Cycle News

INTERVIEW JOSH HAYES P96 premier class was more than anyone could have realistically expected and hinted that he may have the goods to seriously up- set the status quo. "You know, I think I've been harping on how good I think he is for quite a while," Hayes said of Beaubier. "He just kind of showed it at Daytona. He was calm and collected and really had an advantage in certain areas and took advantage of it. He's smart. You don't sweep a full season of AMA Nationals, with one second, and all the pole positions and not be a really put together rider. "The learning is going to be figuring out how to race the dif- ferent racers than the ones he's accustomed to racing with in SportBike. He was able to watch Martin [Cardenas] and sit in a while and then attack late; he may not have the same opportu- nities to do that in Superbike. At least I hope not. I'm hoping I can push the pace early and make it a bit harder. "I think in the moment, as things are happening, it's incred- ibly frustrating - to race against a talent like him. But when you go home and look back on your race weekend or your season or your career, you're so proud of the achievements of racing against someone at his level and figuring out how to beat him… hopefully. "I try to keep the big picture in perspective and relish the moment that I'm getting to race against someone who I think is going to go on to do big things on the world stage and hopefully I can be a part of that develop- ment by making life not easy for him before then." The scenario Hayes envi- sions is not altogether dissimilar from the intra-team rivalry of Ben Spies and Mat Mladin that kicked off almost a decade ago. After serving as understudy to multi- time champ Mladin at Yoshimura Suzuki during his rookie season, Texan Spies overwhelmed his once-untouchable teammate in his sophomore attempt. Spies won six consecutive early-sea- son races and rode that wave of success to three straight AMA Superbike Championships. Despite not winning another title until Spies had graduated from the AMA paddock, Mladin's response to Spies' ascension was remarkable all the same. The Australian was somehow able to regroup and elevate his riding to a new level at a late stage in his career. While Spies took the crowns, Mladin won more races in their head-to-head confronta- tions, including beating Spies to the checkered flag 11 of 19 times during his rival's final season in the States. The following year Spies thoroughly outclassed the presumed best in the world and earned the World Superbike crown in his first effort, underlin- ing just how fierce the competi- tion between Spies and Mladin had been. While Hayes would prefer a different set of title outcomes, he hopes he'll prove similarly up to the challenge if confronted in such a manner. "I was so impressed that Mat was able to reinvent himself. When you're at the top and some- one comes along and goes a little better than you, you go, 'dammit, I know how to ride a motorcycle,' and it's really easy to start point- ing the finger at the motorcycle because you were winning for so long. "I think, for sure, the potential is there to be extremely frustrat- ing, but I hope I can. I think it's in there. The only reason I say that is because I've gone through this experience before, where I thought I was riding the motor- cycle as good as the motorcycle could be ridden and had some- one go a little faster than me. You just have to figure out how to beat them so you end up learning some things along the way. And all the sudden, you take your rid- ing up another level. "Do I think right now that I'm riding the bike as good as it can be ridden? I do. But if Cam forces my hand to take chances and fig- ure out how to go another level, can I? I don't see where there's a limit on it, and I think that it's in there. I've had to change the way I race a few times, and improve areas of my racing, but I haven't been beaten consistently in a while. If that starts happening, I hope I can reinvent myself and do that, otherwise, it'll probably be time for me to start looking at other ways to stay involved in mo- torcycle racing." CN

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