Young holds off Hayes for victory

From AMA Pro Racing

ELKHART LAKE, WI - AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike's current power-trio immediately took over Saturday's contest at Road America, Rockstar Makita Suzuki riders Blake Young and Tommy Hayden launching into the lead with Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes, reigning National Guard SuperBike champ, overcoming a less than stellar start to quickly attach himself to their rear wheels. Hayes took over second position a lap later, and from there kicked off an intense, race-long battle with Young for the Race 1 Road America victory.

Young, however, wasn't about to let his home track and hometown fans down: for every challenge from Hayes, he had a swift and aggressive answer. While Hayden, in a repeat of the class' Miller Motorsports Park action, watched the fury from third, Young and Hayes traded the lead as if there was a point available for most seconds lead, as opposed to most laps.

Behind them, Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing) had captured fourth from M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas, who in turn led National Guard/Jordan Suzuki teammates Roger Hayden and Ben Bostrom, Y.E.S./Pat Clark/Graves Yamaha's Chris Clark, Cycle World/Attack Performance Kawasaki's JD Beach, and Speed Tech Performance's Jason Farrell.

As the white flag flew, Hayes was tucked in tightly behind Young, poised to strike, while Hayden likewise maneuvered for position. When Hayes made his move, however, it was an attempt up the inside that didn't hold, Young hanging on and Hayes going wide. Though Hayes managed to prevent Hayden from capitalizing on the bobble, it shook him back enough to give Young a few bike-lengths of safety while heading for the checkers.

At the line, Young took the win by .440 seconds over Hayes, with Hayden heading Cardenas, Pegram, Roger Hayden, Bostrom, Clark, Farrell, and EBR Racing's Geoff May. Young's win put him tied in the championship points standings with Hayes at 160 points, the advantage currently with Young and his four 2011 victories.

"This race kind of felt a little bit like Utah, you know, where I just ended up on the better side of things at the end of race, but I know it's not going to be like that forever," Young said. "It just seems like it falls right for me, when it does. Josh was riding hard and then he kind of laid off me and I thought, 'He's going to see what I got,' but it seemed like as soon as I got out front, maybe I was riding more defensive and not doing the lap times I should have been doing.

"I'm just happy. Happy to be home, happy to be at Elkhart Lake, happy to give a good show for the home crowd."

"It was a good race, a lot of fun," Hayes explained. "I probably didn't take every opportunity I had to jump in there; I tried to settle down a little bit and let Blake take the lead and tried to make him work hard. At one point I got through and got a few good clear laps, and I thought I could get the pace a little faster than I did, but maybe I got a little lazy made a couple mistakes. It was hard to find the same rhythm I had in practice and qualifying; it seemed like the lap times dropped a little bit, but I thought we could go a little quicker than that, and unfortunately that didn't happen today."

Race Results
1. Blake Young (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 13 Laps
2. Josh Hayes (Monster Energy Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.439
3. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.449
4. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +19.092
5. Larry Pegram (Pegram Racing) BMW S1000RR +23.629
6. Roger Hayden (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +25.328
7. Ben Bostrom (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +25.451
8. Chris Clark (Yamaha Extended Service, Pat Clark Sports, Graves, Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +39.274
9. Jason Farrell (Speed Tech Performance) Kawasaki ZX-10 +44.648
10. Geoff May (Amsoil EBR Racing) Buell 1125R +45.294
11. JD Beach (Cycle World Attack Performance) Kawasaki ZX-10 +47.477
12. David Anthony (ADR Fly Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +58.952
13. Jordan Burgess (ADR Fly Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:43.343
14. Brian Hall (Schaumburg Audi) Kawasaki ZX-10 +1:59.488
15. Trent Gibson (Seven Sports) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +2:03.835
16. Reese Wacker (Wacker Racing LLC) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +2:22.813
17. Steve Rapp (San Diego BMW/Locust Powered by Lee`s Cycle) BMW S1000RR +2:47.005
18. Tony Kasper (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR 7 Laps
19. Chris Peris (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR 0 Laps
Race Time: 29:01.567
Margin of Victory: 0.439
Best Race Lap: Blake Young (2:12.762)