Road Atlanta Overall Victory Goes To...

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American Honda's Nicky Hayden won both races of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S.Superbike double-header at Road Atlanta, giving him 10 wins in his last 11races dating back to 2001, and considerably strengthening his position atthe top of the championship charts.

Teammate Miguel DuHamel backed Haydenup with second and third place finishes on the two warm days of racing inthe American south. And youngest brother Roger Lee Hayden did the familyname proud by finishing second in the Formula Xtreme race on his Erion Honda.

"It's awesome to get another win," Nicky Hayden, 20, of nearby Owensboro,Kentucky said after Sunday's win. "Winning both races here at Atlanta isgreat. This place is kind of special to me. It's my home track." Haydendirt tracked as a child, but this was the first place he ever watched aroad race. The spectacle convinced him to pursue a road racing career.

In winning five races in a row, and 10 of the last 11, Hayden has balloonedhis championship lead to 80 points, 253 to 173 over Kawasaki's EricBostrom, second in Sunday's race, after seven of 16 races.

Hayden's approach in both Saturday's and Sunday's races was similar.Saturday's race was red-flagged on the 18th lap when a crashed motorcyclecouldn't be removed from the racetrack. At the time, Hayden had acomfortable lead and DuHamel was in fourth. Because the AMA doesn't useaggregate timing, the re-started race turned into a seven-lap sprint.Hayden moved by DuHamel to take the lead on the third lap and went on towin by 1.158 seconds. DuHamel hurt his chances at victory when his HondaRC-51 wheelied entering the back straightaway on the final lap.

"I'm just having so much fun, I'm having the time of my life right now,winning races, just having fun with the guys, and this is I guess just whatyou kind of wait for, hoping things will go like this," Hayden said. "Sohopefully it'll keep rolling."

"I was just trying to stay close to Nicky there and be able to make a move onhim, or if he made a mistake, to try to capitalize on it," DuHamelsaid. "But unfortunately I'm the one that made a mistake, coming out ofturn seven there pretty bad. It looked like I had at least two hours ofracing experience, when I come out ofthere."

On Sunday, Hayden ran down early leader Bostrom on the ninth of 25 laps,and appeared to be easing away. But Bostrom came back at him, even brieflyinching his way in front with less than three turns to go before Haydenredoubled his effort to win by 0.194 secs. DuHamel was third after droppingoff the torrid pace of the front-runners.

Erion Honda's Roger Lee Hayden finished sixth in the Pro Honda OilsSupersport race which was won by Suzuki's Jamie Hacking from teammate AaronYates.