AMA Superbike: 2010 Infineon Results

Motorcycle.com Staff
by Motorcycle.com Staff

AMA Superbike: 2010 Infineon results

Suzuki held off the podium
By Press Release, May. 17, 2010
Race One Recap

Josh Hayes repeated history today with a dominant first 2010 AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike win at Infineon Raceway.

Last year, Hayes took his Team Graves Yamaha to his first career American SuperBike win and again today, after taking the pole position, backed up that achievement with a completely dominant victory in race one of two on this doubleheader weekend of AMA Pro Racing at the beautiful Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

Hayes had to dispatch a fast-starting Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) and once out front, Hayes basically kept his head down and ran off to a very convincing victory. Giving credit to his Team Graves Yamaha in victory circle and also in the post race press conference, Hayes was full of praise for his motorcycle and team.

"My Yamaha was so easy to ride," said Hayes, "I know the time gap doesn't always tell the story of the whole race, but I feel pretty good about my machine. We did try some small things on the bike and I think we learned something from it and we'll see if we can do something better with it tomorrow because we're not going to rest on what we've done."

Also enjoying a fast start to the race was Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati rider Larry Pegram who ran hard all day and as the race ran down fought back and fourth with firstly National Guard Jordan Suzuki rider Jake Zemke and then a fast Ben Bostron on his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha.

Josh Hayes earned his first career AMA Superbike win at Infineon last year. Hayes can add two more to his total after sweeping this year's Infineon round.

As Zemke dropped back into the clutches of Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammates Blake Young and Tommy Hayden, Bostrom took the fight to Pegram and finally got by with three laps remaining. Right about that point, Hayes had the slightest slip and got monetarily caught between gears which delayed him just enough to get his focus back in a big way. Bostrom tried all he could but there was no catching Hayes on this day.

Pegram took a well deserved third and continued his strong season in American SuperBike. Points leader Jake Zemke fought off Young and Hayden to slightly extend his points lead over Hayden and Young respectively in the season-long points chase.

Jake Holden, riding the M4 Monster Energy Suzuki in place of John Hopkins, continued his impressive weekend with a seventh place finish ahead of his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki teammate Chris Ulrich. David Anthony took ninth on his Aussie Dave Suzuki ahead of the improving Team Iron Horse BMW ESP of Chris Peris.

Race Two Recap

Josh Hayes and his Team Graves Yamaha backed up his convincing Saturday win at Infineon Raceway with another display of superiority, as he took his second AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike win in as many days and led all but five laps of Superbike competition at the 2.32-mile natural road course.

Hayes, who started on pole position, had to come from behind after some exceptional front-row starts from his competitors. Over the course of the first few laps, however, Hayes slowly picked off the riders in front and rode away to a 3.677-second victory over former teammate Ben Bostrom.

Ben Bostrom on his Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha and an ever strong Larry Pegram on his Foremost Insurance Ducati both battled off Hayes to repeat their second and third place finishes from yesterday. Pegram led the first five laps of the race before being passed by a charging Hayes, who climbed back from fifth position to take the top spot on lap six, steadily maintaining his lead on the way to his ninth Superbike win.

"I felt like I had an advantage this weekend," Hayes said. "My bike worked really well and the boys did a fantastic job. I think we learned a few things and it will bode well for the rest of the season. If we keep our nose clean, we can compete for wins any given weekend."

Larry Pegram scored a couple of podium results at Infineon.

All three riders commented that it was a different kind of race today, but at the end of the day, the top three matched the conditions perfectly and each rider was delighted with their results for different reasons.

Hayes was relieved that he was able to back up his result from yesterday. He felt that he had such an advantage with Saturday's clearly dominant performance of his Team Graves Yamaha that he was actually worried that he might not deliver on the advantage he felt that he had over the conditions and competition.

Bostrom was also pleased with his weekend. His new team, Pat Clark Motorsports, has been getting better and better and this is an indication that the team and rider are back up front where they belong and now feel that they can be contenders for the rest of the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing season.

Pegram, who rides, manages and works on his family-owned Foremost Insurance Ducati team, felt that his performances at a track where he traditionally doesn't do well was a bonus. He did have more difficulty with slower traffic today, but overall he is leaving Infineon Raceway with a pair of strong results as he heads into the scene of his popular victory last year at Road America.

Behind the top three, Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammates Tommy Hayden and Blake Young enjoyed battling with each other and more as they also duplicated their fourth and fifth place finishes from yesterday. The duo had a close encounter in the turn nine complex on the final lap, which sent Hayden off course momentarily, but both riders retook their respective positions before crossing the stripe.

Young ran as high as second position early in the race before beginning his seemingly race-long battle with points leader Jake Zemke on his National Guard Jordan Suzuki, who did all he could to take sixth, giving no quarter as he fought all the way to the flag.

Jake Holden had another strong run on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki with a seventh place run, ahead of his teammate Chris Ulrich on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki. RidersDiscount.com Suzuki rider Taylor Knapp took another solid finish in ninth and Geoff May returned to fulltime National Guard SuperBike competition with a tenth place finish on his Erik Buell Racing Buell motorcycle.

Next up for the series will be the classic four mile road course through the Kettle Moraine country of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's Road America, June 4-6. Visit http://www.amaproracing.com/ for all the latest information and results.

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Motorcycle.com Staff
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