Hayes extends Superbike points lead

From AMA Pro Racing

MILLVILLE, NJ - Sunday's action at the New Jersey Motorsports Park had a little something for everyone. In AMA Pro SuperSport, James Rispoli took his first AMA Pro Road Racing win after a thrilling battle with Tomas Puerta. In the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series, Jake Holden was able to post his first victory in the class while in Daytona SportBike, Danny Eslick made a dramatic last lap pass to take his third win of the season and maintain his slim points lead with two races remaining. In the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike series, Josh Hayes remained unbeaten at the 2.2-mile New Jersey Motorsports Park racing complex, beating his championship rival Tommy Hayden to extend his points lead to 22 with two rounds remaining. 

The day began under clear and sunny conditions with some wind and low humidity. First up was the Vance & Hines XR1200 series and in the absence of the undefeated Eslick, RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing GEICO Powersports XR1200 rider Jake Holden took a dominant win over series newcomer P.J. Jacobson on the Celtic Racing XR1200 and Kyle Wyman on another of the RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing Harley-Davidson XR1200 motorcycles.

Eslick, who is in the thick of the championship chase in the Daytona SportBike class, elected to focus exclusively on that series and missed his first XR1200 race of the year after winning the first three.

In AMA Pro SuperSport, Rispoli took his first AMA Pro Road Racing win after an event filled race that saw two of the four riders to lead the race crash out while leading.

Joey Pascarella and his DNA Energy Drink Yamaha was the one to beat but at the start, Huntley Nash and his LTD Racing Yamaha teammate Tomas Puerta shot to the front to lead lap one from Pascarella in third, Eric Stump in fourth and Rispoli on his ANT-Racing.com Suzuki. Puerta shot by Nash to lead lap two but then Pascarella moved into the lead and it appeared he might repeat his winning performance from Saturday. But on lap eight he went down in turn nine.

Now Nash looked set for a win. Behind him, Rispoli was coming up fast from his eighth starting position and was in second by lap five. Amazingly enough, on lap 12 Nash became the second leader of the race to go down and now Rispoli was in front. He still had his hands full with Puerta and the two went back and forth, but it was Rispoli who took his first win. Finishing third was Austin Dehaven on his Dehaven Racing Yamaha.

Eslick took his third win of the season in the Daytona SportBike race. From the start there was a solid, 10-motorcycle group battling tooth and nail for the lead. Led by Eslick on his GEICO Powersports Suzuki, the pack consisted of Tommy Aquino on his Team Graves Yamaha, Cory West on his Vesrah Suzuki, Dane Westby, Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha; Bobby Fong, DNA Energy Drink Ducati; Steve Rapp, Team Latus Motors Ducati; Martin Cardenas on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki, Chris Fillmore on his Vesrah Suzuki, Josh Herrin, Team Graves Yamaha and Paul Allison on the Chronic Motorsports Yamaha.

The first to exit the stage was Rapp, he had an unfortunate fall on lap 14 and ended up retiring his Ducati. Westby had a big save the next lap and he was part of the now nine that were covered by less than one second. On lap 17 West, who had been right in the thick of things had a mechanical problem going into turn one and rode his Vesrah Suzuki off the track. 

Championship contender Herrin had worked his way to the front again after starting 11th. He was ninth after one lap and by lap 17 he was right up front fighting for the lead. He then made a big move on lap 20 to take the lead and he looked like he was again going to rebound with another Sunday win.

The third rider in the thick of the championship battle, Cardenas also took a shot at the front on lap 21 in turn one but couldn't hold his line and was quickly re-passed after the ambitious move. On the same lap, Fillmore went down in turn three. On the last lap, Fong and Westby collided and fell but both were quickly back up and continued to finish sixth and seventh. 

But it was up front where the real action was and Eslick totally committed himself to a pass on Herrin in turn nine. Eslick took the position with a clean but decisive pass and won by only 0.510 secs. Cardenas was a fortunate third after the incident between Fong and Westby and the championship battle will now be settled at the final doubleheader race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, Sept. 24-26.

In the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race, Hayes kept his perfect New Jersey Motorsports Park record intact with his second win of the weekend and his fourth at NJMP after his two-race sweep in 2009. Hayes, who benefitted from a timely red flag at the very end of Saturday's race, took a more clear cut victory on Sunday and in a way, again benefitted from a red flag period, this time on lap five when Ben Bostrom crashed out on his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha. 

Hayes said he was feeling a little rough and when the race was stopped, he regrouped and felt better after the restart. His championship rival, Hayden had two great starts on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki and led both race segments. After things settled down, it was a two horse show with Hayes taking over the lead on lap nine and he and Hayden rode away from the interesting third place battle between Jake Zemke and his National Guard Jordan Suzuki, Hayden's Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate, Blake Young, M4 Monster Energy Suzuki rider John Hopkins and Brett McCormick on the second Jordan Suzuki. 

Watched by owner Michael Jordan, Zemke held off Young and Hopkins and was in second in the early stages of the first segment of the race. By lap 16, both Young and Hopkins passed Zemke and had their own private battle to the flag which Hopkins won by 0.015 of a second to take his first podium finish of the season. 

At the front, Hayden took the lead back from Hayes on lap 19 and although he was in front, he couldn't shake off Hayes. On lap 21, Hayes retook the lead but it was the same situation, Hayden was still right there, waiting to pounce. On the final lap Hayden took a shot at the lead in turn one but couldn't hold the line. Twice more on the last lap, Hayden bravely dove into corners to try and wrest the lead but after the last attempt, Hayes was able to take the win by 0.325 secs. for his seventh race victory of the year. Hayes pushed his points lead to 22 but with two races and 63 points to play for, the championship is far from over.

Behind Hopkins and Young, Saskatoon's Brett McCormick took fifth ahead of his teammate Zemke followed by Geoff May on his Erik Buell Racing Buell. 

Privateer Taylor Knapp rode his RidersDiscount.com Suzuki to eighth and behind Knapp was Chris Ulrich on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki. Shane Narbonne rounded out the top 10 on the Celtic Racing Suzuki. 

SuperBike Race Results
1. Josh Hayes (Team Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 23 Laps
2. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.324
3. John Hopkins (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +4.908
4. Blake Young (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +4.933
5. Brett McCormick (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +7.690
6. Jake Zemke (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +11.826
7. Geoff May (Erik Buell Racing) Buell 1125RR +16.206
8. Taylor Knapp (RidersDiscount.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +18.737
9. Chris Ulrich (M4 Monster Energy Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +18.852
10. Shane Narbonne (Celtic Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +31.729
11. Tim J. Bemisderfer (Bio Weapon) BMW S1000RR +59.125
12. Chris Clark (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1:04.872
13. Chris Trounson (Aussie Dave Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:05.058
14. Larry Pegram (Foremost Insurance ·Pegram Racing) Ducati 1098R 20 Laps
15. Chris Peris (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR 16 Laps
16. Ben Bostrom (Pat Clark Motorsports) Yamaha YZF-R1 5 Laps
Did Not Start
Tim Hunt (Hooters ·Apex) Suzuki GSX-R1000
Race Time: 51:02.289
Margin of Victory: 0.324
Best Race Lap: Tommy Hayden (1:21.196)

Superbike Point Standings (Top 15 plus Canadians)
1. Josh Hayes 426
2. Tommy Hayden 404
3. Jake Zemke 316
4. Ben Bostrom 295
5. Larry Pegram 276
6. Blake Young 233
7. Taylor Knapp 198
8. Chris Ulrich 188
9. Brett McCormick 169
10. Chris Clark 121
11. Geoff May 113
12. John Hopkins 105
13. Shane Narbonne 98
14. Jake Holden 93
15. Chris Peris 60
22. Jordan Szoke 33