Sunday at Fontana
The sun was shining brightly on a chamber of commerce type Sunday at Auto Club Speedway as Tommy Hayden, Josh Herrin and Joey Pascarella all brought home victories in the Suzuki AMA Pro SuperBike Challenge.
Hayden, who finished a disappointing sixth in Saturday’s race, rode to his first career victory in Sunday’s AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike.
Riding his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, Hayden took advantage of Saturday’s winner and early race leader Larry Pegram’s unfortunate crash on his Ducati 1098R SBK.
The rest of the race he was fighting off second place finisher Josh Hayes. Hayden’s finishing time was 29:42.326 with a margin of victory over Hayes of 0.485 seconds on his Yamaha R1 SBK.
Tommy Hayden
"It feels really good and a huge weight off my shoulders to get that out of my way (first win)," said Hayden. "I am feeling really good, especially after yesterday. I had a really disappointing day, and was pretty discouraged last night. The team made some changes, and I made some changes myself. I came out today and felt a lot better. The bike was working really good."
Runner-up on his Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 was Hayes, followed by Hayden’s teammate and third place finisher Blake Young on his Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Herrin, who finished fourth in Saturday’s AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race, earned his win after trailing for all but the last few feet. Danny Eslick led the whole race as Herrin stalked him throughout the 2.36-mile, 21-turn road course at Auto Club Speedway.
Herrin, on his Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6, officially led nine of the 21 laps, but that was only because he made it to the finish line on those laps before Eslick. It wasn’t until the two came off the last turn that Herrin was able to reel in Eslick and gain the victory. The margin of victory was a mere 0.028 seconds, and the winning time was 30:46.574.
Josh Herrin
"I was actually trying to have the most laps led by not really leading the race," said Herrin. "I was able to see what I had on him for the last lap. The Yamaha definitely had the power over him. I want to thank my family and friends, and definitely the fans for coming out when yesterday was so windy and today is hot."
Rounding out the top three were Eslick on his GEICO Powersports/RMR/Suzuki GSX-R600 and Steve Rapp riding the Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati 848.
The SuperSport class was again dominated by Pascarella on his Yamaha YZF-R6. After winning yesterday’s race, he led every lap of today’s 14-lap race, which was shortened from the regulation 17 laps due to a rider down in the race line.
This caused the race to be red-flagged due it being more than 80% complete Pascarella’s winning time was 19:35.173. Running second was Huntley Nash on a Yamaha YZF-R6 and Scott Gilbert on a Yamaha YZF-R6.
Joey Pascarella
"It was a little greasy out there and I actually wasn’t feeling too comfortable," said Pascarella. "I made a couple of mistakes out there halfway through and kept it together. I hoped no one caught the mistakes. I want to thank my whole team for getting the bike ready."
Top 10 results of Sunday’s races in all three classes show finishing position, name, motorcycle and time completed around the 2.36-mile, 21- turn road course:
AMA American SuperBike
1. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:24.454; 2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:24.439; 3. Blake Young (Suzuki GSX-1000R), 1:24.428; 4. Jake Zemke (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:24.764; 5. John Hopkins (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:25.024; 6. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:25.024; 7. Brett McCormick (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:25.427; 8. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:25.410; 9. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:26.390; 10. David Anthony (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:26.655.
AMA Pro Daytona SportBike
1. Josh Herrin (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:27.319; 2. Danny Eslick (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:27.573; 3. Steve Rapp (Ducati 848), 1:27.641; 4. Dane Westby (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:27.430; 5. Bobby Fong (Ducati 848), 1:27.513; 6. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:27.547; 7. Cory West (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:27.830; 8. Chris Fillmore (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:28.305; 9. Clinton Seller (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:28.592; 10. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:27.428.
AMA SuperSport
1. Joey Pascarella (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:29.965; 2. Huntley Nash (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:30.474; 3. Scott Gilbert (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:30.429; 4. Elena Myers (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:30.936; 5. Tyler O’Hara (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:30.641; 6. Charles Strong (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:33.145; 7. Eric Stump (Honda CBR600RR), 1:33.088; 8. Michael Corbina (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:33.220; 9. Robert Tinagero (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:33.994; 10. Chris Sromalla (Suzuki GSX-R600), 1:33.695.