Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing wrapped up the penultimate round of the 2014 AMA Pro Superbike Championships at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington with two podium finishes and two top-five results.
Because the double-header weekend was plagued by rain all day on Saturday, both Superbike races were run on Sunday. But Yoshimura Suzuki riders Roger Hayden, Martin Cardenas and Chris Clark were more than up to the challenge.
Despite very limited track time, Hayden came through, and then some. After losing Saturday to the weather, the AMA shortened the 21-lap Superbike races to 16 laps each. In both of Sunday’s events, Hayden got good starts and battled up front before finishing third in each race.
“At the beginning of both races I felt pretty good,” Hayden said. “But towards the midway point, I made some mistakes trying to keep up with the other guys. But overall, I’m glad to get two podiums this weekend. I want to thank the whole Yoshimura Suzuki crew for doing an awesome job for me, as always. But we want to win races so we’re not completely satisfied with third. We have some time off, so we’ll do our homework and come back and finish the season off strong in New Jersey.”
Yoshimura Suzuki team-mate Cardenas had a good first race on Sunday morning, battling with Hayden early on before finishing a respectable fourth. In the second race, however, Cardenas crashed within the first few laps and was unable to finish the race.
“The first race was not what I wanted,” Cardenas said. “We were hoping to get on the podium. I was going good, but then I had a few moments with the bike and almost high-sided three times in a lap and a half, I so slowed down and I ended up fourth. In race two, we made some changes, and the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was working good for the first few laps. Then, when I was on the brakes, I hit a small bump and lost the front end and that was the end of my race. I’m pretty disappointed with that, but now we’ll get ready for New Jersey and try to do better.”
Meanwhile, Clark was the picture of consistency at Mid-Ohio. He turned in two solid performances in both races, finishing sixth in the first event and fifth in the second.
“It’s tough when you haven’t had much track time,” Clark said. “I just tried to get up to speed as quickly as possible. In the first race, I focused on putting in solid laps and was able to get up to sixth. I had a little better start in the second race and we had a pretty good pace. I was happy to bounce back from Laguna and finish in the top five. Now I’m looking forward to New Jersey and finishing in the top five for the year.”
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s next event is the final round of the 2014 AMA Pro Superbike Championships during the weekend of September 13-14th at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey.
2014 Mid-Ohio Superbike Results, Race 1:
1. Cameron Beaubier
2. Josh Hayes
3. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Martin Cardenas (Yoshimura Suzuki)
5. Chris Fillmore
6. Chris Clark (Yoshimura Suzuki)
7. David Anthony
8. Larry Pegram
9. Chris Ulrich
10. Frankie Babuska
2014 Mid-Ohio Superbike Results, Race 2:
1. Josh Hayes
2. Cameron Beaubier
3. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Chris Fillmore
5. Chris Clark (Yoshimura Suzuki)
6. Taylor Knapp
7. David Anthony
8. Chris Ulrich
9. Cory West
10. Frankie Babuska
2014 Superbike Standings:
1. Josh Hayes – 230
2. Cameron Beaubier – 190
3. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki) – 176
4. David Anthony – 159
5. Chris Clark (Yoshimura Suzuki) – 148
6. Martin Cardenas (Yoshimura Suzuki) – 126
7. Chris Fillmore – 119
8. Cory West – 101
9. Bernat Martinez – 80
10. Larry Pegram – 71
via Team Suzuki Press Office
