Triumph Big Kahuna Miami/GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida September 22, 2012 Provisional Race One Results (all on Dunlop tires): 1. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), 23 laps 2. Danny Eslick (EBR 1190RS), -5.070 seconds 3. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), -5.159 4. Geoff May (EBR 1190RS), -5.412 5. Ben Bostrom (Suz GSX-R1000), -13.007 6. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), -30.587 7. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), -37.170 8. Larry Pegram (BMW S1000RR), -37.542 9. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), -38.106 10. Aaron Yates (BMW S1000RR), -38.543 11. Chris Fillmore (KTM RC8R), -38.757 12. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), -62.302, crash 13. Jordan Burgess (Suz GSX-R1000), -62.723 14. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), -76.861, five-second penalty for jump start, pitted 15. Barrett Long (Duc 1098R), -80.970 16. Sean Dwyer (Suz GSX-R1000), -1 lap, 3.352 17. Bruno Silva (Kaw ZX-10R), -1 lap, 7.249 18. Felipe Maclean (Kaw ZX-10R), -1 lap, 20.115 19. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R1), -1 lap, 27.539, crash 20. Jeffrey Lampe (Kaw ZX-10R), -1 lap, 63.415 21. Steve Rapp (Kaw ZX-10R), -1 lap, 84.282, pitted 22. Chris Clark (Suz GSX-R1000), DNS Championship Point Standings (after 17 of 20 races): 1. Hayes, 487 points 2. Young, 401 3. Herrin, 289 4. Roger Hayden, 282 5. May, 242 6. Pegram, 232 7. Bostrom, 219 8. Eslick, 212 9. Clark, 167 10. Rapp, 166 11. Ulrich, 150 12. Anthony, 136 13. Fillmore, 135 14. Knapp, 117 15. Burgess, 100 16. Pietri, 81 17. Stefan Nebel, 71 18. Trent Gibson, 47 19. Jake Holden, 38 20. Johnny Rock Page, 34 More, from a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing: Florida Key: Roger Hayden Takes Chances, Earns First AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway HOMESTEAD, Fla. (September 22, 2012) – GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing history was made on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Triumph Big Kahuna Miami presented by Dunlop Tire and LeoVince and, for once, it didn’t have anything to do with Josh Hayes. National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden enjoyed what was likely the greatest day of his racing career to date; the Kentuckian claimed his first-career AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike pole position in the morning and then backed it up with his first-career premier class victory in the afternoon. Hayden’s triumphant Saturday closed out two historic streaks of Hayes’ while delaying the inevitable. Hayden’s pole snapped the champ’s run of 11-consecutive pole positions (which tied Mat Mladin’s ’05-’06 record), and #54’s blowout victory ended Hayes’ all-time mark of 10-straight AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike wins. Hayden took the early lead from Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young and was followed past by the #1 Monster Energy Graves Yamaha of Hayes. However, the race took a shocking turn moments later when Hayes clipped a curb and crashed from second while working lap 3 of 23. The Mississippian frantically sprinted to his downed machine, picked it up, and re-entered the fray, but could only work his way back up to 12th position in the end. The uncharacteristic mistake pushed the clinching of a third-consecutive National Guard SuperBike title back at least one more day. Meanwhile, Hayden, who was momentarily dropped back to second by Young, reclaimed first and then broke free from the multi-rider fight that was developing behind him. Taking full advantage of the opportunity before him, Hayden stormed off into the distance and took the victory with several seconds to spare. He used an intermediate Dunlop tire to win the race, a bit of a risk as he’d never run that particular tire before. Hayden and his team also changed the setup on the bike after the morning practice session. An elated Hayden took the checkered flag in his hand for a victory lap to celebrate that long-awaited career achievement. An emotional Hayden said, “It feels really good — it’s been a long time since I’ve won. So many things are going through my head right now, I just want to go back to the truck and sit there by myself and let it all sink in. It’s been a lot of work getting back — a lot of injuries. Lot of people stuck with me — my family mainly. My sisters, my brothers were always trying to help me, my parents were always right there. You have a lot of friends when you’re winning but when you’re laid up in the hospital bed with a broken back, broken pelvis, there’s not a lot of people calling you. My family stayed with me through thick and thin when almost everyone else gave up on me. I guess I want to dedicate this win to my family for everything that they’ve done for me no matter what. “I’ve got to thank my team, Michael Jordan Motorsports, and the National Guard, because last year nobody really wanted to give me a chance — they thought I was used goods. I think today made it look like they made the right choice. And for myself, I put a lot of work into it and to finally win… “I put my head down right away and was ready for the fight. These guys came by me and we had some good passes, and then I just tried to put my head down and get a gap and maintain it. I thought my lap board was missing laps because I was thinking, ‘I know we did more than just one lap.’ It seemed like it took forever but I got the win and I’m happy.” Young fell off the chase for the win and back into a remarkable battle for second with Team Hero EBR’s Danny Eslick. The two traded the position back and forth countless times in a scrap that displayed the full extent of the two chargers’ repertoire of overtaking maneuvers. In the end, Eslick’s aggressive tactics won out over Young’s, as the Oklahoman edged ahead at the checkered flag by 0.089 seconds. “There was one lap where we probably went back and forth five, six, or seven times,” Eslick said of the dogfight. “It was a good race. It was clean, and it was just good, hard racing. Me and Blake have raced each other for a lot of years and raced each other hard. There’s no love lost while we were out there; we were definitely going for it out there. It was pretty awesome.” Third-placed Young said, “I kind of had two races going on. I was racing at the front, and then Roger decided he wanted it more than me and kind of took off. I thought that was going to be the end of my day. And then I saw my pitboard about halfway through said ‘+1 69’ and I thought, ‘oh boy, here we go.’ Obviously, it was a pretty good race.” Their brawl allowed Team Amsoil/Hero EBR’s Geoff May to claw back into podium contention as well; the Georgian finished in fourth just 0.252 seconds behind Young. Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom finished a lonely fifth with M4 Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich claiming an impressive sixth. A healthy tussle decided seventh position; Kneedraggers.com/Motul/Fly Racing’s David Anthony ultimately took the position just ahead of Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW’s Larry Pegram, Riders Discount K&L Supply’s Taylor Knapp, EvanSteelPerformance BMW’s Aaron Yates, and KTM/HMC Racing’s Chris Fillmore. The powerful Monster Energy Graves Yamaha squad’s Saturday pain was only intensified when Josh Herrin suffered a problem while circulating in sixth. He continued on track but faded all the way to 19th by the race’s completion. Despite his Saturday disappointment, Hayes is still in commanding position to clinch the title. Only a non-score combined with either a victory or runner-up finish on Young’s part could prevent Hayes from claiming his third-straight AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike championship on Sunday. AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha pilot Cameron Beaubier won the Saturday AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race in decisive fashion over Martin Cardenas and Bobby Fong. Beaubier has now won six out of the last eight races in the GoPro Daytona SportBike class after an early-season injury effectively ended his shot at the title as Cardenas (GEICO Suzuki) has taken charge of the championship. Beaubier took pole for the race, but Cardenas earned the holeshot on the start. By lap four, the Californian had moved to the front and earned a gap he held for the rest of the race. “I was pushing pretty hard at the beginning,” said Beaubier. “I had a soft tire that had started spinning up by the end. I tried to stay consistent and brought it home. The team gave me an awesome bike.” “I led for two laps,” said Cardenas. “Cameron passed me and was a little stronger at the beginning of the race. I could see the board, and Bobby was behind me. At the end, I put my head adown and increased my rhythm. It was good to finish second. Beaubier took the win by 1.633 seconds over Cardenas, who was threatened by Fong and Dane Westby (M4 Suzuki). Westby closed on his rivals and looked to be making a strong push, but he couldn’t get by so he took fourth. Jake Gagne had an odd race. The RoadRace Factory/Red Bull pilot ran up front early, dropped back with an apparent machine issue, then returned to the action down in the pack. He made it back to fifth place and cut the race’s quick lap (1:26.066). Jake Zemke was sixth on the DucShop Ducati, ahead of Tommy Aquino (Kneedraggers.com) and Jason DiSalvo (Latus Motors Racing Triumph). Austin DeHaven, coming off an injury, was ninth for Kneedraggers.com. AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Orient Express Celtic Racing’s James Rispoli outlasted Kneedraggers.com Stefano Mesa to win Saturday’s intense AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstpore.com SuperSport shootout. Rispoli and Mesa distanced themselves from an earlier seven-rider scrap for the lead and settled into a one-on-one duel over the race’s second half. Mesa made a couple of slick maneuvers to steal the lead briefly, but Rispoli had an answer for every assault. Mesa’s bid was made all the more difficult when his helmet’s visor came off with seven laps remaining. In the end, Rispoli won out to the stripe by 0.564 after eking out a bit of space on the race’s final lap. “It was really slick and me and Stefano did a good job of sliding around and making it look fun,” Rispoli said. “In the middle of the race, he came rippin’ by and I was like, ‘OK, it’s time to go.’ I got back in tow, reeled him in a little bit, and found some parts where I was a little bit faster. I made my move a couple laps later. It was really fun racing today.” RoadRace Factory/Red Bull’s Tomas Puerta narrowly edged Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki’s Jake Lewis for the final podium position by 0.043 seconds, but Lewis was still the big winner on the day. East Region title leader Dustin Dominguez dropped out of the battle for third, and Lewis made up serious ground in the points chase, moving from 20 points out to just two points back (208-206). National Guard/Fairhills Group/Celtic Racing’s Cory Alexander rounded out the top five. AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Tyler O’Hara (Bartel’s Harley-Davidson) won provisional pole for Sunday’s AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race. O’Hara set a time of 1:38.629 in tough conditions at the 2.2-mile circuit on Saturday afternoon as he topped local rider Mike Barnes for the spot. “We made the decision to get out there early and get a couple of good laps,” said O’Hara, who added the weather worsened for most of the session. Barnes (KLR Group/Spykes H-D) was second, alongside Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D) and Michael Corbino (Rossiter`s Harley-Davidson). Title contender Kyle Wyman (KLR Group) crashed during the session. Television Coverage, AMA Pro Live Streaming Video Experience, Live Timing & Scoring and Social Media Channels SPEED will air the National Guard SuperBike and GoPro Daytona SportBike races in a set of back-to-back, same-day delayed broadcasts. Saturday’s race finals will begin at 12:00 midnight ET/9:00 p.m. PT late Saturday night, September 22 and Sunday’s races will be broadcast beginning at 12:00 midnight ET/9:00 p.m. PT late Sunday night, September 9. SPEED2 will stream the Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and Vance & Hines XR1200 Series races live, fans can watch by logging onto 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. AMA Pro Live, the online streaming video experience launched earlier this season, will be broadcasting views from around the track this weekend. Tune in at http://www.amaprolive.com. 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. More, from a press release issued by Team Hammer: BEST FINISH OF THE YEAR FOR ULRICH AT HOMESTEAD M4 Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich took full advantage of his outstanding qualifying performance at Homeland-Miami Speedway to score a well-earned sixth-place finish in Saturday’s AMA Pro Superbike contest. The Californian got away well from his Row 2 grid slotting and chased hard after the lead group, pulling himself free from a spirited scrap behind him for eighth. Ulrich continued to dig deep and earned one more position late, taking the checkered flag in sixth position. As pleased as he was to qualify sixth provisionally on Friday, Chris was even more satisfied to have finished Saturday’s race in that same position. He said, “It’s way better. My start was okay and I was able to latch onto the front group and that was the race right there. I was pretty close to the lap times and I could see them for a long time. At about halfway I consolidated the position as the gap behind me continued to increase. “I stayed on it and was reeling one of the guys back in. I got a little chatter and the bike was sliding around from the start — it was really difficult but we were able to maintain a good pace. I got to within 1.6 of him and then he made a big mistake. I was looking forward to a dice but after that I took the spot and there was a big gap behind me. I just had to keep putting solid laps in and get home.” The result matches Ulrich’s career-best in the premier class, equaling his performance in the 2010 Daytona season opener. “The key to this weekend was qualifying,” Ulrich said. “Usually I’m on the third or fourth row and you get caught up in the guys. I qualified well and raced well. And we’ll look forward to tomorrow. “It took a lot of work to get back to where I am. A little bit of momentum is something I’ve needed all year. It feels nice to finish a day and know you’ve done a solid day’s work. It feels pretty good.” Meanwhile, Ulrich’s M4 Suzuki teammate, Dane Westby, clocked up yet another strong result in Daytona SportBike competition. Westby raced in sixth position early and turned it up even further as the race progresses, mounting a trademark ‘Wolverine’ charge. The Oklahoman closed in on the battle for second position and diced for the spot until the final couple of laps where he ultimately settled into a fourth-place finishing position. Westby continues to control second in the DSB points race on 314 points. Saturday didn’t go as smoothly for Suzuki SportBikeTrackTime.com’s Elena Myers or Team Venezuela’s Robertino Pietri. Myers ran in the top ten in the opening laps of the day’s SuperSport contest but crashed out of the race while working lap 4 of 18. Pietri, meanwhile, was one spot behind Ulrich in the early stages of the Superbike race but was penalized for anticipating the start. He ultimately finished in 14th. Team Hammer will be back for more on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Ulrich and Westby looking to build on their strong Saturdays and Myers and Pietri seeking revenge. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Homestead Is Not Where The Heart Is For Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha Homestead, FL September 22, 2012 On the cusp of winning his third AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike championship, fate dealt Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha rider Josh Hayes a cruel blow in Saturday’s Race One at Homestead-Miami Speedway. On lap 3 of the 23-lap race, Josh suffered an ultra-rare lowside and crashed out. He was able to remount his #1 Yamaha YZF-R1 and rejoin the race, albeit in 20th place. From there, he worked on moving up as many positions as he could before the checkered flag, and he crossed the finish line in 12th. It was Josh’s first race loss since way back in April, and his remarkable streak of consecutive SuperBike wins ends at 10. Despite the setback, Josh still holds a commanding 86-point lead in the championship standings, with tomorrow’s SuperBike Race Two yet to come tomorrow. Meanwhile, it looked for a while like Josh’s teammate and rider of the #2 Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R1, Josh Herrin, was in third position and ready to take up the mantle for the team”¦until adversity struck him, as well. He ran off the track, got in the mud, and fell down. He was able to pick his R1 back up, and he managed to finish the race, but it was unfortunately back in 19th place. Both Joshes were understandably gutted after the win, but they’re tough competitors and will certainly be back in a big way in tomorrow’s SuperBike Race Two. That second SuperBike race of the weekend is scheduled to go green on Sunday at 3:30 PM EST. For more news, results, and other team info, be sure to check out Yamaha’s Facebook page.