Team Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes (Photo: Brian J Nelson)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The AMA Pro Road Racing action from Sonoma, CA will air on SPEED today at 2:00pm EST, and tonight at 12:00am and 1:00am EST.
Hayes Takes First Win Of 2010
Josh Hayes repeated history today with a dominant first 2010 AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike win at Infineon Raceway.
Last year, Hayes took his Team Graves Yamaha to his first career American SuperBike win and again today, after taking the pole position, backed up that achievement with a completely dominant victory in race one of two on this doubleheader weekend of AMA Pro Racing at the beautiful Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.
Hayes had to dispatch a fast-starting Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) and once out front, Hayes basically kept his head down and ran off to a very convincing victory. Giving credit to his Team Graves Yamaha in victory circle and also in the post race press conference, Hayes was full of praise for his motorcycle and team.
"My Yamaha was so easy to ride," said Hayes, "I know the time gap doesn't always tell the story of the whole race, but I feel pretty good about my machine. We did try some small things on the bike and I think we learned something from it and we'll see if we can do something better with it tomorrow because we're not going to rest on what we've done."
Also enjoying a fast start to the race was Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati rider Larry Pegram who ran hard all day and as the race ran down fought back and fourth with firstly National Guard Jordan Suzuki rider Jake Zemke and then a fast Ben Bostron on his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha.
As Zemke dropped back into the clutches of Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammates Blake Young and Tommy Hayden, Bostrom took the fight to Pegram and finally got by with three laps remaining. Right about that point, Hayes had the slightest slip and got monetarily caught between gears which delayed him just enough to get his focus back in a big way. Bostrom tried all he could but there was no catching Hayes on this day.
Pegram took a well deserved third and continued his strong season in American SuperBike. Points leader Jake Zemke fought off Young and Hayden to slightly extend his points lead over Hayden and Young respectively in the season-long points chase.
Jake Holden, riding the M4 Monster Energy Suzuki in place of John Hopkins, continued his impressive weekend with a seventh place finish ahead of his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki teammate Chris Ulrich. David Anthony took ninth on his Aussie Dave Suzuki ahead of the improving Team Iron Horse BMW ESP of Chris Peris.
Visit www.infineonraceway.com for schedule and ticket information for the many activities during the West Coast Moto Jam here at Infineon Raceway. Visit www.amaproracing.com for live timing of all the race action.
Flag-to-flag coverage of this weekend's AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike races can be seen in same-weekend broadcasts on SPEED. Be sure to check your local listings for broadcast times.
AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.
