2011 AMA SuperBike Daytona Race 2 Results

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young earned a perfect start to his season after nailing down both SuperBike races at Daytona. In Race 2 Young expertly piloted his GSX-R1000 for the lead and the win on the final lap ahead of reigning champion, Josh Hayes. Young’s Suzuki teammate, Tommy Hayden, grabbed third across the line, and overall it was a great race for Suzuki with the brand seizing four of the top-five positions.

Hayes had another solid jump off the line to take the early lead in Race 2 at Daytona. Hayes was followed by Young, Tommy Hayden, M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas and Jordan Suzuki teammates Roger Hayden and Ben Bostrom.

Erik Buell Racing’s Geoff May continued to run off the pace of the frontrunners at the start of the race in 12th as BMW’s Larry Pegram wedged himself in between Chris Peris and Pat Clark Motorsports’ Chris Clark. Young shadowed Hayes’ rear wheel for the first few laps of the contest before the ’10 champ put it in high gear and established some distance. On Lap 4, Tommy Hayden stole second from Young as Cardenas moved up to fourth ahead of Roger Hayden.

Tommy Hayden’s time within the top-two was short-lived, however, as Young could not be denied the spot on Lap 6. In only his second race in the SuperBike class Cardenas proved his promotion in the series was well due when he overtook Tommy Hayden for third. His move failed to stick though, and less than a lap later Hayden was back inside the top-three.

With less than five laps remaining the top-four riders condensed and were running less than a second from each other. Cardenas and Tommy Hayden continued to struggle for third as Pegram advanced into seventh ahead of Peris. Meanwhile, Eric Bostrom continued his descent through the ranks after being passed by Peris and Clark.

With three laps remaining Young was touch and go with Hayes just 0.032 seconds behind him. In the home stretch Young skated by Hayes to secure the win for the second race in a row.

“I got off to a little bit of a slow start there, saw Josh put his head down, and congrats to him—he rode a really tough and smart race," Young said. "More than once I thought, ‘Boy, he’s gone.’ It was everything I could do to stay near him. I hate to kind of win that way, but it seems like it’s kind of the characteristic of the track. Sitting back and watching was all I could do. But I’m happy for my guys, I want to be a contender in the championship, and it’s nice to get out of here with some points."

“We made a change from yesterday and it was definitely an improvement, so I felt pretty confident and just did my game plant to a T," Hayes said. "And I got away with it for what, fourteen laps? I rode the best I could, and the last lap was a good lap—I did everything right, I did exactly what I wanted and tried to do, but you get beat sometimes. But that right there, that’s a hard pill to swallow."

Cardenas claimed fourth at the line after losing the battle for third with Tommy Hayden. Ben Bostrom began his 2011 SuperBike campaign well by earning two top-five finishes at Daytona. Pegram finishing the second heat in sixth aboard his BMW. Following his decent fifth-place finish in Race 1, Roger Hayden struggled during Saturday’s bout, where he finished in 15th.

2011 AMA SuperBike Daytona Race 2 Results:
1. Blake Young (Suzuki)
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki)
4. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
5. Ben Bostrom (Suzuki)
6. Larry Pegram (BMW)
7. Chris Clark (Yamaha)
8. Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki)
9. David Anthony (Suzuki)
10. Chris Peris (BMW)
11. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki)
12. Geoff May (Buell)
13. Jeremy Toye (BMW)
14. Shane Narbonne (Suzuki)
15. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)

2011 AMA SuperBike Championship Points:
1. Blake Young, 60
2. Josh Hayes, 49
3. Tommy Hayden, 46
4. Ben Bostrom, 34
5. Martin Cardenas, 33
6. Larry Pegram, 29
7. Chris Clark, 24
8. David Anthony, 23
9. Roger Hayden, 22
10. Chris Ulrich, 22