Hayden wins to keep title chase alive

From AMA Pro Racing

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Saturday's AMA Pro Road Racing action at Barber Motorsports Park delivered three memorable races where some of the championship pieces began to fall into place as the 2010 season draws to a close. 

In the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race, Tommy Hayden took his fifth victory of the year with a very determined ride chasing down early race leader Josh Hayes.

Hayden, riding his Rockstar Makita Suzuki started the race in fourth position and quickly worked his way to second place and then reeled in the race and points leader Hayes. Hayes started second and passed pole position winner Blake Young before the end of the first lap and rode off to a comfortable lead. 

Hayes and his Team Graves Yamaha went on to lead the most laps and gained another valuable point in pursuit of his first AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike championship. But slowly but surely, Hayden began to track Hayes down. At one point, the Suzuki rider passed Hayes but almost as quickly as he got by, Hayes went right back by Hayden. But as the race wound down, Hayden was able to get by and pulled out a small gap.

Now it was Hayes' turn to become the hunter and he was able to close the gap to finish just 0.053 secs. behind Hayden at the line. This result was what Hayden needed to keep his championship hopes alive. The points difference is now down to 18 with a maximum of 31 points available in Sunday's second race of the weekend. 

"I accomplished what I needed to today. I wanted to win the race and make Josh ride hard and I was able to do that," said Hayden after the race. "Tomorrow, I will need a bit of luck but I will try to win again and then we'll see what happens."

Behind the two championship contenders, John Hopkins continued his run of strong results as he took another podium finish on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki with third place.

Polesitter Young took fourth on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki and Taylor Knapp finished a surprised fifth after a last lap incident between Eric Bostrom and Brett McCormick. The two had been running together for most of the race after Bostrom had a truncated start that saw him move prior to the green light but after he regained his proper position relative to his starting position, he began a nice ride up to fifth place on his Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki. He and McCormick, riding his Jordan Suzuki had been battling together from about the fourth lap and unfortunately they got together on the last lap and Bostrom suffered an injury to his left leg that will prevent him from competing in Sunday's race. 

Geoff May and his Erik Buell Racing Buell also benefitted and he took sixth ahead of Jake Holden, who is substituting for Ben Bostrom on the Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha. Jeff Wood took eighth on his Vesrah Suzuki. Shane Narbonne was ninth and Saskatoon's McCormick was just able to finish the race in 10th.

Once again, Sunday's SuperBike race will be a battle of wits and speed between Hayes and Hayden. If Hayden wins and takes the extra point for most laps led, Hayes will have to finish ninth or worse for him to lose the championship.

In Daytona SportBike, Martin Cardenas rode one of his most measured and complete races of the year in capturing his series high eighth race win of the season and in the process, he took over the points lead from Danny Eslick. Cardenas and his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki now lead the Daytona SportBike standings by five points over Eslick and his GEICO Powersports Suzuki and by eight over Josh Herrin going into Sunday's final race of the Daytona SportBike season.

Taking a surprise second place was Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha rider Clinton Seller. He has been quick all weekend and he pretty much attached himself to the back of Martin's Suzuki and stayed there for the entire 21-lap race. Seller tried on more than one occasion to pass Cardenas and he was only 0.127 secs. behind at the checkered flag.

Eslick grabbed the early lead but just as quickly the race was red flagged due to a couple of incidents. On the restart, Cardenas got a much better start and he and Sellers pretty much rode off into the sunset.

Eslick and a number of other riders, including the third contender in the points chase, Team Graves Yamaha rider Herrin, captured much of the focus of the race. Herrin and Eslick got together and Herrin was pushed back to seventh place but he recovered well and put his head down to work his way right back up through the field. He re-passed Eslick on lap six, worked his way up to third and then began chipping away at the first two. At one point he seemed to be making slight progress but at the end the leaders encountered a big group of slower riders and Herrin was delayed just enough to end his slight chance at victory. 

Eslick finished fifth behind Seller's Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha teammate, Dane Westby.

Jodi Christie of Keene, ON placed 14th on his Jodi Christie Racing / Durham Honda Powerhouse Honda CBR600RR.

With Cardenas' win, he moves to the top of the standings with 375 points. Eslick now is in second with 372 and Herrin is in third with 367.

The two-part AMA Pro SuperSport race for the National Championship in the Young Gun and Top Gun categories was another absolute classic. LTD Racing Yamaha rider Huntley Nash delivered his best ride of the season yet in taking his third SuperSport victory over West Division Young Gun champion Joey Pascarella. 

Pole position winner and East Division Young Gun champion J.D. Beach had the most disappointing day. After Nash grabbed the lead at the start, Beach was back by before the end of lap one. But in a blink of an eye, Beach was down in the Alabama corner, his Rockwall Engineering Yamaha cartwheeling into the gravel trap. 

Another on-form rider had a tough day. New Jersey winner James Rispoli ran in second until he had a fall on lap nine, ending his day for his ANT-Racing.com Suzuki team. 

Canadian national Amateur Sport Bike champ Raphael Archambault of St-Colomban, QC was classified 19th aboard the Archambault Racing / Centre Hamel Honda CBR600RR.

Sunday's SuperSport finale will determine the National Champion in both Young Gun and Top Gun classes.

SuperBike Race Results
1. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 21 Laps
2. Josh Hayes (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.052
3. John Hopkins (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +10.876
4. Blake Young (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +15.850
5. Taylor Knapp (RidersDiscount.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +29.119
6. Geoff May (Erik Buell Racing) Buell 1125RR +35.522
7. Jake Holden (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +42.722
8. Jeff Wood (Vesrah Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +47.815
9. Shane Narbonne (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +55.804
10. Brett McCormick (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +57.168
11. Ricky Corey (RCR Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1:17.126
12. Eric Bostrom (Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 20 Laps
13. Chris Clark (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1:16.204
14. Trent Gibson (Gibson Motorsports) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:16.676
15. Eric Haugo (Cycledivaonoline.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:21.573
16. Skip Salenius (Run 1 Racing Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1:27.869
17. Johnny Rock Page (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 18 Laps
18. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance ·Pegram Racing) Ducati 1098R 8 Laps
19. Sean Dwyer (Vicious Cycle Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 7 Laps
20. Jake Zemke (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 5 Laps
21. Chris Peris (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR 0 Laps
Did Not Start
Chris Ulrich (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000
Race Time: 30:26.486
Margin of Victory: 0.052
Best Race Lap: Tommy Hayden (1:26.248)