Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes won a rain-soaked AMA Pro Superbike Race Two at Road America on Sunday.
The 53-mile race consisted of two distinct segments—the conventional first half, comparable to much of the prior racing over the weekend, and the second half, a somewhat confusing dash in the rain.
Much like Saturday’s Race One, Hayes got off to a strong start, taking the lead, with Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Martin Cardenas and Hayes’ Monster Energy Graves Yamaha teammate Cameron Beaubier following closely behind, never letting the gap from first to third grow to more than a half-second.
Unlike Saturday’s race, which Superbike rookie Beaubier eventually took control of, Cardenas was Hayes’ primary challenger throughout the opening laps. On Lap five, Beaubier lost his bike and stuck it in the gravel outside Turn One.
Beaubier’s wreck marked the beginning of the second race within the race. Rain began to slowly pick up, and officials waved the red flag with seven laps to go.
After the red flag, officials declared a wet race, advising riders that certain parts of the four-mile track were still being rained on.
This posed the question of whether to use slicks or wet tires, to which most teams responded by using slicks due to dryness around much of the track.
When racing continued, Hayes built a comfortable lead in the first lap after the restart.
With a couple laps to go, the onset of a sudden downpour scrambled the leaderboard, though Hayes managed to stay up front and keep his bike upright despite several slips. Officials chose not to immediately red flag the race again because of the previous announcement to riders that wet tires were an option.
Hayes slipped around corners until approaching the front stretch, by which time several riders had crashed behind him due to standing water all over the track. When he crossed the finish line, the red flag waved again and the race was called.
Cardenas saw the worst change in luck, dropping to seventh in the unmanageable sheets of rain.
ADR Motorsports/Sic/Motul Fly Racing’s David Anthony finished in the second spot, propelling the Australian rider to fourth in the points. Cardenas’ Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Roger Hayden improved on his Saturday finish by one position, taking third. The final Yoshimura Suzuki rider, Chris Clark, finished in fourth, followed by KTM/HMC’s Chris Fillmore in fifth.
Hayes’ win and Beaubier’s early wreck allowed Hayes to tie Beaubier for the points lead at 89 points.
AMA Pro SuperBike Road America Race One Results
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. David Anthony (Suzuki)
3. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
4. Chris Clark (Suzuki)
5. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
6. Larry Pegram (EBR)
7. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
8. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha)
9. Trent Gibson (Kawasaki)
10. Francois Dumas (BMW)
11. Frankie Babuska (Suzuki)
12. Jason Farrell (Kawasaki)
13. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
14. Chris Ulrich (Honda)
15. Cory West (EBR)
