AMA Pro Racing
Rockstar Makita Suzuki made it a GSX-R1000 winning weekend in the AMA Superbike Championship as Blake Young finished the series on Sunday with a hard-earned and heart-pounding victory at a wet race track in Alabama.
The win marks Young’s third victory of the season and he also qualified fastest for the weekend and earned Pole Position. Team mate Tommy Hayden, after a victory on Saturday, finished the wet race on Sunday in fourth, putting him second overall in the Championship standings.
Young was determined after his fourth-placed finish on Saturday to improve his results on Sunday.
Blake Young says: “I watched Saturday’s race on my DVR this morning before the race. Right then and there I decided that today I needed to ride really, really hard and show these guys what I’m made of.”
A rainstorm haunted Barber Motorsports Park for most of the morning, and although the clouds started to roll out right before the start of the Superbike race, the track remained wet.
Blake Young says: “Coming into the weekend, I was optimistic. I’ve had more bad luck here than good, but we did our homework and the GSX-R1000 was the bike to be on today. I guess I had a little more Rockstar in my tank than everyone else did and I took the win.”
Young took the lead in the race off his pole position and ended up leading all but two laps of the race. Another GSX-R1000 rider, John Hopkins, was battling Young for the first spot through most of the rain-soaked race, but Young kept his focus and finished 1.306 seconds ahead.
Blake Young says: “My guys on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team are awesome and I thank them very much for working so hard for me. The best way I knew to thank them was to put my head down and get them a win before the end of the season.”
Hayden started in fourth place off the grid, and by holding the race line and riding smartly, he put together a consistent race effort and finished in fourth. Hayden went into Sunday’s race 18 points behind in the championship point’s chase, and though the gap was insurmountable, he used his skill and the predictable power of his Suzuki in the wet 21-lap race to finish strongly.
Hayden ended the 2010 AMA American Superbike series in second place overall, just 14 points back from the leader and vows to use this experience to fuel his bid for the Championship in 2011.
Overall, the Rockstar Makita Suzuki duo of Hayden and Young won eight races in 2010 aboard their race-ready GSX-R1000s, the first wins of their Superbike careers, and earned 12 additional podium finishes.