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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Promises Of Progress
For good and for bad, the respective forms of the '12 AMA Superbike contenders had resembled 2011 to an unnerving degree. However, that might finally be changing...
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The AMA Pro Road Racing action from Miller Motorsports Park will air Sunday, May 27 at 6:30pm ET, and Monday, May 28 at 5:00pm ET on SPEED.
Following Saturday's Josh Hayes benefit at the track-soon-to-be-formerly-known-as-Infineon-Raceway, I was struck by just how little had changed in a year. For all the talk of progress, development, closing gaps, and minimized weaknesses, all of the major AMA Pro Superbike players seemed to be frozen in their early-season 2011 form a full year later.
Of course, with my post-weekend analysis already written in my head, the Yamaha man had to go and throw it away on Sunday (both his bike and my story), creating the illusion of change at the very least.
But was there really that much change beyond the surface? Hayes made a big mistake but if he hadn't, don't you think he would have gone on to power to another one-sided victory the second time around?
Josh won by 10 seconds on Saturday but it could have been 30, later admitting that it was difficult to ride around so casually yet still feel as he should back things down even further, his lead was so great.
Hayes had the same sort of power over the field in Sonoma a year ago as well, save Tommy Hayden, and this year the field is sans Tommy Hayden.
But for all of Hayes' open-track speed and the related bonus points bonanza (which was starting to take hold of the title race before his mishap), he's still 0-2 in the close ones versus primary rival Blake Young this season. That's on top of the 0-8 record he brought into '12.
In the past you could forgive Hayes and mark that up to strategy and equipment. However, those arguments are out the window following his uncharacteristic fall combined with a rejuvenated YZF-R1.
The Mississippian has at times sounded almost sounded apologetic about garnering a decisive advantage via pole positions and laps led -- an advantage that allowed him to successfully endure second and third place finishes that fell just fractions of a second short of victory. However, his Sonoma crash wiped away a silently building title lead and now puts Hayes in the position where he's going to have to really scrap for those wins.
I'd guess he couldn't be happier.
Following Saturday's Josh Hayes benefit at the track-soon-to-be-formerly-known-as-Infineon-Raceway, I was struck by just how little had changed in a year. For all the talk of progress, development, closing gaps, and minimized weaknesses, all of the major AMA Pro Superbike players seemed to be frozen in their early-season 2011 form a full year later.
Of course, with my post-weekend analysis already written in my head, the Yamaha man had to go and throw it away on Sunday (both his bike and my story), creating the illusion of change at the very least.
But was there really that much change beyond the surface? Hayes made a big mistake but if he hadn't, don't you think he would have gone on to power to another one-sided victory the second time around?
Josh won by 10 seconds on Saturday but it could have been 30, later admitting that it was difficult to ride around so casually yet still feel as he should back things down even further, his lead was so great.
Hayes had the same sort of power over the field in Sonoma a year ago as well, save Tommy Hayden, and this year the field is sans Tommy Hayden.
But for all of Hayes' open-track speed and the related bonus points bonanza (which was starting to take hold of the title race before his mishap), he's still 0-2 in the close ones versus primary rival Blake Young this season. That's on top of the 0-8 record he brought into '12.
In the past you could forgive Hayes and mark that up to strategy and equipment. However, those arguments are out the window following his uncharacteristic fall combined with a rejuvenated YZF-R1.
The Mississippian has at times sounded almost sounded apologetic about garnering a decisive advantage via pole positions and laps led -- an advantage that allowed him to successfully endure second and third place finishes that fell just fractions of a second short of victory. However, his Sonoma crash wiped away a silently building title lead and now puts Hayes in the position where he's going to have to really scrap for those wins.
I'd guess he couldn't be happier.
AMA SBK Miller Motorsports Park
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