Hayes Takes Eighth Straight AMA Pro Superbike Pole Position, At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Updated)

Hayes Takes Eighth Straight AMA Pro Superbike Pole Position, At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Updated)

© 2012, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix/GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California July 28, 2012 Provisional Combined Qualifying Results (all on Dunlop tires): 1. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), 1:24.446 2. Ben Bostrom (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:24.657 3. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:24.867 4. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R1), 1:25.029 5. Geoff May (EBR 1190RS), 1:25.043 6. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:25.073 7. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:25.786 8. Danny Eslick (EBR 1190RS), 1:25.901 9. Chris Clark (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:25.975 10. Larry Pegram (BMW S1000RR), 1:26.011 11. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:26.068 12. Stefan Nebel (KTM RC8 R), 1:26.498 13. Glenn Allerton (BMW S1000RR), 1:26.607 14. Steve Rapp (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:26.798 15. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:27.046 16. Ricky Corey (Yam YZF-R1), 1:27.489 17. Jordan Burgess (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:28.899 18. Ivan Sala (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:29.411 19. Bostjan Skubic (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:29.566 20. Johnny Rock Page (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:29.980 107% of Fast Time = 1:30.357 21. Reno Karimian (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:30.626 22. Tony Porter (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:32.688 23. Dale Kieffer (Suz GSX-R1000), no time recorded 24. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), no time recorded 25. Chris Fillmore (KTM RC8 R), no time recorded More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: The Fog Lifts And The Hayes Sets”¦Pole At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; Teammate Herrin Fourth Monterey, CA July 28, 2012 The morning fog on the Monterey Peninsula was eclipsed by an afternoon “Hayes” as two-time reigning AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Champion and current series points leader Josh “Hurricane” Hayes put his #1 Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R1 on the pole at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. For Josh, who is having a truly epic season, it was his eighth-consecutive pole position out of eight rounds. Commenting on his pole-winning effort, Josh Hayes said, “I’m happy with my qualifying lap, obviously, but I think I can go faster, and I’m sure going to try to do that during tomorrow’s race. I’d like to get in the 23’s around here.” Josh’s fastest lap was a 1:24.446, so he’d have to drop half a second during tomorrow’s race, which, for a focused and fast rider like Josh, is definitely attainable. While Josh was setting the pole, his teammate Josh Herrin, aboard the #2 Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha R1, was diligently working his way up the lap chart. On his penultimate lap of the day, it was clear that Josh was on a flyer. He shot up the list from ninth all the way to third, and he was on his way to an even faster time on his final qualifying lap. Unfortunately, Josh was balked by another rider, which dropped him back to fourth. So, tomorrow’s first and second rows will be lined with Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha R1’s, and Josh Herrin will be right behind Josh Hayes. Look for “Holeshot Herrin” to try to get the jump on his teammate at the start, which has been a story within the story all season long. The AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race from the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will go green tomorrow at 3:45 PM PST. For more news, results, and other team info, be sure to visit Yamaha’s Facebook page. More, from a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing: Hayes and Cardenas on National Guard SuperBike and GoPro Daytona SportBike Poles at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca MONTEREY, Calif. (July 28, 2012) – The GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing action is heating up in Monterey, Calif. and grids are set for tomorrow’s AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike and AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike finals. Despite facing a stiff challenge from noted Laguna Seca master Ben Bostrom, Josh Hayes escaped with his National Guard SuperBike pole streak intact on Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha superstar Hayes dropped his mark to a 1:24.446 during QP2 to narrowly spoil the pole aspirations of Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom (1:24.657). The Mississippian now boasts a perfect record of eight pole positions in 2012 while his overall run has been extended to ten straight dating back to the tail-end of his second title-winning campaign. Hayes will now seek to protect his seven-race win streak, a feat that will require him to earn a first-career Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca National Guard SuperBike triumph. He’s been close each of the past two years, but was nipped at the flag on both occasions. Considering their qualifying showdown, Hayes will no doubt remember that the man who defeated him in ’10 was none other than Bostrom. “Sounds like I got a little lucky today,” Hayes joked after Bostrom came up just short of stealing away the position. “Everything has been going pretty well. I’ve done a couple of good strings of ’24s. I did some this morning, and I did the same thing this afternoon. I don’t even know which lap was my best. I had quite a few laps where I had to pass people. “With eight minutes to go or so, we came in and decided if one of the guys stepped up and took pole, that was okay; we still had some things we wanted to work on to be able to do a faster race pace. I didn’t throw my last tire at it and decided to work on some other things. Fortunately, the time held up even though Ben got really, really close.” While ’11 Laguna Seca SuperBike winner Tommy Hayden is now contesting the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike category, his younger brother, Roger, gave Hayes fits at Mid-Ohio and has shown the potential to do the same this weekend, as well. The National Guard Jordan Suzuki pilot ranked second-quick throughout much of the session before ultimately qualifying a close third at 1:24.867 to claim the final spot on the front row in the unique three-rider-per-row format utilized alongside the MotoGP stars at Laguna Seca. The Jordan men will look to, again, take the fight to Hayes. Bostrom said, “I like the track, and the bike has been really great. Obviously, all year, it keeps improving. Last race, Rog (Hayden) did an awesome job all weekend and almost put the thing on the top of the podium. It was a very inspired ride, and I expect to have a good fight with Rog and, obviously, Hayes, who is the man to beat. I’m just happy to be up fighting. It’s been a while since I’ve been at the front.” Hayden remarked, “I kind of cut it a little bit close there at the end. I came in and got a new tire and tried to put in a quick lap. It seemed like I was having a lot of problems getting a clean lap; there were a lot of guys out there looking for a tow, but luckily, I got one clean lap at the end and got on the front row. That’s really important at this place because there are only three spots on the front row and it’s really hard to pass.” Hayes’ factory SuperBike teammate, Josh Herrin, appeared in danger of qualifying off the front two rows. However, the rising star found his groove late and leaped up from ninth to fourth to secure the first spot on the second row aboard his #2 Yamaha YZF-R1. Team Amsoil/Hero EBR’s Geoff May will start from the middle of the row after qualifying second to Hayes provisionally in the morning session. He fractionally edged Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young (1:25.043 vs. 1:25.073) for fifth as Young continues to search for his missing mojo. Young has shown well at Laguna Seca in the past, including a podium finish a year ago (also from the second row) and the ’09 contest in which he pushed legend Mat Mladin deep into the contest before finishing second. Riders Discount K&L Supply Suzuki’s Taylor Knapp will head the third row and be joined alongside by Team Hero EBR’s Danny Eslick and second Yosh runner Chris Clark. If Hayes manages to win tomorrow’s 23-lapper, he’ll set a new single-season win streak with his eighth consecutive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victory. AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike In AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike, Martin Cardenas earned his fourth pole of the season in a tough, time-restricted qualifying session caused by weather and track cleanup issues. Most riders did not improve their lap times in the handful of completed laps, with only GEICO Suzuki’s Cardenas bettering his Friday marks on Saturday. He will be joined on the front row by the Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha teammates Tommy Hayden and Cameron Beaubier in the special three-rider front rows used during the Grand Prix weekend. Television Coverage, Live Streaming, Live Timing & Scoring and Social Media Channels SPEED will air the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike and AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike races in a set of back-to-back, same-day delayed broadcasts beginning at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT on Sunday, July 29. SPEED2 will live-stream the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport race, fans can watch by logging on to http://www.speed2.com. SPEED2 is a broadband service available to customers of Time Warner, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, DISH, and Cox. For more information and instructions on gaining access to all of this season’s AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series races, please review the SPEED2 FAQ located at http://www.speed2.com/faq. GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Live Timing & Scoring presented by Cortech offers fans real-time access to results from on-track sessions at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/. Between the races, stay connected with GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing. AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

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