage side-by-side pursuit just behind. Eslick wasn't content to let the 18-year-old hold the prestigious spot for long, though, and took over the front position with just a handful of laps remaining. While Herrin was consoled by Yamaha team members on the sidelines, Eslick rode the wheels off his Suzuki to stay out of the grasp of Beaubier, while DiSalvo lost several bike-lengths to the front-runners.

Suddenly, a second red flag emerged, as Raul Alzate (LTD Racing Y.E.S. Yamaha) crashed out at the top of the Corkscrew, his bike sliding down the steep feature and coming to rest in the impact zone of a lower turn. With only five laps remaining, the red flag deemed the race complete and the checkers were taken up by Eslick, who rode his victory lap primarily on one wheel and was careful to give props to young Beaubier following the race. "Hopefully he moves on pretty quick," said Eslick, laughing, "so I don't have to keep racing him too long,"

"At the beginning of the season, I didn't know what I was doing with myself because the level was so much higher," said Beaubier, who stepped up to Daytona SportBike from the Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport class for 2011. "But I kept progressing through the season, learning a little more each race from the top guys, and now I'm running with them, so it's a really good feeling. It was a really good race -- Danny made some awesome passes on me and Jason, and I made some passes earlier in the race that felt pretty good. It was great, and I'd just like to thank my whole team."

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Danny Eslick #69 on his Richie Morris Racing Suzuki leads Cameron Beaubier on the #116 Jake Holden Racing Yamaha and Jason DiSalvo on the #40 Latus Motors Ducati during AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Series action at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on July 24, 2011.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
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"It's been a while since we were on the box," said DiSalvo, who added that had the race gone the distance, he felt he would have been able to reconcile himself with some of the places in which he struggled. "We had a rough run in the middle of the season, but we're finally starting to come back, and I feel like I'm getting full-strength again. I'm excited about going to the next round; I want to give the guys on the Latus crew another victory to pay them back for all the hard work they've given me."

Beaubier and DiSalvo, who finished second and third, respectively, were followed across the line by Tommy Aquino (Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Graves Yamaha), Cory West (Vesrah Suzuki), Dane Westby (M4 Suzuki), Kev Coghland (ADR Team 2), Taylor Knapp (Vesrah Suzuki), Fernando Amantini (Team Amantini), and Tyler Odom (Don Odom Racing). Celtic Racing's PJ Jacobsen crashed out mid-race, but rose as high as fifth before doing so.

With Eslick's victory and Herrin's DNF, the former has extended his championship lead to 244 over 199. DiSalvo sits third with 196. 

The AMA Pro Road Racing Championship next travels to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Red Bull Indy GP August 27-28, where the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 class will represent the series. For AMA Pro's remaining classes, the season will culminate at New Jersey Motorsports Park September 2-4, where the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, Daytona SportBike, and Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport East Coast Division Championships will be decided.

For Red Bull Indy GP tickets and information, visit www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com or call (800) 822-INDY. For New Jersey Motorsports Park tickets and information, visit www.njmp.com or call (856) 327-8000. To be a part of the AMA Pro Road Racing Championship, 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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You can find the complete event results from the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix round of the AMA Pro Road Racing Championship Series here, thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing (PDF versions):

http://results.amaproracing.com/live/results/pdfresults/rr/2011/R1135/default.aspx
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