AMA Road Racing: Hayes Wins Race 2 at Homestead-Miami & Clinches 3rd AMA Superbike Championship

No Place like Homestead for Clinching GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Championships: Hayes and Cardenas Crowned

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (September 23, 2012) - The remarkable Josh Hayes stormed from more than 15 seconds back to claim his 30th career victory and secure a third-consecutive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike crown on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Waged in tricky damp-but-drying conditions, Sunday's GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing race at the M1 PowerSports-promoted Triumph Big Kahuna Miami presented by Dunlop Tire and LeoVince was all about tire selection.  The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha ace outfoxed his opposition even if it didn't appear that way in the early going. He fell back with the pack in the race's early stages while a number of other competitors who selected different tire combinations stole the spotlight.                               Ben Bostrom, Josh Hayes and Steve Rapp celebrate their 3-1-2 finishes yesterday in race 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway while Hayes clinched his 3rd AMA Superbike Championship in-a-row with one round remaining in the 2012 season.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.     KTM/HMC's Chris Fillmore was an early leader but also an early fader, holding the lead momentarily before plunging down through the pack. The stays at the front of Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden were longer lived but just as destined to come to an unhappy end as the track continued to dry.  Saturday winner Hayden fell off the chase by lap 10 of 23, while May found himself swallowed up by Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom on lap 13.  However, all the while Hayes continued to charge, catching Bostrom and the rest by a clip of two seconds per lap or more. He sailed past the #23 machine on his #1 YZF-R1 on lap 15, and, once in the lead, proved simply unstoppable yet again, winning by nearly five seconds.  Sunday's win served as redemption for yesterday's uncharacteristic mistake and adds to Hayes' staggering list of achievements. His accumulation of 14 victories this season stands as the all-time record, to go with his record of ten consecutive victories that was halted just yesterday, along with his streak of 11 straight pole positions, which tied the previous series' best (Mat Mladin).   But perhaps the most monumental achievement that Hayes has accomplished this season is the collection of a third AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike title, tying him for second most ever with legends Reg Pridmore, Fred Merkel, Doug Chandler, and Ben Spies.   "It's been a pretty incredible year." Hayes said. "Especially after last year, the way things have gone this year... this is the way you'd hope I could push things to. I don't feel at a loss for motivation or anything; I want to win races. Championships are pretty cool and sometimes when you get a gap like we have it feels somewhat anticlimactic, but I still live for the individual victories. Every single race win feels so good. And if you get those the way that you want to, the championship kind of takes care of itself. Fortunately, I've been able to do that and we're going to continue doing it for as long as we can into the future."  Technically, Hayes captured the title after completing the first lap as championship rival Blake Young (along with Saturday runner-up Danny Eslick and Aaron Yates) chose not to participate in the drying-track conditions.    Second-place went to Attack Performance's Steve Rapp on the black #15 Kawasaki ZX-10R. Rapp pulled off a charge similar to that of Hayes, tracking down Bostrom and displacing him for second with two laps remaining. The podium was Rapp's first of the season.  Despite being dropped from first to third, Bostrom still had plenty of reason to celebrate. His third-place finish, combined with yesterday's fifth, was good enough for the Californian to be named the weekend's 'Big Kahuna' and take home the coveted custom surfboard.  "It was semi-epic, I'll be honest," Bostrom said. "It was like a Supercross track out there with lanes... The first couple of guys were so fast in the first couple of laps I thought it was race over. But my combination of tires was quite friendly in the beginning so I could gain some confidence. And then it became quite unfriendly and I kept my confidence. I got mowed down by Josh and Rapper. There's not much to say, I mean. It was epic. It was really fun. I've never had to slide a front tire like that -- probably consistently ten times a lap -- and not crash. I think I might have actually learned something and became a better rider for it."   Hayes' Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate, Josh Herrin, raced his way forward to fourth place in the end, one spot ahead of May who held it together well enough to complete the top five.  Team Venezuela's Robertino Pietri finished sixth with Pietro Performance's Bruno Silva scoring an underdog seventh. M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich scored a second top-ten results in as many days despite crashing and remounting, finishing in eighth position.  Vicious Cycle Racing's Sean Dwyer took ninth, while Hayden rounded out the top ten after making a pit stop to change tires.   AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike   Jake Gagne of the RoadRace Factory/Red Bull team won the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, a surprise win for the class rookie. Gagne showed fine form in a wet race to take his first AMA Pro victory. He topped Dane Westby of the M4 Suzuki team and Cameron Beaubier (Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha) in a race delayed by weather issues. Martin Cardenas clinched the championship for M4 Suzuki in the race as he became a two-time class champion.  Westby earned the lead on the start and Gagne harried him for ten laps until he made the pass for the lead. The young rider eventually fomented a lead of over seven seconds as he dominated the second half of race.  "Right away, I knew how fast we'd go. I got in behind Dane, and we took off. I saw we had a couple of seconds. I tried to get by Dane and see what I could do and did a couple of laps to pull a gap. I was able to pull it home. I was hoping for a podium, but a win is even crazier. I can't wait to get to NOLA and try it again."   "I tried to be conservative and was a little more conservative than necessary. I had some tire left at the end," said Westby. "That's all there was to it.  To tell the truth, I was riding a little tense and nervous," said Beaubier.  Cardenas finished fourth, enough to ensure he'd win the 2012 title. The Colombian, who is the 2010 champ, earned seven wins on the way to clinching the crown this season.  "The championship was great for us. We took advantage of the points we had," said Cardenas. "We came here to Miami with the mission to win the championship. I focused on trying to clinch it, and I'm very happy."   David Gaviria (Kneedraggers.com Yamaha) earned his best GoPro Daytona SportBike finish yet in fifth, as did Kris Turner (Turner's Cycle Racing). Huntley Nash (LTD Racing) equaled his best class finish in seventh.   AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport   James Rispoli (Celtic Racing/Orient Express) won Sunday's AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, backing up his Saturday victory with his eighth win of the year. Tomas Puerta (RoadRace Factory/Red Bull) was second, followed by Dustin Dominguez (Latus Motors Racing Triumph) in a race that was stopped with seven laps remaining before being declared official with the results taken from the previous complete lap.  The race was stopped after Matt Schrag crashed, bringing out the red flag. Lightning in the area forced a further delay, and the race was called official in order to prevent the riders and teams from waiting though a lengthy delay.   Rispoli was pleased with his race, one of the few that has seen him motor into the distance. He held a lead of over two seconds when the red flag flew.  "I got a great start and made a pass for the lead two laps in," said Rispoli. "I felt good to get a race where I could get a lead. It was a 'dirt-tracker's delight.' I don't think the handlebars were straight the whole time."   "I had to work my way up," said Puerta, who spent most of the race in second after passing Jake Lewis early on. "I had some issues with the front and wanted to finish second."  Dominguez took third and was unhappy with some of the riders battling for third early in the race. Stefano Mesa was charging before the red flag on his Kneedraggers.com Yamaha and had worked his way up to second before the race was stopped. He was classified fourth.  Hayden Gillim (RoadRace Factory/Red Bull) earned fifth place as he was over a second clear of fast starter Jake Lewis. Lewis got the holeshot on his Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki but faded to sixth. Yamaha factory pilot Garrett Gerloff was seventh.   AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series   Title contender Kyle Wyman was an unfortunate scratch from Sunday's AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series contest after suffering a concussion in a Saturday crash. However, he was well-represented on the podium at Homestead-Miami Speedway as his KLR Group/Spyke's/Vesrah teammate, Michael Barnes, was victorious and his brother, Travis, finished in third.  Barnes scored the popular home track-win following an intense multi-rider scrap from the green light to the checkered flag.  Barnes overhauled rival Tyler O'Hara on the final lap and held strong to the stripe to claim the win and the championship lead heading into the NOLA finale.   O'Hara is still right there, however, minimizing the damage of Barnes' win by claiming the bonus points for pole and for leading the most laps.  "It's been an emotional weekend with Kyle getting hurt," Barnes said. "It's great having my friends and family here -- my mom showed up for her first race in a long time -- I was really stoked."  Travis Wyman put up an impressive fight, leading briefly, en route to third. The result was his first podium finish of the year.  Suburban Harley-Davidson's Benny Carlson, who brought the points lead into the race, was in the mix throughout as well, finishing a close fourth. He now sits in third.  MOB Racing's Jake Holden ran with the lead group until a late mechanical issue took him out.   The stage is now set for a thrilling conclusion to the XR Showdown at NOLA Motorsports Park as Barney leads with 1090 points, with O'Hara is just two points back at 1088 and Carlson a close third with 1082.   Next Event   The GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season will come to a close with the 2012 season finale in New Orleans, La. for the Triumph Big Kahuna New Orleans at NOLA Motorsports Park on October 5-7.

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