Cycle News

ROUNDS 7-8/JULY 13-14, 2013 MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE/LEXINGTON, OHIO AMA SUPERBIKES P86 AMA NATIONAL GUARD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Danny Eslick had his best weekend of the year with two fourth-place finishes. My Own Race: 1 JOSH HAYES 1ST/2ND Josh Hayes had his string of race wins stopped at five, but it took a five-second jumpstart penalty on Sunday to do it. Hayes actually increased his lead in the championship in spite of finishing second Sunday due to the penalty. Hayes didn't agree with the jump-start call, but was philosophical in discussing it. "I'm proud of the way I rode the race," he said. "One little mistake. The race was going okay. I didn't think my front tire was as good as yesterday. I felt like I was struggling with it a little bit. I was still pushing absolutely as hard as I could. I had a few moments in the six to three laps to go range. The white flag lap I had a little front ender, but I just kept pushing as hard as I could. I was able to stay in the 25s. I put in the best last lap that I could. A big congratulations to Josh [Herrin]. He did a great job. I know he's been working on pace and I know he got stuck out there by himself so I think the work paid off for him today. He was able to keep a good enough pace that I couldn't overcome it." 2 JOSH HERRIN 2ND/1ST Josh Herrin scored his second-career Superbike victory Sunday, but he didn't know it until after the race. He later admitted that he was clueless that he was actually battling for the win. Incredibly, the Georgian later explained that he was pushing hard because he was afraid he was being tracked down and in danger of losing what he thought to be a runner-up result. "I guess that was kind of a crazy race. I had no idea that I won the race until I was interviewed for television and I was kind of shocked for a second. I couldn't even say anything… Josh [Hayes] really rode a great race as he does every time he gets on the bike. He's proven over the past three years that he's a GP quality rider. I just have to thank him for all the help that he's given me. I really lucked out today. We'll take it - a win's a win and we'll move onto Laguna with a lot of confidence, just in the way that we rode. I think we rode pretty well today, even though Josh beat me by so much. I was proud of the way I was able to keep a consistent pace by myself and hopefully Laguna goes just as well." 36 MARTIN CARDENAS 3RD/3RD Martin Cardenas went from first to third in the standings in spite of scoring a pair of podium finishes at Mid-Ohio. The Yoshimura Suzuki rider has been surprisingly resigned and calm about losing the series lead. The Colombian said, "It was a very tough race for me today. I didn't quite have the pace today. I had maybe the same pace as yesterday, but these guys were a little bit faster. I did everything I could and maybe halfway through the race I had a few moments and realized I wasn't going to catch the front. So I tried to stay conservative and maintain the gap that I had behind me. Today's race was a little bit disappointing for me - I was hoping for a little better. But anyway, thanks to the Yoshimura team - we've been working hard and we'll keep trying."

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