2012 AMA Superbike Results
Spoiler Alert: 2012 AMA Superbike results from Road America, Wisconsin, listed below
Defending AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes rang up a resounding victory in the first half of the Subway SuperBike Doubleheader in front of a huge crowd on Saturday at Road America.
Hayes seized control of the contest almost as soon as it began. Starting from pole (Hayes set a blistering National Guard SuperBike track record of 2:11.333), the Monster Energy Graves Yamaha pilot made a couple quick passes and raced off into the distance. The Mississippian’s lead at the conclusion of the opening lap was an astonishing 3.372 seconds, leaving little doubt who would stand atop the podium unless something unexpected happened.
It didn’t. Hayes cruised to his fifth victory of the 2012 season, opening up a crushing 11.348 second lead before the race was halted and called final while Hayes was working the final lap due to rainfall (although some might have thought the mercy rule was in effect).
The start of the race was delayed due to a passing wind and rainstorm but was eventually contested under what were largely dry conditions, as evidenced by Hayes’ best lap of 2:12.121 — almost a second better than any of his competitors managed in qualifying — at least until its abbreviated ending.
“I don’t really know too much of what to say. It was an excellent day,” Hayes said. “The bike was working well, the conditions didn’t bother me or hurt me too much — it was a little sketchy in Turn 5. I was quite careful in that section of the track. About the third lap in I wasn’t believing my pitboard too much; I was pushing pretty hard at that point.
“It looks like I did most of my damage on the first lap. A little bit into the race there I had eased up and Blake started to take some time back out of me so I refocused and was able to put together a couple of good laps and open the gap back up.”
Title rival Blake Young was just as clear in second as Hayes was in first. The Yoshimura Suzuki pilot engaged in a brief tussle with MMP sparring partner Josh Herrin on the second Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 before breaking free en route to a lonely runner-up result.
Motivated to impress at home, Young quickly thought better of attempting to match Hayes’ torrid pace and collected the maximum number of points that were realistically possible on Saturday with an eye on getting his revenge on Sunday.
“I guess I’ve got to start doing my homework and start racing with Josh again and stop letting him win by as much as he is,” Young said. “It doesn’t really make for very interesting racing. There for a minute I had a pretty exciting first lap — ended up running my foot over in Turn 5; that didn’t feel good.
“Obviously Josh has done his homework and winning by 11 seconds over me… it’s going to be pretty tough it looks like from here on out. We’ve got some work to do and we’ve got to figure it out. I think a lot of it is on my part. I know I’ve got a good team — the Yoshimura Suzuki team is a great team — and I know they are going to be behind me 100%.”
Herrin fell back into a fight for third with Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom, Attack Performance’s Steve Rapp, Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram, and local hero Jason Farrell.
Herrin and Bostrom slipped away from the bigger group and Herrin ultimately proved successful in withstanding the pressure of his more experienced rival to pick up the fourth podium result of his maiden SuperBike season.
“I could hear Ben behind me the whole time but I was getting lonely there at the end,” Herrin admitted. “Josh (Hayes) beat us by 18 seconds. I’m just glad to be on the podium. It was pretty sketchy the last two laps — that was the only exciting part of the race. I almost crashed like four times. The R1 was running strong and I’m glad to make it up here. We’re third in points and that’s what I’m most happy about.”
Rapp’s day ended early while holding down fifth just ahead of Pegram when the Californian’s Kawasaki ZX-10R lost its chain racing up the hill on the front straight. Pegram inherited the position to complete the top five.
Farrell claimed a superb sixth, while Young’s teammate, Chris Clark, Team Amsoil/Hero EBR’s Geoff May, KTM/HMC Racing’s Chris Fillmore and teammate Stefan Nebel (who started from pitlane) rounded out the top ten.
National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden’s rotten recent luck continued on Saturday. The Kentuckian crashed during final qualifying and then suffered machinery issues during the race, plummeting down the order before retiring from the contest early.
Reigning AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike champ Danny Eslick suffered similar disappointment. The Team Hero EBR entry was black-flagged while racing with the KTMs when his EBR 1190RS started spouting black smoke.
Hayes dominant win extends his building points lead over Young to 14 (226-212) heading into Sunday’s second half of the Subway SuperBike Doubleheader.
2012 AMA Superbike: Road America Results:
Pos | No. | Rider(s) | Team | Bike | Interval | Gap | Best Lap | Points |
1. | 1 | Josh Hayes | Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 10 Laps | WINNER | 2:12.121 | 0 |
2. | 79 | Blake Young | Yoshimura Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 11.348 | 11.348 | 2:13.661 | 0 |
3. | 2 | Josh Herrin | Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 18.556 | 7.207 | 2:13.974 | 0 |
4. | 23 | Ben Bostrom | Jordan Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 18.791 | 0.235 | 2:13.764 | 0 |
5. | 72 | Larry Pegram | Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing | BMW S1000RR | 28.643 | 9.851 | 2:14.866 | 0 |
6. | 86 | Jason Farrell | Farrell Performance/Southeast Sales Kawasaki | Kawasaki ZX-10 | 31.499 | 2.856 | 2:15.794 | 0 |
7. | 6 | Chris Clark | Yoshimura Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 37.899 | 6.399 | 2:14.813 | 0 |
8. | 99 | Geoff May | Team Amsoil/Hero | EBR 1190RS | 40.505 | 2.606 | 2:15.451 | 0 |
9. | 11 | Chris Fillmore | KTM/HMC Racing | KTM RC8R | 40.753 | 0.247 | 2:16.114 | 0 |
10. | 12 | Stefan Nebel | KTM/HMC Racing | KTM RC8R | 44.073 | 3.320 | 2:16.772 | 0 |
11. | 18 | Chris Ulrich | M4 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 49.571 | 5.497 | 2:16.679 | 0 |
12. | 33 | Jordan Burgess | Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1:20.864 | 31.293 | 2:19.263 | 0 |
13. | 17 | Trent Gibson | Seven Sports | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1:21.293 | 0.428 | 2:19.681 | 0 |
14. | 78 | Reese Wacker | Wacker Racing LLC | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1:41.684 | 20.390 | 2:21.021 | 0 |
15. | 15 | Steve Rapp | Attack Performance | Kawasaki ZX-10 | 7 Laps | 3 Laps | 2:15.538 | 0 |
16. | 69 | Danny Eslick | Team Hero | EBR 1190RS | 6 Laps | 1 Lap | 2:16.609 | 0 |
17. | 54 | Roger Hayden | National Guard Jordan Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 37.357 | 37.357 | 2:20.347 | 0 |
18. | 25 | David Anthony | Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | DNS | DNS | -no times- | 0 |
19. | 3 | Robertino Pietri | Team Venezuela | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | DNS | DNS | -no times- | 0 |