Hayes Wins in New Jersey, Takes Points Lead

Henny Ray Abrams | September 3, 2011

MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 3 –

Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes took back the AMA Pro Road Racing Superbike points lead and put himself in a strong position to retain the number one plate with a dominant win on a sunny Saturday afternoon at New Jersey Motorsports Park.Hayes came into the weekend trailing Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young by five points. It was four after qualifying, when Hayes took his seventh pole point in eight tries. And when the race began it was clear Hayes was the class of the field.Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom led briefly, then it went to Hayes on the second lap and to the end. Bostrom did an admirable job of matching Hayes’ lap times-they were the only two consistently in the 1:21’s-and the pair pulled away with surprising speed. They quickly put over a second a lap on a trio of Suzukis-Young and teammate Tommy Lee Hayden, plus National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Lee Hayden-who had their own battle.

Bostrom stuck to Hayes until the final few laps when the defending champion pulled clear to win his third race of the year and fifth in a row at NJMP by 2.034 secs.Bostrom had his strongest race of the season, finishing 13.474 secs. in front of Tommy Hayden, who was narrowly in front of his brother, with Young a quarter second back. When the points were tallied Hayes was back in front by 11 points, 338 to 327. In order to keep the number ‘1′ on the front of the Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1, Hayes has to finish third or better if Young wins. Considering Young was nearly 16 secs. behind Hayes, and that Hayes has won every race at NJMP, the Wisconsinite faces an uphill battle.In his first ride on the Attack Racing/Cycle World Kawasaki Steve Rapp finished sixth in front of Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram. Next came Martin Cardenas (M4 Suzuki), Chris Clark (Yamaha Extended Service/Pat Clark Sports), and Brett McCormick (BMW).Superbike Results:1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)

2. Ben Bostrom (Suzuki)

3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)

4. Roger Lee Hayden (Suzuki)

5. Blake Young (Suzuki)

6. Steve Rapp (Kawasaki)

7. Larry Pegram (BMW)

8. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)

9. Chris Clark (Yamaha)

10. Brett McCormick (BMW)

 

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.