INTERVIEW
P90
JOSH HAYES
BY CHRIS MARTIN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
P
rior to the opening of the 2013 AMA Superbike
season, Josh Hayes was widely regarded as
an unstoppable force and for good reason. Not
only had the Yamaha ace recently earned a third-con-
secutive championship victory, he did so with the ex-
ecution of the most lopsided title rout in series' history.
Hayes smashed virtually every single-season record
in the books in 2012 and there was little reason to think
'13 would be any different.
Well, until he cruised to a stop in the season opener
at Daytona after holding the lead moments earlier. And
then did it again… the following day.
The Mississippian's double DNF didn't completely
sink his hopes for an unprecedented fourth-straight
AMA Superbike crown but it certainly didn't help. While
he maintained (and arguably even enhanced) his day-
to-day dominance of the series, that rocky start, com-
bined with a crash suffered while firmly in control in
Utah, another technical issue at New Jersey, and a
handful of jumpstart penalties, ultimately proved too
much to overcome.
For the second straight year, Josh
Hayes leaves Daytona as the pursuer
and not the pursued
ON HIS
BACK FOOT
