In just a few hours the AMA Superbike riders will take to the grid for the first Superbike race of the weekend at Infineon. Josh Hayes will be the man to beat, but Tommy Hayden and Blake Young will be hot on his tail.
Hayes, who did the double at Infineon last year, claimed the pole position earlier today with an impressive lap around the track. Hayes was the only rider to lap below 1’36 and will be tough to beat this afternoon. Hayes did crash late in the session, but the Mississippi Mad Man was confident that the Graves Motorsports team would get the bike back in race condition before the start of race 1.
Hayes is currently second in the series behind Blake Young. Young did the double at Daytona and will definitely give Hayes a run for his money this weekend. Tommy Hayden and Ben Bostrom will also be in the mix up front.
The Grid:
Row 1: Josh Hayes / Tommy Hayden / Blake Young / Ben Bostrom
Row 2: Steve Rapp / Martin Cardenas / David Anthony / Larry Pegram
Row 3: Chris Peris / Geoff May / Jeremy Toye / Roger Hayden
The Superbike riders are off for a warm up lap. They'll be heading to the grid soon.
The bikes are all lined up. And They're off!
Hayes, Hayden and Young get off to a good start.
Lap 1: Hayes goes wide and lets Hayden pass by. Hayden has a .2 second lead over Hayes at the end of lap 1.
Lap 2: Hayes retakes the lead. (Hayes / Hayden / Young / Bostrom)
There is a bike smoking on the track. An official picks up a chain off the track. It looks like Burgess has pulled into the pits.
Cardenas ducks inside of Bostrom to take fourth place.
Lap 5: Hayes, Hayden, young, Cardenas, Bostrom. Hayes and Hayden are riding three seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.
Lap 6: Hayes and Hayden are putting in mid 1'36 laps, and have now extended the gap to four seconds.
Hayden is keeping the pressure on Hayes, but can't find the space to get by.
Young goes wide and Cardenas moves into third place.
Hayes and Hayden aren't letting up. They now lead the rest of the pack by 8 seconds, while Hayden is just .1 seconds behind Hayes.
Lap 10: Hayes and Hayden continue to lead. Cardenas has gained a little space between Young and Bostrom.
Lap 12: Hayes, Hayden, Cardenas, Young, Bostrom, Pegram, Peris, Hayden, Rap, Anthony
Ben Bostrom is out.
Bostrom is off the track at turn two. It looks like his chain came off.
Two riders slide off the track at turn 9. Roger Lee Hayden and David Anthony went down. Hayden is back in the pits as Anthony brings his bike back out onto the track.
Lap 15: Hayes and Hayden have a 14 second gap. Hayes leads by .6 seconds.
David Anthony goes down again while heading to the pits.
Lap 16: Hayes, Hayden, Cardenas, Young.
5 laps to go. Hayden can't find his hay around Hayes.
Hayden and Hayes start to encounter slower riders. Hayes has a second lead at the moment.
With two laps remaining, Hayes has extended his lead to two seconds.
Cardenas and Young are battling for third. Cardenas leads by .17 seconds.
One lap to go. Cardenas manages to contain Young. Young looking for a place to pass.
Hayes extends his lead to 5 seconds.
Josh Hayes cruises to a comfortable victory, 7 seconds ahead of Hayden.
Young's last second dash comes just short. Cardeans takes third by .06 seconds.
On the podium: Josh Hayes / Tommy Hayden / Martin Cardenas
Full race report to follow.
