Hayes and Young left Atlanta once again tied for the $2,000 Cortech "Performance Edge" Award, which will go to the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike rider who posts the highest number of "fastest lap of the race" in event finals during the 2012 season. In Race 1, Young turned the fastest lap of the race on Lap 5 with a time of 1:25.364 and in Race 2, Hayes turned the fastest lap of the race on Lap 6 with a time of 1:24.922. With a total of 581.3 miles and 213 laps completed so far in the 2012 AMA Pro National Guard Superbike season, Hayes also leads the Sunoco "Go The Distance" Award.

Hayes' Sunday victory earned him the distinction of being named the weekend's National Guard Superbike 'Big Kahuna,' and with that came the iconic surfboard trophy provided by M1 PowerSports and designed by Roland Sands and Motorcycle-Superstore.com.

"Getting the surfboard is awesome," Hayes commented. "I was able to get one of the ones at VIR when I was riding Formula Xtreme. I've got that in the living room and I think this will look great sitting next to it to bookend it."

Also confirming the Daytona opener, there were two distinct groups chasing behind the fight for the win.

The first was a two-man fight featuring Hayes' Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate, Josh Herrin, and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden.

The two were just short of the winning pace, able to run in tow for a handful of laps but not at full distance.

That reality is a welcome one for National Guard Superbike rookie Herrin, who is still learning the ropes and expecting to steadily improve. It's not quite so pleasant for Hayden, who remains consistently quick but a step off of the form at which he concluded 2011, where he proved capable of challenging Hayes and Young for race wins.

While Hayden took a pair of thirds at Daytona, he was twice relegated to fourth by Herrin, who scored the first two podiums of his young Superbike career. Additionally, Herrin continued to get great starts and enjoyed a stint at the front of the pack both days (if rather abbreviated).

The Dublin, Ga. resident was thrilled with the outcome but also aware of the areas in which he needs to improve to take the next step.

He explained, "It was a really good race -- I had fun just keeping Josh and Blake in my sights for the first seven laps or so. That felt good. I'll go home and get ready for the next one -- work on my strength; I just need to be a little stronger to throw these bikes around on tight tracks. The Yamaha R1 was working great -- obviously, you can see Josh is doing pretty good on it. The bike is capable of winning -- I just wasn't ready yet. But it was a good weekend. I'm glad to be on the podium twice."

Hayden said, "Two fourths is a little disappointing after being on the podium twice at Daytona. At the same time, we made a run for the podium, we finished both races and we learned some stuff. Although fourth place isn't where we want to be, I feel like I'm riding good and the National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 is working great. Hopefully, we can move on to Infineon and get back on the podium."