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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Eight Straight
Josh Herrin attached himself to Josh Hayes' rear wheel in qualifying but couldn't quite snap the champion's AMA Superbike pole streak.
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Herrin (Photo: Evan Williams)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The AMA Pro Road Racing action from Barber Motorsports Park will air on SPEED Sunday night at Midnight ET and Monday at Noon ET.
Josh Hayes pushed his perfect season streak of AMA Pro Superbike pole positions to six on Saturday morning at Barber Motorsports Park with a blistering 1:25.202. Hayes' overall run of poles now stands at eight dating back to last 2011.
Hayes was forced to sweat a little bit this morning, however, and not just because of the Alabama heat; The Mississippian narrowly overcame the challenge of opportunistic Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Herrin, who clung onto Hayes while working his fast lap. Herrin dropped his time by over a second as a result, leaping from fifth to second, but came up less than two tenths of a second short of stealing away the pole at 1:25.379.
Hayes said, "I went out and did a two or three laps assault just to see how fast I could go. My fast lap was a really good one. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking a little bit about having Josh (Herrin) behind me and towing him around. I know how talented he is and I'm always worried I'm going to tow him around and he's going to go that tenth faster chasing me and take that pole away from me. So I was thinking about that a little bit. Fortunately we pulled Josh around to do really well but not good enough to beat us."
Hayes suggested that Herrin's run in QP might preview the race, claiming that his rivals may prove more capable of sticking on his rear wheel than they were at Sonoma, Miller, or Road America.
"I'm excited," the Yamaha star said. "I don't think today's race is going to be anything like what we've seen in the last couple of weekends. There's no one particular area of the track where I have a distinct advantage on anybody. I'm just able to put all the pieces together pretty well. And like Josh did, it's going to be pretty easy when we all go together at the start of the race for those guys to measure off of me and stay a bit closer. So it's going to be a tough race -- I know it's going to be a long one and very hot. It's going to be who can slip and slide on these things without making a mistake for 21 laps."
Herrin said, "I went out in that last little go that I had and waited to see who was behind me and Josh came around -- that's the best two I could get. Luckily he let me stay there and I was able to get two low '25s in a row. It was a real good, clean lap and I got to see some stuff.
Explaining a contrast in riding styles, Herrin said, "I'm in a lot of different gears than Josh on the track at pretty much every track we go to. I tend to use first gear a lot and he tends to use a gear up on us, which usually, I think makes him a lot faster since he can carry so much more corner speed. I'm always try to be a late braker which is why I try to use lower gears -- it slows me down a little bit more. But it seemed like today it was pretty even -- he pulled me in some places and I'd catch him in some others just because of the gearing we were using. I got to learn a lot of things.
"I think we're ready for the race. My breakout race on the 600 was here in '08 and hopefully I can run up there with Josh -- at least stay up there a bit closer than I had been at the last couple races and maybe break away from the other guys a little bit."
Josh Hayes pushed his perfect season streak of AMA Pro Superbike pole positions to six on Saturday morning at Barber Motorsports Park with a blistering 1:25.202. Hayes' overall run of poles now stands at eight dating back to last 2011.
Hayes was forced to sweat a little bit this morning, however, and not just because of the Alabama heat; The Mississippian narrowly overcame the challenge of opportunistic Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Herrin, who clung onto Hayes while working his fast lap. Herrin dropped his time by over a second as a result, leaping from fifth to second, but came up less than two tenths of a second short of stealing away the pole at 1:25.379.
Hayes said, "I went out and did a two or three laps assault just to see how fast I could go. My fast lap was a really good one. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking a little bit about having Josh (Herrin) behind me and towing him around. I know how talented he is and I'm always worried I'm going to tow him around and he's going to go that tenth faster chasing me and take that pole away from me. So I was thinking about that a little bit. Fortunately we pulled Josh around to do really well but not good enough to beat us."
Hayes suggested that Herrin's run in QP might preview the race, claiming that his rivals may prove more capable of sticking on his rear wheel than they were at Sonoma, Miller, or Road America.
"I'm excited," the Yamaha star said. "I don't think today's race is going to be anything like what we've seen in the last couple of weekends. There's no one particular area of the track where I have a distinct advantage on anybody. I'm just able to put all the pieces together pretty well. And like Josh did, it's going to be pretty easy when we all go together at the start of the race for those guys to measure off of me and stay a bit closer. So it's going to be a tough race -- I know it's going to be a long one and very hot. It's going to be who can slip and slide on these things without making a mistake for 21 laps."
Herrin said, "I went out in that last little go that I had and waited to see who was behind me and Josh came around -- that's the best two I could get. Luckily he let me stay there and I was able to get two low '25s in a row. It was a real good, clean lap and I got to see some stuff.
Explaining a contrast in riding styles, Herrin said, "I'm in a lot of different gears than Josh on the track at pretty much every track we go to. I tend to use first gear a lot and he tends to use a gear up on us, which usually, I think makes him a lot faster since he can carry so much more corner speed. I'm always try to be a late braker which is why I try to use lower gears -- it slows me down a little bit more. But it seemed like today it was pretty even -- he pulled me in some places and I'd catch him in some others just because of the gearing we were using. I got to learn a lot of things.
"I think we're ready for the race. My breakout race on the 600 was here in '08 and hopefully I can run up there with Josh -- at least stay up there a bit closer than I had been at the last couple races and maybe break away from the other guys a little bit."
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