2012 Laguna Seca AMA SBK | Results

2012 AMA SuperBike Results

Spoiler Alert: 2012 AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike results from Laguna Seca listed below

Josh Hayes established a new single-season record for consecutive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victories with a crushing performance to secure his eighth in a row on Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The defending two-time champion was once again in a class of his own as he notched up yet another dominant victory. The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha superstar pulled his rookie teammate, Josh Herrin, clear of the chasing pack in the race’s early stages before breaking Herrin’s pursuit as well by lap 5 of the 23-lap affair.

Once free Hayes put it in cruise control early and still managed to take the checkered flag with a 9.084-second margin of victory.

The Mississippian continues to stake his claim in the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing record books. In addition to the historic win streak, Hayes has now notched up 11 victories this season, just one shy of Mat Mladin’s all-time record with six races still remaining on the ’12 slate. Sunday’s victory also sees Hayes move into a tie for third place on the all-time SuperBike wins list at 28, tying three-time champion Ben Spies, who was in attendance to watch Hayes’ conquering ride following the day’s MotoGP World Championship race.

Josh Hayes (Monster Energy Yamaha YZF-R1 SuperBike) says: “Good things are happening right now. I’ll ride the train as long as I can. If I get into a battle in a hard race, you’re going to see me fighting for it for that individual race; it has nothing to do with streaks or race wins or anything like that. It’s for that race win.

“I’m in a position where I can try for every single one of them. I don’t have anything to worry about. I’ve got a points situation that I don’t even think about at this point in the season. I’m just focused on winning every race that I can. If I toss one down the road — or two down the road — then I’ll reevaluate how I’m going to approach it. But, right now, I just want to win everything.

“I’m still riding like I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I still remember last year very clearly. I remember if more clearly than I remember winning eight races in a row. It seems like things have happened pretty quickly and it doesn’t feel like that to me. I’ll just keep focusing, and trying hard, and pushing myself.”

While Hayes was out of reach, the battle for second still proved to be a thrilling affair. Herrin’s early tow saw him race out to an immediate three-second advantage over a heated scrap for third, which involved National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young, Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom, Team Amsoil/EBR’s Geoff May and Team Hero EBR’s Danny Eslick.

As Hayden went backwards and fell from the fight, Herrin faded as well and fell into the clutches of Young and company.

The race’s final lap saw Young and Herrin trade second position multiple times with hard and tight passes. The nod ultimately went to Suzuki ace Young by a scant 0.023 seconds, thanks to a superior drive out of the final corner in the sprint to the flag.

Blake Young (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R 1000 SuperBike) says: “It was a pretty good race for us today. I was making it harder on ourselves by not having great qualifying. It seems like we’ve let it slip a little bit this year, and I’m just finding myself getting it together at the beginning of the weekend, but I guess the good thing is, we definitely get it together by the end of the weekend in time for the race. I’m obviously happy with second, but I want to get back up to the front and get racing with Josh where I feel we belong.

Josh Herrin (Monster Energy Yamaha YZF-R1 SuperBike) says: “It was a great last lap — it was fun. I wish I could have held him off but I just couldn’t. He kind of outsmarted me there a little bit. We’ll be back at the next race to try to beat him next time.”

Eslick and Bostrom finished just fractions of a second behind in fourth and fifth, respectively.

After running as high as third, May dropped to a lonely sixth at the flag, while Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki’s Taylor Knapp also managed to work past the struggling Hayden, who ultimately finished a disappointing eighth on the heels of his Mid-Ohio breakthrough and subsequent strong weekend form here at Laguna Seca.

KTM/HMC Racing’s Stefen Nebel won out in a fight for ninth with Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram, who completed the race’s top ten.

Hayes continues his march to a third AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike title as he’ll head to New Jersey Motorsports Park on September 7-9 boasting an imposing 74-point advantage.

2012 Laguna Seca AMA SuperBike Results:

Pos	No.	Rider(s)	Team	Bike	Interval	Gap	Best Lap	Points
1.	1	Josh Hayes	Monster Energy Graves Yamaha	Yamaha R1	23 Laps	WINNER	1:24.706	0
2.	79	Blake Young	Yoshimura Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	9.084	9.084	1:25.441	0
3.	2	Josh Herrin	Monster Energy Graves Yamaha	Yamaha R1	9.108	0.023	1:25.264	0
4.	69	Danny Eslick	Team Hero	EBR 1190RS	9.497	0.389	1:25.446	0
5.	23	Ben Bostrom	Jordan Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	9.920	0.422	1:25.404	0
6.	99	Geoff May	Team Amsoil/Hero	EBR 1190RS	14.968	5.048	1:25.493	0
7.	44	Taylor Knapp	Riders Discount K&L Supply	Suzuki GSX-R1000	31.647	16.679	1:26.020	0
8.	54	Roger Hayden	National Guard Jordan Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	40.448	8.801	1:25.763	0
9.	12	Stefan Nebel	KTM/HMC Racing	KTM RC8R	44.152	3.703	1:26.598	0
10.	72	Larry Pegram	Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing	BMW S1000RR	46.278	2.126	1:26.873	0
11.	18	Chris Ulrich	M4 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	53.709	7.430	1:27.306	0
12.	111	Glenn Allerton	DVS Suspension Racing	BMW S1000RR	55.896	2.186	1:27.522	0
13.	77	Ricky Corey	RCR Performance	Yamaha R1	1:11.638	15.742	1:27.232	0
14.	33	Jordan Burgess	Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1:17.940	6.301	1:28.405	0
15.	6	Chris Clark	Yoshimura Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1:24.170	6.230	1:27.204	0
16.	171	Ivan Sala	RacersEdgePerformance.com	Suzuki GSX-R1000	22 Laps	1 Lap	1:29.748	0
17.	269	Johnny Rock Page	Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	4.014	4.014	1:29.954	0
18.	57	Bostjan Skubic	Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	6.874	2.859	1:30.082	0
19.	59	Jake Holden	Buyredline.com	Honda CBR1000RR	9 Laps	13 Laps	1:26.506	0
20.	15	Steve Rapp	Attack Performance	Kawasaki ZX-10	6 Laps	3 Laps	1:26.689	0
21.	25	David Anthony	Kneedraggers.com/ Motul/Fly Racing	Suzuki GSX-R1000	DNS	DNS	-no times-	0
22.	48	Reno Karimian	Team Air	Kawasaki ZX-10	DNS	DNS	-no times-	0