SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT SERIES
turned to Fontana after a four-year absence.
And while the riders were happy to be doing what
they loved most – racing motorcycles – none were
happier at the end of the day then Yoshimura Suzuki's
Martin Cardenas and Latus Motor Racing's Bobby
Fong, the two ending up on top of the podium in the
Superbike and Pro Sportbike classes, respectively.
While it's been awhile since professional Su-
perbike racing has been at Fontana, Superbike's
homecoming to the track that's affectionately
known as Fontucky would have meant nothing
without the top racers in the series and the top
factory teams. And in Superbike that's Monster
Energy Yamaha and Yoshimura Suzuki.
So as expected it was a battle royale between
Yamaha and Yosh, with the addition of Aussie Dave
Racing's team owner/racer David Anthony thrown
into the mix. And for the price of two mocha lattes
or a six pack of cheap beer – which, by the way,
you could bring in without being harassed at the
gates – fans got to witness what was arguably one
of the best Superbike races the venue has seen.
Three-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh
Hayes led straight out of the gate and held that
lead for most of the race. But right behind him was
a train of four other riders ready to pounce – pole-
sitter Roger Hayden, Cardenas and Hayes' young
teammate Cameron Beaubier. And privateer An-
thony.
Cardenas got past Hayden on lap three and
focused on challenging Hayes. In the meantime,
the battle for third was closely fought out between
Hayden and Beaubier - a battle that the rookie
won. The pair made contact in turn six, which
cost Hayden some time and allowed for Anthony
to move in to fourth. But Anthony also made a
mistake and ran off track, putting Hayden back in
fourth.
Up front Hayes was holding off Cardenas' ad-
vances for the most part and it turned out that his
greatest challenge came from lapped riders.
"I think I was holding as good a pace as any of
the guys in the front could have run," Hayes said.
"I was putting together good consistent laps. I was
pretty happy about that. I just made some bad de-
cisions in the middle of the race when we started
getting through guys that were being lapped. I
knew I had a couple of guys… as far as I knew I
had five guys stuffed right up the back of me so I
tried to be pretty aggressive with them [lapped traf-
fic] and I made a couple of bad calls. And ended
VOL. 51 ISSUE 17 APRIL 29, 2014 P111
Superbike's top racers – Josh
Hayes (4), Martin Cardenas
(36), Cameron Beaubier
(hidden), Roger Hayden (95),
and David Anthony (25) -
returned to Auto Club Raceway
for the first ever Supberbike
Shootout race.
California Dreamin'
Superbikes return to Southern California and put on a show
