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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Hayes, Cardenas In Control
Two-time AMA Pro Superbike champ Josh Hayes set the practice pace on the opening day of action at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes (Photo: Evan Williams)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The AMA Pro Road Racing action from Laguna Seca will air on SPEED Sunday, July 29th starting at 11:00pm ET.
The streaking Josh Hayes carried his GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing chart-topping ways into Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Hayes threw down a blistering 1:25.991 to set the pace in Friday's AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike free practice on the opening day of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
Hayes is on an historic tear, having claimed seven consecutive victories while scooping up every available pole position along the way.
To further that streak, the Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha ace will need to break new ground this weekend and claim his first-career AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victory at the fabled road course. That shouldn't be considered an impassable obstacle, however, as the Mississippian has already broken through at Daytona International Speedway, Road Atlanta, Miller Motorsports Park and Barber Motorsports Park this season alone.
Despite ending the day on top, Hayes didn't control the session throughout. National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden, who pushed the two-time champ to the limit last time out at Mid-Ohio, actually sat atop the order for much of the session.
Hayes' foray into the '24s pushed him ahead of Hayden, but not by much. The Kentuckian was second-best at 1:25.262.
"My lap times are pretty good; we're faster than we were this time last year," Hayes said. "The potential is there in the motorcycle to go a lot faster. We tried some things in the very beginning that got me extremely tight on the motorcycle, and I ended up getting myself all worked up. I wasn't very happy with the second half of my session, and I felt like I wasn't able to do a very good job for the guys. But I'm confident we'll be able to look at things and make improvements for tomorrow. I'm confident I'll be able to come back and relax, and get back into the swing of things tomorrow."
Commenting on his quest for a first National Guard SuperBIke win at Laguna Seca, Hayes said, "Quite honestly, I don't look at this place and say 'Oh, I haven't won here,' because the last two years here, it's been me and one other person. Last year, this was my track; I had it covered but Tommy (Hayden) beat me. He just played the game right and got me at the end. I don't feel pressure coming here -- I've been racing for the win the past two years. I'm just going to try to do what I did at Ohio -- go through the motions and stick to my routine. When I do that, things work out for me."
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May was next-best, outpacing Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca genius Ben Bostrom to lay claim to third-best in the session behind Hayes and Hayden.
May hustled his way around the roller coaster-like circuit with a quick time of 1:25.540 to move ahead of Jordan Suzuki's Bostrom, who has multiple AMA Pro and World Superbike Mazda Raceway wins to his credit.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Chris Clark was an impressive fifth-quickest at 1:26.020, faster than teammate Blake Young (10th, 1:26.509) and Hayes' teammate, Josh Herrin (7th, 1:26.070).
Another rider who turned heads was Jake Holden in sixth, riding the Redline Motorsports Honda CBR1000RR. Holden winged his way to a 1:26.063 on the new SuperBike.
May's teammate, Danny Eslick, and Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor Knapp also ran in the top ten, ranked ninth and tenth, respectively.
The AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike heroes will qualify on Saturday in preparation of Sunday's 23-lap contest.
The streaking Josh Hayes carried his GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing chart-topping ways into Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Hayes threw down a blistering 1:25.991 to set the pace in Friday's AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike free practice on the opening day of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
Hayes is on an historic tear, having claimed seven consecutive victories while scooping up every available pole position along the way.
To further that streak, the Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha ace will need to break new ground this weekend and claim his first-career AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victory at the fabled road course. That shouldn't be considered an impassable obstacle, however, as the Mississippian has already broken through at Daytona International Speedway, Road Atlanta, Miller Motorsports Park and Barber Motorsports Park this season alone.
Despite ending the day on top, Hayes didn't control the session throughout. National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden, who pushed the two-time champ to the limit last time out at Mid-Ohio, actually sat atop the order for much of the session.
Hayes' foray into the '24s pushed him ahead of Hayden, but not by much. The Kentuckian was second-best at 1:25.262.
"My lap times are pretty good; we're faster than we were this time last year," Hayes said. "The potential is there in the motorcycle to go a lot faster. We tried some things in the very beginning that got me extremely tight on the motorcycle, and I ended up getting myself all worked up. I wasn't very happy with the second half of my session, and I felt like I wasn't able to do a very good job for the guys. But I'm confident we'll be able to look at things and make improvements for tomorrow. I'm confident I'll be able to come back and relax, and get back into the swing of things tomorrow."
Commenting on his quest for a first National Guard SuperBIke win at Laguna Seca, Hayes said, "Quite honestly, I don't look at this place and say 'Oh, I haven't won here,' because the last two years here, it's been me and one other person. Last year, this was my track; I had it covered but Tommy (Hayden) beat me. He just played the game right and got me at the end. I don't feel pressure coming here -- I've been racing for the win the past two years. I'm just going to try to do what I did at Ohio -- go through the motions and stick to my routine. When I do that, things work out for me."
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May was next-best, outpacing Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca genius Ben Bostrom to lay claim to third-best in the session behind Hayes and Hayden.
May hustled his way around the roller coaster-like circuit with a quick time of 1:25.540 to move ahead of Jordan Suzuki's Bostrom, who has multiple AMA Pro and World Superbike Mazda Raceway wins to his credit.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Chris Clark was an impressive fifth-quickest at 1:26.020, faster than teammate Blake Young (10th, 1:26.509) and Hayes' teammate, Josh Herrin (7th, 1:26.070).
Another rider who turned heads was Jake Holden in sixth, riding the Redline Motorsports Honda CBR1000RR. Holden winged his way to a 1:26.063 on the new SuperBike.
May's teammate, Danny Eslick, and Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor Knapp also ran in the top ten, ranked ninth and tenth, respectively.
The AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike heroes will qualify on Saturday in preparation of Sunday's 23-lap contest.
AMA SBK Miller Motorsports Park
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