Henny Ray Abrams | August 2, 2009
Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram added a Sunday victory to his Saturday win to score his first ever Superbike double on a hot, sunny afternoon in the American heartland of Heartland Park Topeka.Pegram bolted from the pole position, but wasn’t able to pull away as quickly as he had yesterday. Pegram chose the soft rear Dunlop on Saturday and several others followed suit today.By the second lap Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden was into second, where he would stay for the duration.From the end of the fifth lap, Pegram’s lead was never as much as half a second and mostly around three-tenths.Hayden was waiting to make his move, which came on the 17th lap with an inside pass in turn six. But he ran wide in the following bend and Pegram took back the lead.Hayden wasn’t helped by a quartet of riders the pair caught on the 19th lap, but he caught back up and started the final lap only .287 secs. behind.But on the final lap Hayden never made a serious attempt to lead and Pegram sped to his second win in as many days, his fourth ever, and the first double of his career.He also solidified his third place championship position. Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, who withdrew from the weekend over safety issues, now has a 73 point lead, 380 to 307, over Hayden with two rounds, four races, remaining. Pegram is third with 286.Yamaha’s Josh Hayes finished third, at 5.5 secs., after making a run at the halfway point. When the starter showed the crossed flags ending lap ten, Hayes was within .766 secs. of the lead. Then the trend reversed and he gradually lost ground.He was never threatened by teammate Ben Bostrom, a solid fourth until a mechanical problem put him out on lap 19.Jake Holden inherited fourth, his best ever Superbike finish.Same for Latus Racing’s Taylor Knapp in fifth. Knapp parked the Buell 1125RR he rode at Mid-Ohio in favor of his Suzuki GSX-R1000.Corona Extra Honda’s Neil Hodgson came out on top of his battle with Celtic Racing’s Michael Laverty (Suz).Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young was behind Pegram on the second lap when he ran off the track in the chicane. At the same time, Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, who was just behind, lost the front in the same corner. Young dropped to tenth on the next lap and recovered two spots.National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Geoff May also crashed out on lap 12 in the same corner as Yates.American Superbike:
1. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
3. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
4. Jake Holden (Honda)
5. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
6. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
7. Michael Laverty (Suzuki)
8. Blake Young (Suzuki)
9. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)
10. Scott Charlton (Suzuki)
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
