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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Miami Review
A look back on an historic weekend of AMA Pro Road Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
(Photo: AMA Pro Racing/Brian J Nelson)
The GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing series' return to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Triumph Big Kahuna Miami presented by Dunlop Tire and LeoVince proved to be a genuinely historic affair. While Mother Nature had her say, in the end the story was the continued bar-raising brilliance of Josh Hayes and the breakthrough performance of Roger Hayden.
The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha superstar came into Miami a two-time AMA Pro National Guard Superbike champion and left a three-time king, joining the exclusive ranks of three-time champions, which also includes Red Pridmore, Fred Merkel, Doug Chanlder, and Ben Spies. Now only seven-time champion Mat Mladin boasts more titles.
Hayes' recoronation came a day later than expected. In fact, Saturday was perhaps his roughest day of an otherwise unprecedented campaign.
Variable weather conditions prevented the Mississippian from putting in his best effort in qualifying, snapping his year-plus pole streak at 11, leaving him tied with Mladin for the all-time mark. And then he crashed early in the day's race while chasing after early leader Hayden, clipping a curb while in pursuit. The spill effectively marked the end of his record-setting ten race win streak, but Hayes still managed to pick his #1 YZF-R1 up and race his way back up to 12th by the time he reached the checkered flag. However, the determined effort wasn't quite enough to clinch with three races still remaining.
Perhaps it's better that it wasn't. On Sunday, Hayes bounced back to score perhaps the most dramatic of his 14 victories this season. With most of his competitors opting to run a rain tire and an intermediate rear in the wet-but-drying conditions, the champ fit a pair of intermediates to his machine.
While he paid for it in the early stages, dropping more than 15 seconds off the lead, he later scythed his way up through the field to claim a runaway win in the end.
Besides upping his single-season wins record, the victory also put him at 31 all-time, just one removed from legend Miguel DuHamel for second on the career list, and clinched his third consecutive AMA Pro National Guard Superbike title.
"It's been a pretty incredible year." Hayes said. "Especially after last year, the way things have gone this year... this is the way you'd hope I could push things to. I don't feel at a loss for motivation or anything; I want to win races. Championships are pretty cool and sometimes when you get a gap like we have it feels somewhat anticlimactic, but I still live for the individual victories. Every single race win feels so good. And if you get those the way that you want to, the championship kind of takes care of itself. Fortunately, I've been able to do that and we're going to continue doing it for as long as we can into the future."
While Hayes has been the man of the year -- and the man of just about every round, race, day, and session -- Saturday belonged to Hayden.
The National Guard Jordan Suzuki pilot came into Homestead-Miami Speedway with high hopes after showing impressive form in testing at the circuit and demonstrated front-running pace at recent events.
It all came together, first with his first-career pole position, and then with a breakaway win in which the Kentuckian survived an early scrap and powered off into the distance.
The win comes after years of committed effort, battling back from injury, alternating periods of triumph and disappointments, and determined toil. Once frustrated to the point of considering retirement, Hayden has blossomed as a Superbike racer since teaming up with Michael Jordan Motorsports and promises to become an even bigger threat going forward.
The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha superstar came into Miami a two-time AMA Pro National Guard Superbike champion and left a three-time king, joining the exclusive ranks of three-time champions, which also includes Red Pridmore, Fred Merkel, Doug Chanlder, and Ben Spies. Now only seven-time champion Mat Mladin boasts more titles.
Hayes' recoronation came a day later than expected. In fact, Saturday was perhaps his roughest day of an otherwise unprecedented campaign.
Variable weather conditions prevented the Mississippian from putting in his best effort in qualifying, snapping his year-plus pole streak at 11, leaving him tied with Mladin for the all-time mark. And then he crashed early in the day's race while chasing after early leader Hayden, clipping a curb while in pursuit. The spill effectively marked the end of his record-setting ten race win streak, but Hayes still managed to pick his #1 YZF-R1 up and race his way back up to 12th by the time he reached the checkered flag. However, the determined effort wasn't quite enough to clinch with three races still remaining.
Perhaps it's better that it wasn't. On Sunday, Hayes bounced back to score perhaps the most dramatic of his 14 victories this season. With most of his competitors opting to run a rain tire and an intermediate rear in the wet-but-drying conditions, the champ fit a pair of intermediates to his machine.
While he paid for it in the early stages, dropping more than 15 seconds off the lead, he later scythed his way up through the field to claim a runaway win in the end.
Besides upping his single-season wins record, the victory also put him at 31 all-time, just one removed from legend Miguel DuHamel for second on the career list, and clinched his third consecutive AMA Pro National Guard Superbike title.
"It's been a pretty incredible year." Hayes said. "Especially after last year, the way things have gone this year... this is the way you'd hope I could push things to. I don't feel at a loss for motivation or anything; I want to win races. Championships are pretty cool and sometimes when you get a gap like we have it feels somewhat anticlimactic, but I still live for the individual victories. Every single race win feels so good. And if you get those the way that you want to, the championship kind of takes care of itself. Fortunately, I've been able to do that and we're going to continue doing it for as long as we can into the future."
While Hayes has been the man of the year -- and the man of just about every round, race, day, and session -- Saturday belonged to Hayden.
The National Guard Jordan Suzuki pilot came into Homestead-Miami Speedway with high hopes after showing impressive form in testing at the circuit and demonstrated front-running pace at recent events.
It all came together, first with his first-career pole position, and then with a breakaway win in which the Kentuckian survived an early scrap and powered off into the distance.
The win comes after years of committed effort, battling back from injury, alternating periods of triumph and disappointments, and determined toil. Once frustrated to the point of considering retirement, Hayden has blossomed as a Superbike racer since teaming up with Michael Jordan Motorsports and promises to become an even bigger threat going forward.
AMA SBK Homestead-Miami
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