Hayden closes gap with SuperBike win

From AMA Pro Racing

LEXINGTON, OH - The tables were turned on Sunday as Tommy Hayden took his third career National Guard SuperBike victory ahead of main championship rival Josh Hayes during the last day of competition in the Honda Super Cycle Weekend Presented by Dunlop Tire at the 2.4-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 

Hayden, riding his Rockstar Makita Suzuki, bounced back from a third place finish in Saturday's SuperBike race and took a calculated victory in the second race of the weekend. Hayden paid tribute to his Yoshimura team, "I told them what I wanted the bike to do and they gave it to me."

Saturday's winner, Hayes paid tribute to Hayden, "My Team Graves Yamaha team gave me a winning bike, I just got beat." Hayes did hold onto the points lead that he gained on Saturday but Hayden trimmed it down from 10 points to just four, 285-281. 

Foremost Insurance Ducati rider Larry Pegram thrilled his local fans by taking the lead into the first corner and leading lap one. Hayden had other ideas though, and he passed Pegram on lap two and proceeded to lead the next six laps. By this time, Hayes had passed Pegram and was shadowing Hayden's every move and for a while it looked like Hayes was going to repeat his win from Saturday when he took the lead and led laps eight and nine. Hayden re-passed Hayes and controlled the race from lap 10 all the way to the flag. Hayes never let up though and the margin of victory was only 0.194 secs. at the end of the 21-lap race. 

Pegram was able to take what he felt was a satisfying third place finish ahead of Saturday's second-place finisher Ben Bostrom on his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha. Bostrom kept the pressure on Pegram all day but just couldn't find a way by the Columbus, OH rider.

After another strong start to the race, Jake Zemke with his National Guard Jordan Suzuki found himself battling with teammate Canadian Brett McCormick on the #23 Jordan Suzuki. These two ran nose-to-tail for the last part of the race and McCormick continued his nice progression in the sport by passing Zemke on the last lap.

Behind the Jordan riders were Taylor Knapp on his RidersDicount.com Suzuki and Chris Ulrich with his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki in eighth. Georgia rider Geoff May finished ninth on his Erik Buell Racing Buell and Kurtis Roberts made a nice return to the sport with a 10th place finish on his RidersDiscount.com Yamaha.

Hayden and Hayes each staked a claim for this year's National Guard SuperBike Championship this weekend and this fight looks like it is going right down to the wire. The teams will gather again in five short days as they will race next weekend at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in California.

After winning earlier in the day in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike, Danny Eslick repeated his winning form with his second consecutive AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 

Eslick took his RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing Harley-Davidson XR1200 to another well deserved victory, this time ahead of Shawn Higbee, riding another XR1200 supported by HOG Racing. Third was Eslick's RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing teammate, Jake Holden.

The Vance & Hines XR1200 Series will resume at Virginia International Raceway on Aug. 13-15.

American SuperBike Race Results
1. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 21 Laps
2. Josh Hayes (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.194
3. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance ·Pegram Racing) Ducati 1098R +2.970
4. Ben Bostrom (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +3.158
5. Brett McCormick (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +24.340
6. Jake Zemke (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +25.271
7. Taylor Knapp (RidersDiscount.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +33.525
8. Chris Ulrich (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +33.818
9. Geoff May (Erik Buell Racing) Buell 1125RR +55.061
10. Kurtis L. Roberts (RidersDiscount.com) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1:06.365
11. Greg Fryer (FJ Racing) Yamaha YZF-R1 20 Laps
12. Johnny Rock Page (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:02.639
13. Eric Bostrom (Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 15 Laps
14. Jake Holden (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 12 Laps
15. Jordan Szoke (Waznie Racing Ciclo Werks BMC Dewildt Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 8 Laps
16. Chris Clark (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 1 Lap

American SuperBike Point Standings
(Top 15 plus Canadians)
1. Josh Hayes 285
2. Tommy Hayden 281
3. Jake Zemke 245
4. Larry Pegram 209
5. Blake Young 197
6. Ben Bostrom 192
7. Chris Ulrich 150
8. Taylor Knapp 131
9. Brett McCormick 99
10. Chris Clark 89
11. Jake Holden 75
12. John Hopkins 62
13. Aaron Yates 59
14. Shane Narbonne 58
15. David Anthony 56
22. Chris Peris 31
32. Jordan Szoke 11