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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Herrin, Cardenas Emerge From The Haze
Josh Hayes' loss was Josh Herrin and Martin Cardenas' gain at the AMA Pro Superbike opener in Daytona.
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Herrin and Yoshimura Suzuki's Martin Cardenas (Photo: AMA Pro Racing/Brian J Nelson)
It's difficult to imagine a better way that the opening weekend to the 2013 AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike season could have played to signify the start of a new title campaign rather than a rehash of the one that preceded it.
On the heels of the most lopsided championship victory in series' history, many expected that three-time champion Josh Hayes would pick up right where he left off and run roughshod over the opposition in '13. While the Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha superstar flashed the potential to do just that during the Daytona International Speedway weekend, the fact is, he left Florida with just eight points to his credit and facing an uphill climb to the tune of a 48-point deficit.
Twice, Hayes' #1 YZF-R1 proved unable to continue while the Mississippian was holding a narrow advantage, leaving him helpless but to watch his emerging championship rivals, teammate Josh Herrin and Yoshimura Suzuki's Martin Cardenas, trade the weekend's wins and runner-up finishes.
While bitterly disappointing to Hayes (and equally thrilling to Herrin and Cardenas, who each openly admitted after their victories that Hayes would have likely won both races had he not encountered his difficulties), the development bodes well for an exciting championship chase.
The challenge is one worthy of, but not beyond, Hayes' powers. In 2012, he managed to log seven perfect points haul weekends. At the moment, he is less than four perfect doubleheader weekends behind either Herrin or Cardenas, assuming one of the two managed to finish second in all of those races.
It's a big climb, but Hayes likely remains the championship favorite at this point even if the stakes and pressure have been raised considerably.
When asked exactly what went wrong with his typically reliable works Yamaha equipment, Hayes joked, "I guess I was just going too fast."
"I felt like I was riding well," he said. "I think (Herrin) is doing good things, but it's a long season. We have another big break here -- I think around nine weeks -- so we'll have to see if he's able to raise the level of his game because I still feel like I have a little bit of pace on those guys; they still have a little bit of work to do."
Commenting on his championship standing, Hayes remarked, "I've been in this position before. I've had a bad Daytona and had to come back from behind. I really have nothing to lose right now. It's kind of like having a big lead in the points. Once you get a full race lead, you have nothing to lose -- you have a giveaway. Well, I don't have a giveaway but second doesn't mean too much to me. My goal at this point is to get every possible available point for the rest of the season."
As Hayes' retirement came earlier in Friday's contest, in which Herrin narrowly fended off a charge from Cardenas to claim the checkered flag, Herrin earned the bonus point for most laps led, handing him an early one-point advantage over the Colombian atop the standings, 56-55.
The young Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha pilot is expecting a breakout year in his sophomore SuperBike season, and he couldn't have asked for much better results to open his '13 campaign.
However, the weekend wasn't completely without its difficulties. Arm pump issues twice slowed Herrin, part of the reason he nearly lost the win on Friday to the Yoshimura Suzuki runner after earlier piling up a big advantage while breaking free in formation with Hayes.
And, in Saturday's rematch, Herrin hit a false neutral while battling Hayes and Cardenas for the lead, dropping him into a spirited battle for the podium a little more than ten seconds behind the victory.
Nevertheless, Herrin's spirits were buoyed by his increased competitiveness and comfort level compared with last year's Daytona trip -- not to mention grabbing the early-season championship lead.
"It's pretty awesome," Herrin said of leading the series leaving Round 1. "I feel like my riding is way better this year on this bike; I'm more comfortable on it. I'm definitely going to have to work way harder than last year to fight everybody off, especially Martin with as well as he's riding. I know that Josh had problems with his bike, but I feel like there is a lot of pressure on him, too... I feel like this is my breakthrough year and Martin has rode a Superbike before and is on an even better bike now. It's going to be hard to shake us off, especially when we get to more normal tracks. Daytona -- even though I won the 200 -- I feel like it's a weak track for me. The next couple tracks coming up are some of my favorites."
Cardenas was rock solid throughout his debut weekend as a member of the storied Yoshimura Suzuki outfit, steadily building speed and finally proving to be a serious thorn in the Yamahas' side before accepting Saturday's race win. At one point, Cardenas appeared to be on the verge of dropping off the chase before summoning up a 1:36.835 -- the only lap all weekend long to drop beneath 1:37 -- to close right back in and position himself to ultimately score the victory.
"I didn't expect a win to come this soon in the season," Cardenas admitted. "If Hayes didn't have a problem, I think he would have ended up first because he was a little bit faster than me today. I'll take it anyway -- anybody can have problems in each race.
"I'm very happy. I want to thank very much Yoshimura Suzuki for giving me the opportunity to ride for them. This team is awesome."
Herrin and Cardenas weren't the only riders to capitalize on Hayes' misfortune; Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram was a key beneficiary, as well. The veteran competitor twice finished on the final step of the podium in what proved to be a tremendously successful maiden weekend aboard his new #72-plated Yamaha YZF-R1.
After Herrin made his Race 2 mistake, Pegram closed right in on the factory rider and gave him fits to the checkered flag, but just couldn't make himself small enough to draft by at the end.
After Saturday's race, Pegram said, "I had a lot of fun racing with Josh Herrin. I'm not looking forward to the (angry) Josh Hayes that will show up at Road America. We can say whatever we want, but he was the guy to beat in both races and had some bad luck. I'm sure when we show up at Road America, he'll be fighting. But hey, we'll take it."
Perhaps the rider who feels like he most missed out on a golden opportunity at Daytona was National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden. Among the riders who returned for another shot at Josh Hayes in 2013, Hayden scored the most points in 2012 and was the only one of them to earn a race win.
On the heels of the most lopsided championship victory in series' history, many expected that three-time champion Josh Hayes would pick up right where he left off and run roughshod over the opposition in '13. While the Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha superstar flashed the potential to do just that during the Daytona International Speedway weekend, the fact is, he left Florida with just eight points to his credit and facing an uphill climb to the tune of a 48-point deficit.
Twice, Hayes' #1 YZF-R1 proved unable to continue while the Mississippian was holding a narrow advantage, leaving him helpless but to watch his emerging championship rivals, teammate Josh Herrin and Yoshimura Suzuki's Martin Cardenas, trade the weekend's wins and runner-up finishes.
While bitterly disappointing to Hayes (and equally thrilling to Herrin and Cardenas, who each openly admitted after their victories that Hayes would have likely won both races had he not encountered his difficulties), the development bodes well for an exciting championship chase.
The challenge is one worthy of, but not beyond, Hayes' powers. In 2012, he managed to log seven perfect points haul weekends. At the moment, he is less than four perfect doubleheader weekends behind either Herrin or Cardenas, assuming one of the two managed to finish second in all of those races.
It's a big climb, but Hayes likely remains the championship favorite at this point even if the stakes and pressure have been raised considerably.
When asked exactly what went wrong with his typically reliable works Yamaha equipment, Hayes joked, "I guess I was just going too fast."
"I felt like I was riding well," he said. "I think (Herrin) is doing good things, but it's a long season. We have another big break here -- I think around nine weeks -- so we'll have to see if he's able to raise the level of his game because I still feel like I have a little bit of pace on those guys; they still have a little bit of work to do."
Commenting on his championship standing, Hayes remarked, "I've been in this position before. I've had a bad Daytona and had to come back from behind. I really have nothing to lose right now. It's kind of like having a big lead in the points. Once you get a full race lead, you have nothing to lose -- you have a giveaway. Well, I don't have a giveaway but second doesn't mean too much to me. My goal at this point is to get every possible available point for the rest of the season."
As Hayes' retirement came earlier in Friday's contest, in which Herrin narrowly fended off a charge from Cardenas to claim the checkered flag, Herrin earned the bonus point for most laps led, handing him an early one-point advantage over the Colombian atop the standings, 56-55.
The young Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha pilot is expecting a breakout year in his sophomore SuperBike season, and he couldn't have asked for much better results to open his '13 campaign.
However, the weekend wasn't completely without its difficulties. Arm pump issues twice slowed Herrin, part of the reason he nearly lost the win on Friday to the Yoshimura Suzuki runner after earlier piling up a big advantage while breaking free in formation with Hayes.
And, in Saturday's rematch, Herrin hit a false neutral while battling Hayes and Cardenas for the lead, dropping him into a spirited battle for the podium a little more than ten seconds behind the victory.
Nevertheless, Herrin's spirits were buoyed by his increased competitiveness and comfort level compared with last year's Daytona trip -- not to mention grabbing the early-season championship lead.
"It's pretty awesome," Herrin said of leading the series leaving Round 1. "I feel like my riding is way better this year on this bike; I'm more comfortable on it. I'm definitely going to have to work way harder than last year to fight everybody off, especially Martin with as well as he's riding. I know that Josh had problems with his bike, but I feel like there is a lot of pressure on him, too... I feel like this is my breakthrough year and Martin has rode a Superbike before and is on an even better bike now. It's going to be hard to shake us off, especially when we get to more normal tracks. Daytona -- even though I won the 200 -- I feel like it's a weak track for me. The next couple tracks coming up are some of my favorites."
Cardenas was rock solid throughout his debut weekend as a member of the storied Yoshimura Suzuki outfit, steadily building speed and finally proving to be a serious thorn in the Yamahas' side before accepting Saturday's race win. At one point, Cardenas appeared to be on the verge of dropping off the chase before summoning up a 1:36.835 -- the only lap all weekend long to drop beneath 1:37 -- to close right back in and position himself to ultimately score the victory.
"I didn't expect a win to come this soon in the season," Cardenas admitted. "If Hayes didn't have a problem, I think he would have ended up first because he was a little bit faster than me today. I'll take it anyway -- anybody can have problems in each race.
"I'm very happy. I want to thank very much Yoshimura Suzuki for giving me the opportunity to ride for them. This team is awesome."
Herrin and Cardenas weren't the only riders to capitalize on Hayes' misfortune; Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing's Larry Pegram was a key beneficiary, as well. The veteran competitor twice finished on the final step of the podium in what proved to be a tremendously successful maiden weekend aboard his new #72-plated Yamaha YZF-R1.
After Herrin made his Race 2 mistake, Pegram closed right in on the factory rider and gave him fits to the checkered flag, but just couldn't make himself small enough to draft by at the end.
After Saturday's race, Pegram said, "I had a lot of fun racing with Josh Herrin. I'm not looking forward to the (angry) Josh Hayes that will show up at Road America. We can say whatever we want, but he was the guy to beat in both races and had some bad luck. I'm sure when we show up at Road America, he'll be fighting. But hey, we'll take it."
Perhaps the rider who feels like he most missed out on a golden opportunity at Daytona was National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden. Among the riders who returned for another shot at Josh Hayes in 2013, Hayden scored the most points in 2012 and was the only one of them to earn a race win.
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