Barber Superbike
Saturday’s action at Barber Motorsports Park delivered fantastic motorcycle racing action as the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing season draws to a close.
In the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race, Tommy Hayden took his fifth victory of the year with a very determined ride chasing down early race leader Josh Hayes.
Hayden, riding his Rockstar Makita Suzuki started the race in fourth position and quickly worked his way to second place and then reeled in the race and points leader Josh Hayes.
Hayes started second and passed pole position winner Blake Young before the end of the first lap and rode off to a comfortable lead.
Josh and his Team Graves Yamaha went on to lead the most laps and gained another valuable point in pursuit of his first AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike championship. But slowly but surely, Tommy Hayden began to track Hayes down.
At one point, Tommy passed Hayes but almost as quickly as he got by, Josh went right back by Tommy. But as the race wound down, Tommy was able to get by Josh and pulled out a small gap.
Now it was Hayes’ turn to become the hunter and he was able to close the gap to finish just 0.053 of a second behind Hayden at the line.
This result was what Hayden needed to keep his championship hopes alive, the points difference is now down to eighteen with a maximum of 31 points available in tomorrow’s second race of the weekend.
Tommy Hayden says: “I accomplished what I needed to today, I wanted to win the race and make Josh ride hard and I was able to do that,” said the SBK rider after the race. “Tomorrow, I will need a bit of luck but I will try to win again and then we’ll see what happens.”
Behind the two championship contenders, John Hopkins continued his run of strong results as he took another podium finish on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki with third place.
Polesitter Blake Young took fourth on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki and Taylor Knapp finished a surprised fifth after a last lap incident between Eric Bostrom and Brett McCormick.
The two had been running together for most of the race after Bostrom had a truncated start that saw him move prior to the green light but after he regained his proper position relative to his starting position, he began a nice ride up to fifth place on his Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki.
He and McCormick, riding his Jordan Suzuki had been battling together from about the fourth lap and unfortunately they got together on the last lap and Eric suffered an injury to his left leg that will prevent him from competing in tomorrow’s race.
Geoff May and his Erik Buell Racing Buell also benefitted and he took sixth ahead of Jake Holden who is substituting for Ben Bostrom on the Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha.
Jeff Wood took eighth on his Vesrah Suzuki. Shane Narbonne was ninth and McCormick was just able to finish the race in tenth.
Once again, tomorrow’s SuperBike race will be a battle of wits and speed between Josh Hayes and Tommy Hayden. If Tommy wins and takes the extra point for most laps led, Hayes will have to finish ninth or worse for him to lose the championship.
But if this year is to finish on form, anything can happen in tomorrow’s AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike season finale.
Superbike Classic American SuperBike Race – American Superbike September 25, 2010 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, AL Race Time: 30:26.486 |
Pos | No. | Rider(s) | Team | Bike | Interval | Gap | Best Lap | Points |
1 | 22 | Tommy Hayden | Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 21 Laps | WINNER | 1:26.248 | 0 |
2 | 4 | Josh Hayes | Team Graves Yamaha | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 0.052 | 0.052 | 1:26.289 | 0 |
3 | 21 | John Hopkins | M4 Monster Energy Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 10.876 | 10.824 | 1:26.507 | 0 |
4 | 79 | Blake Young | Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 15.850 | 4.973 | 1:26.488 | 0 |
5 | 44 | Taylor Knapp | RidersDiscount.com | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 29.119 | 13.268 | 1:27.385 | 0 |
6 | 99 | Geoff May | Erik Buell Racing | Buell 1125RR | 35.522 | 6.402 | 1:27.690 | 0 |
7 | 155 | Jake Holden | Pat Clark Motorsports | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 42.722 | 7.200 | 1:28.106 | 0 |
8 | 75 | Jeff Wood | Vesrah Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 47.815 | 5.093 | 1:28.154 | 0 |
9 | 7 | Shane Narbonne | Celtic Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 55.804 | 7.988 | 1:28.326 | 0 |
10 | 23 | Brett McCormick | Jordan Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 57.168 | 1.363 | 1:27.156 | 0 |
11 | 77 | Ricky Corey | RCR Yamaha | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:17.126 | 19.958 | 1:29.255 | 0 |
12 | 32 | Eric Bostrom | Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 20 Laps | 1 Lap | 1:27.124 | 0 |
13 | 48 | Chris Clark | Pat Clark Motorsports | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:16.204 | 1:16.204 | 1:28.763 | 0 |
14 | 12 | Trent Gibson | Gibson Motorsports | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1:16.676 | 0.472 | 1:30.598 | 0 |
15 | 9 | Eric Haugo | Cycledivaonoline.com | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1:21.573 | 4.896 | 1:30.694 | 0 |
16 | 63 | Skip Salenius | Run 1 Racing Motorsports | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:27.869 | 6.296 | 1:30.963 | 0 |
17 | 269 | Johnny Rock Page | Aussie Dave Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 18 Laps | 2 Laps | 1:33.361 | 0 |
18 | 72 | Larry Pegram | Foremost Insurance ·Pegram Racing | Ducati 1098R | 8 Laps | 10 Laps | 1:28.238 | 0 |
19 | 429 | Sean Dwyer | Vicious Cycle Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 7 Laps | 1 Lap | 1:30.970 | 0 |
20 | 54 | Jake Zemke | National Guard Jordan Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 5 Laps | 2 Laps | 1:26.465 | 0 |
21 | 10 | Chris Peris | Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP | BMW S1000RR | 0 Laps | 5 Laps | 2:23.592 | 0 |
22 | 18 | Chris Ulrich | M4 Monster Energy Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | DNS | DNS | -no times- |