Tommy Hayden takes Mid-Ohio win

From AMA Pro Racing

LEXINGTON, OH - Sunday was a very good day to be a Hayden at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Tommy and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger matched or scored their best finishes of the 2011 season in arguably the most exciting battle the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike class has seen yet. Tommy earned his second victory of the year, while Roger bested Monster Energy Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes to take third.

Between them in the winner's circle was a reasonably happy Blake Young, who -- if he couldn't himself earn the win -- was at least glad the points had gone to his teammate instead of championship rival Hayes.

Hayes and Young swapped the lead furiously as the halfway mark came and went, while Roger maintained an almost defiant chokehold on third. With big brother Tommy just off Roger's rear wheel, the lead four tore through the second half of the race covered by six-tenths of a second, a changing of the guard coming as first Roger then Tommy slipped past Hayes, relegating the Yamaha rider to fourth. Tommy was far from done advancing, however, sliding unstoppably past first Roger then Young, claiming the lead from his Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate.

Tommy and Young traded positions several times as the quartet blazed through the end laps, but it was Tommy whom the final corners forced to defend the position with every ounce of skill and courage in him.

"Once I settled in," said Tommy post-race, "I could tell it was going to come down to the last lap, and Blake pushed me all the way to the end. There was a point there, coming on to the front straight for the last time, where I was totally committed -- I couldn't do anything else. And Rog, I followed him for 10 or 12 laps, and he was in that back straightaway deep. It was just tough - that big of a battle, and this place is tight; it's hard to make passes. I'm just happy I was able to get through those guys and make it happen today, which I haven't been able to do the last few races."

"I was glad to see my teammate come by," Young agreed, "and it definitely helps as far as points are concerned. There are no team orders, and what happened to Tommy at Barber [engine failure] could happen to anyone. He knows that, and then again, he could be right back here again at any weekend. First and foremost, though, I'd like to thank my team -- those guys keep impressing me; every time I go out, the bike is great. I think we'll take this momentum into the next race and just continue to try to lead the points."

Roger, who used a harder tire in Sunday's race and expressed regret at not having done so in Saturday's contest, said, "The race was pretty good for me; I felt like I had a pretty good rhythm going, and in the beginning Josh was kind of making it easy because he and Blake going back-and-forth definitely slowed the pace up. I couldn't get out of the Keyhole good enough to make a pass on anybody, but I did 21 good laps and this is something we can build on and hopefully be here every weekend. A couple races this year, I felt like I left a lot out on the track after the weekend was over, so I'm trying to push it a little harder, come out of the gate faster, and be competitive."

M4 Suzuki's Martin Cardenas followed Hayes across the line in fifth, heading Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom, who came out on top of a race-long battle with Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing BMW rider Larry Pegram. Cycle World/Attack Performance Kawasaki's JD Beach was eighth, followed by Factory KTM/HMC Racing's Chris Fillmore and EBR Racing's Geoff May, the latter piloting the new 1190RS in its debut AMA Pro SuperBike weekend.

Young now leads the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Championship chase by 11 points over Hayes, with Tommy Hayden, Cardenas, and Pegram rounding out the overall top-five.

Racing tension continues to mount in the fledgling AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 series, as points leader Chris Fillmore managed to maintain his recent domination of the class in Sunday action at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Fillmore, who picked up his third victory, extended his lead in the title chase to 30 points over second-place Steve Rapp (Parts Unlimited).

Fillmore collected max points at the event, also taking pole position and leading the most laps on his Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing GEICO Powersports XR1200. In the early stages of the race, it looked as if Fillmore and Rapp would battle every inch of the way to the checkered flag - until Fillmore took over the lead and refused to be headed.

The AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 class now takes a brief hiatus while the rest of the series travels to Monterey, CA's Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Round 7 on the season calendar, run as part of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix MotoGP weekend. XR1200 pilots will next take to the track Aug. 12-14 at Virginia International Speedway, and will make their own MotoGP-weekend debut Aug. 27-28, when they'll serve as AMA Pro's sole representation at the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP.

SuperBike Results
1. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 21 Laps
2. Blake Young (Rockstar ·Makita ·Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.119
3. Roger Hayden (National Guard Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.231
4. Josh Hayes (Monster Energy Graves Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1.829
5. Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +16.776
6. Ben Bostrom (Jordan Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +19.411
7. Larry Pegram (Pegram Racing) BMW S1000RR +23.525
8. JD Beach (Cycle World Attack Performance) Kawasaki ZX-10R +26.213
9. Chris Fillmore (KTM/HMC Racing) KTM RC8R +26.602
10. Geoff May (Amsoil EBR Racing) EBR 1190RS +43.841
11. Jeremy Toye (San Diego BMW/Locust Powered by Lee`s Cycle) BMW S1000RR +44.008
12. Chris Clark (Yamaha Extended Service, Pat Clark Sports, Graves, Yamaha) Yamaha YZF-R1 +44.582
13. Jason Farrell (Speed Tech Performance) Kawasaki ZX-10R +59.602
14. Jordan Burgess (ADR Fly Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1:20.145
15. Eric Pinson (Go 4 One) Kawasaki ZX-10R 20 Laps
16. Reese Wacker (Wacker Racing LLC) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +0.538
17. Chris Trounson (San Diego BMW/Locust Powered by Lee`s Cycle) BMW S1000RR 14 Laps
18. Shane Narbonne (DASPerformance.com) Suzuki GSX-R1000 9 Laps
19. David Anthony (ADR Fly Racing) Suzuki GSX-R1000 7 Laps
20. Steve Rapp (San Diego BMW/Locust Powered by Lee`s Cycle) BMW S1000RR 3 Laps
Did Not Start
Chris Peris (Team Iron Horse BMW ·ESP) BMW S1000RR
Chris Ulrich (M4 Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000
Race Time: 30:14.284
Margin of Victory: 0.119
Best Race Lap: Blake Young (1:25.557)

SuperBike Point Standings
1. Blake Young 290
2. Josh Hayes 279
3. Tommy Hayden 233
4. Martin Cardenas 187
5. Larry Pegram 154
6. Ben Bostrom 152
7. Roger Hayden 145
8. Chris Clark 120
9. Steve Rapp 108
10. Geoff May 103
11. Jeremy Toye 82
12. JD Beach 76
13. Chris Peris 74
14. David Anthony 69
15. Trent Gibson 49