Hayden nips Hayes for SuperBike win

From AMA Pro Racing

ELKHART LAKE, WI - After losing by 0.001 secs. in Saturday's first race of the Suzuki SuperBike Doubleheader Weekend at Elkhart Lake, WI's Road America race course, Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden went one better and posted his second career AMA Pro SuperBike victory on Sunday.

Under partly cloudy skies, Hayden beat Saturday's winner, Josh Hayes (Team Graves Yamaha) by the close margin of 0.178 secs. Hayden averaged 108.9mph over the course of the 13-lap race. Hayden holds a one-point margin over Hayes in the overall AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike points standings, 229-228.

Sunday's race began to look like a repeat of Saturday's event as Hayes took the lead but it was a fast starting Jake Zemke riding his National Guard Jordan Suzuki who initially took up station behind Hayes with a strong move into second at the downhill turn 5 corner. Hayden passed Zemke as they crested the hill into turn 6 and the battle at the front was set. 

Behind Zemke, Hayden's Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Blake Young put on a show in front of his home state fans. But after taking third from Zemke, Young ran wide at turn 1 and fell back into the clutches of a group of riders that included Ben Bostrom on his Pat Clark Motorsport Yamaha, 2009 Road America race winner Larry Pegram on his Foremost Insurance Ducati, Jake Holden on the M4 Monster Energy Suzuki and Canadian Brett McCormick on the second Jordan Motorsports Suzuki. The front three pulled away and eventually just Hayes and Hayden were alone at the front. 

Zemke ran by himself and was hoping for something to happen at the front but he enjoyed a strong race after damaging his primary Suzuki motorcycle on Friday. He credited his National Guard Jordan team for putting in the extra effort to not only rebuild the motorcycle but to deliver him a very competitive package which saw him regain some of his early season form. 

The race really came down to Hayes and Hayden. After Saturday's chess match where each rider had a slight advantage at certain parts of the track, on Sunday it came down to who could out-maneuver the other. On lap 11 Hayes ran wide coming out of the Carousal corner and Hayden was by like a shot. Hayes was able to re-pass Hayden in turn 8 the next lap and it all came down to the last corner of the last lap where, knowing he had to be perfect coming up the hill, Hayes just ran a little wide and Hayden was able to draft past Hayes up the hill to the finish line for a dramatic and satisfying second win of the season. 

Pegram took a quiet fourth place ahead of Holden and Bostrom took sixth. Young finished seventh ahead of McCormick.

Chris Ulrich riding his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki had a race long battle with Geoff May, who was riding the Erik Buell Racing Buell, and Ulrich continued his run of top 10 results with ninth place. May took 10th.   

As the AMA Pro Road Racing series reaches the halfway point, the next race will be July 16-18 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Mansfield, OH.

Race Results
1. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 13 Laps
2. Josh Hayes (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.177
3. Jake Zemke (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +6.167
4. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance ·Pegram Racing) Ducati 1098R +12.807
5. Jake Holden (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +13.519
6. Ben Bostrom (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +17.604
7. Blake Young (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +17.832
8. Brett McCormick (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +28.745
9. Chris Ulrich (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +34.594
10. Geoff May (Erik Buell Racing) Buell 1125RR +38.947
11. Shane Narbonne (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:11.059
12. Chris Clark (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1:14.871
13. Ron Hix (Hix Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:42.430
14. Trent Gibson (Gibson Motorsports) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:47.861
15. Eric Haugo (Viking Moto) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:58.990
16. Tim Hunt (Hooters ·Apex) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:59.724
17. Eric Pinson (Blue Moon Liberty Waves BMW) BMW S1000RR 12 Laps
18. Taylor Knapp (RidersDiscount.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 3 Laps
Race Time: 28:59.805
Margin of Victory: 0.177
Best Race Lap: Tommy Hayden (2:12.480)

Point Standings (top 20)
1. Tommy Hayden 229
2. Josh Hayes 228
3. Jake Zemke 215
4. Blake Young 197
5. Larry Pegram 170
6. Ben Bostrom 149
7. Chris Ulrich 125
8. Taylor Knapp 107
9. Chris Clark 80
10. Brett McCormick 70
11. John Hopkins 62
12. Aaron Yates 59
13. Jake Holden 59
14. Shane Narbonne 58
15. David Anthony 56
16. Geoff May 41
17. Eric Haugo 40
18. Johnny Rock Page 38
19. Barrett Long 33
20. Eric Pinson 33
22. Chris Peris 31