With MotoAmerica set to bring AMA Superbike racing back to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 16-18, we’re taking a closer look at past Superbike races at the iconic racetrack in Lexington, Ohio.
In the first of two Superbike races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2010, Team Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes took sole possession of the AMA Superbike Championship with a win over Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom. In race two, Rockstar Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden – the man who Hayes was tied with coming into the two Mid-Ohio races – reversed that and beat Hayes to win race two. Still, Hayes emerged with a four-point lead in the championship with his one-two finishes besting Hayden’s three-one tally.
As soon as race one began, it was Hayes going to the front while Hayden got shuffled down the order a bit, slipping back as far as fifth. At the front, Hayes defended the constant pressure from Bostrom with the leading duo well ahead of the rest by the ninth lap. Despite looking for an opening for the duration, Bostrom never found it and Hayes took his fourth victory of the year by .219 of a second.
“The last lap I didn’t get the best drive onto the back straight,” Hayes said. “I had kinda planned to block it a little bit anyway, but I kinda went down the middle of the back straightaway, held it kinda tight on the exit, broke deep and to the inside and just made sure I didn’t leave any big holes out there and give him any opportunities. It wasn’t going to be a gift. And I was very fortunate. I feel kinda lucky that I beat him around to the line. He had a great bike, just like mine, and today was, one more time it was my day. It could be his any day now. I’m going to try to not let it happen.”
Hayden, meanwhile, clawed his way to a third-place finish with Larry Pegram and Jake Holden rounding out the top five.
On to Sunday’s race two and it was Hayden’s turn to take the victory with the Kentuckian leading all but three laps of the 21-lap race. Although he never put a wheel wrong, Hayden was pressured throughout and won by just .194 of a second over Hayes. Ohio native Pegram ended up third on the Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati just ahead of Ben Bostrom.
