Photography by Larry Lawrence
Alton, Va. (May 16, 2015) – Josh Hayes found just enough speed to hold off his Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha teammate Cameron Beaubier by 3-100ths of a second to win the pole for Sunday’s pair of MotoAmerica Superbike races at Virginia International Raceway.
It was notable in that Hayes managed to win the pole running the same set of tires during the entire 20-minute Superpole session.
“We knew it was a short session,” Hayes explained. “We needed some laps and we wanted to take that tire and just see how it held up and see how many good laps we could get out of it. We wanted to evaluate it that way.”
Beaubier was caught out by the checkered flag at the end of the session, ruining any chance he had at trying to cut a faster lap at the end.
“I came around and saw the two-minute board and thought I would have another lap,” Beaubier said. “But when I came around the checkered was already out.”
Hayden looked a bit concerned, being a half-second off the Yamaha riders. He said he never got a clean lap in during the final qualifying session.
Jake Gagne was fourth fastest overall on a Superstock 1000 machine, with a 1:25.810 on his RoadRace Factory Yamaha. Another Superstock rider, Josh Day, rounded out the top five on the Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha.
Combined Superbike/Superstock 1000 Qualifying from VIR, Saturday, May 16, 2015
1. Josh Hayes, Yamaha, 1:24.868
2. Cameron Beaubier, Yamaha, 1:24.898
3. Roger Hayden, Suzuki, 1:25.411
4. Jake Gagne, Yamaha, 1:25.810
5. Josh Day, Yamaha, 1:26.196
6. Danny Eslick, Honda, 1:26.367
7. Jake Lewis, Suzuki, 1:26.557
8. Taylor Knapp, Yamaha, 1:27.057
9. Mark Heckles, Yamaha, 1:27.300.
10. Shane Narbonne, Yamaha, 1:27.351
