Their rivalry continues to push each man to make history. Hayes' Saturday win was the 20th of his career, moving him into a tie for fourth place all-time with Flyin' Fred Merkel. Meanwhile, Young's 13th moves him even with another former AMA Pro and World Superbike champ Doug Polen for 12th all-time.

"Obviously, I was battling with Roger at the beginning and I saw Josh go down," Young explained. "My first thought was maybe there was something on the track, and I kind of saw out the corner of my eye that he was okay. I knew there was a long race ahead of me so I knew I needed to concentrate and focus. It's pretty easy around this racetrack -- as I found out all weekend long -- to get excited, start grabbing the brakes hard, get on the gas a little bit aggressively, and find yourself going backwards pretty quick.

"I knew I needed to mellow out, ride my own race, and watch the board. With that said I knew there were a bunch of hungry guys behind me itching for their first win, and with Josh out of the way, everybody behind me was ready to take a shot at me.

"It's good to get a win out of here -- it's my first win here. I was just talking to (Yoshimura Racing Suzuki Team Manager) Peter Doyle and he told me the first time I came here I got sixth, the next race I got fifth, the next race I got fourth, the next race I got third, yesterday I got second, and today I won. It's kind of funny how things work out."

Hayes' massive speed advantage throughout the weekend left some hope that he might be able to pick his way even further up the order than he did. He later explained, "I was able to do some decent laps after the crash but it wasn't quite the same."

Roger Hayden's fortunes were in flux throughout the weekend. The preseason title contender alternated between up and down as the round took shape. Friday's qualifying performance was a disappointing eighth for the National Guard Jordan Suzuki pilot, who expects to be banging fairings with the likes of Young and Hayes on a weekly basis.

He responded with a second-place showing in final qualifying but quickly admitted the time was something of an illusion -- the result of an extraordinary single-lap effort, not a major breakthrough in bike set-up.

The warning rang true later in the day when Hayden faded back to a disappointing 10th aboard the #54 GSX-R1000 in the day's 22-lap contest.

But the Kentuckian responded a day later, scrapping for the lead before ultimately winning a last-lap battle with May to secure a runner-up result, the best of his Superbike career to date.

"I got a good start for once and then when Josh crashed I tried to stay with Blake," Hayden explained. "I stayed pretty close, but I really struggled in the chicane over there. Every time I would make up some ground he would pull it back out. I was just on the edge trying to keep up and I started sliding all over the place. I fell back a little bit and when Geoff May came by me I hung onto him and just waited until the last few laps and we had a good battle.

"We missed the podium at Atlanta and struggled early this weekend so it's nice to close out the weekend on a good note."

While Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May was praised as the best of the non-podium finishers at Road Atlanta, the showing at May's home circuit was just the warm-up act for what was to transpire at Infineon Raceway.

After a couple years of steady development, the EBR 1190RSs of May and his teammate, Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick, enjoyed what can only be described as a breakthrough weekend in Sonoma.

The sleek v-twin racked up a number of firsts throughout the weekend. May secured the machine's debut front-row grid position on Saturday morning. Eslick one-upped that in the day's race, pushing Young hard for second (and actually controlling the position for a handful of laps) before accepting a close third to score his, the bike's, and the team's first-ever National Guard Superbike podium result.

"That was pretty awesome," Eslick said of his maiden Superbike podium. "As soon as we showed up on Friday we had a bike that was working pretty good. Overnight we made a few changes and it really got the Team Hero EBR 1190RS hooked up. It didn't even really concern me when I got bumped off the front row. The race definitely showed that we could do it pretty consistently.

"It's just awesome -- hats off to the team. To get a Superbike podium is a dream come true, and I'm sitting up here with guys I've beat so I know I can win one of these."