Hayes, Eslick Sweep AMA Pro Races in Honda Super Cycle Weekend at
Mid-Ohio
Josh Day Earns First SuperSport Victory; First Back-to-Back Wins for
Yamaha since 1994
LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 19, 2009) - Josh Hayes started from pole and swept
the Honda Super Cycle Weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, earning
his third career AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by
Parts Unlimited victory in Sunday's race. Danny Eslick matched Hayes'
effort, claiming victory in a hard-fought AMA Pro Daytona SportBike
presented by AMSOIL battle earlier in the day.
Hayes has an accomplished history at the 2.4-mile course and this
weekend proved to be a continuation for the two-time Formula Xtreme
champion. After claiming Superpole on Friday, Hayes held off a
hard-charging pack of riders led by Aaron Yates' No. 23 Brand Jordan
Suzuki GSX-R1000 in Saturday's American Superbike race for the win.
Sunday saw a compelling performance by Hayes, as he held off teammate
Ben Bostrom's No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 to mark the first
time in 15 years that a Yamaha rider has earned three wins in an
American Superbike season. The last rider to complete the milestone was
two-time World Superbike champion and MotoGP star Colin Edwards in 1994.
"This is what Superbike racing is supposed to be," said Hayes, who
earned his first American Superbike victory at Infineon Raceway earlier
this year. "One lap I had a full second gap, and the rest of the time I
had these guys breathing down my neck. This is what you feel good about;
when you go home you know that you put it all out there, that these guys
were having a good day too and you came out on top. It doesn't matter
how much you win by, it's the difference between racing and just going
fast around a race track."
Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden won the hole shot on the No.
22 Suzuki to start the 21-lap sprint race, but gave up the point to
Hayes in Turn 6 on the first lap. Hayes lost the lead only briefly,
falling behind Bostrom in Turn 6 on Laps 8 and 11 only to retake control
of the field in the next corner. Bostrom held off the remainder of the
lead pack to finish .987 seconds behind Hayes.
"We had a very good bike today," said Bostrom. "It seems like when you
brake on the inside, you never seem to make the corner, and Josh is real
smart, very savvy. He just kind of high-lowed me back up there, so I
tried to get on the gas pretty hard the second time and came pretty far
out of the saddle. I thought I was going to jump on his bike. I just
settled down and tried to follow him and figured I'd just make a run on
him in the end. I felt like my bike was incredible."
Hayden looked to the inside of Bostrom in Turn 6 several times during
the second half of the race in an attempt to take second, but was never
able to get the No. 22 Suzuki into a position to complete the pass. The
Kentucky native scored his seventh podium of the season on Sunday.
"I couldn't get around those guys," said Hayden. "They were pushing
really hard. Towards the middle of the race I kind of felt like I needed
to get by and then if I could, I thought maybe I could up the pace a
little bit. The last five laps it was getting pretty difficult just to
hold on. We each had our part of the race where our bikes were working a
little bit better. In the end I had to follow those guys home."
Blake Young was the final rider in the lead pack, finishing in fourth
place aboard the No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000. Columbus, Ohio
native Larry Pegram's No. 72 Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati
1098R rounded out the top five after trading fifth position with Michael
Laverty's No. 8 Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 four times in the final
10 laps.
Championship leader Mat Mladin finished seventh on the No. 7
Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and leads Hayden by 126
points in the American Superbike championship standings.
Sunday's American Superbike race can be seen later this evening at
1 a.m. ET (10 p.m. PT). Next up for AMA Pro American Superbike is a
doubleheader at the Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the
weekend of July 31-August 2.
Eslick Earns Fifth Daytona SportBike Win
Danny Eslick's No. 9 GEICO Powersports RMR Buell 1125R came out
victorious in a battle that went down to the wire with the eventual
second-place No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R of Jamie
Hacking in the second of two AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by
AMSOIL races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Six official lead changes
came between the riders that claimed the top two spots over the course
of the 21-lap sprint race that opened Sunday's races at the Honda Super
Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tires.
The excitement began on the sighting lap, with Jake Zemke's No. 1X Erion
Honda CBR600RR losing power in Turn 4. Last season's Formula Xtreme
champion was forced to run back to the pits and start from the rear of
the grid on his backup bike. A clean start followed and Eslick led the
field through the first set of turns before being passed by Hacking in
Turn 6. Eslick regained the top spot in Turn 1 on the following lap.
That set of passes would set the tone for the two riders, occurring in
the same fashion on Laps 14 and 15. Hacking recaptured the lead in Turn
6 on Lap 16 and was able to hold off a rushing Eslick for four more
laps.
On the final lap, Eslick took a page from the Kawasaki rider's book and
looked to the inside in Turn 6, but was unable to complete the pass.
This set him up for an inside line through the Esses and the pair leaned
on each other as they made their way through. The No. 9 Buell emerged as
the leader and led the field to the finish.
"Jamie was real strong out of the keyhole," said Eslick. "He was strong
out of it and strong into it, and I was good through the middle. We went
back and forth a couple times. (The last lap pass) was the cleanest pass
I could definitely make.There was some contact, but it was good. Jamie
would have stuck it in there just as hard as I would have."
Josh Herrin's No. 8 Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 also presented a challenge,
passing Hacking on Lap 3 and taking the lead from Eslick on Lap 7.
Herrin officially led two laps, although he and Eslick traded the lead
twice on Lap 8 before Eslick was able to take the lead from the Yamaha
for the final time on Lap 9.Herrin finished 12th after an off-course
excursion on Lap 13 allowed Hacking to challenge Eslick for the final
portion of the race. In all, Hacking led for seven laps and earned his
sixth podium and fifth second-place finish of the Daytona SportBike
season.
"The race today was great," said Hacking. "We were pushing hard the
entire race. I was stronger on this side of the race track and Danny was
stronger back there in the back and it just made out for a really good
race, close racing. I put everything I had into the last couple laps
there and I thought I had the door closed enough. He muscled his way
in there and made a clean pass. I had made that pass before and there
were no hard feelings. He rode a great race, and we pulled away from
everybody else this weekend."
Martin Cardenas recovered from a crash in Saturday's Daytona SportBike
race to run clean and consistent, claiming the final spot on the podium
aboard the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600. The Colombian now leads the
Daytona SportBike standings by 10 points over Eslick, 285-275. Hacking
is close behind in third with 241 points.
"It was a hard race for me because my confidence wasn't very good after
two races, two crashes," said Cardenas. "So today that was the best I
could do. These guys were a little bit faster than me, and I tried to
stay with them, but five laps from the end I made a mistake and almost
crashed and so I decided that third place was good enough for today."
Fourth place went to the No. 54 Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R of
Taylor Knapp, who pulled double-duty this weekend racing, where he
also earned a top-10 finish on the No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Buell
1125RR in the final American Superbike race of the weekend. Roger Hayden
encountered electrical problems in Saturday's race, but had a strong
showing Sunday to complete the top five on the No. 95 Monster Energy
Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. Zemke climbed 11 positions on the first lap
and powered through the field to salvage a 10th place finish.
Sunday's Daytona SportBike race can be seen later this evening at
midnight ET (9 p.m. PT). Next up for AMA Pro Daytona SportBike is a
doubleheader at the Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the
weekend of July 31-August 2.
SuperSport East Sees New Winner in Day
Josh Day marched away from the field on the No. 4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha
YZF-R6 to claim his first career AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei
victory Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Day started from second
position and led all but the first of the contest's 17 laps, passing
Ricky Parker's No. 96 Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 on the second lap and leading
the rookie to the stripe by 8.895 seconds at the end of the race.
"It was definitely a good race for us today," said Day. "The Evans
Steele Performance guys have been working hard all weekend trying to get
the setup really good. I couldn't believe it when I was watching the
board, that I was pulling a gap on Ricky Parker with how fast he is and
how fast everyone else is out there. I just kept my head down the whole
race and just ended up with the win."
The battle for the final two podium spots were more difficult to secure,
with Parker holding off a hard-charging Garrett Carter. Carter started
from 11th position and took second briefly with a tight pass in Turn 4
on the final lap of the race, but was unable to hold the spot. Parker
powered back past Carter's No. 31 Ridersdiscount.com/Woodcraft Yamaha
YZF-R6 as the two rounded Turn 6 and held the position to claim his
fourth podium in four attempts.
"The setup on the front of the Yamaha was a little off, besides that
everything was pretty cool," said Parker. "I have to admit that I didn't
have it for Josh today. He was just too fast for me. He is just a great
rider, but I am happy to podium and end up with three Yamahas (on the
podium)."
After starting 11th, an early racing incident threatened to end Carter's
day early, but he was able to keep his composure and control of his bike
and surged to the front.
"It was pretty good," said Carter. "I got involved with a little Turn
1 accident at the first lap, first corner. Someone crashed and hit me
pretty hard, and I had to run off the track a little bit and quite a few
guys got by me. So really I'm lucky to be here right now. (Parker) was
really good on the brakes today, and it's such a hard track to pass on,
I just couldn't do it."
Day now leads the AMA Pro SuperSport East standings by 13 points over
Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R),
94-81.
Highlights from Sunday's SuperSport race can be seen later this evening
at 1 a.m. ET (9 p.m. PT). The next round for AMA Pro SuperSport will be
held at Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the weekend of
July 31-August 2.
-credit: ama
