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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Hayes, DiSalvo Fastest On Friday
Josh Hayes and Jason DiSalvo stood out on a tricky day of qualifying at Mid-Ohio.
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes (Photo: Evan Williams)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The AMA Pro Road Racing action from Mid-Ohio will air on SPEED Saturday, July 14th and Sunday, July 15th starting at 11:00pm ET.
Josh Hayes once again proved his mettle on a difficult day at the track to open the Buckeye SuperBike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire in which the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike stars were greeted by a tricky green circuit at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The early afternoon leaderboard displayed wet weather-like times despite sunny skies, nearly ten seconds off the expected pace as the riders got acclimated to the surface and the track slowly began to come in. The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha pilot, however, ultimately logged laps of more familiar speed as the day went progressed, nearing his 2011 mark thanks to his inch-perfect placement around an improving but still one-line circuit.
The Mississippian, who grabbed the provisional pole at 1:25.615, said, "Pretty interesting day... First lap I rolled out and I thought they had left a wheel spacer out of my bike or the rear axle was loose. I rolled all the way around the track slow, even coming into the pits it didn't feel right. I came in and grabbed the rear tire and said 'something's wrong, something's broken.' They went through the whole thing and found nothing. I went back out and saw other people were as scared as I was. I just kind of settled in and did a whole lot of laps.
"I'm really quite surprised to be in the '25s and be so close to what I qualified at last year -- '25.3 -- because it sure doesn't feel like that riding around the racetrack. I guess things are going okay. I feel like we're struggling a little bit but they're struggling a little more than me. We'll just keep our head down and keep focused and see what we can make happen."
He continued, "The best way I can describe it is the track feels like it's alive underneath you and squirming and moving around. Like it's not us moving around, it's the track that's moving. I have no idea. Every year we show up and have that to some extent but this year just seems incredibly worse than I remember.
"Right now it feels like we're threading the needle. There is one line and it's really narrow. It's not easy to pass. If you can be very precise and hit those lines well, you can put in good, fast lap times. If you get off line it costs dearly."
Hayes is perhaps a bit extra motivated to hold that position tomorrow as Mid-Ohio was the solitary circuit at which he failed to score the pole a year ago.
"This is the one I missed," Hayes said. "I was actually on pole on Friday here last year, but Blake ended up getting me on Saturday. We'll have to see at how the track is in the morning. I don't know if it will be better or worse when it's cooler quite honestly. The track seems to be getting better every time we ride it. We'll just have to see how the morning goes."
Another veteran racer who used every ounce of his experience to excel on Friday was Attack Performance's Steve Rapp. The Californian out-paced regular podium contenders like Josh Herrin, Roger Hayden, and '11 Mid-O winner Blake Young to rank second to Hayes on Friday.
Rapp pushed his Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R around the undulating circuit with a best time of 1:25.989, standing as the only other rider outside of Hayes to break into the '25s.
SuperBike rookie Herrin was right on Rapp's heels, circulating at 1:26.068 on the second works Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1.
National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Hayden completed the provisional front row at the scene of his maiden SuperBike pole, racked up at Mid-Ohio one year ago.
Young, who earned pole and won at race here in 2011, was relegated to the provisional second row. The Yoshimura Suzuki ace is desperately looking for a way to reel in his escaping title rival but was nearly a second removed from Hayes on the charts today, 0.861 seconds back in fifth.
Local hero Larry Pegram was next on the Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW S1000RR with on-form Geoff May seventh aboard the Team Amsoil/Hero EBR 1190RS.
Hayden's MJM teammate, Ben Bostrom, was eighth quick on Friday on the #23 Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000, while Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor Knapp and Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick completed the Friday top ten.
Hayes, who already has taken eight victories in 2012, including maiden premier class victories at Daytona International Speedway, Road Atlanta, Miller Motorsports Park, and Barber Motorsports Park, will look to get his revenge for his weakest outing of his 2011 campaign by securing pole and returning to the top of the podium on Saturday at Mid-Ohio.
Josh Hayes once again proved his mettle on a difficult day at the track to open the Buckeye SuperBike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire in which the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike stars were greeted by a tricky green circuit at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The early afternoon leaderboard displayed wet weather-like times despite sunny skies, nearly ten seconds off the expected pace as the riders got acclimated to the surface and the track slowly began to come in. The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha pilot, however, ultimately logged laps of more familiar speed as the day went progressed, nearing his 2011 mark thanks to his inch-perfect placement around an improving but still one-line circuit.
The Mississippian, who grabbed the provisional pole at 1:25.615, said, "Pretty interesting day... First lap I rolled out and I thought they had left a wheel spacer out of my bike or the rear axle was loose. I rolled all the way around the track slow, even coming into the pits it didn't feel right. I came in and grabbed the rear tire and said 'something's wrong, something's broken.' They went through the whole thing and found nothing. I went back out and saw other people were as scared as I was. I just kind of settled in and did a whole lot of laps.
"I'm really quite surprised to be in the '25s and be so close to what I qualified at last year -- '25.3 -- because it sure doesn't feel like that riding around the racetrack. I guess things are going okay. I feel like we're struggling a little bit but they're struggling a little more than me. We'll just keep our head down and keep focused and see what we can make happen."
He continued, "The best way I can describe it is the track feels like it's alive underneath you and squirming and moving around. Like it's not us moving around, it's the track that's moving. I have no idea. Every year we show up and have that to some extent but this year just seems incredibly worse than I remember.
"Right now it feels like we're threading the needle. There is one line and it's really narrow. It's not easy to pass. If you can be very precise and hit those lines well, you can put in good, fast lap times. If you get off line it costs dearly."
Hayes is perhaps a bit extra motivated to hold that position tomorrow as Mid-Ohio was the solitary circuit at which he failed to score the pole a year ago.
"This is the one I missed," Hayes said. "I was actually on pole on Friday here last year, but Blake ended up getting me on Saturday. We'll have to see at how the track is in the morning. I don't know if it will be better or worse when it's cooler quite honestly. The track seems to be getting better every time we ride it. We'll just have to see how the morning goes."
Another veteran racer who used every ounce of his experience to excel on Friday was Attack Performance's Steve Rapp. The Californian out-paced regular podium contenders like Josh Herrin, Roger Hayden, and '11 Mid-O winner Blake Young to rank second to Hayes on Friday.
Rapp pushed his Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R around the undulating circuit with a best time of 1:25.989, standing as the only other rider outside of Hayes to break into the '25s.
SuperBike rookie Herrin was right on Rapp's heels, circulating at 1:26.068 on the second works Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1.
National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Hayden completed the provisional front row at the scene of his maiden SuperBike pole, racked up at Mid-Ohio one year ago.
Young, who earned pole and won at race here in 2011, was relegated to the provisional second row. The Yoshimura Suzuki ace is desperately looking for a way to reel in his escaping title rival but was nearly a second removed from Hayes on the charts today, 0.861 seconds back in fifth.
Local hero Larry Pegram was next on the Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW S1000RR with on-form Geoff May seventh aboard the Team Amsoil/Hero EBR 1190RS.
Hayden's MJM teammate, Ben Bostrom, was eighth quick on Friday on the #23 Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000, while Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor Knapp and Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick completed the Friday top ten.
Hayes, who already has taken eight victories in 2012, including maiden premier class victories at Daytona International Speedway, Road Atlanta, Miller Motorsports Park, and Barber Motorsports Park, will look to get his revenge for his weakest outing of his 2011 campaign by securing pole and returning to the top of the podium on Saturday at Mid-Ohio.
AMA SBK Miller Motorsports Park
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