LEXINGTON, OHIO, JULY 15 – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes tied the AMA Superbike record for consecutive wins in a season by taking his seventh win on Sunday in the Buckeye Superbike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Unlike on Saturday, when Hayes romped to victory following the crash of teammate Josh Herrin, today the two-time defending Superbike champion had his hands full. Only it wasn’t with Herrin. Instead it was National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Roger Hayden who hounded Hayes for the entire 21 laps, even getting in front a few times late in the race.
Hayden’s final pass came on the brakes into the Turn 6 left at the end of the back straight. But Hayden ran it too deep, Hayes zipped by then held him off to the stripe.
The margin of victory was .224 secs.
The win was Hayes’ tenth of the season and seventh in a row, tying the single season mark held by both Mat Mladin and Ben Spies. Mladin won eight races in a row over two seasons, the last race of 2008 and the first seven of 2009.
The Superbike win was Hayes’ 27th, moving him one shy of Spies for third all-time.
Hayes now holds a whopping 67 point lead, 383 to 316, over Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young. Young crashed today, remounted and finished 13th.
Herrin was a lonely third, a day after crashing out. He holds third in the championship with 225 points.
MotorcycleSuperstore.com Attack Performance’s Steve Rapp finished fourth for the second day in a row, completing his most successful weekend of the year.
Team Amsoil/Hero EBR’s Geoff May was alone in fifth, as was local hero Larry Pegram in sixth on the Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing BMW. Danny Eslick (Team Hero EBR) was a quarter of a second behind Pegram, with Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki’s Taylor Knapp close to Eslick.
Mid-Ohio AMA Superbike Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
3. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
4. Steve Rapp (Kawasaki)
5. Geoff May (EBR)
6. Larry Pegram (BMW)
7. Danny Eslick (EBR)
8. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki)
9. Chris Clark (Suzuki)
10. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)
