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ROGER HAYDEN
VIRGINIA!
VIRgInIa InternatIonal
Raceway
MOTUL SUPERBIKE
As the first Superbike race of the weekend began, Hayden maintained his starting position on the opening lap. He waited patiently for the right opportunity and avoided the early race mayhem, settling into second position behind Josh Herrin. The two of them exchanged positions back and forth with some extremely close overtaking maneuvers, but Hayden eventually got the better of the former Superbike champion on the brakes into turn four. At that point, the Yoshimura Suzuki Factory rider concentrated on the clear track ahead of him as he hit his marks with ultimate precision, slowly but surely eeking out a small gap at the front of the field. In the final laps of the race, Hayden had to pick
up his pace slightly in order to keep the charging YZF-R1 of Cameron Beaubier behind him, but he
had no problem responding to the attack. The Kentuckian kept his Suzuki steady and crossed the line with a half of a second margin ahead of his championship rival, claiming his first victory of the 2017 MotoAmerica season. On Sunday, Hayden moved up one spot on the grid due to a penalty issued to another rider, promoting him to the outside of the second row. He was able to maintain that position throughout the first quarter of the race, shadowing the movements of his teammate, Toni Elias, ahead of him. The two of them moved up into the second and third podium positions, respectively, after Cameron Beaubier rode off the track at turn one. Things stagnated until the final third of the race when Hayden made a move on his teammate, promoting himself to second position. Meanwhile, Beaubier joined the battle after climbing back to the front with only a couple of laps to go and it became a three-way scrap for the lead, setting the fans up for an exciting finish. Unfortunately, Hayden overcooked his brakes
on entry into turn one in a common incident that dropped him back to sixth position where he would eventually finish the race.
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