Jeudi

from AMA Pro Racing

Three-time AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike king Josh Hayes closed out his epic 2012 campaign in fitting styxle. The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha superstar and Gulfport native notched up one last blowout victory to put the finishing touches on the season in front of his home crowd at the Triumph Big Kahuna New Orleans.

Hayes tore off from pole and blitzed to his 16th win of the season, far and away the most attained in a single-season in the 30-plus year history of the championship. The Mississippian worked his advantage into double digits before easing to the last checkered flag of 2012 with a 9.194-second margin of victory.

Along with posting the record for most wins in a season, Hayes also established the new mark for most consecutive wins (ten), tied the record for most consecutive poles (eleven) and most poles in a season (ten). He also moved into a tie for second with most SuperBike titles (three), and surpassed Miguel DuHamel to grab sole possession of second-place on the all-time SuperBike wins list (33).

Hayes said of his historic season, "It was the perfect way to end an incredible year. A lot of fans and friends came out and I'm glad I was able to do a good job in front of them. I think we are showoffs and we tend to do some of our best work when people are around. It was just an awesome weekend -- I had a lot of fun."

AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike

Martin Cardenas of the GEICO Suzuki squad got a measure of revenge on Cameron Beaubier (Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha) in Sunday’s AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race at NOLA Motorsports Park as the two class titans put on a memorable show during the final race of the 2012 season. Cardenas crashed out of Saturday’s race won by Beaubier and the Yamaha pilot tied the series champion for victories this year with seven heading into today’s race.

Cardenas won Sunday’s nail-biter after a thrilling ending, one that saw both riders giving it all they had on the final lap. The Colombian was able to answer each of Beaubier’s tries at a pass and held off his younger rival for a 0.208 second win. For Cardenas, it was his eighth victory in his championship season.

Cardenas pulled away from the field early and Beaubier managed to catch up to make it a two-man fight. Both riders had slight bobbles that set up the last-lap showdown.

“For sure I wanted to beat Cameron,” said Cardenas. “Lately, he was winning a lot. I was prepared to give everything. If it worked out? Fine. If not? The ground was also okay. I gave everything I had.”

“Going into the last lap, I was pushing as hard as I could,” said Beaubier.
 

AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport
Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff won the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport race at NOLA Motorsports Park on Sunday, topping Saturday’s winner Hayden Gillim of the RoadRace Factory/Red Bull team and overall championship winner James Rispoli of Celtic Racing/ Orient Express Racing.

Gerloff took the lead early and was never challenged, winning by 11.725 seconds. The young standout, who began the year in GoPro Daytona SportBike before being injured, ran away from the field in a dominating performance in the 15-lap race. It was reminiscent of Gerloff’s first Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport win in New Jersey last year.

“Everything went really well and I got a good start for once,” said Gerloff. “I was just trying to get into my rhythm and pull a gap.”

Tomas Puerta finished fourth for RoadRace Factory/Red Bull.

AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series
A season's worth of bar-to-bar AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series racing and dramatic race finishes in no way prepared the fans for the unbelievable conclusion to the XR Showdown that was to unfold at NOLA Motorsports Park.

KLR Group/Spyke's/Vesrah’s Michael Barnes and Bartel's Harley-Davidson's Tyler O'Hara entered the season finale separated by a meager two points, effectively making it a winner-take-all contest.

The two quickly broke free of the pack and fought furiously for the position until the race was stopped at mid-distance due to a red flag. The field was re-gridded for a five-lap fight to decide the XR Showdown and the $25,000 prize awarded to the champion.

Again, Barnes and O'Hara moved into the lead and tussled for first position as the laps wound down. O'Hara took the white flag with the advantage but Barnes overtook him entering Turn 1.

O'Hara attempted a counterattack, but ran wide, allowing the veteran ace to immediately reclaim the position.

To find a way through and with the championship on the line, O'Hara slotted up the inside as the two raced onto the start/finish straight for the final time this season, side-by-side with the checkered flag in sight. O'Hara shocked Barnes (and everybody else) by reaching over and tugging Barnes' right arm, pulling himself ahead as they powered to the stripe.

Barnes shook his head in vehement disagreement while O'Hara celebrated an apparent XR1200 Series championship victory.