AMA Supersport - Hayes claims double VIR 600cc win

AMA SuperSport: Josh Hayes wins hectic VIR afternoon

(AMA Pro Racing Release) Erion Honda’s Josh Hayes won a hectic Pro Honda Oils Supersport contest at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday afternoon. The Mississippian had his hands full throughout the once-stopped race, but the challenge came from outside the expected grouping of his primary titles rivals, Monster Energy Kawasaki teammates Roger Hayden and Jamie Hacking.

In the race’s opening half, Hayes was caught up in a tense battle for the lead with up-and-comer Josh Herrin on the Graves Yamaha YZF R6. Herrin actually took control of the race on lap 7 but his time out front would be brief. The 17-year-old lost his right knee puck the lap prior to taking the lead and then on lap 8 that fact came back to bite him hard; his knee was grabbed by the asphalt as he was coming onto the start/finish straight and he was sent into the grass and off his machine.

Herrin crashed and was pinned under his bike, bringing out a red flag. He managed to make the restart, finishing 21st.

Herrin commented on the scary incident. “The lap before I went by Hayes I lost my knee puck on one of the rumble strips. I went to tip it in at the right at the bottom of the hill and lost the front end a little bit and I had to put my knee down to try to save it. As soon I touched my knee to the ground it just grabbed and kind of pulled me up and I laid it down. My leg ended up getting stuck under the bike and I got a little burn. I wasn’t trying to cause a red flag, it was just burning up my leg and I had to get someone out there.”

At the restart Hayes once again powered into the lead, quickly overtaking the fast-starting Martin Cardenas and Blake Young. However, former Spanish Supersport champion Cardenas refused to give in once he was displaced to second. The Team M4 EMGO Suzuki newcomer impressed greatly, pressuring Hayes for most of the remainder of the race before settling back a bit to a clear runner-up finish.

The win was Hayes’ third in the class this season, the most of any rider in ’07. It was also his second win of the weekend, following up on his Saturday FX triumph.

“To get another double this year is really big for me,” Hayes said. “Heck, that race felt like a double with the red flag in the middle. I knew my motorcycle was really good and I knew I could do race distance as fast as what I thought anybody could do. But I know Jamie and Roger are going to hang it out there and I never knew who was exactly behind me.

“On the second start I jumped on Blake and Martin as fast as I could to try to get to the front and make Jamie and Rog have to work their way through also. I had followed Martin in the practice this morning, one or two laps, and he was so difficult to pass with his riding style. So when I saw an opportunity on the opening lap, I know that’s the lap if people, if anybody's going to be careful, that's the lap it's going to happen. And I said, ‘I have to make the most of this and jump on him as quick as I can’. From there I just tried to ride clean and just think about riding just like in practice and make sure I put the wheels where they're supposed to be and bring it home.”

Colombian Cardenas remarked, “On the first start I got it pretty good but I went too hard in the first turn and a couple of guys past. For the first race unfortunately we made a bit of a wrong choice on the rear tire so I was getting dropped back. The restart really helped me. We put another tire on, another rear, and it worked pretty well for the whole race. I got another great start. I was first in the first corner and almost for the first lap and then Josh came by.

“I just could hang onto his tail for most of the race. I got second and it’s my second podium in Supersport and I’m very happy. I’d like to thank a lot the whole team, Team M4 EMGO Suzuki and Pirelli and all the guys that work with me.”

Title rivals Hayden and Hacking stormed past Cardenas’ teammate, Geoff May, on laps 12 and 13 and took their fight to the flag. The British-born North Carolinian beat the Kentuckian on the final lap, repeating the job he did on Aaron Yates in Saturday’s Superbike final for third, working past in Turn 14 and holding onto third at the stripe.

May finished in fifth while Cardenas former World 250GP teammate, Chaz Davies on the Celtic Racing Yamaha, took sixth.

Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp, Topline Printing’s Chris Peris, Bettencourts’ Jeff Wood, and Moto Uno SA’s Nicky Moore completed the top ten.

Hayes’ win and Hacking’s third tightens things up a bit in the Supersport title race with just two races remaining on the schedule. Hayden (241) still leads but by just 11 points over Hacking (230), while Hayes (223) has moved to within 18 points in third.