AMA Pro Road Racing National Guard Superbike Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida March 16, 2012 Provisional Race One Results (2.9-mile course, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), 15 laps 2. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), -8.332 seconds 3. Roger Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), -16.201 4. Larry Pegram (BMW S1000RR), -24.728 5. Steve Rapp (Kaw ZX-10R), -24.730 6. Geoff May (EBR 1190RS), -31.371 7. Jake Holden (BMW S1000RR), -38.419 8. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000), -40.601 9. Chris Clark (Suz GSX-R1000), -42.283 10. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), -42.494 11. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), -46.091 12. Chris Fillmore (KTM RC8R), -46.135 13. Ben Bostrom (Suz GSX-R1000), -57.081, crash 14. Jordan Burgess (Suz GSX-R1000), -66.455 15. Jeff Lampe (Kaw ZX-10R), -83.598 16. Eric Haugo (Suz GSX-R1000), -85.264 17. Eric Pinson (BMW S1000RR), -96.650, crash 18. Trent Gibson (Suz GSX-R1000), -96.820 19. Lloyd Bayley (Suz GSX-R1000), -2 laps 20. Johnny Rock Page (Suz GSX-R1000), -2 laps 21. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R1), -9 laps, DNF, crash 22. Danny Eslick (EBR 1190RS), -13 laps, DNF, retired 23. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), -15 laps, DNF, mechanical 24. Shawn Higbee (EBR 1190RS), DNS Championship Point Standings: 1. Hayes, 32 points 2. Young, 25 3. Roger Hayden, 21 4. Pegram, 18 5. Rapp, 16 6. May, 15 7. Holden, 14 8. Pietri, 13 9. Clark, 12 10. Anthony, 11 More, from a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing: Hayes Earns AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Revenge in Race 1 at Daytona International Speedway; Cardenas on Pole for 71st DAYTONA 200 Rispoli Takes AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Win; Wyman Pulls off Another One DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 16, 2012) – Reigning AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes accomplished what he could not one year ago in Friday’s season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Hayes once again led from the green flag, but unlike last year the veteran was able to hold off rival Blake Young in National Guard SuperBike Race 1 to take his first SuperBike win at the historic venue. Making his way into the lead just as the pack hit the line to complete the first lap, Hayes put his head down, took full advantage of his No. 1 Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1’s newfound legs, and clicked off a series of blazing laps to break the pursuit of his challengers. Meanwhile, last season’s double Daytona winner, Blake Young, found himself in a brawl for second with Hayes’ first-year National Guard SuperBike teammate, Josh Herrin, and National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, and was helpless to do anything about Hayes’ rapid escape during the race’s early stages. The contest became further stretched out when Herrin lost the front and crashed from third place on lap 6 of 15. The 21-year old, who led all but the final meters of the opening lap of his Superbike debut before being double drafted by Hayes and Young, remounted and briefly re-entered the fray before eventually retiring. Hayden lost ground as well, running wide in Turn 1 and losing touch with Yoshimura Racing Suzuki ace Young in the race for the runner-up position. Hayes continued on in flawless fashion at the front to score his 18th career AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victory, boasting an 8.332-second margin of victory over Young. Prior to the contest, Hayes claimed that he and his team had put forth a great deal of effort in the offseason to ensure they came out stronger this season than in 2011. The 36-year-old Mississippian’s performance backed up those statements while serving notice to the rest of the field. “It was a pretty good day, I’d say,” Hayes said. “It’s a tough field. Blake rode really well last year. Tommy (Hayden) was all over me. Rog was taking all the necessary steps to be a big pain at the end of the year and Herrin has been fast in testing. So I just went home and worked really, really hard to try to take another step in my game and the team has been working really hard on the machine. This is the payoff. Daytona is one of the tracks last year where we were fast but couldn’t get it done. This year we were able to take it another step and I hope we’ll be able to do that at every racetrack this year.” “I’m pretty disappointed with my performance today,” Young said. “I feel like my team worked really, really hard. I feel like all weekend long I’ve been just a little bit behind on the curve. I haven’t really got out and run faster than Josh all weekend and that obviously makes for a difficult weekend. Like I said, I’m not happy with today’s race. Whether I have to get out of bed on the other side tomorrow or put my left sock on before my right like I did today… Whatever I need to do, I need to not let this happen again.” Hayden completed his lonely ride to the final podium position, taking the checkered flag some 16 seconds behind the race winner. “It’s a good way to start the season, finishing on the podium,” Hayden said. “But at the same time, it’s not very satisfying with the gap to Blake and the gap to Josh being a little bigger than we wanted. But we’ll regroup tonight and try to change the bike and try to put a better show on tomorrow.” Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom was another high-profile crasher, falling from fourth moments after taking the position away from Motorcycle-Superstore.com/Big Kahuna/LeoVince Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp near half-distance. However, despite Bostrom’s mistake, Rapp was ultimately unable to lock down the position, losing out at the stripe to Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW’s Larry Pegram by a scant 0.001 seconds — a dramatic moment in an otherwise largely processional race. Team Amsoil/Hero EBR’s Geoff May earned sixth, with Evan Steel Performance BMW’s Jake Holden, Team Venezuela’s Robertino Pietri, Yoshimura Racing Suzuki’s Chris Clark, and Kneedraggers.com/Motul/Fly Racing’s David Anthony rounding out the top ten. AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike The battle for the DAYTONA® 200 pole position is always a heated affair, with the prize of a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watch ready to stoke the already competitive fires. GEICO Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, a former class champion who rarely shows his ultimate form in qualifying, stepped up on Friday afternoon to claim just his second-ever AMA Pro pole position. Despite the closing rally of better marks, Cardenas’ best lap of 1:49.560 was unsurpassed as time expired. “Yesterday, we played with the setup and found something,” said Cardenas. “We kept up the pace today and in the afternoon I started good but ran off the track. I re-entered and then put in a couple of fast laps. I got held up on the first one, but I rode as hard as I could and I was able to secure the pole. I was close to getting the pole in 2010 but this time I was finally able to get it.” Youngster Cameron Beaubier qualified second for the prestigious race, not exactly a surprise after the Californian challenged at the front of Daytona SportBike races last season as a class rookie. The Yamaha-mounted rider was able to turn in a sub 1:50-lap with a best time of 1:49.742 to finish second best despite being pitted against a very deep field. “I got a good lap in and I wanted pole,” said Beaubier, who is making his race debut with Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha this weekend. Provisional polesitter Jason DiSalvo wasn’t able to better his time in the afternoon session and was disappointed not to have won pole after leading every prior session on his Latus Motors Triumph. “Going forward, we’re just focused on the race. That result wasn’t indicative of what our team is capable of doing here. Sometimes, no matter how dialed in you are, it just doesn’t happen for you,” said DiSalvo. “We’re prepared to go the 200 miles and show what we can do in the race.” Joey Pascarella and the P1A March of Dimes entry earned with a time of 1:50.155. The upstart team, which fielded Jake Zemke in last year’s 200, hadn’t tested the machine before arriving at Daytona but has shown the ability to contend for the 71st DAYTONA® 200 winner’s trophy. Two-time AMA Supersport national champion Tommy Hayden was a last-minute addition to the field, flying down from his home in Kentucky on Friday night after getting the call to fill in as Beaubier’s teammate at Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha following the Thursday injury of Garrett Gerloff. Hayden qualified in 13th despite the considerable challenges presented by the eleventh hour entry. AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Last year’s AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport title winner James Rispoli resumed where he left off by winning a multi-rider pack battle in the season opener, edging Jake Lewis by just 0.031s at the conclusion of the 10-lap race. Rispoli and his Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R600 were a factor throughout and led the entire last lap despite harassment from Lewis. The pair battled on the banking one last time during the sprint to the stripe. Lewis, mounted on a Riders Discount/Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600, was relentless but ran out of time to make his pass. Kneedragger.com/Galfer Racing’s Stefano Mesa took third place, 0.592s back. AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series The AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series season opener set the bar high for the rest of the year’s racing, featuring a four-rider drafting battle to the checkered flag. Kyle Wyman used the double draft aboard his Kyle Wyman Racing/Vesrah Harley-Davidson to blast past Bartel’s Harley-Davidson teammates Tyler O’Hara (second) and Michael Barnes (third) at the stripe to win his second consecutive Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race at Daytona International Speedway by 0.116 seconds. Tomorrow’s Action AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Race 2 will open Saturday’s race action at 10:00 a. m. local time, followed by National Guard SuperBike Race 2 at 11:00 a.m. The opening ceremonies for the 71st running of the DAYTONA® 200 will start at 12:00 p.m. with the historic race featuring the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike contenders scheduled to officially get underway at 1:00 p.m. Live Timing & Scoring of all on-track sessions will be available at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/. Between the races, stay connected with AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing; keep up with Daytona International Speedway via Twitter (www.twitter.com/DISupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway). For tickets and additional event information, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call 1-800-PITSHOP. For information related to AMA Pro Road Racing, please visit www.amaproracing.com. 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. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.: Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha Rider Hayes Blitzes The Field In AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 1 At Daytona Daytona, FL March 16, 2012 Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha rider Josh Hayes was a man on a mission in AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 1 at Daytona International Speedway as he successfully began his defense of his Championship title with a dominant win at “The World Center of Racing.” Josh moved to the front of the pack in very quick fashion and clicked off fast lap after fast lap. He scored a valuable bonus point for leading the most laps””in fact, he led every lap of the 15-lap race””then took the checkered flag more than eight seconds ahead of 2nd-place finisher Blake Young. Josh also recorded the fastest lap of the race. His Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha SuperBike teammate Josh Herrin actually got the holeshot when the race went green in his first-ever SuperBike race. For a brief moment on lap one, Herrin and Hayes were in first and second position, respectively, on their identically prepared crossplane-crankshaft Yamaha YZF-R1® SuperBikes before Hayes ultimately took the lead and was never fronted. Herrin unfortunately low-sided his bike and eventually had to retire from the race. After celebrating the win with his crew and climbing to the top of the podium in Victory Circle, Josh Hayes said, “Man, my 2012 R1 is fast. What a day”¦I’m so happy. I’ve got to thank my whole Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha team, including my crew chief Jim Roach for working so hard in the off-season and this weekend to give me such a dominant motorcycle. It’s a great start to the season, and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s race.” SuperBike Race 2 is set for Saturday, March 17 at 11:00 AM. Check your local TV listings for Speed TV’s telecast of the race. More, from a press release issued by KTM North America: Fillmore Places 12th at Opening AMA Pro Superbike Race Daytona Beach, FL KTM/HMC Superbike Racing Team rider Chris Fillmore placed 12th overall at the first race of the 2012 AMA Pro Superbike Racing season held at Daytona Speedway. Fillmore was placed on the fourth row of the start after qualifying 15th fastest during the early morning practice session. Fillmore had a great jump off the line and moved into 12th by the end of the first lap. For the first half of the race Fillmore was battling for a top ten position and at the halfway point moved up three positions to take over 10th place. A lap later he ran wide in the corner and lost two positions falling to 12th. He then went to battle with Chris Ulrich for the remainder of the race for the 11th place position. Both riders swapped the position multiple times. On the final lap Fillmore was right on Ulrich’s rear wheel with Ulrich just edging out Fillmore for the position when the checkers flew. Fillmore, who raced on the KTM 1190 RC8 R Race Spec model, reported, “I was happy to come in here and get one race under my belt. My bike handled really well today and was great through the in-field sections. I am looking forward to getting a better start tomorrow and running with the top ten guys.” “Fillmore put together a great race today and battled hard all the way through to come out in 12th,” remarked KTM/HMC Superbike Racing Team Manager Mitch Hansen. “We have one more race tomorrow and we know a few things we can do to improve his set-up and hopefully move us closer to a top ten finish.”