K&N Sponsored Team Yoshimura Suzuki Riders Score 3 Podiums in 2 Races at Barber
- 29 Jun 2015
K&N Supported Team Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden and Jake Lewis came away with another solid weekend of results in the MotoAmerica AMA Superbike series at the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. It was a quick start for Hayden, who qualified second in Superpole to start from the middle of the front row. He used the power and handling of his K&N filters equipped Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to trip the scoring beam with a qualifying time of 1:26.054. Jake Lewis qualified fifth in the combined Superbike/Superstock 1000 session with a 1:26.469. “That session was the best I’ve felt on the bike all year in qualifying,” Hayden explained. “There were a few things I was struggling with that seemed to be a lot better. I really focused on doing multiple fast laps in a row, not really chasing an outright lap time in order to help get a strong race set-up.” Meanwhile Jake Lewis conceded that he’s still figuring out qualifying the Superbike with this being just the fifth track visited so far in 2015. “Every track we go to it’s a new learning experience for me since I’m on the Superbike,” Lewis said. “Barber is a pretty technical track and sometimes I’m still getting the speed and handling of the bike sorted out for qualifying.”
MotoAmerica Superbike race one at Barber Motorsports Park was setting up to be a great fight between Josh Hayes and Roger Lee Hayden in the closing laps, but a red flag on lap 16, due to fluid on the track, put an early end to the race and ruined a possible last-lap battle. The end result was Hayden, who led portions of the race, taking second place aboard his K&N performance filters equipped Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 with a mere 0.397-second margin between him and Josh Hayes.
In the second MotoAmerica Superbike race at Barber Motorsports Park Roger Lee Hayden again battled aboard his K&N performance filters equipped Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 for the lead with Cameron Beaubier and Hayes most of the race. However, in the last three laps Hayden lost touch with the leaders when he made a mistake and ran wide in a couple of turns on the same lap. “I was giving it all I had just to stay with those guys. With about three or four laps to go I got into turn five way too deep and ran wide. I tried to make it all up going into the museum corner and ran wide again and those guys got a big gap. I knew I wasn’t going to catch them and I didn’t see any point in trying to chuck it down the road trying to, so I just brought it home,” said Hayden.
Jake Lewis ran strong at times in both races, actually leading early in race two. He ultimately finished third in Superbike in race one and fourth in race two. “It was a good weekend overall,” Lewis commented. “I was pretty close to the front, just a few tenths here and there, so I’m getting closer. In race one I stayed close and was able to learn a little bit and in the second race I didn’t quite have the pace I needed and I couldn’t catch them, so I backed it down a bit to make sure I got good points. I’m looking forward to moving on to Miller. I’ve had some good luck there in the past and our Suzuki will go good there because it has a couple of fast straightaways.” These results, combined with a race one crash by series leader Cameron Beaubier, tightened up the MotoAmerica AMA Superbike standings after 10 races. Jake Lewis and Roger Lee Hayden are still third and fourth respectively in the series, but they each shaved away the points gap to the series leader, in the amount of four points for Lewis and 11 for Hayden. The Yoshimura Suzuki squad will be on track next at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Team Yoshimura Suzuki is grateful for the support of their sponsors: Yoshimura R&D, Suzuki Motor of America, Motorex, Parts Unlimited, Dunlop, Shorai, Sunstar, K&N Performance Filters, NGK Spark Plugs, RK Racing Chain, Genmark Automation, Pilot, Chicken Hawk Racing and Zeta. |
