AMA SUPERBIKE SERIES
VOL. 51 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2014 P41
It's Daytona, there's a lot of time
there on the pin. It's hard on stuff.
I was trying hard, I was having a
good race, I was in the show and
was just trying to figure out what
we were going to do in the last
couple of laps."
Saturday had gone much bet-
ter with Hayes leading across the
strip every single lap. It would
have earned him a championship
point if they were still awarding
such.
"It was a really fun race; very
nerve wracking," Hayes said after
Friday's win. "It's hard to see plus
one on your board and watch that
dwindle away to a zero and just
seeing if you can keep yourself
up at the front. I was trying so
hard and I didn't have any more
speed. I have to go work on that.
When Cameron came by I could
see that he was faster than me.
I knew I had to fight to keep him
close and make it a race. We'll go
back to the drawing board and
see if we can have a little bit fast-
er and better day tomorrow. All
in all, I'm very happy. At the end
of the day it's not just about be-
ing fast, I have to win races and
so I'm glad I was able to pull this
one off and not let this little turd
[Beaubier] win his first one."
High Risk, High Reward
In race one, Beaubier made a
few "rookie mistakes" – namely
running wide in turn one twice.
One cost him a few seconds, but
he was able to make that up by
turning the fastest lap of the race
on the seventh lap – a 1:37.425
– to get back in the battle. The
second one cost him a shot at
victory.
Hayes knew that his young
teammate was doing things dif-
Briefly...
ries with his Cusanelli Motorsports
Argentina team. Pierluigi normally
races Yamahas – R1s and R6s, but
he was riding a GSX-R1000 at Day-
tona. "When I was low on tires, since
I don't have traction control, I was
having trouble with the handling,"
Pierluigi said through an interpreter
after Saturday's race. "I had been
fighting with two racers, but I have a
very good fitness so in the last laps
I could battle." The Argentinian is
so new to the series he had no idea
the names of the riders he was rac-
ing with. In this case it was Taylor
Knapp and Cory West. "We arrived
here two days ago so I don't know
the names of the racers," the Argen-
tinian 600cc Supersport Champion
said.
Martin Cardenas had the fastest
lap in Saturday's Superbike Nation-
al. That and $2 will get you a small
coffee at Starbucks. "It was good,
but the lap time doesn't mean any-
thing - it was just because I was in
the draft," Cardenas said. "But today
I rode good. I recovered good from
yesterday and hoping to improve the
results from here on."
Roger Lee Hayden is a notoriously
slow starter. Like the weather,
he heats up in the summer. With
six rounds (11 races), starting slow
wasn't really an option if one hopes
to compete for a championship. "I
usually start the season really slow
and then maybe the third or fourth
race I get going, so I'm glad to start
the season strong," Hayden said af-
ter his two seconds. "The whole Yo-
shimura Suzuki team… I can't thank
them enough. In November I didn't
have a job. I didn't have a job until
Christmas Eve so to get two seconds
at Daytona, I can't complain."
Cameron Beaubier (2) has a
moment while passing Cardenas
(36) en route to victory in
Saturday's race.
