Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/322929
AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP up with him over the final races of the '09 season, and no one has genuinely challenged him in sheer pace ever since. Yes, Blake Young won more races in 2011 and Josh Herrin took last year's title, but the Monster En- ergy Graves Yamaha pilot has consistently been the fastest man around practically every racetrack the series has visited. However, the ascension of a talented new teammate in Beau- bier has provided the 39-year- old Hayes with a new problem. Judging from Daytona, the re- cent three-round Superbike Shootout, and what we saw at Road America, Hayes' long- established place as the king of pace is now very much in doubt. Beaubier has made a remark- ably seamless transition to the premier class. He clicks off fast laps from the very first practice and does so circulating all by himself with no need to pester Hayes for a tow. Perhaps even more problem- atic for Hayes is the fact that their riding styles are so differ- ent. There's not much the vet can do but look at the computer, compare their data, and scratch his head. Now, after years of punishing labor developing him- self into one of the best Super- bike pilots in the world, Hayes has to figure out a way to make himself even better or risk being rendered obsolete. It's an impossible challenge Mladin successfully took on when presented with the ar- rival of Ben Spies. And it's one that doesn't exactly come as a shock to Hayes, who has been openly foretelling this moment ever since Yamaha hired Beau- bier ahead of the 2012 season. But this was supposed to be a problem for 2015 or, at worst, late-2014, not straight out of the gates in the rookie's first sea- son. VOL. 51 ISSUE 22 JUNE 3, 2014 P35 Briefly... Dane Westby came up with a funny and politically correct way of saying his motor blew up. After an obvious, up in smoke, big bang with his Ya- malube/Westby Racing on the final lap of Saturday's Daytona SportBike final, Westby was quoted as saying his machine suffered a "component conflict." Rookie pro Jason Aguilar broke through to earn his first pro podium in Sunday's Supersport final on his Tuned Racing Yamaha YZF-R6. He did it in fine fashion by coming from fifth behind Kaleb De Keyrel and Wy- att Farris on the last lap to steal third. "I saw Kaleb and Wyatt battling each other and I figured if I just stayed be- hind them I might be able to get a draft to the line and that's what I did." Aguilar is a 17-year-old Californian who won regional championships in his home state before moving up to AMA Pro Supersport this season. He earned two top 10 finishes at Day- tona and appears to be an up-and- coming rider quickly advancing his career in the class. Jake Gagne's pair of Daytona Sport- Bike wins gave him three DSB wins in a row at Road America. That now establishes the longest DSB winning streak at the circuit. It also marked Gagne's fourth-career DSB win. That ties him with Jason DiSalvo for fifth on the DSB all-time wins list. J.D. Beach earned one of his best weekends with a third and a sec- ond in the Daytona SportBike finals at Road America. It was a strong bounce back for the Yamaha Extend- ed Service/Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha after a crash at Daytona. He moved from 14th to fifth in the stand- continued on next page Cameron Beaubier (2) won Saturday's dry Superbike race at Road America his teammate Josh Hayes (4).