Hayden Beats Hayes In Infineon Race Two

Paul Carruthers | May 15, 2011

SONOMA, CA, MAY 15 –

While most everyone seemed ready to hand today’s second Superbike race to Josh Hayes before it even started, Tommy Hayden had other ideas. Hayden hounded Hayes for 17 laps around Infineon Raceway, sizing him up before making his move into turn four on the 18th lap. From there the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider opened up a quick one-second gap, then stretched that to almost two seconds five laps later to win by 1.9 seconds.The win was Hayden’s first of the season and sixth of his career and his first win since the second race at Barber last September. It also moved him to within six points of Hayes after two rounds and four races of the 2011 National Guard Superbike Championship. He trails Hayes, 107-101.Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young put his GSX-R1000 on the podium after finishing fourth yesterday. Young stayed with the lead duo for a few laps before losing touch. He rode alone to third.

BMW of San Diego’s Steve Rapp rode to his best Superbike result in years, beating Foremost Insurance BMW’s Larry Pegram in the final laps after Pegram held the spot for almost the duration. Pegram held on for fifth with Michael Jordan Motorsports’ Ben Bostrom getting the better of his National Guard Suzuki’s Roger Lee Hayden for sixth.E

ighth place went to M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, the Colombian having a tough day at the office. Cardenas crashed his GSX-R1000 in morning warm-up and dislocated his shoulder. He started the race from the front row, only to crash again early. Fortunately for him a red flag was thrown and he was able to restart on his back-up bike, riding cautiously to eighth.Team Iron Horse BMW’s Chris Peris ended up ninth with Y.E.S. Yamaha rider Chris Clark rounding out the top 10.The race was red flagged after the M4 Suzukis of Chris Ulrich and Cardenas crashed in the first two laps. Ulrich appeared to get into the back of another rider, sending both he and his GSX-R1000 cartwheeling. Though he walked away under his own power, Ulrich was later transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.Three riders then crashed on the re-start with JD Beach, Tony Kasper and Jordan Burgess going down together in turn two. All three escaped without injury.

Superbike Race 2

1. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)

2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)

3. Blake Young (Suzuki)

4. Steve Rapp (BMW)

5. Larry Pegram (BMW)

6. Ben Bostrom (Suzuki)

7. Roger Lee Hayden (Suzuki)

8. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)

9. Chris Peris (BMW)

10. Chris Clark (Yamaha)