Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes took a one-two in the Daytona AMA Superbike double header at the weekend, only missing out on the double by fractions, and leaves the Florida track at the top of the championship table ahead of Blake Young.

Hayes, who earned another valuable point in the championship by leading the most laps in race two, was perfectly positioned on the final lap to use the famous Daytona draft for the win, crossing the finish line in a photo finish. Young held on to win the race by a scant two one-thousandths of a second.

"Wow, that was exciting, but I just mistimed it on that last lap. My crew gave me a great bike today, but that one was on me. It was a great race for the fans, and I can’t wait to get to Road Atlanta. It’s going to be a great season," said Hayes.

Hayes accomplished what he could not one year ago in Friday's season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Hayes once again led from the green flag, but unlike last year the veteran was able to hold off rival Blake Young in National Guard SuperBike Race 1 to take his first SuperBike win at the historic venue.

Making his way into the lead just as the pack hit the line to complete the first lap, Hayes put his head down, took full advantage of his No. 1 Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1's newfound legs, and clicked off a series of blazing laps to break the pursuit of his challengers.

Meanwhile, last season's double Daytona winner, Blake Young, found himself in a brawl for second with Hayes' first-year National Guard SuperBike teammate, Josh Herrin, and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden, and was helpless to do anything about Hayes' rapid escape during the race's early stages.

The contest became further stretched out when Herrin lost the front and crashed from third place on lap 6 of 15. The 21-year old, who led all but the final meters of the opening lap of his Superbike debut before being double drafted by Hayes and Young, remounted and briefly re-entered the fray before eventually retiring.

Hayden lost ground as well, running wide in Turn 1 and losing touch with Yoshimura Racing Suzuki ace Young in the race for the runner-up position.

Hayes continued on in flawless fashion at the front to score his 18th career AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victory, boasting an 8.332-second margin of victory over Young.

Prior to the contest, Hayes claimed that he and his team had put forth a great deal of effort in the offseason to ensure they came out stronger this season than in 2011. The 36-year-old Mississippian's performance backed up those statements while serving notice to the rest of the field.

"It was a pretty good day, I'd say," Hayes said. "It's a tough field. Blake rode really well last year. Tommy (Hayden) was all over me. Rog was taking all the necessary steps to be a big pain at the end of the year and Josh Herrin has been fast in testing. So I just went home and worked really, really hard to try to take another step in my game and the team has been working really hard on the machine.

"This is the payoff. Daytona is one of the tracks last year where we were fast but couldn't get it done. This year we were able to take it another step and I hope we'll be able to do that at every racetrack this year."