SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT SERIES
VOL. 51 ISSUE 17 APRIL 29, 2014 P115
be on a motorcycle and in a good
environment and having fun."
Hayden enjoyed it as well, but
wished there was more track
time. Sharing the track meant
that each class got a 30-minute
practice and qualifying session
on Saturday and a 30-minute
warm-up before the race on Sun-
day.
"You know it was cool," Hayden
said. "The vibe was great. Every-
thing had a good positive energy
about it. You know the only thing
a little more track time would be
nice, a little too much down time.
But for the first event I don't think
it could've went any smoother. I
appreciate everybody making
this happen because it's a good
benefit for us. And there's a lot of
people out here today."
While Anthony also was happy
with the event, being a team own-
er adds a different perspective.
"We have to wait and see what
happens with TV and stuff like
that. In terms of the event itself
here, I thought it was pretty good.
There seem to be a few people
around and it ran as smoothly as
it could where we got thrown in.
Pretty happy with it so far.
"I mean our sponsors are here
and they saw a lot of people so
they're happy. That's what they
wanted to see. I've got nothing
bad to say, but television is where
we need to see what that produc-
tion comes out like to give a final
opinion. But so far so good."
The TV production crew, led
by Greg White, was on site film-
ing the races for a tape-delayed
airing on MavTV. There was
no announcement of the airing
schedule at the time.
>>TESTING 1-2-3
With the huge gap in the sched-
ule between Daytona and Road
America, one of the appeals of
the Superbike Shootout was the
chance for testing.
Even for Hayden the blow of
losing the podium by a smidge
was lessened because there was
something to take away from the
weekend without championship
implications.
"It would've been nice to finish
on the podium, but the important
thing is we were using it as a test"
Hayden said. "We got a lot of stuff
we got to get through this week-
end for me. And the important
thing was we had the pace. Just
a couple things that happened in
the race we couldn't control."
The consensus around the
paddock was that they were all
very thankful of that, especially
teams like Aussie Dave Racing
and HMC KTM.
"We can't go and hire a track
and test like those boys [factory
teams] can," Aussie Dave Racing's
team owner/racer Anthony said.
"If we go test we do a club day or
something so this is even better for
us to get out there with some good
riders and test and stuff."
Fans were treated to close racing
at Fontana – a little too close if
you're Beaubier (2) and Roger
Hayden (95).
