Josh Hayes did the double for Yamaha, with two wins in Virginia, followed closely by teammate Cameron Beaubier who stood on the podium twice this weekend. Elena Myers managed two top tens on her Suzuki Superbike.

HAYDEN & YOSHIMURA SUZUKI PODIUM AT VIRGINIA SBK

Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Roger Hayden worked hard to claw his way back into the championship picture at the weekend in the MotoAmerica Superbike double-header at Virginia International Raceway in America.

Hayden scored a strong pair of podium finishes as Superbike rookie and team-mate Jake Lewis had a learning weekend scoring fifth in the opening race before rebounding to improve to fourth in race two.

Under hot and humid conditions in Southern Virginia, Hayden raced his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a pair of podium finishes, including runner-up in race two to jump from seventh to fourth in the series standings. Lewis remains third in the series after three of nine MotoAmerica events.

Hayden kicked-off the weekend qualifying on the front row with a time of 1:25.411. Lewis said he never got a clean lap during the short Superpole session and qualified seventh with 1:26.557.

“I would have liked to have been a little bit quicker,” Hayden admitted. “But personally I’m just struggling a little bit this weekend putting the whole track together. In one section I would be good and then kind of mess-up the next one, so hopefully I can get it together tomorrow for 25 laps. The bike feels good; I’ve just got to be a little bit better. I look forward to racing.”

In a red-flag shortened first race Hayden battled the leaders early before finishing third. In the second race he came back and ran with leader Josh Hayes in the first couple of laps, and then held off Cameron Beaubier in the end to take second. It marked Hayden’s best finish of the young season.

“I really want to thank my whole team,” Hayden said after his successful weekend. “I really felt bad after Atlanta; they had to go to North Carolina for three days and build me two bikes for this weekend. So I’m really appreciative to the whole Yoshimura crew. It was a tough race. Cameron was pushing me hard so I never really had the time to take a breather. Around lap 18 I picked-up the pace to see if I could get a little bigger gap. It was a good race. I was glad to have a solid 25 laps and maybe at Road America we can be a little stronger.”

Lewis also felt more positive after a better run in the second race.

“In the second race we made a few changes to the front end and had really good grip,” Lewis said of his nimble Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. “It felt good and I was able to get up there with the front guys and see what I need to work on for the future. There’s definitely some work to do, but I’m happy with the way the day went and I’m looking forward to Road America in a couple of weeks.”

The Yoshimura Suzuki squad returns to action on May 29-31st at the scenic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

VIR AMA Superbike Race 1 Results:

1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)

2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)

3. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)

4. Danny Eslick (Honda)

5. Jake Lewis (Yoshimura Suzuki)

6. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)

7. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha)

8. Stefano Mesa (Honda)

9. Elena Myers (Suzuki)

10. Mathew Orange (BMW)

VIR AMA Superbike Race 2 Results:



1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)

2. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)

3. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)

4. Jake Lewis (Yoshimura Suzuki)

5. Danny Eslick (Honda)

6. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)

7. Stefano Mesa (Honda)

8. Elena Myers (Suzuki)

9. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha)

2015 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Points:

1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha), 131

2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha), 115

3. Jake Lewis (Yoshimura Suzuki), 84

4. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki), 68

5. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha), 67

6. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki), 54

7. Elena Myers (Suzuki), 53

8. Stefano Mesa (Honda), 28

9. Danny Eslick (Honda, 24

10. Mathew Orange (BMW), 15

Related articles

Share this: Facebook

Reddit

Twitter

Pinterest

Tumblr

More

Pocket

LinkedIn



Print

Email



