Spoiler Alert: Road America AMA Superbike Race 1 results below
2011 AMA Superbike
As in MotoGP, there seems to be a pack of aliens that control the AMA Superbike podium – the Rockstar Makita Suzuki duo of Blake Young and Tommy Hayden, and the reigning champion, Josh Hayes.
These aliens again controlled the podium at Round 4 of the AMA Superbike Championship in Road America, Elkhart, Wis. The finish was a mirror-image of the last round in Miller, with Young taking victory over Monster Energy Team Graves Yamaha’s Hayes and Hayden, respectively.
Hayes started from the pole position, but didn’t get off the line too well. He was stuffed back to third, but took second on lap 2 of 13 on the 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit, and started a race-long battle with Young. As Young and Hayes battled up front, Hayden remained patient, stalking the leading pair in third. The race would come down to the line, and Young took Hayes by .440 of a second.
Behind, M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas beat Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram on the BMW S1000RR.
Young now has four victories (double in Daytona, Miller, Race 1 Road America), and is tied in the AMA Superbike Championship with Hayes; both have 160 points. The AMA Superbike action at Road America continues today (Sunday) with race two.
Road America AMA Superbike Podium Quotes:
Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike) says: "This race kind of felt a little bit like Utah, you know, where I just ended up on the better side of things at the end of race, but I know it’s not going to be like that forever. It just seems like it falls right for me, when it does. Josh was riding hard and then he kind of laid off me and I thought, ‘He’s going to see what I got,’ but it seemed like as soon as I got out front, maybe I was riding more defensive and not doing the lap times I should have been doing.
"I definitely think tomorrow’s race is going to be a lot more difficult. That being said, I think it’s going to be a lot faster. I’m just happy. Happy to be home, happy to be at Elkhart Lake, happy to give a good show for the home crowd."
Josh Hayes (Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike) says: "It was a good race, a lot of fun. I probably didn’t take every opportunity I had to jump in there; I tried to settle down a little bit and let Blake take the lead and tried to make him work hard.
"At one point I got through and got a few good clear laps, and I thought I could get the pace a little faster than I did, but maybe I got a little lazy made a couple mistakes. It was hard to find the same rhythm I had in practice and qualifying; it seemed like the lap times dropped a little bit, but I thought we could go a little quicker than that, and unfortunately that didn’t happen today."
Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Maktia Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike) says: "I’m ready for a new view. Those guys were riding really good … when they were basically side by side every corner, there’s only so much track left, so I just tried to hang in there. My bike was working well, and toward the end it seemed like I was getting close to Josh a couple times, but in the end I just couldn’t make it happen.
"I thought I had a pretty good shot there on the last corner, but for whatever reason couldn’t carry the speed I thought I could up the hill to get by him. Luckily, tomorrow we’ll get another shot at it. It felt close."
Photo credit: Geoffrey Siehr
2011 AMA Superbike: Road America Race 1 Results
| Pos | No. | Rider(s) | Team | Bike | Interval | Gap | Best Lap | Points |
| 1. | 79 | Blake Young | Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 13 Laps | WINNER | 2:12.762 | 0 |
| 2. | 1 | Josh Hayes | Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 0.439 | 0.439 | 2:12.875 | 0 |
| 3. | 22 | Tommy Hayden | Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 0.449 | 0.009 | 2:12.786 | 0 |
| 4. | 36 | Martin Cardenas | M4 Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 19.092 | 18.642 | 2:14.562 | 0 |
| 5. | 72 | Larry Pegram | Pegram Racing | BMW S1000RR | 23.629 | 4.537 | 2:14.358 | 0 |
| 6. | 54 | Roger Hayden | National Guard Jordan Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 25.328 | 1.698 | 2:14.635 | 0 |
| 7. | 23 | Ben Bostrom | Jordan Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 25.451 | 0.122 | 2:14.603 | 0 |
| 8. | 2 | Chris Clark | Yamaha Extended Service, Pat Clark Sports, Graves, Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 39.274 | 13.823 | 2:15.198 | 0 |
| 9. | 86 | Jason Farrell | Speed Tech Performance | Kawasaki ZX-10 | 44.648 | 5.374 | 2:16.143 | 0 |
| 10. | 99 | Geoff May | Amsoil EBR Racing | Buell 1125R | 45.294 | 0.646 | 2:16.293 | 0 |
| 11. | 10 | JD Beach | Cycle World Attack Performance | Kawasaki ZX-10 | 47.477 | 2.183 | 2:16.408 | 0 |
| 12. | 25 | David Anthony | ADR Fly Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 58.952 | 11.474 | 2:16.910 | 0 |
| 13. | 33 | Jordan Burgess | ADR Fly Racing | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1:43.343 | 44.391 | 2:19.684 | 0 |
| 14. | 66 | Brian Hall | Schaumburg Audi | Kawasaki ZX-10 | 1:59.488 | 16.145 | 2:21.522 | 0 |
| 15. | 12 | Trent Gibson | Seven Sports | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 2:03.835 | 4.346 | 2:21.947 | 0 |
| 16. | 78 | Reese Wacker | Wacker Racing LLC | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 2:22.813 | 18.978 | 2:19.904 | 0 |
| 17. | 15 | Steve Rapp | San Diego BMW/Locust Powered by Lee`s Cycle | BMW S1000RR | 2:47.005 | 24.191 | 2:16.997 | 0 |
| 18. | 68 | Tony Kasper | Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP | BMW S1000RR | 7 Laps | 6 Laps | 2:19.008 | 0 |
| 19. | 8 | Chris Peris | Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP | BMW S1000RR | 0 Laps | 7 Laps | -no times- | 0 |
