Braselton, GA April 22, 2012 – Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha rider and two-time reigning AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes raced his crossplane-crankshaft YZF-R1® to a dominant win in Sunday’s SuperBike Race 2 at Road Atlanta. His teammate Josh Herrin also got on the podium with his #2 R1 for the second time in as many days, notching another well-earned third place.
Josh Hayes made up his mind to get to the front as quickly as possible and try to create a comfortable lead, which he did in short fashion. On Lap 6, Josh clicked off a lap of 1:24.922, which was nearly half a second faster than his pole-position-winning lap on Friday. He maintained a blistering pace throughout the race, pulled a sizeable gap on second-pace Blake Young, and continued to stretch out his lead to more than 5 seconds. As lapped riders came into play, the gap closed up just a bit in the closing laps of the race, but Josh spurred his R1 on and won by a dominant 5.214 seconds ahead of Young, who finished in second.
After accepting the stylish surfboard trophy for being the “Big Kahuna” at Road Atlanta, Josh commented, “I’m glad to put one together here today, and get the win. We changed a few things on the bike for today’s race, and we were able to put down some really good laps. It’s a lot easier on my ticker to get away a little bit and ride my own race. After yesterday, I didn’t expect it to go that way, but I’m happy that it did.”
Just as he did yesterday, Josh earned another valuable bonus point for leading the most laps in today’s race. With those two bonus points, the bonus points for his pole positions at Daytona and Road Atlanta, and his two race wins so far this season, Josh is, once again, leading the SuperBike season championship.
Josh Herrin, who lives in Dublin, GA, not far from Road Atlanta, ran in second place at the start of the race, narrowly missing out on his fourth holeshot in as many races. Josh got into third behind his Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha teammate and Young, and then he maintained his position all the way to the end of the 20-lap event. In just the second SuperBike round of his career, Josh had a memorable weekend in front of a throng of family and friends as he earned a pair of podium finishes and has clearly built momentum as AMA Pro Racing heads to the West Coast for the Infineon Raceway round.
Josh said, “It was a really good race, and I had fun. It was good keeping Josh and Blake in my sights at least for the first few laps. I’m happy to get on the podium twice here in front of my home crowd. The R1 is just an awesome bike to ride. I can’t wait to get to Infineon.”
The Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha team’s next race is in just two weeks when AMA Pro Racing visits the wine country of Sonoma, CA, for the Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam at Infineon Raceway.
