Photography by Larry Lawrence
MILLVILLE, NJ (Sept. 13, 2015) – At New Jersey Motorsports Park Josh Hayes and Roger Hayden both had major motivation to win the final MotoAmerica Superbike race of 2015. Hayes needed to win to keep his slim hopes of defending his title alive, while Hayden was hoping to finally earn the victory that has eluded him all season. Meanwhile would-be champ Cameron Beaubier had every reason in the world to just lay back and not get involved in the fray. He had a 13-point lead coming in and needed only to finish third or better. In the end Hayes got the narrow victory to sweep the weekend, and Beaubier cruised home to earn his first MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike Championship.
Hayden got a strong start on his Suzuki, but Hayes, knowing a win was his only option, quickly took over the point. As those two split from the field Beaubier was playing it very safe and dropped from third to sixth overall, but it was OK for him because the next Superbike in line was Chris Ulrich, who was running ninth overall, but fourth Superbike. So in other words Ulrich would be the only rider who could theoretically jeopardize Beaubier’s chances.
Ten laps in and Hayes and Hayden continued a close one-two. Jake Gagne was a lonely third with Taylor Knapp and Josh Day rounding out the top five overall.
On lap 14 Hayden went to the lead with a late braking move into turn one past Hayes. The next lap Hayes returned the favor, only to be quickly repassed by Hayden, who badly wanted to earn his first win. On lap 17 Hayes went back to the lead in a tight back and forth between him and Hayden. Gagne was matching the leaders’ times at that point, but was almost four seconds back.
In the closing laps the drama was up front. Hayes and Hayden carried their battle to the flag. Beaubier was safely in third, the next Superbike in the field, Chris Ulrich, was over 10 seconds back.
On the last lap Hayden tried to follow Hayes out of the final turn for a slingshot move to the line, but he pulled out and didn’t quite make it, finishing 44-100ths of a second behind Hayes. It was yet another agonizingly close second for the Yoshimura Suzuki rider. For Hayes it was a class leading tenth victory of the season.
Superstock 1000 rider Jake Gagne came home third overall on the RoadRace Factory Yamaha, 11.4-seconds back from the leaders. TOBC Yamaha’s Taylor Knapp edged Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Josh Day. Beaubier was sixth overall.
“I would have rather crashed than not get this win,” Hayes said afterwards. “I’m proud of my season and the ten wins. I had a few mistakes that over the year that were hard to overcome, but I think this is about Cameron and the great year he’s had. One thing is for sure I want to come back and try to get him next year.”
For Beaubier the fact that he basically needed only to finish and not race for the lead was a mixed blessing.
“I was up there with those guys in the beginning,” Beaubier explained. “At first I was thinking I would just keep Josh and Roger in sight, but then I made a mistake and slipped one time and that was it for me. I decided just to back it off and get it to the finish. It feels great to win this championship. The team gave me such a great bike all year and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Hayes and Hayden will be back for sure next season, but Beaubier, while saying he was going to stay with the Yamaha family, would not elaborate on exactly which championship that would be in.
MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 Race 1 Results from NJMP – Sept. 13, 2015
1 1 Josh Hayes, Yamaha.
2 95 Roger Hayden, Suzuki.
3 32 Jake Gagne, Yamaha.
4 44 Taylor Knapp, Yamaha.
5 00 Joshua Day, Yamaha.
6 6 Cameron Beaubier, Yamaha.
7 33 Kyle Wyman, Yamaha.
8 69 Danny Eslick, Aprilia.
9 18 Chris Ulrich, Suzuki.
10 11 Chris Fillmore, KTM.
