Henny Ray Abrams | September 6, 2009
Yamaha’s Josh Hayes swept the final two American Superbike races of the season and took over second in the championship in the season finale before a packed house in the inaugural AMA Pro Road Race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.Hayes was engaged in a very entertaining battle with Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin and Tommy Hayden, with Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates at the tail end of the lead quartet for much of the 23 laps. Hayes took the lead from Mladin for the final time on the 15th lap with a draft pass into turn one. Three laps later Hayden took over second and went after Hayes.Hayden had just made an inside pass of Hayes on the 21st lap when he tucked the front and slid unhurt across the grass. From there to the end Hayes had a clean run and won by 2.253 secs.Hayes finished second in the championship to Mladin, who’d clinched his seventh title in the previous round at Virginia International Raceway. with Hayden dropping to third.Mladin was passed by Yates on the 19th lap, but took it back early on the final lap. He finished .080 secs. in front of Yates in his final AMA Superbike race.Then came Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram on the Ducati 1198R. Pegram passed Corona Extra Honda’s Neil Hodgson on the 19th lap. Until then, Hodgson was in control of a quintet contesting fifth. As it was he finished fifth, his best since finishing second in the Daytona season-opener.Holden Racing’s Jake Holden was 2.9 secs. back in fifth and in front of Cory West in his first ride on the Buell 1125RR.Damian Cudlin edged out Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young for ninth.National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Geoff May was tenth.
Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Suzuki)
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Jake Holden (Honda)
7. Cory West (Buell)
8. Damian Cudlin (Suzuki)
9. Blake Young (Suzuki)
10. Geoff May (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.
