the race didn't feature the battle
that everyone expected. Hayes
included.
So did Hayes wake up feeling
racy and knowing that this one
was his? Well not entirely.
"This isn't how I thought the
race would go down," Hayes
said after the 46
th
win of what is a
stellar AMA Superbike career. "I
thought it would be the two of us
in unison, riding around the race-
track. I didn't think one could get
away from the other and I figured
we'd play it out and at the end
of the race see who had what. I
thought it might come down to a
cat-and-mouse game toward the
end of the race, depending on
who could get the most out of the
tire, make a pass… things like
that. The advantage came in the
VOL. 51 ISSUE 28 JULY 15, 2014 P87
Briefly...
Through the first two days of practice
and qualifying at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca, Cameron Beaubier
established the upper hand on his
Monster Graves Yamaha teammate
Josh Hayes and he ended up earn-
ing his second AMA Superbike pole
of the season (and second of his
Superbike career) in Saturday after-
noon's final session. Although the
two played Ping-Pong with the top
spot for most of the session, it was
Beaubier on top when it counted
– the Superbike rookie lapping at
1:24.019 to best Hayes by .420 of a
second. "It felt good and I felt good
all throughout the session," Beaubi-
er said. "I strung together some low
1:25s on what I thought was like a
little harder of a tire so I felt good and
I think that got me ready for throwing
the soft on for that 10-minute dash.
I strung together some 24s and felt
really good. I think I'm ready for the
race tomorrow. I'll go slot in with
these guys and I think it'll be a really
good race."
For the second day in a row, Josh
Hayes was upstaged by his younger
teammate on Saturday. And for the
second day in a row, he didn't seem
worried about it. "It was a pretty
good session, it was fun and I'm
pretty happy with it," Hayes said. "I
kept seeing Cam's [Beaubier's] time
on the board and my little lap timer
would say I did one just a little bit bet-
ter. Then I'd come around and his
would be a little better and then I'd
see one a little better on my lap timer.
And then I saw 24.0 and I thought,
'oh, oh, I don't have that in me at
this many laps in the tire. So I guess
it's second today.' I knew coming in
that Cam was capable of doing it. I
feel pretty good about being able to
continued on next page
Josh Hayes (4) got
out front early and
was never headed
en route to his fifth
AMA Superbike win
of the season and his
fourth in a row, this
one coming at Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca.
