Photography by Brian J. Nelson
Alton, VA (May 15, 2015) — Josh Hayes quickly bounced back after a spectacular crash in the morning session to end Friday atop the charts in MotoAmerica Superbike at Virginia International Raceway. Hayes rode his Monster Energy/Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 to a time of 1:25.620. That time outpaced the Yoshimura Suzuki of Roger Hayden who tripped the timing beam at 1:25.783. Jake Gagne was third fastest in the overall timing on his RoadRace Factory Yamaha Superstock 1000 machine.
“I felt pretty beat up from my crash in the morning,” Hayes said. “But, after I got going in the second session, I actually felt better on the bike than I did off it. I was a little surprised to end up P1, but Cam had a problem, so that helped me. Still, I was able to string together a bunch of laps in the 25s, so I was happy with that. We’ll see how I feel in the morning. Hopefully, I can get a good night’s sleep, and I don’t stiffen up too much overnight.”
The surprise of the session was Cameron Beaubier who only managed ninth overall. He was sidelined much of the session with an undisclosed issue with his factory Yamaha. He was only able to turn six laps in the session. By comparison Hayes tallied 22 laps.
It was Josh Herrin who came through to top the Supersport session on his Wheels in Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports Yamaha R6. Herrin topped M4/Sportbike TrackGear.com Suzuki’s David Anthony.
Joe Roberts dominated Superstock 600 practice aboard his Wheels in Motion/Motosport.com/Meen Motorsports Yamaha.
MotoAmerica Supersport series leader Garrett Gerloff is questionable for the weekend after crashing and breaking the pinky finger on his left hand.
This year marks the return to VIR for the first time in five years. Hayes won the last AMA Superbike race at the venue in 2010. He is the only previous VIR Superbike winner in this year’s field.
Combined Superbike/Superstock 1000 Practice 2
1. Josh Hayes, Yamaha, 1:25.620
2. Roger Hayden, Suzuki, 1:25.783
3. Jake Gagne, Yamaha, 1:26.175
4. Jake Lewis, Suzuki, 1:26.758
5. Mark Heckles, Yamaha, 1:27.069
6. Joshua Day, Yamaha, 1:27.106
7. Shane Narbonne, Yamaha, 1:27.165
8. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, 1:27.267
9. Cameron Beaubier, Yamaha, 1:27.602.
10. Danny Eslick, Honda, 1:27.750
Supersport
1. Josh Herrin, Yamaha, 1:26.798
2. David Anthony, Suzuki, 1:27.378
3. JD Beach, Yamaha, 1:27.538
4. Bobby Fong, Triumph, 1:27.920
5. Garrett Gerloff, Yamaha, 1:28.089
Superstock 600
1. Joe Roberts, Yamaha, 1:27.857
2. Richie Escalante, Yamaha, 1:28.887
3. Travis Wyman, Yamaha, 1:29.675
4. Bryce Prince, Yamaha, 1:30.119
5. Nick McFadden, Suzuki, 1:31.171
