AMERICAN ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
I
t had been five years since
AMA Superbikes visited
Virginia International Raceway
(VIR). The general consensus
was that it was good to be back
at the picturesque circuit and
a solid crowd turned out under
unusually hot and muggy condi-
tions for mid-May. Perhaps
happiest of all to be back at VIR
was defending AMA Superbike
Champion Josh Hayes. Hayes
calls VIR one of his favorite
tracks and it showed. He domi-
nated the proceedings, eas-
ily winning both MotoAmerica
Superbike legs—race one by
3.282-seconds and then a
whopping 13.368-second win in
race two.
Cameron Beaubier had
never raced VIR before and his
inexperience at the track pos-
sibly kept the series leader from
challenging for wins against his
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha
teammate. Beaubier rounded
out the weekend with a 2-3.
VOL. 52 ISSUE 20 MAY 19, 2015 P105
Briefly...
Josh Hayes may have set some sort
of record for trash binning a spanking
new Superbike. Hayes lost it at the
top of third gear in turn three in the
first Superbike practice session of
the weekend at Virginia International
Raceway (VIR). He was able to walk
away from the crash, but his factory
Yamaha R1 was destroyed. "I don't
have a good answer," said Hayes,
who was limping noticeably after
the crash. "I tucked the front over
there in a fast part of the racetrack.
It was pretty early in the session. I
was getting up to speed still. It was
probably one of the faster times I'd
gone through that section of track.
It's always a turn that's a little scary
anyway, so you kind of build into it.
I attacked it pretty hard and was still
on the gas—not full throttle, I rolled
out some, but I hadn't gone to the
brakes yet. I tucked the front before I
knew what was going on. I was in the
dirt tumbling before I realized I was
on the ground." Hayes said the bike
totaled was freshly built, only three or
four laps old.
Elena Myers is finding the tasks of
being a team owner/rider is a bit
tougher than she anticipated. "Team
ownership has certainly been ex-
citing thus far," she said with a bit
of chagrin. "We had some crew
changes and everything is running
smoothly now. We've been pro-
gressing quite well. I always expect a
little more out of myself as a rider." In
recent years Myers has enjoyed the
luxuries of being a factory rider, but
she's finding team ownership a whole
new ballgame. "It's been quite chal-
lenging to say the least—from making
sure I have all the parts I need for the
weekend and loading up and getting
set up and all that. And making sure
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