After Herrin and Hayden was another significant gap leading back to a big pack of contenders for fifth place, which included Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May, Attack Performance Kawasaki's Steve Rapp, Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW's Larry Pegram, Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, Yoshimura Racing Suzuki's Chris Clark, KTM/HMC's Chris Fillmore, Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick, and Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki's Taylor Knapp.

Of the group, May was probably the most impressive over the course of the weekend. From nearby Gainesville, Ga., May was in stunning form on the EBR 1190RS, claiming a spot on the provisional front row on Friday, locking down a top-five qualifying position on Saturday, securing a top-five result in Race 1, and was well positioned for a repeat of that finish in Race 2 before a mechanical issue force him into the pits. He still managed to return to the fray and finish 13th.

Team owner Erik Buell said, "Pretty good weekend overall at Road Atlanta, although not quite as good as we had hoped. A shifter pivot bolt fell out on Geoff's Amsoil Hero #99, or he would have had at least a fifth again; he was right on top of fourth at the time of the problem."

Pegram walked away with that fifth after finishing 12th the day before after hitting a curb and damaging his wheels. Fillmore was solid on his orange RC8 both days, taking sixth and seventh, as was Rapp in seventh and eighth.

Eslick picked up a couple top tens (tenth and ninth) and Knapp impressed on Sunday with a sixth.

Knapp, who gridded up for each of the race finals in 16th position, finished one position ahead of Pegram in Race 1 one position behind him in Race 2. Gaining 15 positions combined at Road Atlanta, Knapp took home the MotoBatt "Hard Charger Award," a $500 award given at the completion of each race weekend to the rider who improves the most positions combined from each of the weekend's race finals.

Clark ran further up the third pack in both races before eventually settling down in ninth and tenth. He said, "This weekend, we got out with some points and we're not too far from my goal of fifth overall. The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is running great and we're figuring out the best package for me to beat the guys in front of me, and hopefully come out of the season in the top five. Now, we have a few things we're going to test and a few things we have better knowledge on. So I'm looking forward to going to Infineon and having a good race."

However, it was another nightmarish weekend for former class champion Bostrom. After crashing twice at Daytona, Bostrom managed eighth on Saturday but suffered another fall on Sunday.

"It was really a tough weekend," said Bostrom. "The Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 is a lot better than I've shown at the first few races. I've crashed out of three of four races and that's unheard of. I usually don't crash all year, so I'm not doing the bike any favors. I got eighth on Saturday and that's top 10, but it's not where I want to be. I'm definitely looking forward to racing at Infineon. I grew up in that area and I like the racetrack, and I think our bike will be racing for first there."

While the entire field carries big aspirations into Infineon Raceway, title leader Hayes could prove tough to handle. The Yamaha ace has picked up four of the most recent AMA Pro National Guard Superbike victories in Sonoma, Ca. with the other two wins going to riders no longer competing in the class (Mat Mladin and Tommy Hayden).

Next Event

AMA Pro Road Racing will next head west for Round 3 with a stop at scenic Sonoma, Calif. The Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam will take place at Infineon Raceway in two weeks time, May 4-6. For tickets and event information, please visit www.infineonraceway.com.