Round 14, Race 2: Mid Ohio, AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike race presented by Parts Unlimited

Julian V Taylor
AllAboutBikes.com Editor-In-Chief

On Sunday the conditions were great for racing, not too warm with a cool breeze. Not sure of the final numbers but it did seem like quite a good turnout for this Mid-Ohio round of AMA Pro Road Racing in Lexington, Ohio.

The start went to plan. No pace car on the track, or major wrecks into the first corner going under the bridge on the blind turn 1 up to the keyhole.

Josh Hayes on his Yamaha YZF-R1 took the early lead straight out of the gate, with Tommy Hayden on his Suzuki GSX -R1000 following. Blake Young, also on a GSX -R1000, was in third, Larry Pegram on his Ducati 1098R in fourth, and Ben Bostrom with the other Yamaha YZF-R1 right with them in fifth.

Aaron Yates went down in the carousel on lap 3 and never made it back out again. Bostrom swapped places with Larry Pegram and moved into fourth on the lap 4. As they came onto the front straight right in front of the media center Mat Mladin on his GSX-R1000 was on a charge; you can physically see him making ground on the group.

On lap 5 there is no change at the front with Michael Laverty on the Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 in hot pursuit of sixth place.

On lap 7 Bostrom was flying through the Esses to move to second, looking for the lead while a group of 8 bikes are pulling away from the rest of the pack. Bostrom takes Hayes on turn 8; on lap 8 and Hayes takes it straight back as they exit the corner. This type of “gladiator” fighting was to happen throughout the race between these two riders.

Hayes, Bostrom, Hayden are the top three going into lap 9, with Blake Young in fourth and Larry Pegram in fifth while moving through the chicane and into the Keyhole.

A gap develops back to sixth with Hayes leading the way and Hayden staying with him. Hayden then executes a bad turn and drops 1’25 on the leader…meanwhile, Laverty moves up to sixth.  

Hayes, Bostrom, Hayden, Young and Pegram lead on lap 11, with Hayes and Bostrom battling for the number 1 position. Bostrom had a scary moment while trying to out-brake Hayes at the end of the back straight. He nearly lost the front and corrected the mistake by standing up on the pegs and accelerating. Later in the press conference he commented that “I thought that was going to hurt…that is one of the only safer places to pass so I thought I would try, but it didn’t work”.

Front five have only a bikes length between them, with Laverty a little further back, Laverty closing in each lap. With nine laps to go, the running podium is Josh Hayes, Ben Bostrom and Tommy Hayden.

While Tommy Hayden is looking for the inside of Bostrom, Michael Laverty on his Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 is still closing with the fastest lap of this group. Blake Young is in fourth, and Mat Mladin is being hunted down by Geoff May on the National Guard Jordan Suzuki. Mladin is not making ground with six laps to go.  

Pegram’s in fifth, with Laverty catching in sixth, with Tommy Hayden taking another look on the inside of Ben at the keyhole.

On lap 16 Laverty had caught up and is all over Pegram but can’t get around until Pegram makes a mistake and loses grip, Laverty strikes and takes the position to fifth.  

The order is Hayes, Bostrom, Hayden, Young and Laverty on lap 16. Josh has a couple of bike lengths on Bostrom and he seems to be in a real groove with Bostrom trailing behind Hayes by 0.423.

Four laps to go and the gaps had closed behind Hayes; the top three are together on their own.

Laverty was taken with three laps to go by Pegram down the back straight. Laverty pushes back and takes fifth spot again on the 19th lap.

Hayes, Bostrom, Hayden, Young and Laverty are their standing with the front three riders on their own as they come up to the penultimate lap.

On the last lap Josh Hayes came across Jake Holden on his Honda CBR1000RR of Holden Racing in the Corona Extra colors, coming out of the Esses he passes Holden but the other riders get stuck behind him as they come into Thunder Valley.

They make it round to the finish with Pegram just pulling ahead of Laverty and pulling fifth place back at the last minute, so the top six were Josh Hayes, Ben Bostrom, Tommy Hayden, Blake Young, Larry Pegram and Michael Laverty.

Mat Mladin really wasn’t able to make any of his charges stick and finished in seventh with Geoff May in eight. Neil Hodgson on the Corona Racing Honda 1000RR came in ninth and the top ten was finished with Taylor Knapp on the Buell 1125RR.

Now it’s off to Topeka in Kansas, then onto Virginia with the final round at New Jersey on September the 4th when the season ends.

For all the action of race 1, click here.