Josh Hayes Ties the Record

Henny Ray Abrams | October 6, 2012

AVONDALE, LA, OCT 6 – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes tied the record for most poles in a season by setting the fastest lap in qualifying for the Triumph Big Kahuna Nationals at NOLA Motorsports Park south of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Hayes took his tenth pole in 11 tries, the only blemish in an otherwise perfect record having come two weeks ago in tricky conditions at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Those ten poles equal the number Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin had when he swept all the poles in the ten-race 2005 season.

Hayes lapped the 2.75-mile, 16-turn road course in 1:39.339 mins., a new lap record for the track which is hosting its first AMA Superbike race, and which is about 80 miles west of Hayes’ hometown of Gulfport, Miss.

Ben Bostrom won the battle of the Jordan Suzukis for the second fastest time by edging his teammate by .050 sec. Bostrom’s time was 1:40.251 mins, National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden was third at 1:40.301. Filling out the front row is Danny Eslick on the Team Hero EBR. Eslick’s best lap was 1:40.628.

Eslick’s lap came late in the session and knocked Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young off the front row. Now he’ll start fifth in front of Aaron Yates, the veteran from Georgia getting his second ride on the EvanSteelPerformance.com BMW.

Yates’ fellow Georgian Geoff May qualified seventh on the Team Amsoil Hero EBR with Chris Fillmore eighth on the Team KTM/HMC Racing KTM RC8.

AMA Superbike Qualifying:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:39.339
2. Ben Bostrom (Suzuki) 1:40.251
3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki) 1:40.301
4. Danny Eslick (EBR) 1:40.628
5. Blake Young (Suzuki) 1:40.977
6. Aaron Yates (BMW) 1:41.037
7. Geoff May (EBR) 1:41.189
8. Chris Fillmore (KTM) 1:41.562
9. Larry Pegram (BMW) 1:41.698
10. Robertino Pietri (Suzuki) 1:41.808