Young Again in Daytona Superbike

Paul Carruthers | March 12, 2011

DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MARCH 12 – Josh Hayes led 14 laps of the AMA Superbike race today at Daytona International, but Blake Young led the only one that really counted – the final one.Young and his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 ran down Hayes (pictured) and his Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 on the run to the checkered flag, beating the defending AMA Superbike Champion by just .071 of a second to complete the sweep of the two Daytona Superbike finals. Young’s teammate Tommy Hayden, who was second yesterday, ended up third – just .209 of a second behind Young.

“I was so nervous, I really wanted to go out and win today,” Young said. “I figured I’d have some sort of a job if I doubled up today.’Hayes had tried to make a break of it for the entire race, but could never get to more than a .8 of a second lead. And every time he got away it the infield, they would claw him back, the faster Suzukis gaining whatever ground they’d lost in the draft run from the chicane to the start finish line.”That’s life I guess,” Hayes said. “I rode my ass off out there. I tried everything I could do. I did 37s to see if they could keep up. It was the best I could do. My machine was fantastic. What a difference a year makes – what a start compared to last year.”Hayden, meanwhile, was in the fight for the duration, dropping back to fourth behind M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas at certain points, but he was there for the battle to the flag on the final lap.

“The pace was faster today and I kind of expected that,” Hayden said. “Josh was definitely setting the pace out there. We had a pretty good three-way battle there for most of the race. It was a fun race. I was in an okay position coming out of the chicane; I just didn’t get the run I needed.”Cardenas had a big slide on the 13th of 15 laps and that cost him dearly. He lost the draft and gave up the fight, ending up fourth – still a solid AMA Superbike debut weekend for the non-defending AMA Daytona SportBike Champion.Fifth place went to Michael Jordan Motorsports’ Ben Bostrom, the veteran running alone after losing touch with the lead group. He ended up better off than his teammate Roger Lee Hayden with Hayden dropping his National Guard-backed GSX-R on the seventh lap. He was able to remount and did some damage control with a 16th-place finish.Larry Pegram rode the Foremost Insurance-backed BMW to sixth, well clear of Y.E.S.-backed Chris Clark. Eric Bostrom rode the Cycle World/Attack Kawasaki to eighth. David Anthony and Chris Peris rounded out the top 10.

Superbike Final

1.                  Blake Young (Suzuki)

2.                  Josh Hayes (Yamaha)

3.                  Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)

4.                  Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)

5.                  Ben Bostrom (Suzuki)

6.                  Larry Pegram (BMW)

7.                  Chris Clark (Yamaha)

8.                  Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki)

9.                  David Anthony (Suzuki)

10.                  Chris Peris (BMW)

 

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.