SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT SERIES
VOL. 51 ISSUE 18 MAY 6, 2014 P83
stack up against the three-time
champ. And although it's early in
the season, Beaubier's impres-
sive performances have people
ready to start shouting those
dreaded words to a veteran who
still is very competitive – "chang-
ing of the guard."
"I think Cam [Beaubier] is here
to stay," Hayes said. "Is he going
to dominate? I hope not. Am I go-
ing to have to reinvent myself to
stop that? Maybe."
Hayes has always been analyti-
cal and straightforward with his
assessments.
"Two of the toughest things I
thought he was going to do was
show up at Fontana and be fast
on day one and show up at So-
noma and be fast on day one and
he was. By a mile," Hayes con-
tinued. "So I don't think there's
any way you can count him out
on absolutely anything. Is he go-
ing to go break track records at
every track? I hope not. Because
I feel like I've ridden the R1 pretty
well for the last couple of years
[six to be exact]. And if he shows
up and just kicks my ass on my
own bike pretty bad - it's going to
hurt."
In addition to his honesty,
Hayes has always been that guy
to buckle down and work harder
to find a way back on top. And
challenges are a great motivator
for Hayes. Just look at his re-
sponse to almost losing the 2011
title to Blake Young. Hayes came
into 2012 with one goal – annihi-
late Young. And he did.
"At the same time I feel like I
haven't had a great challenge
in front of me for awhile and he
might be it," Hayes said. "This is
the way things are supposed to
happen, right? You have guys that
do really well and then some guy
comes and rewrites the books.
Could this be it? Yeah. But I also
think he's probably short lived in
this paddock. I think he's going
to go on and do bigger and better
things. I'm looking forward to his
racecraft and seeing if I can take
my game to another level and see
if he can help take my game to
another level.
"I don't want this to become
the normal thing, but I'll keep
working at it. He's still got a lot to
learn. He's still got to put a sea-
son together. And I know he's a
put-together-enough rider to do
it. Look at what he did last year.
I've said it before, you don't win all
but one race in an entire season,
almost sweep a season, and not
be a pretty well put together guy
and rider. Hopefully I can push
him hard enough to make some
mistakes along the way. I did at
Daytona. Hopefully that was just
the beginning. He has to learn a
few things. And maybe I'll learn a
few things and who knows what
will happen." CN
Pro Superbike Results
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
3. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki)
4. David Anthony (Suzuki)
5. Roger Hayden (Suzuki)
6. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
7. Cory West (EBR)
8. Chris Clark (Suzuki)
9. Tyler O'Hara (Yamaha)
10. Chris Ulrich (Honda)
Pro Sportbike Results
1. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha)
2. Bobby Fong (Triumph)
3. Bryce Prince (Yamaha)
4. JD Beach (Yamaha)
5. Chad Lewin (Yamaha)
6. Michael Gilbert (Yamaha)
7. Tom Montano (Triumph)
8. Stephen Rue (Honda)
9. Jason Catching (Suzuki)
10. Darren James (Yamaha)
"The Master" Josh Hayes (left)
and "The Student" Cameron
Beaubier (right).
