DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (April 25, 2012) - It's often cautioned that the AMA Pro
Road Racing season opener at Daytona International Speedway can provide a false
read -- a one-off weekend contested on a banked superspeedway that doesn't
necessarily serve as a good indicator of the field's true strength for when they
arrive at more conventional road circuits.
However, the
Triumph Big Kahuna Atlanta presented by Dunlop Tire and LeoVince only confirmed
what was learned at Daytona, providing even more evidence that we're in for
another season of remarkably competitive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike racing
in 2012.
This past
weekend's stop at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. hinted that the status quo that
took shape throughout 2011 remains intact with a pecking order that is
relatively unchanged. Fortunately, the '11 season was one of the most compelling
in the series' history and more of the same is exactly what everyone had hoped
to see.
If anything, the
racing early in 2012 has been even more spirited. While just 0.002 seconds
separated title favorites Blake Young and Josh Hayes at the flag
in Race 2 at Daytona, Young one-upped that dramatic performance with what may go
down as the signature victory for the emerging superstar on Saturday at Road
Atlanta.
The Yoshimura
Racing Suzuki pilot and his Monster Energy Graves Yamaha-backed rival again
elevated their fight for the lead to a level that was impossible for the
remainder of the pack to match early in Saturday's contest.
The two
routinely swapped positions in tight quarters, with Young swooping around the
inside or outside of Turn 10 at will, while Hayes had a counterpunch in the form
of an inside jab as they headed down the hill toward the track's final corner,
Turn 12.
Young and Hayes
have fought fiercely on just about every race weekend for over a year now, but
what happened on lap 14 was unprecedented. The two touched as they crested the
hill, front wheels aloft. Hooked together, Young was slammed to the pavement and
left dazed on the track. A red flag was immediately thrown and Hayes powered his
way around the 2.55-mile circuit at race pace to check on the condition of his
primary rival. Appearing for a
moment to be seriously injured, Young finally picked himself up off the tarmac,
brushed off the approaching medical attention, and limped his way to his fallen
GSX-R1000 (which somehow managed to merely slide on its side instead of roll).
Young remounted his #79 machine and rode it back into the pits to prepare for
the restart.
Of course, he
was forced to do so from the back of the field. Not happy with that development,
Young channeled his anger and aggression to fuel his charge up through the field
and arrived on Hayes' tail almost immediately.
The two resumed
their epic battle and once again Young pulled a last-lap rabbit out of his
helmet to walk away victorious following another final corner duel.
"My Yoshimura
Suzuki guys did a great job putting the bike back together," Young said. "I
mean, when I got back on the thing it was like when I just got off of it, it was
so perfect. And I wasn't too happy about starting on the back row. I didn't feel
like that's where I should've been placed. But that's I guess that's the
rule.
"I got a
spectacular start. 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."
Despite being
defeated in another close dogfight, Hayes was quick to pay tribute to Young's
performance: "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."
That doesn't
mean Hayes would back down the following day, however. He proved untouchable on
Sunday, reminiscent of his Friday ride at Daytona. Hayes (who crashed twice on
Friday) and Young (feeling the effects of his Race 1 crash) were both beaten up
heading into their rematch but still proved to be the class of the field. In a dominant
display, the Mississippian clicked off multiple laps under his pole mark and
broke Young's pursuit early en route to a dominating payback ride on Sunday. The win was the
first-ever for Yamaha in the SuperBike category at Road Atlanta.
"I'm excited
about it," Hayes said. "This has always been a pretty good track for me and I've
always had pretty good speed here. I've gotten outfoxed at the line a couple
times by Blake here. So I'm glad to be able to put one together this afternoon
and put some good strong laps down. "It's not how I
expected the race to go -- I expected another battle. It's a lot easier on my
ticker to be able to get away a little bit and ride by myself and do my own
laps."
And true to the
trend established a year ago, even though they are even on wins (2-2), Hayes has
garnered every possible bonus point this season and currently sits six points
ahead of Young in the early title fight (116-110).
Hayes remarked,
"I don't think I can change my game plan and I doubt he's going to change his.
We seem to be splitting wins and it's great for the series and a good show. I
don't know what I would do different quite honestly because I feel like my plan
is one that works and has brought me to a couple championships. I think it's
going to be a lot of this season."
Hayes and Young
left Atlanta once again tied for the $2,000 Cortech "Performance Edge"
Award, which will go to the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike rider who
posts the highest number of "fastest lap of the race" in event finals during the
2012 season. In Race 1, Young turned the fastest lap of the race on Lap 5 with a
time of 1:25.364 and in Race 2, Hayes turned the fastest lap of the race on Lap
6 with a time of 1:24.922. With a total of 581.3 miles and 213 laps completed so
far in the 2012 AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike season, Hayes also leads the
Sunoco "Go The Distance" Award.
Josh Hayes leads Blake Young during one of the AMA Pro Superbike races at the Big Kahuna Road Atlanta round in April 2012. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Hayes' Sunday
victory earned him the distinction of being named the weekend's National Guard
SuperBike 'Big Kahuna,' and with that came the iconic surfboard trophy provided
by M1 PowerSports and designed by Roland Sands
and Motorcycle-Superstore.com. "Getting the
surfboard is awesome," Hayes commented. "I was able to get one of the ones at
VIR when I was riding Formula Xtreme. I've got that in the living room and I
think this will look great sitting next to it to bookend it."
Also confirming
the Daytona opener, there were two distinct groups chasing behind the fight for
the win. The first was a
two-man fight featuring Hayes' Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate, Josh
Herrin, and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden. The two were
just short of the winning pace, able to run in tow for a handful of laps but not
at full distance.
That reality is
a welcome one for National Guard SuperBike rookie Herrin, who is still learning
the ropes and expecting to steadily improve. It's not quite so pleasant for
Hayden, who remains consistently quick but a step off of the form at which he
concluded 2011, where he proved capable of challenging Hayes and Young for race
wins.
While Hayden
took a pair of thirds at Daytona, he was twice relegated to fourth by Herrin,
who scored the first two podiums of his young SuperBike career. Additionally,
Herrin continued to get great starts and enjoyed a stint at the front of the
pack both days (if rather abbreviated). The Dublin, Ga.
resident was thrilled with the outcome but also aware of the areas in which he
needs to improve to take the next step. He explained,
"It was a really good race -- I had fun just keeping Josh and Blake in my sights
for the first seven laps or so. That felt good. I'll go home and get ready for
the next one -- work on my strength; I just need to be a little stronger to
throw these bikes around on tight tracks. The Yamaha R1 was working great --
obviously, you can see Josh is doing pretty good on it. The bike is capable of
winning -- I just wasn't ready yet. But it was a good weekend. I'm glad to be on
the podium twice."
Hayden said,
"Two fourths is a little disappointing after being on the podium twice at
Daytona. At the same time, we made a run for the podium, we finished both races
and we learned some stuff. Although fourth place isn't where we want to be, I
feel like I'm riding good and the National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 is
working great. Hopefully, we can move on to Infineon and get back on the
podium."
After Herrin and
Hayden was another significant gap leading back to a big pack of contenders for
fifth place, which included Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May, Attack
Performance Kawasaki's Steve Rapp, Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW's
Larry Pegram, Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, Yoshimura Racing
Suzuki's Chris Clark, KTM/HMC's Chris Fillmore, Team Hero EBR's
Danny Eslick, and Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor
Knapp.
Of the group,
May was probably the most impressive over the course of the weekend. From nearby
Gainesville, Ga., May was in stunning form on the EBR 1190RS, claiming a spot on
the provisional front row on Friday, locking down a top-five qualifying position
on Saturday, securing a top-five result in Race 1, and was well positioned for a
repeat of that finish in Race 2 before a mechanical issue force him into the
pits. He still managed to return to the fray and finish 13th.
Team owner
Erik Buell said, "Pretty good weekend overall at Road Atlanta, although
not quite as good as we had hoped. A shifter pivot bolt fell out on Geoff's
Amsoil Hero #99, or he would have had at least a fifth again; he was right on
top of fourth at the time of the problem."
Pegram walked
away with that fifth after finishing 12th the day before after
hitting a curb and damaging his wheels. Fillmore was solid on his orange RC8
both days, taking sixth and seventh, as was Rapp in seventh and eighth. Eslick picked up
a couple top tens (tenth and ninth) and Knapp impressed on Sunday with a
sixth. Knapp, who
gridded up for each of the race finals in 16th position, finished one position
ahead of Pegram in Race 1 one position behind him in Race 2. Gaining 15
positions combined at Road Atlanta, Knapp took home the MotoBatt "Hard Charger
Award," a $500 award given at the completion of each race weekend to the rider
who improves the most positions combined from each of the weekend's race finals.
Clark ran
further up the third pack in both races before eventually settling down in ninth
and tenth. He said, "This weekend, we got out with some points and we're not too
far from my goal of fifth overall. The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is running
great and we're figuring out the best package for me to beat the guys in front
of me, and hopefully come out of the season in the top five. Now, we have a few
things we're going to test and a few things we have better knowledge on. So I'm
looking forward to going to Infineon and having a good race."
However, it was
another nightmarish weekend for former class champion Bostrom. After crashing
twice at Daytona, Bostrom managed eighth on Saturday but suffered another fall
on Sunday. "It was really a
tough weekend," said Bostrom. "The Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 is a lot better than
I've shown at the first few races. I've crashed out of three of four races and
that's unheard of. I usually don't crash all year, so I'm not doing the bike any
favors. I got eighth on Saturday and that's top 10, but it's not where I want to
be. I'm definitely looking forward to racing at Infineon. I grew up in that area
and I like the racetrack, and I think our bike will be racing for first
there."
While the entire
field carries big aspirations into Infineon Raceway, title leader Hayes could
prove tough to handle. The Yamaha ace has picked up four of the most recent AMA
Pro National Guard SuperBike victories in Sonoma, Ca. with the other two wins
going to riders no longer competing in the class (Mat Mladin and Tommy
Hayden).
Next
Event
AMA Pro Road
Racing will next head west for Round 3 with a stop at scenic Sonoma, Calif. The
Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam will take place at Infineon Raceway in two weeks
time, May 4-6. For tickets and event information, please visit www.infineonraceway.com.
