Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/134503
ROUNDS 3/4/JUNE 1-2, 2013 ROAD AMERICA/ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN AMA SUPERBIKE P38 AMA NATIONAL GUARD SUPERBIKE SERIES EBR ON HOME SOIL I pushed just a little too hard to stay up there. I could see Larry [Pegram] was coming It was a home game for back to me. I got off in [turn] Erik Buell Racing (EBR) at one a little too hot and overElkhart Lake. Unfortunately cooked it. I got out wide and for the Wisconsin-based hit the paint line and tucked team, Road America is a the front instantly and the bike horsepower-hungry track and started dragging me back that's one issue the Americanacross the track kind of the made Superbikes still have to way it did [Marco] Simoncelli deal with versus the competiand I had to get away from it Aaron Yates had brake issues with his EBR. and tossed it. Chris Fillmore did tion. EBR was well represented a really good job of missing me. with four bikes in the field. On Saturday it was Team He missed me probably by a foot. It was close. That's Hero EBR's Geoff May who was the top finisher of the the way it goes. You've got to show the boss you're four bikes. May looked to have a strong sixth-place giving it your best I guess." finish in the bag, but Yamaha's Josh Herrin, who'd run Yates, meanwhile, was dealing with his own proboff the track earlier in the race, got by him on the last lems over the course of the weekend. lap, relegating May to seventh. "We had some issues with the front brakes," Yates Cory West was 10th on the RSRacecraft EBR and said of Saturday's race. "I kind of learned from that then came Team Amsoil/Hero's Aaron Yates in 12th. yesterday and today things were a lot better. We went Dustin Dominguez, in his Superbike debut, had his into the race today [Sunday] with a setup, just threw RSRacecraft EBR blow up on the fifth lap. He was something at it to try to get the bike to go around the credited with 19th. track a little better. It didn't make a whole lot of differOn Sunday, Yates and West both finished inside the ence. The bike has a pretty small little window it likes top 10, with Dominguez and May not finishing. May to be in and I've been kind of experimenting around crashed out with his bike ghost riding across the track and doing a bunch of crazy stuff looking for something and into an inside barrier. that we can't really find. "It was a struggle for us," May said. "We're down "But we did make some steps forward and I'm on power and our straightaway speeds weren't quite looking forward to getting to some tracks with much there compared to some of the faster bikes in the shorter straightaways and a lot more corners so we field. Trying to get the maximum out of the bike today, can be right there in the race." Hayes had already gapped him and Herrin. Hayes built the lead up to over four seconds and then put it on cruise control to beat Cardenas by 3.984 seconds. Even though the win was convincing, it wasn't all smooth sailing. "I was pretty nervous coming into the race and wasn't feeling real good," Hayes admitted. "It's been a long time since we've been racing. Everything was going great last time and it didn't end that well, so I had a lot of nerves. I felt like I rode pretty good. At one point the guys showed me a little bit of false gap, so I kind of relaxed a little bit and I came back around and that gap had shrank considerably and I panicked a little and had to change my rhythm twice. That was pretty tough once you back off to go back to putting down hard laps again. At that point it was just trying to maintain and give myself some breathing room. Martin [Cardenas] was rid- ing pretty good behind me because I was trying pretty hard and he was maintaining a good pace." Cardenas was also pleased with his effort. "It was a good race for me," said Cardenas, who took over the points lead. "Of course, I wanted to finish one step ahead, but this time it wasn't possible for me. Josh was very fast the first few laps and he gapped us. I could not catch up. I tried to keep the pressure all the way

