ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 5: Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes stole the pole position from Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young just before the checkered flag, then cemented his mark with his final flying lap in Saturday American Superbike qualifying at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.Hayes had dominated the session until the final five minutes when Wisconsin native Young put in a bid to take his first pole. Young’s time of 2:13.207 mins. stood as the mark that Hayes had to shoot for and he took aim as the 40-minute session was ending. Hayes’ penultimate lap was a 2:13.144 mins., which he followed up with 2:13.121.”I love riding around this race track. I always have fun. I come off the track with a big smile on my face,” Hayes said.Young’s teammate Tommy Hayden jumped from fourth to second well after the checkered flag, missing out on pole by .026 secs.”Well three-thousandths, it’s easy to look back and think of places you could’ve found that,” Hayden said, adding, “just glad really to make a run at it.”Young slipped to a very close third, only .060 behind Hayden and .086 behind Hayes, making it the tightest top three in anyone’s memory.”I got a couple quick laps in there, but that second lap didn’t improve the time all that much,” Young said.Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram, who won his first Superbike race in a decade here last year, filled out the front row with a lap of 2:13.400 mins.”To be honest with you, I wanted to be on the front row, so we accomplished what we wanted,” Pegram said.National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Jake Zemke recovered from a bike-destroying crash on Friday to post the fifth fastest time. Zemke spent much of the session in the pits and only ran four laps at speed, the last of which, a 2:14.202, put on the second row pole.Pat Clark Motorsports’ Ben Bostrom jumped up to sixth at the end of the session, moving Jake Holden (Monster M4 Suzuki) to seventh. Holden is riding in place of the injured John Hopkins. Riderdiscount.com’s Taylor Knapp filled out row two.Brett McCormick rode Aaron Yates’ Jordan Suzuki to the ninth fastest time. Yates is on the mend from a vicious crash in practice at Auto Club Speedway back in late March. He’s expected back for the next race at Mid-Ohio in mid-July.Riding in the team’s home race, Geoff May rode the Buell 1125RR to the tenth fastest time.
Qualifying:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha 2:13.121
2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 2:13.147
3. Blake Young (Suzuki) 2:13.207
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 2:13.400
5. Jake Zemke (Suzuki) 2:14.202
6. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 2:14.991
7. Jake Holden (Suzuki) 2:15.111
8. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) 2:15.364
9. Brett McCormick (Suzuki) 2:15.676
10. Geoff May (Buell) 2:15.800
