Yoshimura Racing Suzuki's Blake Young (Photo: Evan Williams)

However, with Young, the style of victory is likely in greater part due to the rider than the bike. As efficient a close-quarters weapon as the GSX-R might be, I suspect if you handed Blake the two-wheeled equivalent of a sniper rifle, he'd still choose to use it as a blunt object and figuratively bludgeon his opponent in a close-range skirmish.

He is a ruthless and gifted late-race magician, a fact made apparent even before he first threw a leg over a Superbike. Remember his head-shaking acing of Aaron Yates in the 2008 Road America Superstock contest in which he dashed through an impossibly tight gap separating the intimidating Georgian and the (even more intimidating) wall as they raced up the hill to the stripe for Young's first-ever AMA Pro Road Racing win? Or how about later that same year when he took his first-career Supersport win, facing off with then-teammate Martin Cardenas on the last lap of the season finale at Laguna Seca? The two squared off and Cardenas (now recognized as perhaps the standout late-race strategist in the paddock) ended up in the dirt while Young made his way to the top of the podium.

Winning close is about the only way Young knows how to do these things. Of his 12 Superbike victories, only one has been taken by more than a second, and that was with just a 1.306-second margin of victory over John Hopkins in the 2010 season finale at Barber Motorsports Park while Hayes was cruising around back in seventh on his championship victory tour.

By comparison, of Ben Spies' 28 career AMA Superbike victories, only two came by a margin less than Young's biggest 'blowout.'

Blake's late-race talents are remarkable, as is his ability to overcome issues throughout the weekend leading up to the race and then turn it on and find the winning pace when it matters the most. But the reality is that to date he has proven incapable of consistently matching or bettering his rival's pace without a carrot. And because of that, despite winning seven races to Hayes' three in '11, and despite equaling Hayes' victory number thus far in '12, Young gets beat in the championship standings. Hayes' second title could be best described as a bonus point triumph and he's at it again in '12. Josh has taken all six available bonus points -- two for poles, four for laps led -- and he currently leads Blake by, you guessed it, six points, 116-110.

When Young took the lead in Saturday's race at Road Atlanta, the pace immediately slowed, allowing Josh Herrin and Roger Hayden to make up considerable ground from third and fourth, respectively.

Sometimes that will be Young's preferred tactic -- he doesn't mind making it a multi-rider brawl. The more riders to harass Hayes, the better, and Young has more than demonstrated that he can find a way to pull it off at the end. His rider-vs-rider game is superb.

But for him to win the championship and better prepare himself for a future racing overseas, he needs to seriously improve in the rider-vs-track department. He must become a real challenger for pole positions and he needs to be able to control races from the front -- even breaking free from Hayes on occasion (and it may prove necessary if the R1 turns out to be better able to defend itself on acceleration this year).

As well as being one for the ages, Saturday's race allowed Young to drop that potential 'no crashes in over a year' jinx while still walking away with the win. Not that numbers or streaks seem to weigh Young down any, but anything that allows him to concentrate his focus on where it needs to be is a positive.

As each rider makes strides in the areas they need to shore up, look for their rivalry to become even more compelling. Far from the cold war of Mladin and Spies, I've previously described the rivalry of Young and Hayes as being something of a 'grudging mutual admiration society.' However, even though both men say the right things when the microphones are in their faces, there is a bit of an edge to it behind the scenes. How could there not be? And without Tommy Hayden in the mix to play the third man things could get even more pointed. I'm a bit surprised things didn't spill over a bit more following Saturday's race (and perhaps it would have if Hayes won rather than Young) but there is still plenty of time for things to heat up.