INTERVIEW
P96
AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION JOSH HAYES
Josh Hayes wins a
second AMA Superbike
Championship – his fifth
AMA title. Then goes GP
racing. Good year, huh?
Mr. Two
BY PAUL CARRUTHERS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON
W
in one championship and chances
are you like the feeling enough that
you want another. Win two championships and you may struggle to find the motivation needed to go after a third. But Josh
Hayes doesn't have that problem. The
motivation to win a third AMA Superbike Championship is about 1656
miles away – the distance between Hayes' off-season training
base in Oceanside, California,
and Blake Young's hometown
of Madison, Wisconsin.
It's not that Hayes doesn't
like Young. In fact, there are few
people that Hayes doesn't like.
But he doesn't take well to losing
and he felt like he lost a few races to
Young in 2011 that he'd like to avenge.
Yes, Hayes won the Superbike war, but
some of the battles lost to Young along
the way really stick in his craw.
"Blake Young stepped up the game a lot
this year," Hayes said from his part-time home in
Southern California. "I won the championship,
but there's still some numbers that just don't sit
well with me. I got my butt kicked. He's 7-3 when
you look at race wins. He won seven races; I
won three. I don't like that number. I don't like
being the guy who didn't win the most races but
still won the championship. I have a good goal to
work towards next year. I want to win more races
than him."
continued on page 101
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