Hayes Earns Provisional AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike with Late-Session Heroics
TOOELE, Utah (August 2, 2013) - With just five minutes remaining in Friday's AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike qualifying session at Miller Motorsports Park, reigning champion Josh Hayes found himself in the unusual position of fourth fastest. However, the Monster Energy Graves Yamaha ace ultimately gave the session a more familiar look by throwing down a blistering 1:51.021 lap in the final minutes to claim the SuperBike provisional pole for the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing doubleheader weekend in Tooele, Utah.
Josh Hayes on the #1 Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1 again led the charts in the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike provisional qualifying session today at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT. Final qualifying takes place tomorrow morning before the first of two races this weekend. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
The session was one of the closest in recent memory, with Hayes and his chief rivals, National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden, second Monster Energy Graves Yamaha title hopeful Josh Herrin, and Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing's Martin Cardenas, separated by a mere 0.092 seconds at the top of the charts prior to the late flurry of quick laps. "It was hard work today," Hayes said. "Things were a bit of a struggle. The tires are not what I remember from last year and being on the new tires makes it a bit tough. It's kept it really close; I'm trying very, very hard and I'm riding very hard. I'm hoping that, as usual, after a good night's sleep, I'll come back tomorrow and put the pieces to the puzzle together a little bit better. I tried a few things and learned a few things. We're kind of going back and forth between the two tires and figuring out what our best race strategy will be. The hard (tire) is hard to do the pace on, but it's definitely more consistent for race distance. And the medium is definitely faster in the beginning but performance drops off pretty quickly. So, we either have to be able to get some life out of the softer one or see if we can get some pace out of the harder one. That's what we're working on."
After Hayes leapt up from fourth to first, Hayden improved from fourth to second with a time of 1:51.391. The Kentuckian ranked at or near the top of the charts throughout the day, continuing his recent run of excellent speed. Ever since his double runner-up performance at Barber Motorsports Park, the Michael Jordan Motorsports runner has nearly matched Hayes in terms of outright pace, although poor luck has prevented him from collecting results reflecting that sort of form. Hayden is motivated to make up for that disappointment this weekend, and it showed on Friday. Herrin, too, impressed today. Frequently a bit slower to work up to speed on race weekends, Herrin headed the charts for the bulk of Friday's session before ending the day a close third at 1:51.395.
Cardenas lost out in the shuffle but was still fast enough to hold onto a position on the provisional front row. The Colombian ended Friday fourth-fastest at 1:51.628. Jordan Suzuki's Danny Eslick was once again 'next man up,' and not too far removed from the lead pace at 1:52.204. The Oklahoman was joined on the provisional front row by Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram (1:52.577), '12 MMP front-row qualifier Geoff May on the Team Hero EBR (1:52.658), and Motosport.com Motul Fly Racing's David Anthony (1:52.807). KTM/HMC Racing teammates Chris Fillmore (1:53.644) and Taylor Knapp (1:53.806) rounded out the Friday top ten fresh from an impressive outing last time out at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike
Cameron Beaubier was fastest in the opening AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike qualifying session on Friday. Beaubier trailed his Yamaha Extended Service/Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha teammate Garrett Gerloff in the early part of the session, but the class leader put in some fliers at the end to break into the 1:53 mark, ultimately punching in with a mark of 1:53.637 to demolish the old lap record by over a second and a half. Beaubier managed to up his comfort level as the session went on, and in the heat managed considerable speed. "The third stint, I felt a lot more comfortable. The reason I think the times are so much better is because we're racing in the middle of the summer," said Beaubier. ""We've got a good setup but we're still working on some things in the fast corners. I think we'll be good. Coming to Laguna and then here, it feels awesome to have two world-class tracks back to back," Beaubier continued. "I love coming to these fast tracks, and it reminds me of Europe."
Gerloff had a crash in the session but was quickly up and lapping again. The Texan held second place, 1.087 seconds back. Meen Motorsports' Jake Lewis was third, setting his best lap at 1:54.844. Also on the provisional front row was Jason DiSalvo on the Latus Motors Racing Triumph. The RoadRace Factory/Red Bull pilots lead row two, with JD Beach ahead of Jake Gagne. GEICO Motorcycle Road Racing's Dane Westby topped National Guard Celtic Racing's James Rispoli for seventh.
AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport
RoadRace Factory's Tomas Puerta won provisional pole for the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport class in Utah. West points leader Puerta battled with second-place points man Jeffery Tigert, who put the Baby Appleseed CM Motorsports entry in second place. "It was a little tough in the beginning with a lot of riders on the track, but I came in and we put on a new tire. I was pretty happy with the 1:57.1, but I thought we could go faster, perhaps a mid-1:56," said Puerta. "I had some minor issues with the bike, but the time we set was pretty good. Hopefully we can improve some more tomorrow. I'm looking forward to riding my own race this weekend and doing the best I can."
Wyatt Farris put his Meen Motorsports entry third on the provisional grid, ahead of California Superbike School Roadracing World.com's Joe Roberts. Roberts has won his first three AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport races and was within a half-second of Puerta on Friday. The second row of the 41-rider field includes Stefano Mesa of the Motosport.com RSRacecraft team, Sebastiao Ferreira of BP Racing, Brandon Cleland on another Motosport.com RSRacecraft bike, and National Guard Celtic Racing's Corey Alexander.
For tickets to this weekend's event at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, please visit http://www.millermotorsportspark.com/events/ama-pro-road-racing-race.html.
Television Broadcasts on CBS Sports Network
Leading into coverage of GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Round 6 at Miller Motorsports Park, CBS Sports Network will broadcast the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike and AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike races from last weekend's Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca as part of the CBS Sports Spectacular in a primetime special on CBS Sports Network beginning Friday, August 2 at 7:00 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Following the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca broadcasts, a primetime airing of the weekend preview show for the Miller Motorsports Park event will begin on Friday, August 2 at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT.
This weekend's racing coverage will include three hours of LIVE broadcasts from Utah. AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 1 will air LIVE on Saturday, August 3 at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT and will be followed by a same-day delayed broadcast of AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Race 1 slotted for 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT.
Sunday's coverage will include a two-hour block of LIVE coverage, beginning with GoPro Daytona SportBike Race 2 on Sunday, August 4 at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 noon PT followed by National Guard SuperBike Race 2 at 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT.
For an up-to-date list of the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing broadcasts scheduled on CBS Sports Network, please visit http://www.amaproracing.com/rr/events/tvlistings.cfm?year=2013. To locate CBS Sports Network on your cable or satellite provider, please visit the Channel Finder at http://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/channel-finder.
International Pay-Per-View
Fully produced, high definition broadcasts of this weekend's races from Miller Motorsports Park will be available to audiences outside of the United States and Canada through AMA Pro Live, AMA Pro Racing's live streaming video website. At the low introductory cost of $0.99 USD per race, international fans can follow along with their favorite GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing stars this weekend by logging on at http://www.amaprolive.com/rr/.
The international pay-per-view channel will be available for the following races:
GoPro Daytona SportBike Race 1 (Saturday, July 13 at 1:00 p.m. ET)
National Guard SuperBike Race 1 (Saturday, July 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET)
GoPro Daytona SportBike Race 2 (Sunday, July 14 at 1:00 p.m. ET)
National Guard SuperBike Race 2 (Sunday, July 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET)
Streaming Video and Social Media
In addition to the live broadcasts on CBS Sports Network and AMA Pro Live, AMA Pro Racing will be live streaming multiple channels of behind-the-scenes video of the weekend's activities alongside Live Timing & Scoring on the AMA Pro Live streaming video website. AMA Pro Live puts fans in the director's chair, allowing them to choose from a variety of viewpoints including track cameras, paddock cameras and a press conference channel. Streaming will begin with coverage of the weekend's practice and qualifying sessions on Friday, August 2 at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT at http://www.amaprolive.com.
Stay connected with GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing on social media at http://twitter.com/AMAProSBK and http://www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing.
About GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road 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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