Record Day for Josh Hayes in New Jersey

Henny Ray Abrams | September 8, 2012

MILLVILLE, NJ, SEPT 8 – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes had a record-filled day at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

It began with his 11th consecutive pole, tying a record held by Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin. Within that record was nine poles in a row in a single season, a mark that broke the previous record by one.

But the record that mattered most was his 12th win of the season, tying the record of held by Mladin from the 2007 season. It was also Hayes’ ninth in a row, another new record. And it broke a tie with Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies for third all-time. Hayes now has 29 to 28 for Spies. Ahead are American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel at 32, and the unreachable Mladin at 82.

From the pole position, Hayes bolted into the lead and disappeared. Ending the first lap he had a gap of 1.690 secs. that he built lap after lap while the competition, such as it is, sorted itself out.

MotorcycleSuperstore.com/Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp was an early second before crashing on lap three. His departure handed the spot to Young, who was already 5.2 secs. behind after only three laps. It would only get worse.

Hayes stretched the lead to 22.575 secs. on the 20th lap, barely slowing to win by 22.210 secs. The win was his sixth in the seven races held at NJMP.

Young and Riders Discount/K&L Supply’s Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) fought over second in the early going before being joined by Team Amsoil Hero’s Geoff May, with Jordan Suzuki’s Ben Bostrom the fastest rider on the track as he moved through the pack. Bostrom was 11th on lap one and up to fourth by lap 10.

Bostrom continued his forward progress to take third from Knapp on the 13th lap. On the 20th Young ran wide in a long double right, giving Bostrom an opening. Young pressured him to the final corner, but his drive was compromised by a slide and he had to settle for third, .052 sec. behind Bostrom. For Bostrom, it was his best finish, and first podium, of the season. His last podium came in the first race here more than a year ago.

With Young finishing third, Hayes stretched his points lead to 85. The two-time champion has 447 to 362 for Young with five races remaining.

Taylor Knapp had his best Superbike finish of the season in fourth on the Riders Discount/K&L Supply Suzuki. Knapp fell off the pace in the final few laps.

Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin was a distant fifth to his teammate Hayes. Herrin put himself in a hole by running off track at the start of the race, his second problem of the weekend. He’d also crashed on the third lap of Friday practice and wasn’t himself in qualifying.

Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram was alone in seventh, as was KTM/HMC Racing’s Chris Fillmore in eighth. National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden was ninth after running off track late in the race. Kneedraggers.com’s David Anthony finished tenth.

AMA Superbike Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Ben Bostrom (Suzuki)
3, Blake Young (Suzuki)
4. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
5. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
6. Geoff May (EBR)
7. Larry Pegram (BMW)
8. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
9. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
10. David Anthony (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.