AMA SUPERBIKE SERIES
class rookie from winning, but it
wasn't going to happen.
Beaubier had learned a few
lessons from Friday's race, but –
more importantly – he also had
the fastest motorcycle on the
racetrack. And fast motorcycles
are hard to beat at Daytona – a
race in which the first 14 laps of
a 15-lap race could basically be
discarded. It all comes down to
the last lap and the run from the
chicane to the checkered flag
and all the experience in the
world isn't going to beat brute
horsepower.
Plus, Beaubier had made
some changes to his R1 that bore
fruit and the result was clear-
cut: Once Hayes' R1 gave up the
fight, no one else had the ponies
to stop him from becoming the
54
th
rider to win an AMA Super-
bike National. Oh… and he's now
only 81 wins behind Mat Mladin
on the all-time win list.
While Monster Energy Graves
Yamaha's one-two punch of
Hayes and Beaubier came away
with wins, Hayden came out of
Daytona with massive momentum
after finishing a close second
both times out. Hayden, a noto-
riously and self-confessed slow
starter, was fast and comfortable
in his debut on the Yoshimura
Suzuki team and he left Florida
knowing he's got the package to
compete at every race.
Daytona also made it clear that
the top four are the top four – the
two factory Yamahas and the two
factory Suzukis: Hayes, Beau-
bier, Hayden and Cardenas. The
VOL. 51 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2014 P37
Briefly...
Roger Lee Hayden captured the
second Superbike pole position of
his career on Friday morning at the
Speedway, the youngest of the rac-
ing Hayden boys pulling off a surprise
with his 1:37.674 with roughly five and
a half minutes to go in the session. "It
went pretty good," Hayden said. "At
the start of the session we started out
with a used tire from yesterday. We
went a little over race distance and the
last couple of laps were low 39s so I
figured we could go a little bit quicker.
I came in and we put a new tire on
and went out and did another seven
or eight lap stint. In the last 12 minutes
I came in and put a tire and tried to
go quicker and actually pushed pretty
hard. I did a 37.6 and after that I really
didn't go any faster. I'm pretty happy
with pole, but a lot happier that I'm on
the pace and feel really comfortable.
We had the bike working really good
there. We made some changes last
night that made it a lot easier to ride.
I'm looking forward to this afternoon
when it counts."
So what were those changes the
Yoshimura Suzuki team made to
the bike? "I just kept working on that
second split," Hayden said. "We
changed some things in the shock to
get rid of some of the pumping so I
could get out of the corners better.
The changes came together with the
new tire and it really worked good."
Friday was a good day for Hayden
and a good day for his new crew
chief Davey Jones, who celebrated
his birthday with pole position and
second place in race one in his first
weekend on the job.
The learning process of Cameron
Beaubier was in full effect at Dayto-
na as he transitioned from Sportbike
to Superbike. And one of the things
continued on next page
Yamaha teammates
Cameron Beaubier (2)
and Josh Hayes (4)
split Superbike wins
at Daytona. Roger Lee
Hayden (54) was second
both times out with
his teammate Martin
Cardenas (36) ending
up 12
th
and third.
