Cycle News Staff | May 15, 2016
Josh Hayes made one thing perfectly clear at VIRginia International Raceway: There’s plenty of fight still left in the old dog. Hayes won his first race of the season on Sunday in Virginia, the four-time Superbike Champion winning race one to end his six-race winless streak and then ending his day with a second-place finish to his Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha teammate Cameron Beaubier.
By the end of the afternoon of racing in the Yamaha Superbike Challenge of Virginia, round four of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship, the 41-year-old Hayes had extended his championship lead to 11 points after earning 45 points in the two races. Beaubier, with his impressive pass of Hayes on the final lap of race two, left VIR with 38 points added to his tally after his off-track excursion in race one forced him to fight through to finish fourth.
Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Roger Hayden and Toni Elias were both on the podium with Elias finishing third twice while Hayden was second in race one before slipping to fourth in race two. Hayden came away with more points than his Spanish teammate, 33-32, and Hayden now trails Hayes in the championship chase by 21 points with Elias a further five points behind.
The battle for victory in the Bazzaz Superstock 1000 class was also hard-fought with Claudio Corti riding the HSBK Aprilia to his fourth win of the season while finishing fifth overall in race one. In race two it was TOBC Yamaha’s Danny Eslick taking his first career Superstock 1000 victory after getting the better of Latus Motors Racing’s Bobby Fong and Wheels In Motion/Meen Motorsports’ Josh Herrin.
After eight races in the four rounds, Corti, who was 12th in race two, holds a nine-point lead in the championship over Fong, who was second in both races at VIR, 145-138. Herrin, who crashed out of race one after getting hit from behind by Hayden while racing in the lead pack, is 27 points behind Corti in third place.
The second Supersport race was also a thriller with Y.E.S./Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff winning again to match his victory from Saturday. This one, though, was a battle from start to finish with six riders contesting the lead for the majority of the race – on three different makes of motorcycles. In the end it was Gerloff drafting past M4 Sportbike/TrackGear.com Suzuki’s Valentin Debise at the flag to win by .038 of a second. Gerloff’s teammate JD Beach was third, just .242 of a second behind, and Debise’s teammate Cameron Petersen was a shadow fourth. Team H35 Honda’s Benny Solis Jr. ended up fifth with Wheels In Motion/Meen Motorsports’ Joe Roberts coming back from an off-track excursion to finish sixth.
The top Superstock 600 rider on Sunday was championship leader Bryce Prince on the Riders Discount/Tuned Racing Yamaha R6 – but just barely. Prince beat Richie Escalante to the line by just .006 of a second to take his third win of the season. Escalante’s ride on the HB Racing/Meen Motorsports Yamaha was impressive in that it was just his first race weekend back on the bike after suffering an off-season leg injury that kept him out of the first four races. Third place in Sunday’s Superstock 600 race went to Prince’s teammate Jason Aguilar with HB Racing/Meen Motorsports’ Dakota Mamola finishing fourth. Yesterday’s winner Michael Gilbert was fifth on the Michael Gilbert Racing Yamaha R6.
After six races and three rounds, Prince leads Mamola by 33 points, 122-89. Travis Wyman, sixth today, is third with 78 points.
Anthony Mazziotto III celebrated his 16th birthday a day early by sweeping to victory in the second KTM RC Cup race on Sunday, a day after he’d won race one. Mazziotto’s championship rival Brandon Paasch was second on Sunday with Ashton Yates earning his second straight podium finish on his Yates Racing-backed RC390.
Mazziotto leads the title chase by five points over Paasch, 128-123, with Jody Barry, fourth today, third with 84 points.
Superbike Race 1: 1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 3. Toni Elias (Suzuki); 4. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 5. Claudio Corti (Aprilia); 6. Bobby Fong (Kawasaki); 7. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha); 8. Hayden Gillim (Suzuki); 9. Jake Lewis (Suzuki); 10. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha).
Superbike Race 2: 1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha); 2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha); 3. Toni Elias (Suzuki); 4. Roger Hayden (Suzuki); 5. Danny Eslick (Yamaha); 6. Bobby Fong (Kawasaki); 7. Josh Herrin (Yamaha); 8. Hayden Gillim (Suzuki); 9. David Anthony (Kawasaki); 10. Kyle Wyman (Yamaha).
Supersport Race 2: 1. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha); 2. Valentin Debise (Suzuki); 3. JD Beach (Yamaha); 4. Cameron Petersen (Suzuki); 5. Benny Solis Jr. (Honda); 6. Joe Roberts (Yamaha); 7. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 8. Richie Escalante (Yamaha); 9. Jason Aguilar (Yamaha); 10. Dakota Mamola (Yamaha).
KTM RC Cup Race 2: 1. Anthony Mazziotto III; 2. Brandon Paasch; 3. Ashton Yates; 4. Jody Barry; 5. Jackson Blackmon; 6. Alejandro Gutierrez; 7. Jose Serne; 8. Benjamin Smith; 9. Sean Ungvarsky; 10. Draik Beauchamp.