Friendly Hurricane Ready To Stir Up Excitement In The Homestead-Miami Area This Weekend

2012-09-19 10:14
With 13 AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike victories so far this season, including an unprecedented, AMA-record 10 wins in a row, Josh “Hurricane” Hayes is set to storm into Homestead-Miami Speedway for Round 11 of the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season. He’ll be joined by the rest of the Yamaha U.S. Road Racing Teams, which include the talented, hard-working riders and crewmembers who make up Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha and Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha.

MONSTER ENERGY/GRAVES/YAMAHA: HAYES & HERRIN
The first order of business will be for two-time defending SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes to try to earn his 10th pole out of 10 this season aboard his powerful, crossplane-crankshaft #1 Yamaha YZF-R1.

“I go hard from the start,” Josh said. “Maximum speed, maximum laps, race wins. The 98-point lead in the Championship is obviously great, but I still want to win every race from here on out. I’m not about to let up.”

As the season has progressed, one of Josh’s toughest competitors has arisen from right within the Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha team. SuperBike rookie Josh Herrin has fully acclimated to his #2 R1, and he presents a formidable challenge to the reigning SuperBike King.

“It’s been a good season for me so far,” Josh Herrin said. “But, I still badly want to win. I’ve proven that I can hang with Josh for a couple of laps, but I need to step up my game even further. Holeshots and first-lap leads don’t win races. We’ve got four races left this season. Let’s see what happens.”


YAMAHA EXTENDED SERVICE/GRAVES/YAMAHA: BEAUBIER, HAYDEN & GERLOFF
19-year-old Cameron Beaubier notched his fifth AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike victory of the season when he won Saturday’s Race One at New Jersey. But, on Sunday, disaster struck in Race Two as he crashed his #6 Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R6 due to water and dirt on the track surface. Justifiably, Cameron felt like he was done wrong by the unavoidable incident, and it has ratcheted up his steely determination even more to win races. He’s had an adventure-filled season, and he said, “I’d like to finish out the year with a little less drama, that’s for sure. Well, I’d like the drama of race wins, but not the drama of all that other stuff.”

Tommy Hayden, who is Cameron’s teammate and rider of the #22 Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha R6, was also a victim of the slippery New Jersey Motorsport Park racing surface. His crash in the same corner and at the same time as Cameron will unfortunately prevent Tommy from racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “I’m on the mend,” Tommy said. “The separated shoulder is the biggest problem right now. I’ve got my broken foot in a walking boot, and that’s doing pretty good. The concussion symptoms have mostly subsided, but my shoulder is going to take some time, that’s for sure.” Tommy and the team are hopeful that he’ll be fit and healthy to race at the final round in New Orleans in just over two weeks. “I’ll be at NOLA,” Tommy added. “Whether I am able to race or not, I’ll be there, for sure.”

The third member of the Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha team, Garrett Gerloff, made a successful return to racing at New Jersey, six months after suffering a serious leg injury in practice for the Daytona 200. He’ll be looking to build on his strong second- and fifth-place finishes in the AMA Pro Motorcycle-SuperStore.com SuperSport races at NJMP by notching a win or two aboard his #96 Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha YZF-R6 at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend.

Source: Yamaha Motor Corporation

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