ROUND 10-11/AUGUST 3-4, 2013
MILLER MOTORSPORTS PARK/TOOELE, UTAH
AMA SUPERBIKE
P86
AMA NATIONAL GUARD SUPERBIKE SERIES
Josh Herrin (2) leads
Roger Lee Hayden
(54) and Josh Hayes
(1) during their epic
AMA Superbike battle
in race one at Miller
Motorsports Park.
MIX-UP
AT MILLER
Herrin and Cardenas Win, Hayes Crashes in Tooele
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
A
gambler would have been
all in on Josh Hayes coming into the AMA Pro Superbike weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. Save for a slight
hiccup at Mid-Ohio where he was
penalized for jumping the start,
Hayes has been simply flawless
since the second round of the series. His drive to the 2013 championship was almost becoming a
mere formality. But there's a reason they hold the races before
they hand out championships.
Racing can be the least predictable of all sports and this weekend's Superbike races at Miller
illustrated that clearly.
Hayes' air of invincibility came
to an end on the arid Utah Basin
and Range. While his crash in Sunday's race was the thing that sent
him tumbling from the series lead,
it was losing to both Josh Herrin
and Roger Hayden in Saturday's
race that ultimately could be the
most lasting effect from Miller.
Most likely Hayes understood
this at some level and his attempt
was to put the genie back in the
bottle. In Sunday's race you got
the sense that he was trying to
pound Herrin and Hayden with
a major smackdown. He would
never admit it, but Hayes wanted to set the record straight
Sunday and show the boys that
Saturday was a fluke, a mere
mistake in tire choice. The problem was Hayes wasn't trying to
win by five or six seconds – no
he was trying to serve up a real
yawner where the race was over
after four or five laps.
Why else would Hayes openly
admit he was trying too hard?
There was nice talk of playing it
safe by being out front, not get-
