Hayes turns tables on Young

From AMA Pro Racing

ELKHART LAKE, WI - While the final AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike podium at Elkhart Lake, WI's Road America came as no surprise, the finishing order itself was no Saturday repeat. Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes and Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammates Tommy Hayden and Blake Young have dominated the 2011 National Guard SuperBike season thus far, but Hayes took issue on Sunday with Wisconsin native Young's desire to sweep his home round.

"I had a different game plan today," Hayes explained. "Sometimes you make a plan and you're lucky -- you think it, you believe it and you make it happen. Today, I got the passes done in the right places, I gave myself the opportunity to make the split. I was confident that I had the tools in my package and the motorcycle to make it happen. I rode as hard as I could, I was trying super-hard and it just wasn't there to go much faster today. I got to a point where I could relax a bit, make sure I didn't make any mistakes and bring it home."

Race 2 saw Hayden get a spectacular holeshot with teammate Young right on his tail. Hayes, however, wasn't looking for a Saturday re-run, so he stuck like glue to the Suzuki duo. For the first several laps, Hayden and Young traded the lead amongst themselves, but in no time at all, Hayes had blown past both Suzuki riders and taken the lead for himself.

M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas had meanwhile maintained fourth throughout, unable to make up ground on lead trio but not ceding any to fifth-place Roger Hayden (National Guard/Jordan Suzuki). Behind the youngest Hayden, San Diego BMW's Steve Rapp led a train of shifting riders that was headed in turn by Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, Iron Horse BMW's Chris Peris (Iron Horse BMW) and Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram.

While Hayes stretched his lead out, Hayden and Young continued to trade second until Hayden staked a decisive claim on the position with five to go. From there the field tore through final laps, none of the frontrunners able to make a move on the man in front.

"There were a couple of places on the track where I was better today, but my lap times were pretty similar to yesterday," Tommy Hayden admitted. "And it was more of a two-rider battle today with Blake and me, versus a three-man battle like yesterday. I knew Josh was pretty fast through the middle splits, and that the potential was there that if we didn't stay on our toes, he'd get a gap that would be too hard to close down. Josh put his head down, Blake made a few mistakes and kind of helped Josh open it up. We tried to chase Josh down, and at one point I thought we were making some progress but in the end it stayed the same."

Hayes, Hayden, and Young were followed across the line by Cardenas, Roger Hayden, Rapp, Pegram, Peris, Chris Clark (Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Graves Yamaha) and Bostrom.

"I just knew today's pace would be a little bit quicker, but I thought I could run pretty good laps," Young said. "Then all it took was one lap for me to get settled in and get going, and it took one lap for Josh to really nail it. I tried to do everything I could and put my head down and get back to him as much as possible, and I think I made a pretty good push for a few laps, then I realized I wasn't doing anything.

"Then Tommy came drafting by me and I thought that maybe working with Tommy and working with the draft that we could get back to Josh.... But I made a few mistakes ... and now I'm just happy bring home third place, even though it would have been better to get the win."

The 2011 Subway Doubleheader Weekend in Elkhart Lake, WI marked the one-year anniversary of the inaugural AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 race, and the participants celebrated with style. At the start of Sunday's race, it was Drag Specialties' Michael Barnes leading the way in the nineteen-rider field. Michael Beck (J&P Cycles) was just off Barnes' rear wheel, followed by Steve Rapp (Parts Unlimited) and series points-leader and pole-sitter Chris Fillmore (Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing). The true star of the seven-lap race, however, turned out to be the Road America draft, which resulted in more lead changes than you could shake a proverbial stick at.

Almost immediately, a nine-rider pack broke off and began spinning out a gap. Passing and re-passing each other as often as three and four times per lap, the group swapped positions constantly, all four of the above mentioned front-runners taking multiple turns in the lead on their respective Harley-Davidson XR1200s. Defending series champion Danny Eslick (RMR Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing) and Wforacingonline.com's Shawn Higbee soon joined the fray, and did Harv's Harley-Davidson's Travis Wyman. The stage was set for the final three laps.

The front-runners continued to shuffle and reshuffle themselves, Eslick diving into Turn 5 and taking the lead, only to relinquish it coming out of Canada Corner. Wyman took over the top spot, only to give it up to Fillmore. Finally, on the last lap, all four Harley-Davidson XR1200s roared down the front straight, and when the smoke cleared, Fillmore had taken the win with Eslick and Wyman in tow.

Leaving Road America, Fillmore leads the overall AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Championship by 23 points over Rapp, 110 to 87. Wyman sits third with 63.

The AMA Pro Road Racing Championship next heads for Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, for the Barber SuperBike Classic, Round 5 on the season calendar.

SuperBike Race Results
1. Josh Hayes (Monster Energy Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 13 Laps
2. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +2.270
3. Blake Young (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +2.372
4. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +5.276
5. Roger Hayden (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +11.544
6. Steve Rapp (San Diego BMW/Locust Powered by Lee`s Cycle) BMW S1000RR +22.485
7. Larry Pegram (Pegram Racing) BMW S1000RR +29.084
8. Chris Peris (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR +29.705
9. Chris Clark (Yamaha Extended Service, Pat Clark Sports, Graves, Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +31.448
10. Ben Bostrom (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +31.543
11. Jason Farrell (Speed Tech Performance) Kawasaki ZX-10 +55.167
12. David Anthony (ADR Fly Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +55.224
13. Brian Hall (Schaumburg Audi) Kawasaki ZX-10 +1:45.380
14. Trent Gibson (Seven Sports) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:46.310
15. Jordan Burgess (ADR Fly Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:46.361
16. Reese Wacker (Wacker Racing LLC) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:53.698
17. Geoff May (Amsoil EBR Racing) Buell 1125R 12 Laps
18. JD Beach (Cycle World Attack Performance) Kawasaki ZX-10 2 Laps
Did Not Start
Tony Kasper (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR
Eric Haugo (Viking Moto) Suzuki GSX-R1000
Race Time: 28:55.965
Margin of Victory: 2.270
Best Race Lap: Josh Hayes (2:12.341)

SuperBike Standings (Top 20)
1. Josh Hayes 191
2. Blake Young 181
3. Tommy Hayden 168
4. Martin Cardenas 103
5. Larry Pegram 94
6. Ben Bostrom 89
7. Roger Hayden 88
8. Chris Clark 85
9. Steve Rapp 68
10. Geoff May 60
11. David Anthony 57
12. Chris Peris 52
13. Jeremy Toye 47
14. Chris Ulrich 33
15. JD Beach 28
16. Trent Gibson 28
17. Chris Siebenhaar 23
18. Jordan Burgess 23
19. Jason Farrell 22
20. Tony Kasper 20