Monterey, CA – July 21, 2013 – After going five for five in pole positions yesterday, three-time defending AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Champion and current 2013 points leader Josh Hayes won his sixth SuperBike race of the season, with his Sunday victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It was the culmination of another perfect weekend for the rider of #1 Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R1, as he also led all 23 laps of the race from start to finish.
Hayes’ teammate and rider of the #2 R1, Josh Herrin, kept his own SuperBike title hopes very much alive by finishing second to make it the second 1-2 Yamaha finish of the day. And, speaking of “1-2,” with three SuperBike rounds and five races left to go in the season, Hayes and Herrin are still a close 1-2 in the Championship with the younger Josh just 11 points back of the Mississippi Madman.
Hayes said, “That wasn’t how I expected the race to play out, but I’m happy with it. It was a really smooth race for me, and we progressed well through the weekend to get this result today. My teammate got a really good start, and I was determined to come out of the first turn in the lead. It was good to get up front so quickly so I could focus on turning quick laps and just run my race. I’m looking forward to going to Miller Motorsports Park and focus on keeping this thing going. ”
Herrin said, “My plan was to stick behind Josh (Hayes) from lap one, and it sort of went to plan. I had a couple of pretty good bouts with Roger and Martin, and I was able get myself back into second. By then, Josh (Hayes) was gone. Right now, I’m only 11 points behind Josh (Hayes in the Championship points standings) going into Miller, and I enjoy going back there. It’s a good track for me, and I always do pretty well there.”
The Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha team will be back in action in less than two weeks for Round 6 of the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Championship, which takes place on August 2-4 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT.
