Josh Hayes’ margin of victory in the opening AMA Pro National Guard Superbike race March 16 at Daytona International Speedway was 8.332 seconds the largest margin of victory in an AMA Superbike race since 2009, when Hayes beat soon-to-retire Mat Mladin by over 10 seconds in Race One at VIRginia International Raceway. Races like that don’t usually leave much to talk about, but after the post-race press conference ended Hayes opened up to Roadracingworld.com, revealing some of his motivation for the 2012 season. The Race One victory was Hayes’ first Superbike win at Daytona and his first AMA Pro sprint race win since he won his AMA Pro debut race, 750cc Supersport, at Daytona in 1999. When asked how it felt, Hayes said, “It feels good, but at the same time I feel like it was kind of expected. I was fast here last year. I should have won last year. That’s what all this work is all about. I feel content that I did my job right, now.” The work Hayes referred to was intensifying his off-season training program in order to shave approximately seven pounds off his already-lean 165-pound frame. Other elements of his work included perfecting a new line through the chicane (easily visible on television) that his peers struggled to replicate. “I think they can replicate it,” said Hayes, “but they have to go figure out what I’m doing. And I haven’t showed that to anybody. In practice, when I’ve ridden around with [Josh] Herrin or when Blake’s [Young] around I don’t ride that line. I do it when I’m by myself. Once I’m in the race, everything goes out the window. They can see what I’m doing. “It’s a different approach to the chicane, but it offers different problems. There’s a different obstacle to attack there. I weighed out the pluses and minuses of it and figured out it was working good for me. I crashed at the test here doing it, and I had to go through some hard knocks figuring it out and get it to where I wanted it to be. I seem to be pretty good with it now. It keeps me consistent. I make less mistakes that way than I do with the other way. I don’t know that there’s any time in it. It’s just different.” When it was pointed out that his large margin of victory in Race One and his comments in the press conference afterward were reminiscent of Mat Mladin (who won 82 AMA Superbike races and often crushed the competition, before simply telling reporters, “We did a good job today.”), Hayes took the comment as if it were a badge of honor. “What fun is being a motorcycle racer if you’re not trying to be a better one? Just riding around is not enough, not for me. That’s not what got me here,” Hayes said. “Last year, I felt like that was some of the struggles that I had [because] I was racing the same guys I had already beaten. Maybe I don’t feel like I deserved the Championship last year because I got beat seven races to three [by Blake Young]. I feel like I have something to prove – inside. “[Going into] last year I didn’t feel like that. I had won seven races. I was like, ‘Well, I’m doing the same thing.’ Now, I’ve got a big chip on my shoulder about getting beat last year, and I want to show everybody. I want to see if I can put myself in another league from those guys. I don’t know if I can do it. Those guys are good racers, but I sure want to try. I don’t have a Mladin or a Duhamel or a Rossi or a Stoner to go chase, so how else are you supposed to motivate yourself? You take motivation wherever you can find it. Mine is getting my butt kicked in race wins last year. People are like, ‘How many races do you want to win this year?’ I want to win all of them, every one of them. I’m not giving away a session this year. You’re gonna have to take it from me.” Race Two at Daytona played out much differently and went right down to the wire. Hayes led most of the way but came up 0.002-second short on his last-lap draft pass attempt, and the victory went to Young, who significantly stepped up his riding and his speed from the day before. Bonus points from earning the pole position and leading the most laps in both races at Daytona have given Hayes a three-point lead over Young going into Round Two of the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Championship, the Big Kahuna Atlanta, April 20-22 at Road Atlanta.