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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Hayes Closes Epic ‘12 In Style
Josh Hayes closed out the statistically greatest season in AMA Pro Superbike history with one final blowout victory.
2012 AMA Pro Superbike champion Josh Hayes (Photo: Brian J Nelson)
Three-time AMA Pro National Guard Superbike king Josh Hayes closed out his epic 2012 campaign in fitting style. The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha superstar notched up one last blowout victory to put the finishing touches on the season in front of his home crowd.
Hayes tore off from pole and blitzed to his 16th win of the season, far and away the most attained in a single-season in the 30-plus year history of the championship. The Mississippian worked his advantage into double digits before easing to the last checkered flag of 2012 with a 9.194-second margin of victory.
Along with posting the record for most wins in a season, Hayes also established the new mark for most consecutive wins (ten), tied the record for most consecutive poles (eleven) and most poles in a season (ten). He also moved into a tie for second with most Superbike titles (three), and surpassed Miguel DuHamel to grab sole possession of second-place on the all-time Superbike wins list (33).
Hayes said of his historic season, "It was the perfect way to end an incredible year. A lot of fans and friends came out and I'm glad I was able to do a good job in front of them. I think we are showoffs and we tend to do some of our best work when people are around. It was just an awesome weekend -- I had a lot of fun."
Underlining his absolute mastery of the sport, while Hayes seemed to leave the field in his wake with relative ease, the premier class finale was otherwise a rather ragged affair, fraught with crashes, mechanical issues, and penalties among top-ten contenders.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Young and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden were embroiled in a struggle for the runner-up position some six seconds behind the leader on lap 9 of 18. However, as the two dove into Turn 1 to open lap 10, Hayden's front wheel contacted Young's rear wheel as they both attempted to corral their machines under braking.
The two crashed at speed together but quickly popped up to their feet, disappointed but seemingly unharmed.
That double disaster elevated the fight for fourth between Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick and Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom into one for the runner-up position.
However, while they remained glued together on track throughout, they were separated by nearly five seconds on the scoring monitors when Eslick was hit by a penalty for crossing the white line coming onto the start/finish straight; a boundary line put into place prior to the event to modify the radius of the turn with rider safety in mind.
"I had a good fight there with Danny," Bostrom said. "Josh just left us in the dust. I was behind Danny and I saw him cross the white line. I came by the pitboard and they held up '3' and I held up '2'. They might have thought I was showing them the peace sign. I realized I could just follow him to the finish line. What else is there to do? So I just followed him around."
Eslick took the checkered flag in second but the position officially went to veteran Bostrom. The duo's lead on fourth was sufficient for Eslick to claim the final spot on the podium despite his penalty.
The Oklahoman was uncertain that he had been penalized while still on track and thought he had finished second, but wasn't overly surprised to learn the truth. "I knew I ran off," he explained. "The thing wheelied coming off the corner and I chopped the throttle, but it ran out onto (the line). It is what it is. I'm still up here with two of the best guys out there. I can't complain."
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May suffered a mechanical issue with his machine while running fourth, quickly following the plight of Foremost Insurance Pegram BMW's Larry Pegram.
A lap later Riders Discount K&L Supply's Taylor Knapp crashed from fifth in a race marred by heavy attrition.
The mistakes and mishaps opened the door for a tremendous result from multi-time AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race winner Aaron Yates, who took home fourth on the EvanSteelPerformance.com BMW S1000RR in his second event back to the Series.
Fifth went to KTM/HMC Racing's Chris Fillmore to complete what has to be regarded as the fledgling SuperBike squad's most successful weekend yet.
M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich equaled his best SuperBike result yet with a sixth-place result, followed by Team Venezuela's Robertino Pietri.
Kneedraggers.com/Motul/Fly Racing's David Anthony, Attack Performance Kawasaki's Steve Rapp, and Anthony's teammate Jordan Burgess rounded out the top ten.
Hayes tore off from pole and blitzed to his 16th win of the season, far and away the most attained in a single-season in the 30-plus year history of the championship. The Mississippian worked his advantage into double digits before easing to the last checkered flag of 2012 with a 9.194-second margin of victory.
Along with posting the record for most wins in a season, Hayes also established the new mark for most consecutive wins (ten), tied the record for most consecutive poles (eleven) and most poles in a season (ten). He also moved into a tie for second with most Superbike titles (three), and surpassed Miguel DuHamel to grab sole possession of second-place on the all-time Superbike wins list (33).
Hayes said of his historic season, "It was the perfect way to end an incredible year. A lot of fans and friends came out and I'm glad I was able to do a good job in front of them. I think we are showoffs and we tend to do some of our best work when people are around. It was just an awesome weekend -- I had a lot of fun."
Underlining his absolute mastery of the sport, while Hayes seemed to leave the field in his wake with relative ease, the premier class finale was otherwise a rather ragged affair, fraught with crashes, mechanical issues, and penalties among top-ten contenders.
Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Young and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden were embroiled in a struggle for the runner-up position some six seconds behind the leader on lap 9 of 18. However, as the two dove into Turn 1 to open lap 10, Hayden's front wheel contacted Young's rear wheel as they both attempted to corral their machines under braking.
The two crashed at speed together but quickly popped up to their feet, disappointed but seemingly unharmed.
That double disaster elevated the fight for fourth between Team Hero EBR's Danny Eslick and Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom into one for the runner-up position.
However, while they remained glued together on track throughout, they were separated by nearly five seconds on the scoring monitors when Eslick was hit by a penalty for crossing the white line coming onto the start/finish straight; a boundary line put into place prior to the event to modify the radius of the turn with rider safety in mind.
"I had a good fight there with Danny," Bostrom said. "Josh just left us in the dust. I was behind Danny and I saw him cross the white line. I came by the pitboard and they held up '3' and I held up '2'. They might have thought I was showing them the peace sign. I realized I could just follow him to the finish line. What else is there to do? So I just followed him around."
Eslick took the checkered flag in second but the position officially went to veteran Bostrom. The duo's lead on fourth was sufficient for Eslick to claim the final spot on the podium despite his penalty.
The Oklahoman was uncertain that he had been penalized while still on track and thought he had finished second, but wasn't overly surprised to learn the truth. "I knew I ran off," he explained. "The thing wheelied coming off the corner and I chopped the throttle, but it ran out onto (the line). It is what it is. I'm still up here with two of the best guys out there. I can't complain."
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May suffered a mechanical issue with his machine while running fourth, quickly following the plight of Foremost Insurance Pegram BMW's Larry Pegram.
A lap later Riders Discount K&L Supply's Taylor Knapp crashed from fifth in a race marred by heavy attrition.
The mistakes and mishaps opened the door for a tremendous result from multi-time AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race winner Aaron Yates, who took home fourth on the EvanSteelPerformance.com BMW S1000RR in his second event back to the Series.
Fifth went to KTM/HMC Racing's Chris Fillmore to complete what has to be regarded as the fledgling SuperBike squad's most successful weekend yet.
M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich equaled his best SuperBike result yet with a sixth-place result, followed by Team Venezuela's Robertino Pietri.
Kneedraggers.com/Motul/Fly Racing's David Anthony, Attack Performance Kawasaki's Steve Rapp, and Anthony's teammate Jordan Burgess rounded out the top ten.
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