VOL. 51 ISSUE 15 APRIL 15, 2014 P93
pole position and laps led (both
of which Hayes garnered almost
exclusively in past seasons), and
he's effectively in the same po-
sition he was at this time a year
back.
Only now he also has the
added headache of having to
contend with an emerging threat
- his new teammate Cameron
Beaubier, who has taken over for
reigning AMA Superbike Cham-
pion and current Moto2 rookie
Josh Herrin on the second fac-
tory Yamaha. And as good as
Herrin was (and he proved good
enough to take full advantage of
Hayes' missteps and usurp the
throne), Beaubier could pose a
whole new set of problems.
Having turned 39 just over a
week ago, Josh Hayes is once
again trudging uphill, looking to
chase down a (barely) 20-some-
thing rival.
"Yeah, it is [a similar position to
last season]," Hayes said. "So, at
this point, what do you do? You
just take it one race at a time. I
think Cameron is going to be
very good at some races. I feel
like Cameron's best chances are
going to be Road America and
Laguna Seca, where he's going
to have an opportunity to ride
three days and get up to speed.
Whereas when we're racing on
the first afternoon of the day we
show up at the racetrack like we
will for the two-day events, I feel
like those rounds are going to
lean in my favor. Even with Roger
[Hayden] and Martin [Cardenas]
a little bit. So I think the second
half of the season is actually
more in my favor. I'm hoping I can
do my job well and take advan-
tage of that."
However, in a new twist, the
AMA Superbike Championship
fight has been placed on the
backburner for the time being
with the three-round "Superbike
Shootout" up next on the agenda
for Hayes and his primary com-
petitors.
Later this month, they'll fight
it out at California Speedway,
with events at Sonoma Speed-
way and Miller Motorsports Park
to follow in May. It won't be until
the weekend after the MMP race
that round two of the AMA Super-
bike Series takes place at Road
America.
From a certain vantage point,
the existence of those three race
weekends very much plays into
