Hayes takes second pole

From AMA Pro Racing

ALTON, VA - Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) won his second AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Superpole of the season Friday at the 10th Anniversary Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway.

Hayes turned a top lap time of 1:25.014 (95.702 mph) as the 10th and final rider to qualify in the single-bike Superpole format. He also won the Superpole two races ago at Mid-Ohio where he went on to sweep both of that weekend's races. Hayes won his first race of the season in May at Infineon Raceway where he broke a season-opening streak of seven straight wins by Mat Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000), who he edged for the Superpole Friday at 2.25-mile circuit.

"I think we left a little bit out there but it was a good lap," Hayes said. "I put a lot of effort into it. Our bike had a lot of grip and worked really well. I did a clean lap and it was enough to nip Mat by just a small margin. Since we pulled the bike out of the truck we've been pretty fortunate that it's going around the racetrack well. I'm having a lot of fun riding. This has been a good race track for me."

Mladin, who turned a lap time of 1:25.103 (95.602 mph) held the top spot until Hayes made his run. He still leads American Superbike with a series-high eight Superpoles this season.

"It was all good today," said Mladin, who joined most of his competition in having no trouble handling temperatures in the high 80s. "I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow. It's been a lot worse around this place before, today's not too bad. The breeze is nice on the bike, we've had a lot worse conditions here than today."

Jordan Suzuki teammates Geoff May (No. 54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) turned in a solid Superpole team performance to complete the four-rider front row. May qualified third with a lap at 1:25.720 (94.913 mph) while Yates was fourth fastest at 1:26.126 (94.446 mph).

"I was feeling good," May said. "We just re-analyzed some stuff. Since Road America we've had a downward spiral. This weekend we said 'you know what, we're going to go back to where we had this bike in the beginning of the year when we first got it.' It seemed pretty good. So we rolled it out of the truck and haven't really done much since and we're back up where I feel we should be."

Yates is on his second straight American Superbike front row after qualifying second fastest one race ago in the Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

"It's just like any other weekend," said Yates, who joins his teammate May as Georgia natives. "I'm just going out there and riding the thing. I definitely felt like the grip was down a little that time out, but we've made a few changes with the front of the bike. It was sitting lower, I don't think we quite had the load on the rear that we've had earlier and it was missing some traction there. It's like home for me, I like it hot. I didn't know if was going to be like this, so we're ready."

Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R), who won the Superpole at the Tornado Nationals and both of that weekend's American Superbike races, rounded out the top five in qualifying at VIR.

Saturday's first American Superbike race of the weekend is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. local time for 23 laps/50 miles.

The Big Kahuna races will be featured in a pair of same-day telecasts on SPEED. Saturday's American Superbike and Daytona SportBike finals will be shown that night in a two-hour show at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) while Sunday's premier class races and other highlights will air in a two-hour show that evening at Midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).

Qualifying Results (Top 10 qualified through Superpole)
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha Motor Corp. USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:25.013
2. Mat Mladin (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.089
3. Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.706
4. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.112
5. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance · Pegram Racing Ducati) Ducati 1098R +1.376
6. Neil Hodgson (Corona Extra Honda) Honda CBR1000RR +1.416
7. Blake Young (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.640
8. Jeff Wood (Higgins Powersports ·Roadracingworld.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.768
9. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar · Makita · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.811
10. Jake Holden (Holden Racing) Honda CBR1000RR +1.966
11. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha Motor Corp. USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:25.658
12. Michael Laverty (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:26.351
13. Taylor Knapp (Taylor Knapp Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:26.432
14. Scott Charlton (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:27.284
15. Chris Ulrich (Roadracingworld.com · Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:27.370
16. Shane Narbonne (Shane Narbonne · DASPerformance.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:28.202
17. Scott Jensen (Moto Garage Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:28.683
18. Mark Crozier (Four Feathers Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:29.723
19. Ricky Corey (RCR Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:30.269
20. Shawn Higbee (Higbee-Racing.com) Buell 1125R 1:30.297
21. Tim Hunt (Team Hooters Aprilia) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:30.356
22. Dominic Jones (Moto Garage Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:30.602
23. Dean Mizdal (M Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:31.852
24. Skip Salenius (Run One Racing/Marietta Motorsports) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:32.089
25. Robertino Pietri (Team Hooters Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:32.681
26. Eric Haugo (Liberty Waves Racing 2) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:32.926
27. Dustin O`Hara (RDS Cycles) Honda CBR1000RR 1:33.511