It's time for the AMA Superbike race at Barber Motorsports Park. The AMA riders will have a few clouds in the sky but a dry track for their first race of the weekend. Josh Hayes will lead from the pole position, followed by Tommy Hayden, Chris Perris, and Roger Hayden.
Blake Young will be starting from the second row. Young has been a challenger at every race this year, but he hasn't had the pace in qualifying to keep up with Hayes and Hayden. If Young can't step up to the podium, that spot could be filled by Perris, Roger Hayden, Martin Cardenas, or Larry Pegram.
The AMA Superbike riders are on the grid. We'll be racing shortly.
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AMA Superbike Grid:
- Row 1: Hayes - Hayden - Perris - R. Hayden
- Row 2: Young - Cardenas - Rapp - Bostrom
- Row 3: Pegram - May - Clark - Beach
The AMA Superbike riders are off on their warm-up lap. They'll be lining up on the grid shortly.
And they're off!
Hayes gets off to a bad start and drops to third place behind the two Yoshimura Suzuki riders.
Tommy Hayden leads the way around the track followed by his teammate Blake Young.
Hayes trails by .4 seconds as the AMA Superbike riders cross the line for the first time.
Hayden keeps the lead up front. Hayden is setting the pace at 1'26.633 seconds.
Hayden leads Young, Hayes, and Hayden as they come across the line.
Lap 3: Hayden - Young - Hayes - R. Hayden - Cardenas
Tommy has spent a lot of this season trailing Young and Hayes, but it looks like he's determined to lead the way at Barber.
Only .3 seconds separate the top four riders.
Hayden, Young, and Hayes are riding single file around the Alabama circuit. Roger Hayden is just slightly further back.
There's a red flag.
It doesn't look like anybody is down. It has started raining here in Alabama. The riders are being called in to assess the weather situation.
At the time of the red flag, Hayden was leading Young, Hayes, and Roger Hayden on the fifth lap.
And now the rain has stopped. The race will be restarted in 10 minutes. There will be 16 laps to go on the restart.
Anddddd the rain has started to fall again. The race is still scheduled to start in just a few minutes.
There's still no movement on the grid as the rain falls a little harder.
The horn is sounding. The AMA Superbike riders will be heading out to the track shortly.
The Superbike riders are back on the grid. We'll have a quick warm-up lap before the race begins.
And they're off!
Blake Young gets the jump on the restart and leads Josh Hayes and Tommy Hayden around the track. Young and Hayes have put a little distance between themselves and Hayden. Martin Cardenas is currently riding in fourth.
Young crosses the line with .3 seconds ahead of Hayes. Cardenas is a second off of the pace.
The Superbike riders were lapping in the 1'26s before the red flag. Current lap times are hovering in the 1'42s.
Hayes takes the lead at turn two, but young takes it right back down the stretch. The top four riders are starting to separate from the rest of the group.
Lap 9: Hayden gets around Hayes. Young has a .6 second lead out front.
The top riders are starting to catch up to the slower riders.
Hayes gets stuck behind a lapper and loses a lot of time.
Roger Hayden was able to cut through the lappers to take the lead. Roger now leads Cardenas, Young, and Hayes.
Martin Cardenas takes the lead, followed by Young.
Lap 12: Cardenas - Young - R. Hayden - Bostrom - Hayes
8 laps remaining. The top riders have dropped their times down into the 1'39s.
Cardenas is beginning to get some space at the front. Cardenas leads Bostrom by 1.2 seconds.
5 laps to go. Cardenas - Bostrom - Young - Hayes - R. Hayden - Pegram - T.Hayden - Beach - Gibson
3 laps to go and Martin Cardenas has a second lead over Ben Bostrom. It doesn't look like Young is going to make a dash for the win. Doesn't want to risk the DNF.
Bostrom is .7 seconds away from the front.
Final lap: Bostrom brings it down to .2 seconds from the leader.
Bostrom and Cardenas are racing side by side.
Cardenas cuts him off and takes the win.
AMA Superbike Results
Cardenas - Bostrom - Young - Hayes - Pegram - R. Hayden - T. Hayden - Beach - Gibson - Toye
Full race report to follow.
