Roger Hayden Scores Road Atlanta Superbike Pole
Larry Lawrence | April 18, 2015
Photography by Larry Lawrence
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Roger Hayden scored his first pole of the season and only the third AMA Superbike pole of his career Saturday at Road Atlanta. Hayden turned a time of 1:35.308 aboard the rain-tire shod Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 on a track that was mostly dry. He edged out the Monster Yamaha pair of Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier. Hayes crashed earlier in the session, but a red flag gave him the opportunity to go out again as the session was restarted.
Josh Day, in his debut ride with Westby Yamaha, topped the Superstock 1000 machines.
“This weekend I’ve been really working hard on the half wet, half dry where previously Josh (Hayes) has been extremely strong,” Hayden explained. “I had a lot more confidence than normal. I got a good first lap and on the second one I said ‘I’m going for it.’ I could have gone one more lap, but I don’t think I could have gone any quicker.”
Riders were dealing with running on rain tires on a track that was quickly drying. Hayes said he would have ridden on a slick had he had enough time to do a tire change.
AMA Superbike Superpole 2 Qualifying from Road Atlanta, April 18, 2015
1 95 SBK Roger Hayden 01:35.308 0 8 Suzuki GSX-R1000
2 1 SBK Josh Hayes 01:36.032 0 7 Yamaha YZF-R1
3 6 SBK Cameron Beaubier 01:36.733 0 8 Yamaha YZF-R1
4 00 SST Joshua Day 01:37.408 0 8 Yamaha YZF-R1
5 19 SST Tyler O’Hara 01:37.451 0 8 Yamaha YZF-R1
6 32 SST Jake Gagne 01:37.494 0 8 Yamaha YZF-R1
7 75 SBK Huntley Nash 01:37.523 0 8 Ducati 1199 Panigale S
8 191 SST Mark Heckles 01:38.055 0 8 Yamaha YZF-R1
9 44 SST Taylor Knapp 01:38.066 0 8 Yamaha YZF-R1
10 85 SBK Jake Lewis 01:38.698 0 7 Suzuki GSX-R1000
11 63 SST Devon McDonough 01:39.866 0 8 Aprilia RSV4 Factory
12 68 SST Dustin Dominguez 01:40.148 0 4 Aprilia RSV4
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