Monster/Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes stormed from more than 15 seconds back to claim his 30th career victory and secure a third-consecutive AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike crown on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Waged in tricky damp-but-drying conditions, Sunday's GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing race at the M1 PowerSports-promoted Triumph Big Kahuna Miami presented by Dunlop Tire and LeoVince was all about tire selection.
The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha ace outfoxed his opposition even if it didn't appear that way in the early going. He fell back with the pack in the race's early stages while a number of other competitors who selected different tire combinations stole the spotlight.
KTM/HMC's Chris Fillmore was an early leader but also an early fader, holding the lead momentarily before plunging down through the pack. The stays at the front of Team Amsoil/Hero EBR's Geoff May and National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Roger Hayden were longer lived but just as destined to come to an unhappy end as the track continued to dry.
Saturday winner Hayden fell off the chase by lap 10 of 23, while May found himself swallowed up by Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom on lap 13.
However, all the while Hayes continued to charge, catching Bostrom and the rest by a clip of two seconds per lap or more. He sailed past the #23 machine on his #1 YZF-R1 on lap 15, and, once in the lead, proved simply unstoppable yet again, winning by nearly five seconds.
Sunday's win served as redemption for yesterday's uncharacteristic mistake and adds to Hayes' staggering list of achievements. His accumulation of 14 victories this season stands as the all-time record, to go with his record of ten consecutive victories that was halted just yesterday, along with his streak of 11 straight pole positions, which tied the previous series' best (Mat Mladin).
But perhaps the most monumental achievement that Hayes has accomplished this season is the collection of a third AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike title, tying him for second most ever with legends Reg Pridmore, Fred Merkel, Doug Chandler, and Ben Spies.
"It's been a pretty incredible year." Hayes said. "Especially after last year, the way things have gone this year… this is the way you'd hope I could push things to. I don't feel at a loss for motivation or anything; I want to win races. Championships are pretty cool and sometimes when you get a gap like we have it feels somewhat anticlimactic, but I still live for the individual victories. Every single race win feels so good. And if you get those the way that you want to, the championship kind of takes care of itself. Fortunately, I've been able to do that and we're going to continue doing it for as long as we can into the future."
