2011 AMA Pro Racing
The second-half of the 2011 AMA SuperBike Championship is upon us, the grid heading to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for Round 6 this weekend.
Leading the AMA SBK points battle is Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes with 235. But he’s not quickly throttling away with the championship; only two points behind is Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young.
The two have been the stand-out riders in the first-half of the AMA SuperBike season. Hayes has only two wins out of nine races compared to Young’s five, but took second in a total of five races.
As Hayes and Young battle for the top points at the 2.4-mile, 15 turn Mid-Ohio circuit, Young’s teammate Tommy Hayden sits back in third with 182 points. The only other two riders to win a race each are in fourth- and fifth-place in the AMA SuperBike Championship: Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) and Ben Bostrom (Jordan Suzuki), respectively.
At last year’s Mid-Ohio SuperBike event, Hayes also carried a two-point lead heading into the race weekend. The Yamaha YZF-R1 rider held the advantage over Hayden, and dominated Race 1, leading all 21 laps to take is fourth (of seven total) race wins in his AMA SuperBike Championship-winning year.
Joining Hayes on the 2010, Race-1 podium was Bostrom and Hayden. It wasn’t easy, though; Hayes held off Bostrom by 0.219 of a second.
In Race 2 at 2010 Mid-Ohio SBK, it was Tommy Hayden who held off a charging Hayes. Joining the two on the podium was then-Foremost Insurance Ducati rider Larry Pegram.
Mid-Ohio AMA SuperBike Track Schedule
The AMA SuperBike grid will be on the track Friday, July 8, at 1 p.m. for the first free practice, and at 4 p.m. for first qualifying session. On Saturday, July 9, a final qualifying session will be at 9:30 a.m., followed by Race 1 (21 laps) at 3:15 p.m. Race 2 will be at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, July 10.
Mid-Ohio AMA SuperBike TV Schedule
SPEED TV will broadcast Race 1 at midnight on Saturday, and Race 2 at midnight on Sunday.
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Pics from last year’s Mid-Ohio AMA SuperBike races