Hayden Gillim’s Perfect Draft

Larry Lawrence | June 1, 2014
  Hayden Gillim  far side of the front row made a perfect draft move to win Sundays Supersport race at Road America.  Larry Lawrence photo

Photography by Larry Lawrence

Being an ex-flat tracker, Hayden Gillim knows a thing or two about drafting. That experience played right into his hand in Sunday’s Supersport final at Road America. Gillim got into Corey Alexander’s slipstream and pulled out his TOBC Racing Suzuki at the perfect moment to pass Alexander’s Celtic/HVMC Suzuki at the line. Gillim’s timing was impeccable and it broke Alexander’s stranglehold on the series.

The margin of victory was 0.015.

Third went to Jason Aguliar on the Tuned Industries Yamaha in draft battle of his own with Kaleb De Keyrel, Wyatt Farris, and JC Camacho.

The race was stopped with a red flag when rain fell on one section of the track causing six riders to go down in rapid succession. That gave new life to riders like Dustin Dominguez, who crashed after a collision with Wyatt Farris at the end of the back straight. Alexander, who was coming off surgery to his collarbone, decided to back off when the rain started. He too would gain a reprieve.

The race was restarted with a five-lap restart and Hayden Gillim took the early lead, trying to gap the field early. He accomplished his goal for a lap, but then Alexander worked his way through the field and then quickly closed the gap on Gillim.

On lap five Alexander took over the lead going through turn five, but Gillim came right back with a draft pass on the front straight. Then Alexander went back to the front going into turn five again, in a hectic two-way fight for the lead.

There was a great multi-rider battle for third with Kaleb De Keyrel holding the position on the white flag lap.

Gillim followed Alexander the entire last lap waiting for the moment everyone knew was coming. But unlike Daytona, where the draft is a reliable way to win, it’s a tougher proposition on the uphill run at Road America, making it even more impressive that Gillim made the move work.

AMA Pro SuperSport Race 2 Results from Road America – June 1, 2014
1 Hayden Gillim (Suz)
2 Corey Alexander (Suz) +0.015
3 Jason Aguilar (Yam)
4 Kaleb De Keyrel (Yam)
5 Wyatt Farris (Suz)
6 Jc Camacho (Yam)
7 Conner Blevins (Kaw)
8 Dustin Dominguez (Yam)
9 Cody Wyman (Suz)
10 Andre Ochs (Yam)

 

Larry Lawrence | Archives Editor

In addition to writing our Archives section on a weekly basis, Lawrence is another who is capable of covering any event we throw his way.